Hi, it's NPR's Book of the Day. I'm Andrew Limbaugh. When you go through some stuff,

you know, some real-life serious stuff, you can't help but come out the other side, a different

person. Writer and overall funny guy, Drew McGarry, you might know him from his yearly

Hater's Guide to the William Sonoma

catalog, went through something like this, a brain injury that led to permanent loss of some

senses. He's got a book out titled The Night the Lights Went Out. It's a funny but real look

at injury and his long recovery. And in this interview with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro, she asks him,

compared to old Drew, pre-brain injury Drew, are there parts of new Drew he likes better?

Here's the interview. In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new

show, Sources and Methods. NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people

helping you understand why distant events matter here at home. Listen to sources and methods on the NPR

app or wherever you get your podcasts.

One night in December 2018, the humorist and novelist Drew McGarry had just hosted a comedy event and was at a karaoke bar in New York City celebrating. He performed You Got Lucky by Tom Petty,

that's a good tune, in front of a room full of co-workers from

Deadspin, the sports website. Next, he crammed down a slice of pizza, grabbed a Miller

light, and walked through the hallway to the men's room. And then he collapsed. McGarry

hit his head so hard that he cracked his skull in three places and suffered a catastrophic

brain hemorrhage. The night the lights went out

is his riveting memoir of that night and the long recovery ahead. And he joins us now to talk

about it. Hello. Hi, Lulu. Pleasure to be here. Pleasure to have you. I want to start with

that night because it was not a given that you were going to survive, let alone be in any shape to write a book about what happened to you, right?

...