Sam Reviews "Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man" by Tim Allen

I'd like to preface this by saying my knowledge of Tim Allen begins and ends with Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor, "Last Man Standing", and that he is from Detroit, Michigan.  I'd never seen any of his stand up comedy before reading this.  Because I wasn't familiar with his stand up, a lot of the jokes he tried to incorporate into his book went over my head and I had to read things a few times to realize he had segued into a joke.

After getting mostly through this book, I did search YouTube for a few clips, and it honestly seems like he really only ever had one set as a comedian and most of the jokes from his set made it into this book, so if I had been familiar with his stand up I probably would have been disappointed by this book for it's lack of new content.

All of that being said, I don't think Tim Allen is very funny (oops).  Also, jumping around to stories that seem somewhat unrelated may work well for a stand up set, but it falls flat in a book and made things severely lacking in flow and continuity.

However, the last chapter, the one that mostly talks about being a dad to his daughter was really touching.

The first interesting fact I learned in this book was this his real name is Tim Allen Dick, and that people in Hollywood encouraged him to drop the Dick from his name.

"They're just words.  The symbols and meanings - positive, negative, enlightening, insulting - are in our heads, which is why the power of some words has a lot to do with all the social and sexual dysfunction in this country."

"Men look at women the way men look at cars.  Everyone looks at Ferraris.  Now and then we like a pick up truck, and we all end up with a station wagon."

"Even guys who weren't homosexual before will, after a while, try something,  Prison and Hollywood are exactly the same thing."

"[Thoughts on] Guys with other guys girlfriends - Without even trying, other guys are nicer to your girlfriend than you are.  Even if they're not really after her, she'll find it easy to lean on their shoulders, ask what they're thinking, and how she can get her concerns through to you."

"I'm also a bit suspicious of any two people who don't struggle with that decision [to get married].  ...   Marriage is a big decision.  Big enough to procrastinate about a decade."

"A lasting marriage is like a job.  But here's the problem with jobs:  They're great when you first get them.  Then about a week into it you realize, "There are a few problems here."  Then they get repetitive and boring.  And pretty soon you think that the guy in the next cubicle has a much better job, which would suit you just fine.  The trick is to get past this."

"Men have all the destructive tendencies.  We're encouraged to be little destroyers from birth.  These traits come in handy, though.  Once we have a family, we'll destroy anything we have to that threatens it.  Women like us for that.  Sometimes men get so confused they actually destroy the family."

"'Philanthropist' means 'love or benevolence toward mankind, in general.'  ...  The definition includes the idea that a philanthropist is someone who makes an 'effort to promote the happiness or social elevation of mankind, by making donations.'"

"A 'philanderer' is someone who 'makes love without serious intentions."


I found this video randomly as I was looking for Tim Allen's stand up.  They read bits of the book and just kind of talk about it, but their opinion is pretty similar to mine. Plus there's excerpts from the books so you can get a taste of it haha