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Based on a True Story  By  cover art

Based on a True Story

By: Norm Macdonald
Narrated by: Norm Macdonald,Tim O'Halloran
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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

Editor's Pick

An incredible experience
"There's a reason why Norm MacDonald is revered by so many other comedians, and it's not just because he is a truly hilarious and original comedic voice. It’s because he is, above all else, an incredible storyteller whose love for language and knowledge thereof allows him to do comic cartwheels around his peers. This is a memoir that somehow manages to blur fact and fiction (although, I'm sure MacDonald would take issue with this point) and blends some of the best, most lyrical writing (no joke) with some of the funniest writing I've ever come across. To hear him tell it is an incredible experience."
Doug P., Audible Editor

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What listeners say about Based on a True Story

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Bizarre, funny ride

I'm so glad I got the audio version, I can't imagine it any other way. Norm obviously knows how he wanted the story told and he delivered it perfectly. If you're at all a fan of Mr Macdonald's you owe it to yourself to get this book.

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35 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Crazy. But also great.

Would you listen to Based on a True Story again? Why?

I expect I will listen to it again in a year or so. It was excellent and I am blessed with a short memory.

What did you like best about this story?

I know MacDonald's career fairly well, so it is fun to try to pick to truth from the silliness.

Have you listened to any of Norm Macdonald’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Norm is fantastic.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

In a world...

Any additional comments?

Top notch.

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23 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" but with a killer answering machine joke.

Norm's comedic voice is sui generis and comes through in this book. Whether recounting anecdotes featuring Kinison, Dangerfield, Sandler, Silverman, Jim Downey, and Lorne Michaels, listing the top 25 Weekend Update jokes, or flirting with genuine profundity in his melancholic existential musings on the fleeting nature of human existence and the fragility of fame, Norm has crafted an amusing and poignant memoir. And who's memoir is next? You guessed it: Frank Stallone.

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21 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Classic Norm, refined

If you like Norm's sense of humor, you're going to love this book. Much more than a breezy comic memoir, this story doesn't just hop from ha-ha to ha-ha (although there are plenty of belly laughs), but is carried by an undercurrent of deep existential humor and a real writer's talent for observation -- of the world, society, the entertainment industry, and the self -- much more revealing and profound than one might expect, all of it buttressed by MacDonald's trademark gift for an effective absurdity which is at full-throttle throughout.

Based On A True Story is a work of true literary inventiveness and skill that stands apart from other celebrity autobiographies, if one could even call this an autobiography, as it can be difficult to tell at times whether you're reading truth, narrative device, or simply being fucked with; but it doesn't matter, as the ride may be better for its nebulous, HST-influenced mishmash of fact, fiction, and surreal imagery.

The ghost-writer idea was a stroke of genius. I highly recommend listening to the audio version. Some books suffer from it, this one benefits.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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norm nails it

If you could sum up Based on a True Story in three words, what would they be?

Literature, subversive, brilliant.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Norm, obviously. But 'character' is a key word here. Seems to me that Norm has written a comic novel based on his life -- at first I thought it was directly inspired by Hunter S. Thompson, but as I listened further I realized this was great tragicomic fiction in the tradition of Mark Twain..

What about Norm Macdonald’s performance did you like?

He reads it brilliantly, affecting the 'I'm just an old chunk 'a coal" style and voice of an old rural storyteller, which is clearly how he intended the text to be read.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

See This Movie, Sure, But The Book Is Probably Unfilmable, At Least The Best Parts Are, So Read The Book Maybe Instead?give me a break, audible. I'm trying to review a book, not promote a movie.

Any additional comments?

This book will confuse people looking for a juicy celebrity memoir, if those sort of people actually exist. It will delight those who enjoy good writing, as well as Norm's fans. The book is like an ambitious first novel, and I hope he writes more.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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NORM!!!

God I love NORM and this book as well. Way to go NORM! You did it!!

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15 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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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.

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13 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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I paid for this?

The book is like a long, drawn out shtick. And a boring one at that

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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Not a Memoir, more Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

I am halfway through the book, but feel the need to warn others. There is no truth presented at all in this "memoir." It's just a long rambling fantasy very (very!) similar to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It's clever, but not laugh out loud funny. I say this as a long-time devoted Norm MacDonald fan, but this is disappointing. Norm's reading of it is good, and listening to him speak anything is enjoyable to some extent, even if the content is not there.

If comedy self-narrated bios were ranked, this is far behind Tina Fey, Martin Short, and David Spade (all great!), but still better than Amy Poehler.

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6 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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Don’t waste your time

This book was the worst I have listened to on audible. It is not funny or interesting.

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5 people found this helpful