A True Story That Goes Beyond a Memoir: An Inspiring Tale of Real-Life Experiences

Cascadian: An Ok read, pretty funny in places. A couple of interesting characters such as the gullible side kick ("assistant") he obtained. Which he kicked a few times.

United States on Oct 26, 2023

Alejandro Farina: 5 thumbs up

Canada on Oct 24, 2023

Gregory: Very well written book by the greatest comedian of our generation.

Canada on Sep 30, 2023

DL: I had $15 to my name and only two choices as to how to spend it, either would lead to an interesting experience. I chose this book because there is always a long line under the Queensboro bridge. Anyway, this book, especially the very last chapter, is classic Norm. There’s truth at the heart of it. I’m so sad that Norm is gone, mostly because now I can’t get this book signed.

United States on Sep 04, 2023

Amazon Customer: This is one of the funniest books I've ever read, but is also just a great work of literature. So zany and off-beat and yet heartfelt and philosophical, just like the best of Norm's comedy. I read that he had actually planned to focus more on writing than standup in his later years, but it looks like this is the only book we'll ever get from him. At least he made it a great one.

United States on Aug 30, 2023

Kyle Konze: I regard Norm as one of the best comedians ever. He never listened to upper management at SNL to "Stop making OJ jokes" (Don Ohlmeyer) and he was always just him. The book emulates with some degree of "fish storyness" that, and much more, and I think it makes it even better.

Think about this, Norm, who is a guy that is going to say what he thinks, and NOT CARE what others think about his comedy (man, what a trait to have) hosted the following shows, all offending people along the way...he is a comedian! You asked him to host...if you haven't seen the following four bits, watch them, if they make you laugh, buy this book, and don't worry when you get weird looks from people as you LOL while reading. He thrived off awkwardness and was a specialist at it. I hope you enjoy his comedy! RIP Norm!

1) All David Letterman and Conan Appearances
2) Hosting the Espys
3) Hosting the White House Correspondence Dinner
4) A guest on The View

I don't know what these people were thinking, but Norm wasn't going to change who he was because of the event/venue/audience, and in my opinion he killed it every time! Once again RIP Norm...we miss you.

United States on Aug 25, 2023

Sriranjan Seshadri: Rarely have I read a funnier or better book. The genius of Norm Macdonald continues to stand out.

India on Aug 19, 2023

Ashton: I bought the paperback edition with the foreword written by Louis CK, and all the pages were stuck together.

Canada on Aug 11, 2023

Filippo F.: Everything is exhaggerated for comedic effect, but it also has some serious and very touching moments. Norm went all out in this one and what we have is a truly wonderful read. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll appreciate the few (very interesting) opinions Norm has on comedy, people, and life in general.
Its only fault is the pacing: in 90% of chapters the reality-to-fiction ratio is perfectly balanced, in the other 10% it's a little too skewed towards made up stuff, which results in entire chapters (again though, not many) feeling "useless", like a waste of time: The cool story set in the present and the interesting flashbacks of Norm's past life are all suddenly paused. Those chapters didn't feel great.
Other than that, it is a truly unique and wonderful work of art; one that's made with love by a very special man. Give it a read.

Italy on Dec 03, 2022

Y. Homnick: To be truthful, I don't buy a lot of digital books. Usually, any book that doesn't help me reach a high shelf, or can't be used to swat a fly on the wall, isn't multi-purpose enough for my medieval mindset.
But Norm MacDonald is Norm MacDonald is Norm MacDonald, and I wanted a copy at 12:01a.m. of its release date. I also wanted to save the tree that would've been used to print this book so that the tree could be used for its most natural purpose: Baseball bats. Or exacerbating forest fires. (Take that, Smokey, you overgrown, smarmy, preachy Ursus Americanus!)
As one of Norm's slavish Twitter followers, I tweeted that I would be counting my audible laughs, divide them by the purchase price, and determine whether I got good value from my purchase. While I haven't finished counting the marks on my wall, and add the fact that I was forced to stop marking the wall by a wife who under-appreciates Jail Cell-style decor, I can only give you a rough range on this. I surmise that each laugh cost slightly under two cents. Even if you count belly laughs as worth a dime, and short,snorting laughs as being worth a penny, I got good value from this tome.
And whether my purchase amount...

United States on Nov 16, 2016