Since he lacks a live audience here, he also supplies the appropriate laughs. His booming, familiar voice helps the listener feel at home hearing the story of McMahon's career in television beginning over thirty years ago. His humor permeates the production, especially as he reminisces about early shows he did in which he interviewed children and housewives. Although he gets most of his laughs at others' expense, he does entertain the reader with tales of his own woe. He takes a somber tone only when he briefly mentions his son's death from cancer.
Swing music provides breaks in the text.
Indeed, he has been so visible on TV for 50 years, i.e., from the very start of the medium, that is had been difficult to avoid him. In this time he has hosted Snap Judgement and Star Search, been the permanent spokesman for Budweiser Beer, worked with Jerry Lewis on Muscular Dystrophy Telethon for 30 years and sold everything from kitchen appliances to Jenny Craig diet programs. While it is difficult to imagine a true fan of McMahon, readers with a high tolerance for the ever-unctuous announcer will find this memoir every bit as lively as its subject. McMahon tries to make the point that he is an everyman, and in some ways he's right. But he's also had the most amazing good fortune of being in the right place at the right time and being befriended by all the right people, mainly Johnny Carson and Dick Clark.