If you’re an avid watcher of The Daily Show, you might recognize the face of Michael Kosta, who has been a correspondent for the political satire program since 2017, and a host beginning this year. What you may not know? Had things gone differently, this funny man might’ve been better known for hitting forehands instead.
And Kosta will soon detail his self-described “strange path” from a failed tennis pro to television comedian in a new book, Lucky Loser, which will release in 2025.
In announcing the aptly-named memoir on Monday, the 45-year-old told People magazine that his is a “funny and human story that I think people will connect with.”
“I wrote this book because the most common question I get is ‘How did you go from pro tennis to comedy?,'” Kosta says. “Also I had to remind myself how it happened because it is a strange path.”
In 1998-01, the Michigander posted a decorated playing decorated career at the University of Illinois, where he played for coach (and now, Australian Open tournament director) Craig Tiley.
A brief foray on the ITF circuit from 2002-04, peaking at a ranking of No. 864, before he became an assistant coach at the University of Michigan. It was there that he honed his love for comedy, performing in night clubs, before relocating to Los Angeles.
Though his playing career was short, tennis is never too far from Kosta’s mind. He hosts a podcast, Tennis Anyone, where he chats about the sport, and this year, flitted around the grounds of the US Open conducting interviews and appearing on Tennis Channel. He also hostsWarm and Fuzzy, the Tennis Channel show where players “unwind, take a break from the tour and explain what makes them feel … warm and fuzzy.”
And the lessons he learned from the sport influenced his life, he says.
“Pro tennis to pro comedy seems insane now that I think about it—but what’s so fascinating about life, to me, is that when you chase down a goal you might get there. You might achieve it,” Kosta tells People. “Or, and this is often more interesting, you might end up some place totally unexpected—which will be more fun and more rewarding because ultimately where you landed was a total surprise.”
