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Oct 13, 2016 Web Exclusive By Frank Valish

If Norm Macdonald isn’t one of your favorite comedians, he should be. Based on a True Story is billed as his memoir, but that’s not entirely true. It is, however, hilarious. Macdonald’s “memoir” begins in what might be seen as typical fashion, discussing the comedian’s early years, before spiraling out of control and taking what only can be described with grand understatement as liberties with the truth.

Throughout, there are insinuations of abuse, derisive sections from his “ghostwriter,” drug-induced reminisces, murder plots, prison rapes (and “reprisal rapes”), and clubbing of baby seals. The chapters are short, only several pages long, and the tale moves quickly, turning on a dime from surreal life account to crime suspense thriller.

Toward the book’s end, Macdonald spends a page-and-a-half in what seems sincere introspection about his life and career, before returning to the fake hijinks. In sum, Based on a True Story is similar to probably nothing you’ve read. Macdonald’s dry humor is intact and his stories engagingly bizarre. Surely, the book is anything but a true memoir. But somehow, it fits Macdonald perfectly.

(www.randomhousebooks.com)

Author rating: 8/10