North Carolina to Brooklyn via Tokyo: Comedian Tim Anderson

August 13, 2012 By Samantha Samel For Brooklyn Daily Eagle
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If Brooklynites have pride in the multi-cultural aspects of their hometown in the 21st century, they might have no more appropriate spokesman than Tim Anderson, who was born and raised in North Carolina. His hilarious style and point of view break out in his 2011 travel memoir, “Tune In Tokyo: The Gaijin Diaries, and in See Tim Blog

 

In his comical book, Anderson recounts 16 of the most humorous, memorable adventures that ensued during his stay in Japan. He was approaching thirty when he made the bold decision to teach English in Tokyo. Soon after the big move, he began emailing his friends and family, recreating for them some of the bizarre situations and individuals he encountered abroad; when friends encouraged he to compile his stories into a travel memoir, he began writing what became “Tune In Tokyo” and filled it with unexpected, laugh-out-loud moments.

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Anderson and his now-husband Jimmy moved to Greenpoint from Raleigh, N.C., in 2005. As he approaches his seven-year anniversary of living in Brooklyn, Anderson works at MTM Publishing, a book packaging firm in Chelsea while working on his next book project — “a gay diabetic memoir.”

Anderson explained: “I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 15, and I was diagnosed with homosexuality when I was born, so why not cover both? It’s a comedy!”

“I imagine that growing up gay in suburban Raleigh was probably much like growing up gay in many places in the country in the 80s — until the past decade, it seems everyone was totally freaked out by the gays,” Anderson told BrooklynBookBeat.com, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle’s book blog.

“I come from a very religious family, so there was all the fear of damnation and hellfire to deal with. [But] my parents, unlike a lot of Christians in this country, actually used their faith as a way of understanding and coming to terms with the whole thing rather than shutting the conversation down.”

Anderson loves his new hometown, and as a writer he loves its bookstores. What’s his favorite?

“Definitely Spoonbill in Williamsburg,” he said. “It’s great for browsing and you always find something you can’t believe was published but you’re glad was. Also, it’s very important to me for stores I shop in to have kitty cats for you to ogle, and Spoonbill has that.”

Click through for the full BrooklynBookBeat Q&A with Anderson.

 

 


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