Based on a True Story

August 15, 2016
In the spare moments of a Las Vegas gambling adventureâreplete with murderous loan sharks, drug and alcohol binges, and sexual misadventuresâcomedian and Saturday Night Live alum MacDonald recounts predominantly fictitious tales from his life and career to his companion (and podcast cohost), Adam Eget, who's portrayed as a dunce. Some MacDonald fans will enjoy the comedian's signature mix of dark absurdity and sophomoric antics (many of the gags in the book are recycled from the comedian's prior work), but general readers will find little to appreciate in this uninventive and meandering adventure narrative. Many of the details and sentiments that MacDonald shares about his childhood, his 1990s tenure at SNL as host of the Weekend Update segment, and his current experience as a working comic past his prime are surely true. For the most part, however, MacDonald steers clear of introspection and disclosure, choosing instead to make up stories and tell jokes. MacDonald does deliver some hilarious materialâfor instance, recounting a supposed confidential conversation with Rodney Dangerfield in which the late comedian admitted that despite his wealth and fame, he secretly felt disrespected. On the whole, however, MacDonald's faux memoir is not nearly funny enough to justify the reader's time.

Now that pretty much every one of his contemporaries has written a memoir, why not Macdonald?The book starts out promising enough, justifying the title with the typical disclaimer: "there's no way of telling a true story. I mean a really true one, because of memory. It's just no good." The author also promises to "name names," "drop bombshells," and "let the filth fly, like a mad dog." Though he delivers on the first two, Macdonald's creative imagination has reached such delirium by that point that readers are likely to discount even the parts that may be true. Most of this account takes place in Las Vegas, where the author may or may not have gambled $1 million on credit, high on morphine and whiskey, promising (and failing) to kill himself if he lost, and then borrowing another million to try to win back what he had lost--and becoming God's anointed messenger in the process. Part of the problem here is that, as he acknowledges, "if I am remembered, it will always be by the four years I spent on Saturday Night Live and, maybe even more than that, by the events surrounding my departure from that show. As long as SNL exists, so do I." Of his departure, he says he refused to resume telling O.J. Simpson jokes. As for the rest, he may or may not have been deeply in lust with Sarah Silverman. It isn't likely that he engaged a hit man to murder her boyfriend, that he was sentenced to 40 years (or four months) for this, and that she took out a restraining order that made it difficult for them to do sketches together. It also isn't likely that he was hired for the program by Lorne Michaels because of a shared passion for liquid morphine, and it isn't likely that he received a $1 million advance for this book, whatever it is. Will try the patience of even the comedian's fans. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

August 1, 2016
Now that pretty much every one of his contemporaries has written a memoir, why not Macdonald?The book starts out promising enough, justifying the title with the typical disclaimer: theres no way of telling a true story. I mean a really true one, because of memory. Its just no good. The author also promises to name names, drop bombshells, and let the filth fly, like a mad dog. Though he delivers on the first two, Macdonalds creative imagination has reached such delirium by that point that readers are likely to discount even the parts that may be true. Most of this account takes place in Las Vegas, where the author may or may not have gambled $1 million on credit, high on morphine and whiskey, promising (and failing) to kill himself if he lost, and then borrowing another million to try to win back what he had lostand becoming Gods anointed messenger in the process. Part of the problem here is that, as he acknowledges, if I am remembered, it will always be by the four years I spent on Saturday Night Live and, maybe even more than that, by the events surrounding my departure from that show. As long as SNL exists, so do I. Of his departure, he says he refused to resume telling O.J. Simpson jokes. As for the rest, he may or may not have been deeply in lust with Sarah Silverman. It isnt likely that he engaged a hit man to murder her boyfriend, that he was sentenced to 40 years (or four months) for this, and that she took out a restraining order that made it difficult for them to do sketches together. It also isnt likely that he was hired for the program by Lorne Michaels because of a shared passion for liquid morphine, and it isnt likely that he received a $1 million advance for this book, whatever it is. Will try the patience of even the comedians fans.

COPYRIGHT(2016) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.