Li’l Penny Hardaway has written a book. You know, Li’l Penny, the in-your-face puppet that stars with Orlando Magic basketball star Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway in Nike commercials.
Sure, the commercials are funny. Comedian Chris Rock, the voice of Li’l Penny, is a truly funny guy. But the life story of Li’l Penny, as told in “Knee High and Livin’ Large” ($14, Crown Publishers), is overkill.
Li’l Penny is a puppet, OK?
But the book invents a lifestyle of the rich and famous for LP that gets annoying quicker than Penny Hardaway moves down court on a fast break. OK, when the book sticks to LP’s so-called basketball career – in a fictitious pro league in Madagascar, Africa – it’s funny. And the account of LP’s career-ending knee injury – from a fall off a doughnut-shop stool – is hilarious. But when he starts on about his successes with Nike, his books and movies, his rap album, his relationship with supermodel Tyra Banks… it’s like, come on!
If the book had used Li’l Penny to narrate the life of the real Penny, it would have been better. After all, Hardaway is the real thing – a real-life superstar and a class act.
