Drew Magary

Andrew Schuyler Magary (born October 7, 1976) is an American journalist, humor columnist, podcast host, and novelist. He was a correspondent for GQ, has written three novels, and formerly was a long-time columnist for Deadspin. He currently writes for Defector Media and SFGate and is the author of The Night the Lights Went Out: A Memoir of Life with Brain Damage, a memoir chronicling his brain injury and subsequent recovery.

Early life Andrew Schuyler Magary was born to American parents in Wahroonga, a suburb of Sydney, while his father was working in Australia. He moved with his family to the U.S. at the age of four months and grew up in Minnesota In addition to the main Deadspin site, he also contributed to its culture sub-site The Concourse and humor sub-site Adequate Man. His annual "Why Your Team Sucks" columns were featured on Deadspin and are currently featured on Defector, in which he roasts every NFL franchise and mocks the weaknesses of both the team and its city, including the team he supports, the Minnesota Vikings. He announced his departure from the site via a post on his personal Kinja page on October 31, 2019.

Magary has worked frequently as a correspondent for GQ magazine. In 2013 Magary interviewed Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson for the magazine and the article became widely covered for several comments made by Robertson, particularly concerning homosexuality. He has also written articles for NBC, Maxim, Rolling Stone, Comedy Central, New York, ESPN, Yahoo!, Playboy, The Atlantic, and Penthouse.

Chopped In 2012, Magary applied to appear on an amateurs episode of the cooking competition show Chopped. He posted the answers to the application's questions in an installment of his humor column on Deadspin.

In April 2015, Magary appeared on the ninth episode of Chopped'''s 22nd season, which featured other amateur home cooks, and won the episode's $10,000 prize. After the episode aired, his Deadspin colleague and former NFL player Chris Kluwe posted a satirical review of the episode.

Health issue and accident In December 2018, Magary suffered a health crisis, compounded by an accidental fall. He said later: "Nearly five months ago, I suffered a severe brain hemorrhage while I was just standing around at a work party. When I collapsed I fractured my skull. That fracture tore through the inner ear on the right side of my head, rendering it inoperable for good." On May 16, 2019, Magary authored an editorial which laid out the details of his accident and his subsequent recovery. On October 12, 2021, he published a memoir, The Night the Lights Went Out: A Memoir of Life after Brain Damage, about his experience with the injury and recovery.

Post-Deadspin From August 2019 to September 2020, Magary wrote about politics and culture for Gen, a Medium publication. Since April 2020, Magary has been a columnist at SF Gate, a digital sister-site of the San Francisco Chronicle.

Magary and other former Deadspin writers formed Defector Media in 2020. Through Defector, Magary co-hosts a podcast, The Distraction with David Roth.