The most recent installment of The Franklin Park Reading Series, a fantastic monthly event bringing important writers out for intimate readings at the Prospect Park-area Franklin Park Bar and Beer Garden was packed, and for good reason. The headliners this week were Gary Lutz and Sam Lipsyte reading from Divorcer and the short story "The Climber Room," respectively. The full and sizable room was packed with an enthusiastic audience excited to be in the presence of such great minds. We sat down with both Lutz and Lipsyte after their readings.

The novelist on fiction's missing funny bone

James Murphy met Sam Lipsyte when the celebrated novelist went by the name Sam Shit, and Murphy was the sound engineer for his band Dung Beetle. Last night, the two old friends took the stage at Joe’s Pub for a free-form discussion which revealed, among other things, that in the LCD Soundsystem song “New York I Love You,” Murphy consciously made the decision to tweak his voice to sound like the perennially downtrodden Kermit the Frog. This is awesome because it brings new dimension to this independently inspired video (in which Murphy appears). A few more choice details from the evening’s chat after the jump.