A former Obama speechwriter learned to surf with his Joe Rogan-loving brother-in-law. Here’s what happened next.

David Litt, who wrote speeches and jokes for President Barack Obama, grew up in Manhattan and says he was raised to hate on New Jersey.

Naturally it was a Jersey girl he ended up marrying, and it was Asbury Park where the couple landed during the COVID lockdown.

Not that naturally, especially in his 30s, Litt took to the waves, learning to surf as an adult, and, in the process, learning to be pals with Matt, his Joe Rogan-loving, two-motorcycle owning brother-in-law.

That left the humorist Litt with more than enough material for his fun yet sneaky-deep new memoir It’s Only Drowning: A True Story of Learning to Surf and the Search for Common Ground, published by Gallery Books.

This mismatched Jersey Shore bromance amid the waves chronicles the over-thinking Litt learning to leave it all behind and just surf in Asbury and Hawaii, while pondering how people from one bubble can connect with people from another, rather than fortify against them.

“This isn’t a story about one person learning to surf,” he said. “It’s about two people trying to figure out if they can become friends. It opened up the story for me as a writer.”

It seemed more of a big deal to Litt, than to Matt, who in that surfer way of a Jersey Shore local is more inclined to take things in stride.

“The only thing harder than learning to surf in my 30s was making a friend in my 30s,” Litt said.

The result was a new obsession, and a tentative then legit friendship with his not-as-scary-as-Litt-assumed brother in law. (Litt worried that the decal of a skull and a lightning bolt on the rear window of Matt’s truck could be affiliated with a right wing militia; it turns out it was from a surf shop.)

If the world seemed divided back at the book’s end in November 2023, it’s only gotten “so much worse,” Litt said.

“This is a small story about me falling off surfboards. I’m a surfer now. While I was living the story and surfing with Matt, Joe Rogan’s biggest fan, Joe Rogan became the biggest thing in the 2024 election,” he said.

The book leaves you wondering, what exactly does Matt think about all this (in general, he’s thinking about it a lot less than Litt), and what did he finally think when he read the detailed narrative of how hard it was for his brother-in-law to imagine being friends over a political and cultural divide?

Turns out, Matt was cool with it. He read the book in a night, fact-checked one small detail, and thought the book was interesting.

“I don’t think he thought it was weird or flattering,” Litt said. “We get along, we’re friends. I thought he would have been surprised by all of the inner monologue of it. Matt picks up on stuff.”

The book includes all the excruciating details of learning to surf as an adult, his second-guessing of various instructors, the process of learning to trust how waves feel, or seem, or might turn out, a quest that ultimately took him to surfing’s ultimate proving ground, Hawaii’s north shore.

But it also provides a roadmap to relating to others, within families and across divides. He learned from Matt how to be a little less judgmental, a little less inclined to analyze. No time, when the waves are rolling in. Things are simpler on the edge of the continent.

“I think many of us feel that we have a very unpleasant choice when it comes to family members or friends who have views we deeply disagree with: we can either have no contact with them, or lie to ourselves about things that run counter to our values,” Litt said.

“I now believe that’s a false choice. If you spend time with people, you can have a baseline level of mutual respect on a personal level.”

Also, Jersey shore locals aren’t as scary as the Manhattan-raised Litt originally thought. They’re just more relaxed, maybe.

The author of two previous books Thanks Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years, and Democracy in One Book or Less: How It Works, Why It Doesn’t, and Why Fixing It Is Easier Than You Think, Litt said he’s hearing a lot from readers with the same basic story from their own lives.

“This book, what I hear all the time, is people who have someone in their life who they feel they are no longer close to, because of politics and because everything feels like politics,” Litt said. “What I would say, is find something else to talk about. That’s ok. I wouldn’t have said that before.”

Favorite beach: Asbury Park dog beach.

Favorite summer breakfast: Straight up everything bagel, not toasted, cream cheese from Asbury Roastery.

Your idea of a perfect beach day: Long summer day where you get two low tides on the same day, three to four foot waves, two good surf sessions in.

Perfect night? I love when the Stone Pony summer stage has a concert, to walk the boardwalk, and do the loop on Cookman. You’re hearing the echoes of really good live music. That’s a very Asbury Park experience.

Best Shore sandwich: Pumpernickel bagel from Bagel Masters in Shrewsbury with chicken salad and slice of tomato.

Ice cream/water ice order? Cookman Creamery’s lemon cookie: lemon ice cream with vanilla Oreos.

When summer approaches, I feel: Excited.

It wouldn’t be the Jersey Shore without: Springsteen. I feel like there’s an artist who loves a place and tells the story of that place. We have that.

Best thing for kids: Go to the dog beach. It’s like a giant zoo for children.

Surfing or fishing? Surfing. I was trying to get into fishing. Caught the world’s smallest fluke.

Sunrise or sunset? Sunset. I have to get up early for surfing. It’s not fair.

Shore pet peeve? People from out of town take not blocking driveways very creatively.

The Shore could be improved if: The one thing I miss from growing up in New York City is really good regional Chinese food.