Episode 71: Harold Rogers - Punches, Pages, Punchlines

Harold Rogers is a novelist, Substacker, and a comedian based in New York City.

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(00:00) Columbia MFA, standup dreams & moving to New York

(03:07) Growing up between Ohio, Brazil & Antigua as a lonely reader

(04:48) Discovering serious novels: Lolita, Crime and Punishment & the power of language

(07:36) Early stories, autobiographical fiction & realizing writing can hurt people

(11:58) Drunk, depressed college years & writing through the abyss

(13:49) Tropicalia: family in Rio, plot, and learning to write a first novel

(16:33) Humility, simplifying the work & 20-day draft marathons

(22:06) Flow, exhaustion & psychography—writing as a kind of mediumship

(25:06) Boxing vs standup: high-stakes performance and the “fight vs book” metaphor

(26:47) First novel flops, expectations, airports & diversity boosts

(32:53) Publishing economics: advances, royalties & the lottery-ticket model

(36:03) Substack as practice ground, Edinburgh trip & building an audience

(38:47) Writing in New York, literary readings, misanthropy & starting BLAST

(41:46) Entering the NYC standup scene, Eric’s role & comedy friendships

(46:54) Boxing gym life, clients, CTE worries & why people fight

(54:02) Steubenville’s ghosts, shuttered mills & the 2012 assault case behind Humpty Dumpty

(54:54) Humpty Dumpty as masculine failure, regicide joke & mythic Trojan horse

(57:49) Redefining success: getting better at books & standup, and protecting time