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Based on a True Story by Norm Macdonald

Based on a True Story

Not a Memoir

Norm Macdonald

Random House Publishing Group · Print & ebook · June 13, 2017

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.

Lives in EntertainmentHumorComedyBiography
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MemoirAutobiography
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Who it’s for
A comic’s memoir refuses familiar lanes, ranging from comedy and loss to war and redemption.
Themes
Comedy and tragedy, Love and loss, War and redemption
Genres
Lives in Entertainment, Comedy, Humor

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About this book

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.

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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.”

Memoir, Reconsidered

A comic’s memoir refuses familiar lanes, ranging from comedy and loss to war and redemption.

Come here for

  • A memoir-shaped ride with comic mischief
  • Comedy sharing room with love, loss, war, and redemption

Expect

  • A genre-bending book that won’t sit neatly in the memoir aisle
  • A raconteur’s voice moving between hilarity and weightier themes

Where it sits

Humor33%
Lives in Entertainment31%
Comedy28%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • Personal Memoirs
  • Humor Essays
  • Celebrity & Pop Culture Humor
Authors
Norm Macdonald
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Published
June 13, 2017
Format
Print & ebook
Theme
Comedy and tragedy · Love and loss · War and redemption
Reading lane
Personal Memoirs