Based on a True Story

A Memoir

By: Norm Macdonald

Narrated by: Norm Macdonald, Tim O'Halloran

Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

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.”

©2016 Norm Macdonald (P)2016 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“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

Brilliant!

Norm is a natural story teller who seems to transcend stand-up. Even though he says at the beginning of the book that this is all true, its extremely hard to believe based on its outlandish nature.
My only complaint is that the audio book doesn't include the forward by Louis CK.

Very entertaining!

Not at all what I was expecting, but hilarious and very entertaining to the end. I think this perfectly encapsulates how Norm should be remembered.

I accidentally bought wrong book.

I accidentally purchased this thinking it was OJ Simpson’s book “If I Did It” Don’t worry it’s also based on a true story.

Exceptional. Norm never disappoints...

anyone other than himself. He is truly a gift to all of us grateful souls.

Truth and fiction fucked and made this book.

I didnt have anything else to add. Just need fifteen words to add to the.

Really well done

I even enjoyed it better the second listen... funny, creative... now I understand why Norm is viewed as the comedian's comedian.

Norm being Norm

Norm succeeded in writing the best kind of book I never knew I wanted to read, the fake celebrity memoir. This thing is loaded with great jokes and the story is hilarious. If you like Norm (or just good comedy in general) you will love this book. His narration is perfect as well.

Loved it, buuuuuut...

I love Norm Macdonald so I loved this book. Still, I hope Norm rights a memoir where he recalls things that actually happened. Regardless though, I laughed a lot.

A comedic masterpiece

If you like Norm Macdonald’s comedy, you will love this audiobook. It is a wild account of his fast-paced life that is fueled by booze, drug, and gambling addictions. Except for the gambling addiction and all descriptions of Adam Eget, the book is almost entirely untrue. And it is great.

Norm has unparalleled comedic timing, which gives the audiobook an advantage over the written book. It’s one of the few books that I listened to at 1x speed, because I wanted catch all the nuance and make it last.

If you don’t like Norm Macdonald, or if you cannot handle the idea of a made-up autobiography, this isn’t the book for you. But you should give it a try anyway.

A great tome from an Old Chunk of Coal

If you are looking for swashbuckling adventures on the high seas, then this is your book! Adam Egret plays the perfect comic foil to the brave Captain MacDonald as he braves the dangerous seas with the scoundrel old Jack on his tail.