Based on a True Story: Not a Memoir Paperback – 2017 by Norm Macdonald

Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Driving, wild and hilarious” (The Washington Post), here is the incredible “memoir” of the legendary actor, gambler, raconteur, and Saturday Night Live veteran. When Norm Macdonald, one of the greatest stand-up comics of all time, was approached to write a celebrity memoir, he flatly refused, calling the genre “one step below instruction manuals.” Norm then promptly took a two-year hiatus from stand-up comedy to live on a farm in northern Canada. When he emerged he had under his arm a manuscript, a genre-smashing book about comedy, tragedy, love, loss, war, and redemption. When asked if this was the celebrity memoir, Norm replied, “Call it anything you damn like.”
Review
“A driving, wild and hilarious ramble of a book, what might have happened had Hunter S. Thompson embedded himself in a network studio.”
—The Washington Post

“Dostoyevsky by way of 30 Rockefeller Center . . . the best new book I’ve read this year or last.”
—The Wall Street Journal

“This book is absurd fiction. . . . Scathing and funny.”
—The New York Times

“Hilarious and filled with turns of phrase and hidden beauty like only a collection of Norm Macdonald stories could be.”
—Esquire

“Raucous . . . a hilarious, innovative work.”
—A.V. Club

“Part personal history and part meta riff on celebrity memoirs, the book, it quickly becomes clear, is also just partly true (and all hilarious).”
—Vulture

“My three favorite books:
1.
The Bible, by Moses and other guys
2.
The Art of the Deal, by President of the United States of America, Donald J. Trump (a.k.a. President Trumpy)
3.
Based on a True Story, by Norm Macdonald

I have not read the first two. I have read
Based on a True Story, and I believe it to be largely bullshit, but it is very, very, very funny! Thanks, Norm, for letting me be part of this Booker Prize–for–literature–quality effort.”
—David Letterman
“Norm is one of my all-time favorites, and this book was such a great read I forgot how lonely I was for a while.”
—Amy Schumer

“I always thought Normie’s stand-up was the funniest thing there was. But this book gives it a run for its money.”
—Adam Sandler

“Norm is one of the greatest stand-up comics who’s ever worked—a totally original voice. His sense of the ridiculous and his use of juxtaposition in his writing make him a comic’s comic. We all love Norm.”
—Roseanne Barr

“Norm Macdonald makes me laugh my ass off. Who is funnier than Norm Macdonald? Nobody.”
—Judd Apatow

“Norm Macdonald is more than a triple threat—he’s a septuple threat. He is smart, funny, wry, rakish, polite, rakish . . . no, wait. He is polite, insightful, and . . . aaaaah . . . warm. No. He’s exciting. Yeah. Exciting! You never know what he’ll do. Okay, then make that unpredictable. Add that up. He’s amazing.”
—Alec Baldwin

“Norm only has to grunt to make me laugh. And this book is three hundred pages? Sign me up.”
—Sophia Amoruso, author of #GIRLBOSS

“Norm is a double threat. His material and timing are both top-notch, which is unheard of. He is one of my favorites, both on- and off-stage.”
—Dave Attell

“David Letterman said it best: There is no one funnier than Norm Macdonald.”
—Rob Schneider
About the Author
Norm Macdonald was a stand-up comedian, writer, and actor. He died in September 2021.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
1

The Job Interview

“Lorne will see you now.”

He was always Lorne, never Mr. Michaels. He was smart that way. I took a seat across the desk from him, and there was a container of pencils that had been sharpened that very day and a bowl of fresh popcorn and plenty of Coca-­Cola.

“Swell office you got here, Lorne.”

“Thank you, Norm. I understand you’re from Canada?”

“Yes, sir,” I said, and I knew that even though we hailed from the same nation, we were worlds apart. He was a cosmopolite from Toronto, worldly, the kinda guy who’d be comfortable around the Queen of

Product details

• Best Sellers Rank: #7,005 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #32 in Humor Essays (Books)
  • #109 in Actor & Entertainer Biographies
  • #391 in Memoirs (Books)