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3.86 AVERAGE
3.86 AVERAGE
Some fans of Norm's humor will love this book. I just wasn't one who did. I was/am a huge Norm Macdonald fan. This book is completely him if you know a little about him in that it is absolute b.s. Norm did comedy for himself much more than for his audience. He loved milking a bad joke in Weekend Update and to him THAT was the joke. In his final "stand up" special he talked about his loving wife who didn't actually exist. Everything he did was an inside joke for him and whomever happened to catch on. This "memoir" is definitely in that vain. Almost none of what he writes is true though that somehow makes it more a Norm Macdonald story than if it had been true. So why did I give it 2 stars? Simply because I didn't like it. Nothing personal against him or anyone who loved it, it just wasn't my cup of tea. If you want to hear Norm spin a drug induced tale of a life he or someone COULD have had, check it out. There's a good chance you'll love it. If you want to learn about his ACTUAL life, this book isn't for that.
This is one of the funniest and without a doubt one of the dumbest books I've ever read. This is by no means a non fiction book, in fact I don't think any of the events that happened in this book are true. Like hiring assassins to take out Dave Atell or talking to god or selling his soul for two cans of PBR. Norm writes the way he talks very dry, very witty, and downright hilarious. I haven't laughed this much in a book in a while. However there were moments in this that I found very, very problematic. I get that Norm didn't care who he offends with his jokes but there are moments in the book that were a tough pill to swallow. Despite these moments overall I really enjoyed this. Norm's comedy isn't for everyone and its the same with this book. But if your a fan of his work then Based on a True Story is a must read.
funny
fast-paced
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
I think I read more than half of this aloud to my husband. It's absolutely hysterical in many parts.
If you're not really familiar with Norm, and can't hear his cadence and rhythm in your head, get the audiobook because you need to hear his voice deliver these lines. Now I'm picturing someone reading/listening to this without knowing who Adam Eget is and it's cracking me up.
If you're not really familiar with Norm, and can't hear his cadence and rhythm in your head, get the audiobook because you need to hear his voice deliver these lines. Now I'm picturing someone reading/listening to this without knowing who Adam Eget is and it's cracking me up.
Trigger warning:
Reference to sexual violence
Norm Macdonald has always been a scathingly unique voice in comedy and his sardonic wit that has all the bluntness of a meat cleaver translates well in his “memoir”.
Oscillating between liberal fabrication of real events and deliberately fictionalizing the rest, Norm paints the least flattering portrait of himself in stark contrast to the saccharine and overly flattering memoirs written by countless other comedians and celebrities. In doing so, he crafts a harrowing tale of his life that’s prose is equal parts Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson and genuinely hilarious, leaving me laughing aloud countless times throughout.
If you don’t find Norm’s style of humor totally objectionable (always an equal opportunist, the topics up for skewering are to name some: Swedes, prison rape, terminally ill children, Inuits, himself (endlessly and mercilessly), the trans community, and even his real life best friend Adam Eget, whose the butt of nearly every joke in the book, your mileage may severely vary. There was a couple instances for me when I just had to say “God damn it, Norm.”, and keep going.) you may find you’ll enjoy this book as much as I did.
"I've been convalescing in this suite in the Tropicana for about a week now. I got the same one I got almost twenty years ago, for the luck. Most of my purple flesh has turned yellow, and that means I'll be able to move soon. I relax in my big hotel bed and I reflect on my life and career. This turns out to be a huge mistake. Anxiety begins to crawl across my motionless body like a spider. So, instead, I begin to reflect on the life and career of Adam Sandler.
This calms me."
"There is the way things are and then the ways things appear, and it is the way things appear, even when false, that is often truest. If I am remembered, it will always be by the four years I spent at "Saturday Night Live" and, maybe even more than that, by the events surrounding my departure from that show. As long as SNL exists, then so do I.
When people come to see me do stand-up, it is because somewhere in their memory I live on SNL, dressed as a young Burt Reynolds, insisting Alex Trebek refer to me as Turd Ferguson. And they come to see me and I am old and fat and I don't mention SNL and I do my answering-machine joke and they are happily disappointed. After the show, they stand beside me and take pictures, the way you would with a donkey at the side of a road. They tell me they are big fans and they don't care what their girlfriends say. They understand me even though they know good and well that nobody else does. I'm dry, they say. The next time I come to their town, they don't show up."
Reference to sexual violence
Norm Macdonald has always been a scathingly unique voice in comedy and his sardonic wit that has all the bluntness of a meat cleaver translates well in his “memoir”.
Oscillating between liberal fabrication of real events and deliberately fictionalizing the rest, Norm paints the least flattering portrait of himself in stark contrast to the saccharine and overly flattering memoirs written by countless other comedians and celebrities. In doing so, he crafts a harrowing tale of his life that’s prose is equal parts Ernest Hemingway and Hunter S. Thompson and genuinely hilarious, leaving me laughing aloud countless times throughout.
If you don’t find Norm’s style of humor totally objectionable (always an equal opportunist, the topics up for skewering are to name some: Swedes, prison rape, terminally ill children, Inuits, himself (endlessly and mercilessly), the trans community, and even his real life best friend Adam Eget, whose the butt of nearly every joke in the book, your mileage may severely vary. There was a couple instances for me when I just had to say “God damn it, Norm.”, and keep going.) you may find you’ll enjoy this book as much as I did.
"I've been convalescing in this suite in the Tropicana for about a week now. I got the same one I got almost twenty years ago, for the luck. Most of my purple flesh has turned yellow, and that means I'll be able to move soon. I relax in my big hotel bed and I reflect on my life and career. This turns out to be a huge mistake. Anxiety begins to crawl across my motionless body like a spider. So, instead, I begin to reflect on the life and career of Adam Sandler.
This calms me."
"There is the way things are and then the ways things appear, and it is the way things appear, even when false, that is often truest. If I am remembered, it will always be by the four years I spent at "Saturday Night Live" and, maybe even more than that, by the events surrounding my departure from that show. As long as SNL exists, then so do I.
When people come to see me do stand-up, it is because somewhere in their memory I live on SNL, dressed as a young Burt Reynolds, insisting Alex Trebek refer to me as Turd Ferguson. And they come to see me and I am old and fat and I don't mention SNL and I do my answering-machine joke and they are happily disappointed. After the show, they stand beside me and take pictures, the way you would with a donkey at the side of a road. They tell me they are big fans and they don't care what their girlfriends say. They understand me even though they know good and well that nobody else does. I'm dry, they say. The next time I come to their town, they don't show up."
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Norm MacDonald himself. Words cannot describe the impact that Norm has had on my life, which I’m sure he would think is ridiculous, but it is true. Comedy transcends all feelings for me, and Norm was the best. I find that listening to him talk about his life, the ups and downs, the entirely true story that is written in this novel, it is comforting. Lots of things have happened to me, and are continuing to happen, but as long as Norm MacDonald remains, I will be at peace. Oh wait, the old fucker died.
funny
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced