SpeakeasyDC’s podcast features my story, “Man of Letters,” about an ill-gotten victory in a Scrabble tournament.

Adam’s reading was by far the most hilarious. He grew an odd pre-teen obsession with his guinea pig, who was then featured in all of his art projects, videos for school and fun, and research papers for class.

Ruben was able to tap into the universal experiences of graduate students to garner laughs from an audience all too familiar with being “exhausted, overworked, under-appreciated, and buried in shit.”

Please Don’t Beat Me Up:  Stories and Artifacts from Adolescence was nominated for Favorite Solo Performance!

Three of our four most popular were in Adam Ruben’s “Experimental Error” series.

Page 7:  Adam Ruben, a molecular biologist and comedian who graduated from Concord in 1997, was doing a stand-up show called “Please Don’t Beat Me Up!” in Wilmington when he was contacted by Concord to come back to his old school to speak to the 9th grade class.

I never went to Grad School, but I can appreciate the humor in this book. It is very funny and I laughed out loud several times.

Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School is a hilarious look at the downs and downs of being a terminal student. About 6 people in the world have any idea what you’re researching, and only 2 of them care.

Adam J. Ruben, a comedian, writer and scientist, has been called a nerd for most of his life. Does he fit the bill? Probably.

Adam Ruben, Ph.D. has the perfect antidote for the stressed doctoral candidate—humor. Ruben, the author of “Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School,” travels to various graduate schools and conferences talking to grad students about their experiences.

Starts at 16:20.

The 2011 Fringe Wilmington Festival runs Sept. 21-25, and we’re chatting with some of the artists, starting with Adam Ruben and his one-man show.

[Listen to the podcast.]

I had the pleasure of attending Adam’s one-man show, Please Don’t Beat Me Up, at the Capital Fringe Festival in July. Hilarious, insightful, and even sometimes poignant, Adam’s stand-up involves reclaiming awkward childhood and teen moments by turning them into comedy.  Likewise, Adam’s book, Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to Go to Grad School, is unequivocally one of the funniest books I’ve ever read.

I met up with Adam Ruben who is a local comic and author of the book Surviving Your Stupid, Stupid Decision to go to Grad School on an extremely sizzling Sunday over at Teaism in Dupont Circle.