Tucker Max may be the Internet's most despicable character. And he's proud of it.
Max founded the Web site TuckerMax.com, a collection of first-person stories describing his life of drinking, sexual exploits and enough general debauchery to make even the boldest frat boy blush.
As Max says at the top of his Web page, "My name is Tucker Max, and I am an a-hole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging d--head."
The Web site began on a bet when Max was challenged to put a "date application" on the Internet, and the site grew from there.
This all happened while Max was studying at Duke Law School, which he attended after graduating from the University of Chicago in three years.
This year, Max published "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell," a book that includes several of the Web site's stories, in addition to previously unseen tales of mayhem and depravity.
The book, which the New York Times called "highly entertaining and thoroughly reprehensible," has attracted national fame, and Max was at Boston University (BU) on Saturday to sign books and answer questions as a part of his current book tour.
"It's all true," Max said with frustration in response to the oft-asked question regarding how much creative license he actually takes in his stories.
Reading Max's book or Web site, it's not surprising that people might doubt some of his more outlandish stories. But a few hours in person with the man goes along way to dispel any doubts. In the flesh, Max is as brash, vulgar and insulting as in his writings, and fans at BU lapped up all those characteristics.
As the signing wound down, Max pulled out a note that he had received from one of his female fans. "I want you to f--k me. Love, Rachel," Max read aloud to a chorus of laughs. A phone number was included. Max promptly asked a member of his entourage what the girl looked like. He had no qualms about either flirting with or insulting any of the 200 or so students who turned out.
Many of the students were female, which raises perhaps the most intriguing question in the Max saga: How do women actually like this guy? After all, he's the same guy who recounted on Saturday a story including the words, "the next thing I knew, I was neck-deep in this awful wildebeest."
And yet, women - especially women in college - are some of Max's biggest fans. According to Max, "40 percent of my fans are women."
"I've done some s--t I shouldn't haven't done," Max admits. "I mean, I had a friend hide in the closet and film me having anal sex. It turned out to be pretty funny, but it's not something I'd recommend anyone do." Aside from that minor concession, Max firmly defends everything he's written as both entertaining and honest.
Tufts, like most college campuses, is home to many Tucker Max fans.
"I've wasted a lot of time [on TuckerMax.com] that I'll never get back," said junior Charlie Bonello, who discovered the Web site during a summer internship. He promptly bought "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell" upon its release.
"He's hilarious," Bonello said. "He's really funny because he does things that a lot of people hope to do."
Freshman Julie Gomstym owns the book and attended the signing.
"He's a very good writer. He really puts you in the situation, and you can see what's going on in his head," Gomstym said.
Gomstym is not bothered by Max's misogyny.
"Well obviously he's very degrading towards women, but like he says, he's a self-proclaimed asshole. All these women willfully sleep with him," said Gomstym, who nonetheless admitted that "a couple of my female friends don't find his stories that entertaining."
Freshman William "Fax" Herbert knows Max personally. During his senior year in high school, Herbert asked Max to speak at his graduation.
Max agreed, but when parents and the school predictably refused, Max sent remarks for Herbert to read in his stead. The two have remained in contact, and Herbert aids Max in designing new Web sites.
"He has a short temper with people he doesn't know, but he's actually a pretty regular guy," Herbert said. "I mean, he's living the dream."
"The dream" doesn't seem like it will be ending any time in the near future. Max regularly leaves the book signings on his tour to go to after-parties with college students, often boasting of the ensuing groupie conquests on his Web site.
Max said that he has another book planned for the fall of 2007 and projects in the works in both film and television.
