Damn, if this is real, it’s yet more proof that Norm hid the mind of a brilliant poet beneath his comedy.
Tbh, I was never a fan of his comedy. A little too flat for me. But the guy was so smart and kind, it’s no wonder everyone that knew him loved him.
Norm did have a brilliant mind, that’s why he’s so respected among comedians.
I think his Norm Macdonald live stuff is where he really shined, pretending to be the fool while dog walking other comedians.
Granted they often played into it, but you can usually see their immense respect for him while they watch like fans themselves.
During the roast of Bob Saget, Norm got up on stage and read jokes out of a joke book for 20 minutes. Comedy Central ended up clipping most of his set since the only people laughing were the other comedians on stage.
I loved that so so much. He broke all the rules. He told jokes, read them from a book, paced them terribly, and paused for laughter when there wasn’t any.
“Cloris Leachman is here!” checks the book “Cloris, if people say you’re over the hill, don’t believe them. You’ll never be over the hill. Not in the car you drive.”
A little too flat for me
There’s a reason why he’s considered the comedian’s comedian. His deadpan delivery is a perfect blend of subverting joke structure and just perfect timing.
I’m on board with that fully. I think the best thing I’ve ever seen of his is the moth joke.
And, I think part of my view of him was “too flat” was because he works best when he’s playing off of someone that gets it. Working just for a camera, or a crowd, he doesn’t have the same delivery as he does when it’s smaller scale. He’s still deadpan, but it’s “alive” in a way I’m not sure how to describe.
Obviously, since this came up, I’ve been casually watching stuff again. And that’s the impression I get, that when he’s able to play to people rather than a camera or generic crowd, there’s something in the way he moves that changes. The stuff that has me laughing like a loon is when he’s connected to someone, or a small group, like when he was reading jokes at the roast.
I agree with the other comment, he was the natural successor to the kind of thing Kaufman was so good at. I really just wish I’d seen more of that side of him as a viewer as opposed to the SNL stuff which is a totally different vibe.
He was a very thoughtful person.
I was always aware of him as that guy who was on SNL, but I didn’t truly give his comedy a chance until after he died and everyone started sharing their favorite clips. I went down a deep rabbit hole on youtube for a while, watching everything of his that I could find.
That old chunk of coal might be my favorite comedian of all time now.
I have some positive stories about Norm.
At a comedy show afterparty, these women groupies came for Norm. And Norm, not interested, said, “Hey You don’t want to party with a old guy like me. My dick doesn’t work! Those fellas could probably use some company!”
And they did! They all left together and Norm just hung out with the staff.
If you ever met comedians, they’re timid and shy, and often starving for attention. So to see someone like Norm MacDonald do that made him so incredible to me. Just super confident in himself.
His confidence was really something else. All of his friends in comedy describe him as “fearless” because he was never desperate to prove himself and seemed to just do whatever he personally thought was funny.
There are multiple stories of him going out and bombing on purpose, just for kicks.
There are multiple stories of him going out and bombing on purpose, just for kicks.
I mean if you listen to his live stuff, a solid quarter of it is him bombing intentionally, then just antagonizing the audience. Its like whatever the opposite of crowdwork is.
I only know his most mainstream stuff, but his part of the roast of Bob Saget was basically him bombing on purpose. I’m pretty sure he was just bombing hard because he knew his fellow comedians would love it, and he didn’t care one way or another about the general audience, although the general audience ended up loving it too.
Seth MacFarlane: “Norm, you want to be a blob?”
Norm: “Hell yeah, I’ll be a blob.”
A really, really great youtube doc, about 25 mins, about Norm that was released around his passing. Loved that guy and OJ Simpson killed his wife.
He was already battling cancer when he posted this.
