"Not Taco Bell Material" can gross you out or inspire you

"Not Taco Bell Material" is the autobiography of comedian Adam Carolla, who uses the book to explain how he went from a young man who seemed to mess up everything in his life to becoming a millionaire and celebrity. I appreciated the structure of the book in which chapter are listed by the kind of home Adam was living in at different points of his life, which illustrate the change in his mindset and lifestyle. But Adam doesn't give us too many insights about how he changed. I'll admit that I am one of the few fans of Carolla's movie "The Hammer." That movie came out about 5 years ago and stars Adam as a Los Angeles construction worker who also teaches boxing classes. He works his way into an amateur boxing program and gets to try out for the U.S. Olympic team, despite no support from his coaches. There's a particularl moment in that film were Adam's character is in the ring at the Olympic tryouts and has just finished the first round in a match - at which point the coach says he has to go because another boxer's bout is coming up. Adam lowers his head and realizes that he's all alone and has little chance to succeed. Adam then answers the bell at the next round - realizes he has nothing to lose - and knocks out his opponent. That moment of change was great in the movie. A moment of change would have been great in this book. In "Not Taco Bell Material," about three quarters of the book is stories of gross antics from Adam's adolescent years, which essentially stretched into his early 30s. These first three decades are filled with stories of pranks and fart contests and the series of cheap homes Adam lived in with other people who were also living a hand-to-mouth existence in America. The book wraps up very quickly as Carolla seemed to try out improv comedy and got a series of part-time jobs that involved comedy. I assume that the foundation of his life was his construction skills and jobs, but he doesn't discuss how he went from being a carpet cleaner to being a construction site helper to being a construction worker. I assume that he got frustrated with his hand-to-mouth existence and decided to make some serious changes (probably starting with giving 6 a.m. boxing classes or weekend defensive driving classes for $20 a class). But Carolla instead spends more time making fun of Queen Latifa or the rock band No Doubt than he does in explaining his miraculous transformation. "Not Taco Bell Material" is still a funny rags to riches tale that had me laughing and reminded me why I'm so fascinated by Carolla.