
Lucky Loser
Adventures in Tennis and Comedy
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Narrated by:
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Michael Kosta
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By:
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Michael Kosta
About this listen
From a host of The Daily Show and stand-up comic, Michael Kosta, comes a wildly funny and insightful memoir about his unlikely journey from professional tennis player (#864 in the world) to professional comedian (there’s no ranking system in comedy but he’s probably . . . top 50?).
Before Michael Kosta was performing stand-up comedy specials and hosting The Daily Show, he was a professional tennis “star,” reaching the lofty heights of the #864 ranked men’s singles player in the world. Stop laughing. That’s better than your world ranking. As a tennis pro, Kosta traveled across the globe, competing in such exotic locales as the Netherlands, Tokyo, and even rural Illinois before deciding to put down his racket and pursue a more stable and predictable career: comedy.
In a completely unexpected and wild journey through the backwaters of professional tennis, Kosta shows the unlikely ways life on the court prepared him for life in front of a microphone. Like comedy, tennis is brutally competitive, and most people lose at it. Unlike comedy, no one in tennis puts a gun on the table as they count out your earnings in twenty-dollar bills at the end of the night.
And then there are the things that have more to do with what happens to you—and what you end up learning—as part of growing up. Topics include: how to properly discard an unwanted European hard-boiled egg, giving CPR to your dead grandpa, cringe-worthy “sex” in the Red Light District, crying so hard in a car that strangers call the cops, and also happy things like what it feels like when your dreams come true.
From misadventures in tennis to the humbling setbacks of comedy, Lucky Loser is a heart-filled story of making your own luck, the universal experience of failure, and the many ways in which we all inevitably lose on the way to success.
©2025 Michael Kosta (P)2025 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
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- By Kindle Customer on 04-05-25
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The History of Sketch Comedy
- A Journey Through the Art and Craft of Humor
- By: Keegan-Michael Key, Elle Key
- Narrated by: Keegan-Michael Key
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Authors Keegan-Michael Key and Elle Key build on the popularity of their 2022 Webby Award-winning podcast and delve deeper into the world of sketch, helped along with new essays created expressly for the book by comedy greats.
By: Keegan-Michael Key, and others
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Northern Ireland, 1975. Violence has erupted on the streets of Belfast. After years as a guerilla army, the IRA is clashing with Loyalist gangs and heavily armed British soldiers. But the Troubles have spilled beyond the island: An ocean away, in the heart of Philadelphia’s Irish enclave, a teenage girl finds a letter in her mailbox. Inside is a bullet, and the message is clear: The next one is for you or your family. As reporter Ali Watkins reveals, the conflict in Northern Ireland might have gone very differently had it not been for a small ragtag band of gunrunners in the United States.
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You won't want to miss the explosive insights and unfiltered perspective in legendary broadcaster Anthony Cumia’s latest book. In his much-anticipated second book, Spare Me, radio personality and podcaster Anthony Cumia returns, unleashing a scorching and unapologetic commentary that spans the spectrum from politics to entertainment, while sparing no particular individual deserving of his legendary wrath.
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It was a rare and stunning reversal: after the judges at the 2024 Paris Olympics determined that Jordan had rightfully scored third place for her performance—following a successful challenge by her coach—she earned the bronze medal. Later, Jordan’s euphoria turned to devastation when the Court of Arbitration for Sport stripped her of that medal based on nothing but semantics. Jordan called the ruling, “One of the most challenging moments of my career. Believe me when I say I have had many.”
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Shortly before dusk on November 3, 1870, just as the ferryboat El Capitan was pulling away from its slip into San Francisco Bay, a woman clad in black emerged from the shadows and strode across the crowded deck. Reaching under her veil, she drew a small pistol and aimed it directly at a well-dressed man sitting quietly with his wife and children. The woman fired a single bullet into his chest. “I did it and I don’t deny it,” she said when arrested shortly thereafter. “He ruined me and my daughter.”
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What does it take to be truly great? In Never Stop, UConn Basketball Coach Dan Hurley and acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Ian O’Connor dive deep into this question. After leading the UConn Huskies to back-to-back NCAA Championships, Hurley faced a life-changing decision: stay and build on his legacy with the college players he loved or take the leap to coach a legendary NBA team. Here, Hurley brings you inside that pivotal moment and shares the powerful lessons that helped him build a championship culture, offering practical strategies that apply far beyond basketball.
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Credit Suisse was a 166-year-old bastion of global banking. But a veneer of high-class service disguised a darker, much dirtier reality. From its sterile Zurich headquarters, Credit Suisse banked dictators and drug dealers, hid stolen Nazi gold, and helped corrupt bankers fleece the firm's own clients of billions of dollars. Its top executives oversaw a global operation that laundered money for autocrats; they hired spies to track one another through the cobbled streets of the Swiss financial capital; and they helped clients hide their money from the world's tax authorities.
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Funny Because It's True
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In 1988, a band of University of Wisconsin–Madison undergrads and dropouts began publishing a free weekly newspaper with no editorial stance other than “You Are Dumb.” Just wanting to make a few bucks, they wound up becoming the bedrock of modern satire over the course of twenty years, changing the way we consume both our comedy and our news. The Onion served as a hilarious and brutally perceptive satire of the absurdity and horrors of late twentieth-century American life and grew into a global phenomenon.
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Pronoun Trouble
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With his trademark humor and flair, bestselling linguist John McWhorter busts the myths and shares the history of the most controversial language topic of our times: pronouns.
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Entertaining and enlightening
- By marina haan on 04-03-25
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Lorne
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Over the fifty years that Lorne Michaels has been at the helm of Saturday Night Live, he has become a revered and inimitable presence in the entertainment world. He’s a tastemaker, a mogul, a withholding father figure, a genius spotter of talent, a shrewd businessman, a name-dropper, a raconteur, the inspiration for Dr. Evil, the winner of more than a hundred Emmys—and, essentially, a mystery. Generations of writers and performers have spent their lives trying to figure him out, by turns demonizing and lionizing him.
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Great read but several weird mispronunciations
- By Larry Carlat on 02-20-25
By: Susan Morrison
What listeners say about Lucky Loser
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Anonymous User
- 03-28-25
Honest and Hilarious
I really enjoyed listening to Kosta’s look back at his journey from childhood to professional tennis and into comedy. I could certainly relate to his description of his family and appreciated his willingness to share both the funny, loving, and unflattering moments of growing up in Michigan and trying to make it in professional tennis. While it may not win any literary awards, the book has an honest conversation quality that I loved. Truthfully, I was ready for more chapters diving into LA life, show business, tennis gigs after comedy success, and family. Sign me up for the next book!
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- Peter Verswyvelen
- 03-22-25
Loving this!
I'm halfway the audiobook, but as a former amateur tennis player, father a pro-aspiring tennis pro son that is going to do college tennis, and partner of a stand-up comedian, this is right up my alley!
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- Selwyn S Kelley
- 03-19-25
Great storyteller
Great storyteller with good reflection and life lessons learned. Enjoyed the listen and the tennis stories.
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- Shannon P. Duffy
- 04-01-25
Enjoyable, Honest, Funny and Unexpected
I’m a big fan of Michael Kosta, so I started off biased in his favor. But this book delivered so much more than I expected. Like a well crafted joke where every word matters, this memoir is a carefully curated series of memorable stories. They add up to the life lessons that launched a career. The thrill for me was how Kosta managed to retain the verbal cadence and delivery that gives his comedy its distinct brand while adapting it to the very different task of narrating an audiobook.
The glimpse into the sprawling and difficult world of professional tennis was enlightening. It’s a fun ride because Kosta is unflinchingly candid about his flaws and screw ups, and unafraid to boast about the best moments. You come to realize that he worked hard to get this book right, and for me that was the overarching lesson. Hard work pays off. Self assessment and honest introspection is essential to finding one’s path. And an athlete’s awareness about how one can blow a big lead can become a comedian’s secret to maintaining his cool when the gig of a lifetime finally comes along.
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- Ola Pukstad
- 03-16-25
This book is actually about tennis
I enjoyed it, but I didn’t think it would be a book about Costas tennis career 😆
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- RGB
- 03-31-25
Funny guy
I know Kosta from The Daily Show and find him very funny. I also play a lot of tennis, so was intrigued by his pro career. Kosta had/has a wonderfully supportive family. He also could use a smidge of humility.
But the book is entertaining and he is a talented comic.
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- Jason Fosse
- 03-13-25
good listen
Great story teller all through out the book. He told both the good and the bad!
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- Scott S.
- 03-15-25
Enjoyed it
That narrator guy’s Kosta impression got a little grating after a while but I still enjoyed it.
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- DIYflyer
- 03-28-25
Very funny and easy to listen to
Great stories and flowed really well. I took me just a few days to listen to the entire book. Growing up playing tennis the stories hit home.
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- Christine
- 03-20-25
I expected more humor
I listened to this audible because I like Michael Kosta on the Daily Show. I realize he’s playing a character on the show and I did not expect that character in his biography. His life story, until the age of 45, is moderately interesting. He owns his victim mentality and arrogance. He also makes a few apologies for his bad behavior.As a sober person myself, I don’t think he should have outed his sister who apparently struggles with alcoholism.
Overall, I unfortunately, do not recommend this book
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