Brooks on Books: Based on a True Story--A Memoir by Norm Macdonald

Norm Macdonald, standup, host of "Weekend Update" on SNL, and all-around wise-ass, is a funny dude, and it's no surprise that he has written a funny book. The nature of it is a real surprise, though. I guess I should have been tipped off by--oh, the title, for example, and maybe by the fact it was in the non-fiction section at the library instead of in the biography section. Yet I was taken aback that it wasn't actually a memoir.

If you are smarter than me and can pick up on such subtle clues earlier, this is a great read if you understand what he's doing. There are some stories from Macdonald's early life (not a lot) and from his showbiz career, and some of them may even be true, but mostly it's a narrative of a wild, drug-fueled adventure he and sidekick Adam Eget (always referred to by first and last names like that) undergo in an attempt to gamble into enough money to open a ranch. Along the way, Norm tells stories of his life to Adam Eget. Even weirder, there is a ghostwriter character who appears and sometimes writes short chapters as himself. I really don't want to give away more except to say that there is indeed a narrative here, and Macdonald ties all of it together.

The writing is much like you would expect a Macdonald book to be--extremely dry with all kinds of off-kilter jokes. Much of the humor comes from Macdonald staying in character and treating fictional stories like his attempt to court Sarah Silverman as if they were not only true stories, but also as if his own view on them was sincere. For example, he mentions a restraining order she filed and says he couldn't understand it because he was in her bushes and following her every day but never saw a stalker.

Speaking of tying it all together, one of the brilliant aspects of the text is how it rewards you. There are setups that pay off sentences, pages, even chapters later. I also think the book gets better as it goes along. He dispatches his childhood quickly, and things pick up once he starts to explain his career in show business.

There are tidbits about Saturday Night Live, but only casual references to The Norm Show and nothing about hilarious appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien. You will be disappointed if you want to hear "the real story" of his dismissal from Weekend Update for making too many O.J. Simpson jokes, but his version in this book is so hilarious, I say, who needs the truth? Some of what he says about the making of cult movie Dirty Work may be true, but a lot of it is "just" funny stories.

I would almost be stunned if Norm took himself seriously, but I didn't expect him to treat his whole life as such a farce. I hope the morphine habit isn't as true as the gambling, at least, but who knows? I don't think I want or need to know. Based on a True Story is a unique and addictive (not as much as morphine and gambling) "memoir" that will please anyone who enjoys Macdonald's type of comedy. What is that type? Ah, don't ask me. Let's just go with "funny" and say that you know what I mean if you like him.