Customer Reviews

It's Not Easy Bein' Me: A Lifetime of No Respect but Plenty of Sex and Drugs

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I saw Rodney a couple of years ago in the Salt Lake City airport sitting in a chair waiting for his flight to LAX with his wife. He looked old and frail, but I gave him a wave and he gave me back a wink with his trademark okay sign. That was very cool.

So when I bought this book I was really looking forward to an interesting read....and I found it.

This book has a tons of jokes that are used to separate his stories (and he's got a lot of them) within the chapters. I now realize how hard he worked and really how little he received back in terms of material riches. (He only received $35,000 for Caddyshack with no residuals!)

There are so many funny stories about show business, struggling as a comedian, sex, women, drugs, his youth, his health, friends, marriage, and of course, not getting any respect.

I know that Rodney may not be with us very long as he is in his 80's and dealing with health issues, but I feel lucky to have seen him since the Ed Sullivan days, through the Johnny Carson years, the Miller Lite Beer commercials, the hilarious movies, and up to my incident at the Salt Lake City airport.

Here's a real success story in disguise from a kind man who has made us all laugh for decades.

This book adds so much to my appreciation of this humble and very human man. I'm going to watch "Back To School" and "Caddyshack" again soon.

Thanks Rodney. You have my respect.

In typical Dangerfield fashion, the depressing parts of Rodney's life are interspersed with jokes. His father was rarely at home, his mother never showed him any affection, and he turned to show business for love and acceptance. "What a childhood I had. Once on my birthday, my old man gave me a bat. The first day I played with it, it flew away." Rodney survived life on the road as a struggling comic with the help of loose women, smoking pot and drinking booze. "I solved my drinking problem. I joined Alcoholics Anonymous. I still drink, but I use a different name."

When Rodney tweaked his act from nothing goes right to I don't get no respect, his career took off. He bought the nightclub Dangerfield's in New York City, then went from playing nightclubs to appearing on TV to starring in movies. Unfortunately, with his advancing age, Rodney has endured many health problems. He faces his mortality with his sense of humor intact, going so far as to write his own eulogy. "We are here today to bid farewell to Rodney Dangerfield. A man who cared about the homeless. He was always looking for a girl who needs a room. A man who always loved his neighbor, if she was easy. Farewell, Rodney. We know you'll be in good hands - your own!" Rodney achieves just the right balance of facts and jokes in this humorous look at his less than humorous life.

Bobbie Anne Jones,learning to be a writer

Not only am I an avid memoir reader, but I also am a fan of Rodney Dangerfield. When I found out his book was coming out, I had to buy it. What I found was nothing like I expected. this man that for years has made me laugh is showing sides of him that are brutal and sad. The humanistic reality of him. I think because of this book and his willingness to come clean about his life, I find that I am even more of a fan of someone that is willing to tell it like it is. There is no glory story. This is honesty. I would recommend this book highly. Read and get to know Mr. Dangerfield.

Also recommending other memoirs: Nightmares Echo,I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,Name All The Animals, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter

And deliver he does in this honest, candid, humorous, poignant, and bittersweeet telling of his life. Rodney recounts his days growing up poor, sharing intimate episodes of shock and disappointment and his struggles as a young comic. He cleverly threads the various episodes of his life with jokes and one-liners which make you understand how they may have come about. It's not just a celebrity autobiography, but more a fascinating tale about an extraordinary man who has lived a difficult, colorful life, who has waged war with his demons (perhaps still does),who befriended some of show business's most famous stars, and was able to literally 'get his act together' to achieve one of entertainment's most legendary careers. The book is an entertaining, riveting and breezy read from beginning to end. Readers will come away with a unique understanding of the larger-than-life Rodney Dangerfield, why he ticks the way he does and why he has become the man he is. Besides his legions of fans, this book is also a must-have for anyone who has ever wanted to, wants to, or may ever want to be a stand-up comic. A great summer read!

This book is a wonderful combination of Rodney's jokes, one-liners and life story. If you are looking for Rodney's deep dark secrets, you might as well forget about it. Rodney is careful not to reveal too much detail about his personal life and he masks the pains of his life with wonderful twists of humor. However, the reader will get a good sense of Rodney's struggles on his way to stardom. The book is written in the same way one would expect Rodney to talk. The topics sometimes appear out of nowhere but there's some level of chronological organization to make the reading easy and fun. If you are Rodney fan and want to have the basics on his life story with a lot of humor, you will appreciate this book.

This man takes pain and tragedy and turns it into artistic humor. Dangerfield's personality resonates throughout this book, and while you are laughing, you are reading his autobiography.
Hilarious.

I stumbled upon this book a few months after Rodney had passed on. The last few chapters had a much deeper meaning now that he is no longer with us and I will never hear his familiar, "I get no respect" line again. This book contains many of Rodney jokes but in no way, shape, or form is this a joke book. What it is is the story of how Rodney Dangerfield became who he was and it was not an easy road to the top to say the least. From aluminum siding salesman......I will let you read it for yourself. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and definitely have a deeper feeling for Rodney after reading this. This book was a very easy reading book with a lot of nice pictures. When reading this, I found 20 to 30 pages gone by very quickly which truly says a lot for any book. And I could pick it up any time. You can find this rather cheap from many sellers so do yourself a favor and read about what a life this man had led. You will be surprised. RIP Rodney, thanks for the laughs.

Nightclubs. You don't hear too much about them unless you live in a major urban area or are plugged into the stand-up comedy scene. Rodney was one of the originals, one of the guys, a clasic, an archetype, someone to put on a petastal because he broke into mainstream fame and glory, as he'd say in a game of craps, the hard way. Stand up is also a gaime of chance as is craps. Will an owner give you a chance, five minutes on their stage? Hell, Rodney had a hard time with it.

Stand up comedy of course is one of the most raw forms of art. Nothing can save you but your voice. If you're dying it can be the loneliest places to stand. But, the stand-up comic unfortunately is an endangered breed, most likely due to television and the internet. It's easier to stay at home than go to some dark smokey club with what you think is some foul-mouthed acidic loser on stage. Rodney shows that it isn't easy being of this brotherhood.

Rodney's accounts focus on his experiences with nightclubs, his early failure, and his highly successful return onstage. But it's the hard way. After a few appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show and more than a few on Johnny Carson, it still seemed life on the road was tough. Tenacious D sang a song about how hard the road is. They were right and Rodney shows you how he got no respect.

So why 5 stars? The translation, storytelling, and format.

The translation of "It's Not Easy Bein' Me" is an up close and personal account told in first person. The book was written very close to the end of Rodney's life and it's such a clean translation fo Rodney's voice, his stage/film presence. When reading, you hear his voice over your shoulder. His punchlines lose nothing in written text.

The second part for my 5 stars is Rodney's storytelling. I was apprehensive about starting this book and it sat on my shelf for five months. I heard about it on the Stern Show. And it sounded like a sad book, especially the questions Howard asked the feeble comic. A huge Rodney fan, I bought it right away. Through the HS interview I'd learned that Rodney had a tough life as a kid; parents that didn't give a crap, never around, and an uncle who paid him a nickel every time he sat on the man's lap. However, the storytelling is brilliant!!! No matter how tough it gets for Rodney, absolute down and out, each segment ends with him poking fun at the situation, taking a turn to make you smile. So demned encouraging for the little man. Many times these punchlines are unexpected but it's Rodney's voice and the book plays 100% on getting no respect.

Third, the format of the book is top notch. Many pictures, short chapters, and at least one blocked off joke per page. That's right, the narrative stops, and a joke is blocked off between lines, usually relating to what's happening in the narrative. Perfect!

On a final note, I'm really going to miss Rodney because his death was the end of something great. The night club and the standup comic are a rare breed. SUPPORT STANDUP COMICS! Tell them they were great even if you've never felt so insulted. They deserve you're respect as much as some dying eunich whale does. But I also feel lucky. At AC, Trump Taj Majal, I had the rare chance to play craps at the same table as Rodney. He was old and feeble and rode around on a little cart. He played with his head low and lost me $75. Lousy bastard, but he gets all my respect.

I got this as a gift this year, and after Dangerfield's passing it meant a lot more to me reading it than I thought it would.

It's very simple to just pick up and read - it doesn't have long whiny prose or lengthy explanations of his life. Instead, Dangerfield fuses humor with the most saddest of stories, and you can't help but laugh.

This man is a comic genius, and this book proves it. A must read for anyone with a sense of humor.

I believe it was Errol Flynn's Autobiography where he made fun of those that start off with "my parents sitting by the fireplace..." Rodney's book is awseome in so many ways; it tells the tale of his life, does so with humor, with some "joke lines' put in between segments, but is constructed in a way that brings about pathos.
The subject never says "hey...feel sorry for me!" - yet one cannot help it, while also laughing and reading great anecdotes. Not only can the reader laugh and understand "funny," and learn how to be "funny," but also how to take our lives...the blessings and the curses...and move forward and not be weighed down by the defeats.
This is not like any bio I have every read...and that is a great thing. I plan on purchasing this for all my friends and loved ones over the next year (on birthdays, etc.).