Hey, this is the moment. I'm Brian Coppelman. Thanks for listening. My guest today is Tommy Tomlinson and I'm

thrilled to have him here. Tommy is really accomplished guys got a successful

podcast called Southbound. He's works at NPR. He was a columnist for a long time

for the Charlotte Observer. He's written a ton of pieces for

ESP and the magazine. I've been a fan for a long time of his work but didn't know I'd

have him on the podcast until I read his new memoir which is out this month and you should order from

Amazon today or wherever you order books. The book is called The Elephant in the

Room, One Fat Man's Quest to get smaller in a growing America and I'm going to read you my

blurb that I gave him just as a way to set this up and I don't give out a lot of

blurbs but I wanted when I read the book and I

Tommy man I read the book in I think a day and a half you know I I just

couldn't put it down it was all the things I love about reading and that it

and whatever else I was doing I couldn't wait to get back to the book and that's a real

testimony to your abilities as a writer and your openness and honesty as a human being on the page and

what I wrote was what a gift Tomlinson has to take a subject this difficult, this

personal, this well enormous and to somehow make it read like a summer cliffhanger but with depth feeling and

huge moments of catharsis is an amazing achievement. It is also a kind-hearted

book though not to yourself so much generous, empathetic, and funny just when you need it to be.

Tommy Tomlinson, thank you for being here.

Thank you, man, I really appreciate it.

So in a, in a, because you're probably from a name perspective a little bit less well known than many of the people on the show

Like 99% yeah a little bit less well known the most of the people on the show. Though I don't know after this book comes out,

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