Sunday, July 28, 2013

Book Review: God, If You're Not Up There...

I stepped away from sports non-fiction to read the biography of former Saturday Night Live star Darrell Hammond in his book "God, If You're Not Up There..."

Hammond's historically long stint on SNL was grounded in his fabulous celebrity impressions, though it hadn't registered with me that impressions were almost exclusively his role.

I picked it up because of skimming his frank, uncensored behind-the-scenes recollections of his days on the show.

What fascinated me even more was his personal story. He rose from a hardscrabble, abuse-centered childhood, overcame a slew of personal demons, and made it to my favorite New York City stage.

Like many success stories, his is also an example of extremely focused dedication to his craft. Hard work and flexibility are repeated themes, and another source of inspiration for those of us searching for the formula for winning.

Two thumbs up for a best-selling, truly real story of a person with strengths and flaws that we can probably all relate to in degrees, and use as a springboard of thankfulness for almost any situation that we're in.

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