Mack The Life: The Autobiography (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
[3.5 stars]I love Lee Mack to death, I really do. He's a hilarious comedian and the whole family loves WILTY and NGO, but he's a better comedian when it comes from his mouth instead of from his hands it appears. This was a very interesting book, particularly for anyone curious in the industry itself, but it didn't sound like him. If it did I might have read it in his voice instead of the odd quote here and there that actually sounded like him.This is a book better suited to his fans, I think, as well as those who want to know about it as a job. It's insightful like that, but if you are only a casual fan or aren't that interested in comedy I'd give this a miss. I may have rated it slightly lower if it hadn't been by Lee Mack, though. I'm a bit biased to be honest but who isn't with autobiographies. To be honest, I haven’t seen much of Lee Mack’s stand-up for some reason. I’ve seen him on Would I Lie To You?, which I love, and in Not Going Out, which is his sitcom, but I didn’t really know what to expect going into this book.The book follows Lee’s journey to where he is now in the world of comedy and his trials in getting to that level of comedian. This book is full of witty one-liners that, although they sometimes took over a little from the “plot” of the book, really made this a light-hearted, but still informative book about his life and experiences.The psychiatrist scripts at the end of each chapter were witty and very human, I could relate to many of the things being said. Obviously these aren’t serious passages but I think that they broke the bulk of the text up nicely and gave a break from the first person narration.I started reading this back at the beginning of March and have taken until now to finish it but don’t take this as a reflection on the book at all. I had a lot of other things that I needed to read and readathons that I was taking part in, and I find non-fiction a little slower to read on the whole so I took a lot of breaks whilst reading this. However, I have to say that once I picked this up to finish the second half of it, I sped through it and thoroughly enjoyed learning about all of the people Lee met through the years, his influences and his mistakes. It is nice to read about successful people in such a real situation and I found the book both hilarious and inspiring.Overall I think that this is a brilliant autobiography for anyone interested in comedy, and I feel that, especially if you are British, you will find this book entertaining and funny, as I did.
What do You think about Mack The Life: The Autobiography (2012)?
Very funny and witty book. No complaints at all, made me like Lee Mack even more than I already do.
—spitfiregurl
Bloody nice bloke, very normal, written in his quick talking style. Really liked him!
—reader
Not as funny as I thought it was going to be but not a bad read
—nouran
