To me I was never a huge Norm Macdonald fan, but that clip just shows how great of a comedian he was. I mean, the joke itself isn't anything special, but his delivery is so good that he has you just waiting with anxious anticipation throughout the whole thing that when he got to the punchline I really lol'ed. Mad respect.
Yeah, it is tempting to think Norm is very dim-witted given his deliberate choice of slower tempo and buildup, but you see things like his Larry-King-interviews-Larry-King skit https://youtu.be/7A6ba43XuOg?t=122 and like he immediately cracks a situational joke without missing a beat and actual-Larry-King catches it immediately and falls over laughing, and only then do I process it and start laughing myself.
I never dove too deep but always liked him a lot, and I have to agree his delivery was exceptional. I knew about 10% of the way in this was a shaggy dog joke, but he kept me second guessing that the whole time. And he had such a dopey style of speaking, like he was just as surprised and amused by what he was saying as if he was out of body listening to himself. Which is totally disarming when done well.
I respected his comedy, but a lot of it was "comedy for comedians" which highlights the level of his craft. I think his fatal flaw was he never wanted to stoop to the general audiences too much.
Unfortunately his comedy is held up by way too many people as a gatekeeper to "true appreciation of comedy" which is ridiculous. That always seemed part of the self-destructive aspect of top comedy, which almost always is a public face of deep depression.
Norm was a tragic figure, much like many of the comedic greats.
Love it. Reminds me of a great comedian that died in the early 90's, Lewis Grizzard. The punch lines didn't have to be funny because he was such a great storyteller.
His book has an even longer, more beautiful version of that joke. I highly recommend checking it out, he spends something like a chapter on the joke. It's executed like serious Russian literature, and makes how much he was butchering it on Conan even better when rewatching.
Someone posted a quote from his book on Reddit, I didn't know he had one so I went to go buy it, it sold out while it was in my cart. Now there's just a "collectible" version for $550. People are awful.
While I'm sure there are digital editions for sale and probably a few physical copies at your local library, if it's being gouged, the guy's already dead, and his book is not one of the few hundreds of books on the internet to have gone uncopied. It's truly wherever you can find books.
Terrible news. One of my favorite Norm Macdonald moments was when he purposely bombed during the Bob Saget Comedy Central Roast purely to make Bob and the other comedians laugh.
Meh. I disagree. He frequently made below the belt jokes about the appearance or attributes of others, particularly women and gays. He was pretty funny otherwise though.
Fully realizing this will be downvoted, but RIP anyway.
I was merely referencing the bit from podcast episode with Bobby Lee -- where Adam Eget mentioned Robin Williams stealing acts/jokes in a conversation and he replies as I did.
Agree with this and the following FTA:
'Norm was a pure comic. He once wrote that ‘a joke should catch someone by surprise, it should never pander.’ He certainly never pandered. Norm will be missed terribly.”'
"If you die, the cancer also dies at exactly the same time. That to me isn't losing a battle, it is a draw."
He was one of the funniest people ever and there is probably no one who was a more entertaining talk show guest. I can spend hours just watching whatever comes up after plugging "Norm Macdonald talk show" into Youtube.
Yeah, at least from my quick glance it looked like the special came out in 2011, which would put it around there. There's fuzziness on either side -- on one hand there was presumably some editing time, on the other he seems to have kept it private, presumably whoever told TMZ found out a little bit after he did, and their memory might not have been perfect. It is just in the ballpark.
Bit starting at :43 (Germany) will easily go down as one of the greatest stand-up bits ever written and performed. And he was the perfect guy to do it.
Yes! The unusual relentlessness and Conan's breakdown is why that's my top Norm memory. Just mean from most people, but that impish grin lets him get away a perfect stream of ad-libbed insults.
Saw him twice in standup. Second time he was completely committed to a theme of being a born-again Christian and it was hilariously puzzling.
He was one of those comedians that wasn't affected by the whole "wokeism" movement, because he existed outside this PC vs. non-PC humour hierarchy. The reason he could do that is that he was genuinely funny, wasn't trying to "sell" an ideology, and didn't particularly care about other people's opinion of him. Oh and he wasn't someone who would "punch down" as an alternative for being funny.
Norm was actually somewhat conservative, though he played his politics close to the vest -- except for when he weaponized his conservatism to shock people and get laughs, for example, when he appeared on The View and the ladies were praising Bill Clinton, he cut in with "Didn't he kill a guy?" in reference to the Vince Foster conspiracy theory.
He definitely changed his more outrageous jokes to switch away from punching down so much, and to making fun of this out of touch dummy character that he was playing. Keeping up with the times made him better.
Wow. Norm Macdonald is my favorite comedian of all time and stand up comedy is one of my favorite things about humanity. I was just watching some clips of his on the "I'm not Norm" YouTube channel while eating lunch right before I read this. I had no idea he had cancer, although in retrospect I can see the signs...
Damn, what a massive shock. He was an absolute legend and will never be forgotten. RIP.
A more recent appearance where he was great, just talking, was on David Spade's show. His quick comeback on the Paul Newman line is a great example of why he was so amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbanVqLk1lQ
174 comments
[ 4.7 ms ] story [ 239 ms ] threadhttps://youtu.be/NMRd-n_s4c8
podiatrist, going to be something about feet... psychiatrist vs podiatrist, some kind of pun incoming...
...then you both want to strangle him and fall on the floor laughing simultaneously.
Unfortunately his comedy is held up by way too many people as a gatekeeper to "true appreciation of comedy" which is ridiculous. That always seemed part of the self-destructive aspect of top comedy, which almost always is a public face of deep depression.
Norm was a tragic figure, much like many of the comedic greats.
https://youtu.be/L7K-kaelQEs
[edit: yep it is :) - a virtual hug to you friend ]
You might appreciate the backstory:
https://youtu.be/_oZkmob99FQ?t=100
One of the bests.
RIP Norm.
Norm really was for the birds.
[1] https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2x1bwa
Looking for HD but this one actually has video; the others I found didn't.
Fully realizing this will be downvoted, but RIP anyway.
In recent years lots of his comedy centered on his fears of death and related religious musings...
The fact that he had been struggling with cancer really puts this in a different perspective.
RIP Norm. You were funny!
He was one of the funniest people ever and there is probably no one who was a more entertaining talk show guest. I can spend hours just watching whatever comes up after plugging "Norm Macdonald talk show" into Youtube.
From his special: Me Doing Standup
Interesting in context -- wonder if he knew at the time, it would be right at the limit of the time-window described in the article I guess.
So perhaps a draw still in the long term since eventually the corruption could terminate itself.
RIP Norm.
This year has been the absolute worst.
Bit starting at :43 (Germany) will easily go down as one of the greatest stand-up bits ever written and performed. And he was the perfect guy to do it.
https://youtu.be/EbthMC6spAE
His ability to tell a whole absurd story that sounds like it's building into a huge climax and fizzles into an anti-joke is legendary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F6dXcW-_Fc
Saw him twice in standup. Second time he was completely committed to a theme of being a born-again Christian and it was hilariously puzzling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5F6dXcW-_Fc
Damn, what a massive shock. He was an absolute legend and will never be forgotten. RIP.
His appearance on Letterman's last show is one of the greatest stand up sets of all time and now I'll consider it his farewell. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFjEvl43zYY
A more recent appearance where he was great, just talking, was on David Spade's show. His quick comeback on the Paul Newman line is a great example of why he was so amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbanVqLk1lQ