RavePitchfork... even for fans who have clocked hundreds of hours listening, his new memoir, It Never Ends, reveals someone nobody could’ve known from his shows ... It Never Ends weaves together two different kinds of books. One is the writing you’d expect given The Best Show’s brazen steamroller of chumps ... The other side of It Never Ends is Scharpling’s heartbreaking origin story, and a chapter titled \'It All Falls Apart\' is as raw and vulnerable as he has ever been ... The book’s darkness and jokes work hand in hand ... There’s a natural discomfort that comes with writing about things you’ve bottled for decades, and Scharpling could easily use comedy as a defense mechanism. But whenever he detours by busting his own chops, he never flinches away from the deeper truth. There are sad, borderline uncomfortable stretches, and each laugh that follows a harrowing detail is a reminder of exactly whose memoir this is ... Early on in It Never Ends, Scharpling promises that the book will make you laugh, cry, and then root for him because he’s the underdog. The first two things are undeniable, and while that last part is played as a joke—he compares himself to Rudy and Seabiscuit—he’s also not wrong. When Scharpling writes about his resilience and work ethic, it’s legitimately inspiring.
