"Hotter Before Social Media Cooler After Elmore Leonard" w/ JT Parr - Turek Books Podcast Ep. 5

Joshua is joined by comedian and stoke activist JT Parr from Chad and JT Go Deep on Netflix, a comedic duo known for their amazing viral videos, often addressing city councils across America with urgent pleas for services like public yachts. Beneath his comedic characters, JT is lowkey well-read. He and Joshua discuss Elmore Leonard, life before social media, David Foster Wallace after cancellation, Mary Karr's devastating poem about DFW, JFK's legendary status, and learning to own our issues and apologize for past mistakes as bullies and the ones bullied. Joshua talks about a Terry Tempest Williams book that made him cry for 3-5 seconds the night before and a photo book about bros he bought his girlfriend for Christmas.

Books Discussed Include:
CUBA LIBRE by Elmore Leonard
THE GREAT MOVIES by Roger Ebert
JFK: COMING OF AGE IN THE AMERICAN CENTURY 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall
JOE COLLEGE by Tom Perrotta
EROSION by Terry Tempest Williams
AMERICAN BACHELORS by Michael Rababy
INFINITE JEST, A SUPPOSEDLY FUN THING I'll NEVER DO AGAIN, BROOM OF THE SYSTEM etc by David Foster Wallace

We’re never going to have enough time to read all the books we want, but hearing about them from an interesting person is its own valid form of experiencing their stories. Turek Books invites comedians and writers on as guests to grab a few books off their shelves that they really want to tell the world about.


The compelling nature of chatting about the books we read becomes a springboard to revealing ourselves. The show’s subject matter ranges from inspirational favorites to petty grievances with all kinds of layers peeled back in between. Mostly, each guest returns to the good reads, those ones we can’t forget that rattle our souls for the better.


Joshua Turek is a comedian, poet, and factotum whose viral rants on social media have found a home talking about his great passion of reading books. Turek Books Podcast, because all the clever names were already taken.