Take a photo of a barcode or cover
joakley 's review for:
Based on a True Story: Not a Memoir
by Norm MacDonald
Norm MacDonald typically doesn’t care too much for the titles of his works. Consider the names of two of his stand-up specials – “Me Doing Stand-Up” and “Hitler’s Dog.” Although the title of his novel, Based on a True Story, Not a Memoir, might appear low effort, there is actually a lot going on in there. Norm unpacks that title with both a good sense of humor and a proficiency in the art of storytelling.
First of all, right in the introduction, he tells the reader that the book is so named because there isn’t any realistic way to tell a true story, not with the way our faulty memory works. Trying to tell something to be completely factually accurate is impossible, “It’s just no good.” While this is an interesting concept, it isn’t anything new or groundbreaking in and of itself. But in this case Norm puts a unique spin on it by making it the structure of a joke. Not just one contained joke, but everything in the novel. It’s all one joke, and it’s made up of many smaller jokes, and it relies on Norm’s ability to first of all be funny, but also to tell a coherent story driven by his comedic take on magical realism.
On the first point, there is good news, because this novel is very funny. Not small little giggles in your head funny, but take your glasses off and audibly laugh on the bus funny (I don’t know I take my glasses off when I laugh hard sometimes). (I’m flipping through the book right now, and there is just an obscene amount of hilarious scenes in here, they just keep coming and they always kill.) Part of the reason it can be so funny is because the format of the novel allows for Norm to paint a completely absurdist picture. He bribes his way onto SNL with morphine, he puts out a hit on Dave Attell so he can then date Sarah Silverman, and helps a terminally ill boy fulfill his wish of killing a baby seal. These and the rest of the hilarious scenes in the story all work the same way his stand-up comedy works. He puts you in a ridiculous setting, lets you settle in and accept the scenario, tells a good story, and pulls the rug out from under you, leaving you laughing and appreciating what has just happened.
One of my favorite instances of this was when Norm thinks he made a deal with the devil. He comes across some random guy who claims that he is the devil, and Norm signs over his immortal soul and two beers so he can win the heart of Sarah Silverman. Of course this doesn’t work, because it was just some random guy at some random bar, and Norm goes back and confronts the guy because he gave him a bum deal. The “devil” willingly gives back Norm’s soul, but says he can’t swing the two beers at the moment, he needs some more cash. Norm is bummed he didn’t get the girl, and he says that he will still continue to leave unanswered voicemails and yell outside her apartment, but, hey, “not everyone can say they beat the Devil.”
That scene and punchline really tickled me, but it also opens up the other side of why this novel is so enjoyable. While the idiot character Norm is so dumb that he thinks he outwitted the actual devil, that punchline still leaves the reader wondering about Norm’s personal demons (his love obsession, his drug problem, his gambling addiction) that have clearly not been conquered yet. Most of the jokes are pretty dark, or at least they are set in dark scenarios. Either Norm is gambling his life away, wasting away in jail (he never actually went to jail), drinking and drugging himself to death, or always failing to win the girl. All the while there is something on every single page to make you laugh. As these depressing events and hilarious jokes continue on and on, they begin to come together and reveal the structure of the novel as a whole.
This novel is about telling a story through jokes, and also by telling the story of a man’s life through emotions and imagery, not factual information. We aren’t getting a factual story, we are getting something that is based on the true story of Norm’s life, and the most important things in his life are jokes. As a kid, he would listen to and love every one of his dad’s jokes, and the one he tells in the beginning of the novel about the man who was losing his memory is absolute gold. But right after that, he says the only thing he liked more were his dad’s stories from when he was young. As much as Norm is a comedian, he is really a storyteller. And the dark stories and wry jokes that make up this novel make the reader begin to question what exactly jokes are for, what is their purpose?
If you have hung out with me in the past couple months, there is a good chance that you have heard me tell the moth joke. And if you haven’t heard me tell it, count your blessings. But this moth joke is one of Norm’s most well-known bits, and he includes it in this novel. It really has a different power to it when you read it rather than hear it, and there was an added bit in this version that gave the joke new significance for me. The moth goes on about how the he feels like he is trapped and paralyzed by a spider, and life is devouring him whole just as he hangs on by a thread and waits for the spider to consume him. This little extra bit made me realize just how dark and depressing the moth joke really is, but it is capped off by such a lighthearted punchline that you forget how dark it was because you are too busy laughing out loud. And that is what made me realize what jokes are for. Making you forget how dark it is because you are too busy laughing out loud.
Norm see jokes and stories as the same thing, so it is only natural that he made the story of his life one long joke. The character Norm reveals the things that the author Norm is most concerned about. He doesn’t want to be seen as some pompous ex-celebrity who thinks he is a big deal. So he makes the character a pompous ex-celebrity that you can ridicule, and he refuses to give insider scoop and SNL details that would essentially come off as showing off. Rather than concerning himself with those things, he concerns himself with simply being funny. While most of the story here cannot be taken as truth, there are still emotional truths scattered throughout that show his true character. How he grappled with gambling addiction, how he sees himself and the course of his career, his family past and his roots as a farm kid from Canada. All that stuff comes through emotionally, so you get a feel for what Norm’s life looked like without actually getting many facts about what happened during his life.
All this goes on while the story that we do get, while not historically accurate, is at all times entertaining and engaging. Norm’s romp across the country with his sidekick Adam Eget is like the comedian’s version of On the Road (but also way better, that book’s overrated). They go from scene to ridiculous scene, and despite the dark tones mentioned above, Norm’s prose is always lighthearted, like its skipping down the highway gleefully telling you a tale. His ability to paint all these various scenes, produce genuinely funny content, and keep an emotional tone running throughout it all makes for an easy and satisfying read.
To me, Norm’s stand-up has always been amazing because he is an amazingly skilled storyteller. So it was no surprise that his novel was just as high quality. If you are looking for a juicy celebrity memoir, do not read this book. If you are looking for a novel with a unique voice, hilarious stories, and material that will make you forget how dark things are, then you should absolutely read this book.
First of all, right in the introduction, he tells the reader that the book is so named because there isn’t any realistic way to tell a true story, not with the way our faulty memory works. Trying to tell something to be completely factually accurate is impossible, “It’s just no good.” While this is an interesting concept, it isn’t anything new or groundbreaking in and of itself. But in this case Norm puts a unique spin on it by making it the structure of a joke. Not just one contained joke, but everything in the novel. It’s all one joke, and it’s made up of many smaller jokes, and it relies on Norm’s ability to first of all be funny, but also to tell a coherent story driven by his comedic take on magical realism.
On the first point, there is good news, because this novel is very funny. Not small little giggles in your head funny, but take your glasses off and audibly laugh on the bus funny (I don’t know I take my glasses off when I laugh hard sometimes). (I’m flipping through the book right now, and there is just an obscene amount of hilarious scenes in here, they just keep coming and they always kill.) Part of the reason it can be so funny is because the format of the novel allows for Norm to paint a completely absurdist picture. He bribes his way onto SNL with morphine, he puts out a hit on Dave Attell so he can then date Sarah Silverman, and helps a terminally ill boy fulfill his wish of killing a baby seal. These and the rest of the hilarious scenes in the story all work the same way his stand-up comedy works. He puts you in a ridiculous setting, lets you settle in and accept the scenario, tells a good story, and pulls the rug out from under you, leaving you laughing and appreciating what has just happened.
One of my favorite instances of this was when Norm thinks he made a deal with the devil. He comes across some random guy who claims that he is the devil, and Norm signs over his immortal soul and two beers so he can win the heart of Sarah Silverman. Of course this doesn’t work, because it was just some random guy at some random bar, and Norm goes back and confronts the guy because he gave him a bum deal. The “devil” willingly gives back Norm’s soul, but says he can’t swing the two beers at the moment, he needs some more cash. Norm is bummed he didn’t get the girl, and he says that he will still continue to leave unanswered voicemails and yell outside her apartment, but, hey, “not everyone can say they beat the Devil.”
That scene and punchline really tickled me, but it also opens up the other side of why this novel is so enjoyable. While the idiot character Norm is so dumb that he thinks he outwitted the actual devil, that punchline still leaves the reader wondering about Norm’s personal demons (his love obsession, his drug problem, his gambling addiction) that have clearly not been conquered yet. Most of the jokes are pretty dark, or at least they are set in dark scenarios. Either Norm is gambling his life away, wasting away in jail (he never actually went to jail), drinking and drugging himself to death, or always failing to win the girl. All the while there is something on every single page to make you laugh. As these depressing events and hilarious jokes continue on and on, they begin to come together and reveal the structure of the novel as a whole.
This novel is about telling a story through jokes, and also by telling the story of a man’s life through emotions and imagery, not factual information. We aren’t getting a factual story, we are getting something that is based on the true story of Norm’s life, and the most important things in his life are jokes. As a kid, he would listen to and love every one of his dad’s jokes, and the one he tells in the beginning of the novel about the man who was losing his memory is absolute gold. But right after that, he says the only thing he liked more were his dad’s stories from when he was young. As much as Norm is a comedian, he is really a storyteller. And the dark stories and wry jokes that make up this novel make the reader begin to question what exactly jokes are for, what is their purpose?
If you have hung out with me in the past couple months, there is a good chance that you have heard me tell the moth joke. And if you haven’t heard me tell it, count your blessings. But this moth joke is one of Norm’s most well-known bits, and he includes it in this novel. It really has a different power to it when you read it rather than hear it, and there was an added bit in this version that gave the joke new significance for me. The moth goes on about how the he feels like he is trapped and paralyzed by a spider, and life is devouring him whole just as he hangs on by a thread and waits for the spider to consume him. This little extra bit made me realize just how dark and depressing the moth joke really is, but it is capped off by such a lighthearted punchline that you forget how dark it was because you are too busy laughing out loud. And that is what made me realize what jokes are for. Making you forget how dark it is because you are too busy laughing out loud.
Norm see jokes and stories as the same thing, so it is only natural that he made the story of his life one long joke. The character Norm reveals the things that the author Norm is most concerned about. He doesn’t want to be seen as some pompous ex-celebrity who thinks he is a big deal. So he makes the character a pompous ex-celebrity that you can ridicule, and he refuses to give insider scoop and SNL details that would essentially come off as showing off. Rather than concerning himself with those things, he concerns himself with simply being funny. While most of the story here cannot be taken as truth, there are still emotional truths scattered throughout that show his true character. How he grappled with gambling addiction, how he sees himself and the course of his career, his family past and his roots as a farm kid from Canada. All that stuff comes through emotionally, so you get a feel for what Norm’s life looked like without actually getting many facts about what happened during his life.
All this goes on while the story that we do get, while not historically accurate, is at all times entertaining and engaging. Norm’s romp across the country with his sidekick Adam Eget is like the comedian’s version of On the Road (but also way better, that book’s overrated). They go from scene to ridiculous scene, and despite the dark tones mentioned above, Norm’s prose is always lighthearted, like its skipping down the highway gleefully telling you a tale. His ability to paint all these various scenes, produce genuinely funny content, and keep an emotional tone running throughout it all makes for an easy and satisfying read.
To me, Norm’s stand-up has always been amazing because he is an amazingly skilled storyteller. So it was no surprise that his novel was just as high quality. If you are looking for a juicy celebrity memoir, do not read this book. If you are looking for a novel with a unique voice, hilarious stories, and material that will make you forget how dark things are, then you should absolutely read this book.