Announcing: The BIG FAN Tour!
Mike Schur and I are hitting the road in May — come join the fun in New York, Boston, St. Louis, Kansas City, and Los Angeles. Maybe more to come?
I feel sure that I’ve told the story before of how Mike Schur and I became friends, but just in case: Many years ago, Mike and a couple of his college comedy writing pals wrote a blog called Fire Joe Morgan. The point was to hilariously pick apart terrible sports takes. The tagline was “Where Bad Sports Journalism Comes to Die.”
All of the writers — Mike, Alan Yang, Dave King — used pen names. Mike was Ken Tremendous. And one day, Ken Tremendous wrote one of the funniest things I’ve ever read about a story written by a friend of mine. And I did what I never do: I wrote to Ken Tremendous. I’m not 100% sure I knew he was Mike Schur; I think he and the others had revealed themselves, but I can’t remember.
Anyway, even if I knew it was Mike, this was well before Parks and Recreation and The Good Place, and Man on the Inside and all the rest.
I do remember the two things I included in the letter.
“This was one of the funniest things I’ve ever read, and I know the writer involved, and he TOTALLY deserved it.”
“Please, please, please don’t ever do this to me. I won’t be able to leave the house if you ever do this to me.”
Mike wrote back, said he was a fan, and invited me to dinner next time I was in LA.
All these years later, we have done half a million podcasts together, and we have traveled the country and world together. Life’s pretty crazy. I think sometimes about what Mike’s son William told me not too long ago — “When you’re around, really cool stuff seems to happen.”
That makes me so happy because that’s the only goal Mike and I have ever had as friends.
Let’s do some cool, fun stuff together.
That’s what BIG FAN is all about. It was Mike’s idea for us to go out into the world and try to find a bunch of fans in a bunch of different places and see what connects us, what binds us, what keeps us going through the tough losses, what the World Darts Championship in London has to do with the Indigenous Stickball World Series in Mississippi, what a Canadiens-Maple Leafs game on an icy day in Montreal has to do with a random football Sunday at a random Buffalo Wild Wings in Dallas (not that any Buffalo Wild Wings is random), what a NASCAR race on the radio has to do with the holiness of Masters with the thrill of watching Shohei at Dodger Stadium, what Wrestlemania in Las Vegas has to do with a pickleball tournament (ugh) in Kansas City with the eye-popping wonder of watching Carlos Alcaraz play tennis. And so on. And so on.
I am so excited for this book to come out on May 19.
I really believe it will make you happy.
And today, I’m thrilled to announce the first week of our book tour!
Monday, May 18, 8 p.m. — New York City: The Strand Bookstore
This is an absurd thrill for me — I love this place and wear my Strand T-shirt all the time, even though my wife insists it’s much too ratty at this point to wear out of the house. Maybe I’ll get a new one! This will be on the third floor in the “rare book room,” which means Mike might spend the whole night just wandering around looking for a first edition of Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass” or something (Mike does write about his book-buying obsession in BIG FAN).
Tickets: $42.64 and includes a signed copy of BIG FAN
Tuesday, May 19, 6 p.m. — Boston: The Brattle Theater (Harvard Book Store)
I need to ask Mike — apparently, the Brattle Theater is like SUPER FAMOUS among Harvard students. It seems like they used to show Humphrey Bogart movies during finals week. Maybe they still do? I’m just reading the Wikipedia page, and as we know, Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyway, this place has been around in some form since 1871, which, remarkably, is before Julio Franco started playing baseball.
Tickets: $48 and includes a signed copy of BIG FAN
Wednesday, May 20, 7 p.m. — St. Louis: St. Louis County Library
Listen, don’t tell anyone back in Kansas City … but I love St. Louis. I love how much the city loves baseball. I love that it’s the chess capital of the country. I love that it’s not quite like any other place in America. Some of my favorite ever book events have been in St. Louis. I’m so excited for this stop. But I will certainly not have any pizza while I’m there. I may love St. Louis, but the pizza remains the worst.
Tickets: $42 (for 1) and $55 (for 2). Both prices include a signed copy of BIG FAN
Thursday, May 21, 7 p.m. — Kansas City: Unity Temple on the Plaza (Rainy Day Books)
This will be the 10th time I’ve done a book event at Unity Temple for Rainy Day. Maybe the 11th. I think I might have done an event or two for paperback versions of books. Obviously, it’s the city I still think of as home and my favorite bookstore, so of course, this one will be special. One thing I should mention: Rainy Day normally gives out presigned books for big events — easier for everybody — but Mike and I are insisting that we have a signing line at every stop. We want to meet you and, if you want, have photos taken with you. Anyway, Rainy Day will be offering the pre-signed option for anyone who wants to get the heck out of Dodge — or needs to head to Dodge City (340 miles away; about a 5.5-hour drive).
Tickets: $43.51. Includes a signed copy of BIG FAN
Friday, May 22, 5 p.m. — Los Angeles: Hermosa Community Center (Pages Bookstore)
OK, two quick things about this one. One, Pages is awesome. I stopped in there on a recent trip and, honestly, it might be the perfect American bookstore. You know how there are some bookstores where you walk in, and the place is so beautifully curated and perfectly spaced that you just feel crazy happy? Maybe you relate to that, maybe you don’t, but if you do — Pages is a dream. Second, this event was ALMOST at El Segundo High School, which is where George Brett went to high school. That would have been incredible. I mean, the Hermosa Community Center theater opened up, and that’s a better venue for a night like this. But it would have been so fun to do an event where George Brett did high school hijinks!
Tickets: $49.16 and a signed copy of BIG FAN
The hope is that we will add to this as we go — scheduling, as you might imagine, is a bear, particularly for Mike, as he seems to have another job, you know, doing TV stuff. But if you would like us to come to your town, it’s probably best for you to talk to your local bookstore or group and have them reach out to our awesome publicity team at Dutton.
Oh, and of course, you can preorder BIG FAN from your favorite book-filling station, and signed copies are available from Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, and Indigo for you Canadian fans (and Canadiens fans).
And if you preorder a signed copy from Joseph-Beth Booksellers, you have a chance of getting a special limited edition signed copy — it might be signed by a celebrity like Kristin Bell, or it might include the first three Texas Rangers that came to my mind, or it might simply be a sheet that Mike signed so sloppily that he had to acknowledge his mess.
It's been nearly two decades since Fire Joe Morgan was retired, and I still miss it.
By wild coincidence I’ll actually be in St. Louis that night as part of a baseball tour I’m taking. I guess since I’ve already preordered the book, I’ll just get another one?