# TLPP: Brain Tumor, Lady Gaga, Novel! w/ Barry Maher

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lions-of-liberty-network-169417/tlpp-brain-tumor-lady-gaga-novel-w-barry-maher
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/lions-of-liberty-network-169417/tlpp-brain-tumor-lady-gaga-novel-w-barry-maher.md
Podcast: [Lions of Liberty Network](https://stenobird.com/podcast/lions-of-liberty-network-169417)
Published: 2026-09-01T19:59:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/ENTSL1882155251.mp3
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/ENTSL1882155251.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/lions-of-liberty-network-169417/episodes/tlpp-brain-tumor-lady-gaga-novel-w-barry-maher
Duration seconds: 1956

## Resource

Barry Maher spent 20 years as a corporate speaker and wrote six nonfiction books. Then he discovered he had a brain tumor the size of a baseball. He woke up from surgery with Lady Gaga playing on loop in his head and a complete, fully formed novel already there — vivid as a memory, not a dream. Two years later, that novel became The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon, published at age 76. He's also in remission and can tell time again. We talked about: the moment on an Asian cruise when he couldn't read a clock and didn't know why; why his wife figured out something was wrong before he did (he was putting his clothes on backwards); introducing a ship's captain on stage and then asking him what he did for a living 15 minutes later; the doctor's clock-drawing test and the nurse who wouldn't let him go to the bathroom alone; why a brain cancer diagnosis is like an impending hanging — it concentrates the mind; the novel that emerged from surgery (complete with open crypts, dark spells, sudden death, and the Ralph Lauren version of the Manson family); why The Great Gatsby and Moby Dick are the same story; and the Lady Gaga song that played on loop in his head for three straight days (it's "Always Remember Us This Way" from A Star Is Born — he was not a fan before, and he is definitely not one now). Get the book → The Great Dick and the Dysfunctional Demon by Barry Maher https://amzn.to/4xqVD4y  TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 — Intro — who is Barry Maher? 0:24 — Six nonfiction books, 20 years of corporate speaking — and now a novel 1:18 — The speaking business: cold calling, articles, PR, and repeat clients 2:37 — Lou bombing at a Christmas party and waiting to get paid after 4:21 — The speaking escape hatch: "and the point of that was..." 5:41 — His first presentation: an h…

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## Transcript

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