Norm Macdonald was one of the most beloved comedians who ever lived, but he’s also one I didn’t understand or truly appreciate growing up. Let’s dive into his style of comedy, what I’ve missed out on, and just what makes him so beloved.
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Norm MacDonald’s weekend update on SNL was the best representation of the bit and I’ll die on that hill.
He had perfect timing. The moth joke is my gold standard for how to tell an anti-joke.
I’d never seen that, it’s really fucking funny
for sure. absolutely the gold standard, and moving through my angsty teen years, watching him deliver banger after banger and become my favorite segment in a time of a lot of solid SNL talent… only to be fired by the Great Powers of industry was a massive lesson in the subservience of mass media to executives: it doesn’t matter how much mass appeal and critical acclaim you deliver in the arts, if the really rich don’t want to hear it, you will be gone.
one of my favorite clips of norm is a Conan interview where he sticks around for the interview with Cortney Thorne Smith to promote a carrot top movie. norm is hysterical and completely fucks up the segment but it’s so funny nobody can get pissed at him, because they are laughing too hard.
9/11
I WILL NOT EAT A SINGLE MORSAL OF FOOD UNTIL MARGARET THATCHER IS DEAD AND BURIED!
“I’m pretty sure, I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure if you die, the cancer dies at the same time. That’s not a loss. That’s a draw.”
The podcast he did was so funny. I loved the bit where he’d write the worst jokes ever on cards and try to get his guests to tell them on air. I also always lost it when he’d talk about how Hitler was “a really bad guy” for some reason.
I also think his WTF with Maron episode was super interesting.
Video has cinvinced me Norm MacDonald was cool and wise, but I still don’t get his humor at all.
But yeah, the moth joke was excellent though
He plays a smart guy’s dumb guy in the way Tim Heidecker does. You get the dopey presentation of a sitcom dad with a masterful understanding of comedic mechanics. Perfect timing, really captures and subverts the performer-audience dynamic in the way Andy Kaufman did, dark and edgy without being the generic reactionary slop of his era. Growing up if I turned on the TV much of the comedy was rooted in South Park and the remnants of 90s zany/shock/prop comedy. He was like the one big absurdist comedian still carrying that style from Kaufman’s era to the Adult Swim era when it found new footing.
I always liked him, but I guess I missed a lot of the stuff he did after his time on SNL, which is sad because it got a lot better
More of a comment, really
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
he sucks
