Book Review: It’s Not Easy Bein’ Me

Author: Rodney Dangerfield

For some reason, I decided to read Rodney Dangerfield’s autobiography. It was actually quite a fascinating read; I don’t know what I was expecting, but I wouldn’t have been overly surprised if it had been bad.

Overall, the book made me pretty sad. At the beginning, it made me sad because he was writing about his terrible, horrible childhood. No love from his parents, sexual abuse from a stranger; it was an awful way to have to grow up. The whole time, he’s writing it in a light-hearted manner—it’s like I could hear Rodney in my mind, dictating it to me in his voice—but for the beginning, you could tell that it hurt him to go back and relive some of that stuff. The jokes sounded forced.

But then he switches gears, and starts talking about when he got into show business—in the 40s, believe it or not—and starts going on about all of the women he slept with, and all of the drugs he took. And for the rest of the book, he really is light-hearted, and it made me sad for a different reason. I’ve always liked Dangerfield’s humour, and he always seemed very likable, but the book made it more personal. I really cared for the guy. And so that made me sad, because now he’s dead, and he’s… well, let’s just say that he’s not in heaven. And it feels like such a waste.

After reading the book, I feel the same way about Rodney Dangerfield as I do about any of my other non-Christian friends/family members/coworkers/etc.

Anyway, I called this a “book review”, and my review of the book is this: I loved it. If you were a big fan of Rodney Dangerfield, the book is a must-read; if you were only sort of a fan, then the book will make you a big fan.