Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. 

I am a fan of Nate’s style of comedy, mixing humble stories of his life with silly situations, and some xennial flair. I was really curious to read what he’d consider worthy to be in a book. And make no mistake, this is 100% written in his voice. You can hear the cadence and style with every word. I was a little reluctant to start reading this one. Not that I don’t like him, but it’s hard to be funny for a couple hundred pages no matter who you are. And I’m sorry to say I was right to be apprehensive. As much as I enjoy his stand up routines, there were a few themes that popped up that made me uncomfortable. One is religion. I get it, the south is steeped in it. But that doesn’t mean I want to read about it in a book from a comedian. Another is about his grandmother, which he admits is an abusive alcoholic who abused his dad. It’s not the description that’s the issue, it’s the story of his dad visiting on her deathbed asking for forgiveness for “not being a better son”. Coming from my own abusive past, this jangled a lot of nerves. Everyone deals with their issues differently but this feels like a dangerous vignette to appear so casually. This is all in the first 10% of the book, too. 

Overall, it’s ok. Nothing that really blows the doors off. And truly, I don’t think it was meant to. It’s a collection of stories. Some are funny and heartwarming, like the Men in Black story with his little sister. Some are a product of their time where you truly had to be there or like alive during that era (church basketball, old blue, McDonald’s menu change). Others are sad like the cliff story, his dad’s childhood and poor Cosmo the cat. And the whole Vanderbilt sports story. (Yay sports ball?)

If anything by the end of the book, it’s much easier to understand how Nate ended up in stand up. With family like his, it truly was the only possible outcome.