Outrageous By Charles Barkley

6 Pages 1404 Words

Outrageous By: Charles Barkley


I. Introduction
The book on humor that I chose to review is Outrageous, by former National Basketball Association superstar Charles Barkley. This book is a collection of brutally honest and hilarious stories about growing up poor in Alabama, going to the University of Auburn, and his life in the NBA. This book was written in 1994 when Barkley was in the prime of his basketball career with the Philadelphia 76’ers. More recently he has went on to become an anchor for TNT’s NBA tonight and carries on his legacy of telling things the way they are. Barkley uses humor to tell stories about the struggles of being famous, being a rich, black man, and having constant media attention on yourself and your family. In the introduction he apologizes to anyone who he chastises in the book, but goes on to say it was only because he doesn’t like you or you did something to piss him off. I really think that in writing Outrageous, Barkley was successful in dispelling the rumor that athletes are “dumb jok!
es,” and with his wit, charm, and outlandish comparisons Barkley proves that he is both hilarious and scholarly. Finally, Barkley does a good job of taking time out to write about things that he feels are important social issues such as racism in America, spousal abuse, poverty in America, and people being treated fairly despite wealth or social influences.

II. Types of Humor
The way “Sir Charles” is able to get his humor across is by explaining his stories about the road and his life in basketball in a totally candid and down to earth manner. Barkley makes the reader feel as if he could have been on the plane or in the hotel or the locker room and seen the things of which he writes about. Some of the funniest stories are about other NBA players that he thought were either overpaid, *censored*s, or terrible basketball players. In many ways he is what Fischer and Fischer would call �...