Interview with ‘Assholes Finish First’ author Tucker Max
Article/Journalism, Books, Interview/Profile 
Comments Off on Interview with ‘Assholes Finish First’ author Tucker Max
Author Tucker Max. (Gallery Books)
By JQ magazine’s Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02) for Examiner.com. Visit his NY Japanese Culture page here to subscribe for free alerts on newly published stories.
In 2006, Duke Law School grad Tucker Max published I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell, a real life roundup of his drunken, sexual misadventures that unexpectedly shot him to the top of the New York Times Best Seller list and cemented him as the leader of the “fratire” (male chick lit) literary genre.
Following last year’s release of the film version of IHTSBIH, Max is back with a new digest of debauchery, Assholes Finish First. The book’s launch this week kicked off a coast to coast 34-date signing tour, and I spoke with the controversially hilarious author about his interest in Japan and future plans.
What kinds of things do you enjoy about Japanese culture?
Well, obviously, I love Japanese food. My favorite TV show of all time, without exception, is Iron Chef. Not the stupid American version; Iron Chef Japanese, like, the real one; the one that was on in Japan…my DVR for years was set to record almost every single Iron Chef episode. I can talk to you about Battle Porcini, when [Chef Masaharu] Morimoto did the porcini crème brûlée…the original Iron Chef is, quite literally, along with The Wire, my favorite TV show of all time.
Have you ever been to any of Morimoto’s restaurants?
I actually know Morimoto pretty well. Like, in a total weird coincidence, his restaurant in Philadelphia, Morimoto’s…the GM of that place for a couple of years was my buddy Paul Ardaji. So Paul knew that I loved Iron Chef Japan; he brought me in one night [with] Morimoto and we had dinner. And Morimoto, for whatever weird reason, like, we kind of hit it off and became friends. And Morimoto actually did a charity event with me in New York.
And this is a true story…this [is] actually going into my third book; it’s not in the second book. But Morimoto and I—it was basically like we were supposed to be, like, celebrity bartenders, and so of course everyone wanted us to mix, like, cool shots and stuff…so we did it like Iron Chef. He would have them pick an ingredient so people would bring, like, nacho chips over from the kitchen, and then he would make a shot with nacho chips that was, like, amazing…we got fu*kin’ plowed. Anyway, long story short, one guy over there got belligerently drunk, and he got into kind of like into a scuffle with one of the bartenders who worked there, and ended up getting me and him kicked out of my own charity event…I could not have been, like, more happy that I got kicked out of something with Iron Chef Japan when I’m not Japanese; it was the best.
Read the rest of the interview here.
Comments are closed.