The phenomenology of shredding

Kyle Beachy on The Most Fun Thing

Today’s podstack is a most fun thing, subscriber.

I’ve been a longtime enjoyer of Kyle Beachy’s writing since we first crossed paths in Chicago sometime in the 2010s, before the pandemic, the end of history, and the ascendency of Supreme as a luxury lifestyle brand. One might wonder if such a time even existed, but I’m here to say that it did! And that during it, I had the great pleasure of eating some pizza margherita and talking writing with Kyle Beachy somewhere on Chicago’s northwest side.

So when Beachy came out with a memoir-in-essays about skateboarding, marriage, and the nature of fun? Well, I read that thing. And I certainly enjoyed it.

Novelist and essayist Kyle Beachy

In the below interview, I spoke with Beachy about the constellation of themes on offer within his deeply felt and soul-searching Most Fun Thing: skateboarding’s poetics, writing as both fun and un-fun, what the pandemic taught him about love and marriage, the dangers of hero-worship, and old skaters performing new feats of empathy.

This is a conversation you won’t want to miss, subscriber. And if you enjoy it, by all means order yourself a copy of The Most Fun Thing.