Norm MacDonald has died

[Kelvin]

He had several extremely odd opinions on comedy. There was also that stuff, cast in a new light following his death, about comedians discussing their struggles - and he specifically cited cancer - as indulgent and a poor source of comedy. I can understand why he might feel like that style of pathos might not suit his own comedy, but it's obviously fairly reductive to just dismiss that entire avenue for other comics.

[Twit 2]

This seems sincere to me.

Blimey. Maybe the form of Twitter didn't help, but that just reads as embarrassing, defensive and tedious. Even if it's his sincere opinion it needn't be expressed so whiningly and tautologically.

FWIW I think there's truth in both sides. It's not really "anti-humour" if it's using comedic techniques and getting laughs and appreciation, but it also seems obtuse not to a acknowledge that in some humour something's apparent unfunniness can be the basis for being funny, especially when subjected to various procedures. I suppose that's why "meta-humour" is probably better - comedy about comedy. I think he's just saying that this is still part of the traditional arsenal of comedy, and therefore plain comedy.

It's a weirdly precious, but not surprisingly conservative, outburst.

[mr. logic]

I'm really fucking gutted that Norm is dead. It's awful.

[Dusty Substance]

i dunno who that I'm Not Norm guy is but he should fuck off trying to sell you his shit merch

Nah.  He OR SHE YOU BIG OL' SEXIST puts out the best Norm content on YouTube. If they wanna plug a bit of merch for all the work they do, then so be it.

[C_Larence]

This seems sincere to me.

Just want to point out this should be read from bottom to top, which I only realised halfway through.

[Chedney Honks]

It actually works great in both directions.

[Excellent_Biscuits]

I think it's brilliant and clearly he's on the wind up.

It's very Limmyesque in it's over honest and over explainy writing style on twitter.

[Old Nehamkin]

I never once thought of the Swedish-German part as a euphemism for being gay, I always just found 'Andy Richter the Swedish-German' to be a funny combination of words and was surprised when I heard him say that, he looks annoyed at the end of that clip, as if he tried to get a laugh but was steam-rollered.

I think when Richter mentioned "Swedish-German" becoming shorthand for gay he was specifically talking about the way that Norm fans use it towards him in his twitter mentions.

[Old Nehamkin]

Nah.  He OR SHE YOU BIG OL' SEXIST puts out the best Norm content on YouTube. If they wanna plug a bit of merch for all the work they do, then so be it.

I dunno. I don't really like the way that channel constantly repackages, cuts up and rearranges clips that it's already uploaded multiple times so they can put up a new video every couple of days. Combined with the tacky merch ads it feels just a little too mercenary.

[Echo Valley 2-6809]

I dunno. I don't really like the way that channel constantly repackages, cuts up and rearranges clips that it's already uploaded multiple times so they can put up a new video every couple of days. Combined with the tacky merch ads it feels just a little too mercenary.

Norm Using The Words 'And' and 'The'

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Is anyone else giving the " (The) Norm (show)" series a rewatch following his sniffing It? It's mildly disconcerting to see him looking so young , handsome and curly haired, I have to say. Also , was this series originally broadcast on a major network? It's really funny stuff, and has all the trappings of a trad sitcom, except Norm gets to say things like " You're a giant whore!"Also good to witness Norm's non- academy award winning acting, makes Jerry Seinfeld look like Rober De Niro, so he does.Conversely, Laurrie Metcalf demonstrates what a grand old comedic actress she is, albeit prone to the " over" side of acting , on occasion.
Well worth a (re)watch, anyways.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Hey, I've just watched that moth joke! Is that the provenance of top CaB poster mothman's handle?

[Small Man Big Horse]

I do not think Conan is a comedy genius. I'm not sure he's ever made me laugh or that I even realised he was supposed to.

However, I am very open to challenging my opinions and if anyone would like to recommend something that gives a good representation of why we have a few pages of people singing his praises, I will try it out.

My Danish ex was Conan O'Brien's biggest fan and showed me enough of the best of his chat show that I'd say he was a bloody funny man, at least when he had a great guest on, but I was always frustrated that he loved the chat show world so much and didn't do anything else, and I think the documentary Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, made when he went on tour post the Leno mess, really highlights that. If you're interested it's up on Dailymotion in two separate parts: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12ozj9 / https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12p1jq

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I meant " snuffing it" in that post three posts up, orbviously. Getting really hacked off with this spell check thing.

[Excellent_Biscuits]

Delete your accountant immediately.

[up_the_hampipe]

My Danish ex was Conan O'Brien's biggest fan and showed me enough of the best of his chat show that I'd say he was a bloody funny man, at least when he had a great guest on, but I was always frustrated that he loved the chat show world so much and didn't do anything else, and I think the documentary Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, made when he went on tour post the Leno mess, really highlights that. If you're interested it's up on Dailymotion in two separate parts: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12ozj9 / https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x12p1jq

Always thought Conan was really funny in remotes and whatnot, where he can be natural. As a talk show host, even after all those years, he never seemed truly comfortable. His podcast works for him much better. I think he knows that too.

[tourism]

If they wanna plug a bit of merch for all the work they do, then so be it.

I reckon the work is trivial and they deserve nothing

[Pdine]

Conan's SNL Nude Beach sketch:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G3xc4LMTrT0

[Echo Valley 2-6809]

I see it more as impish mischief-making - which is how I'd sum up a lot of Norm's best stuff -  rather than him making a point or, conversely, just telling a joke purely because he thought it was funny.

An example of Norm amusing himself while someone misses the point:
"It's not what I call news" at 7m50s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIKlq1r6gdY&t=470s The silly delivery is everything. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_bites_dog)

Also this fleeting moment at the start of the clip when he's in James Corden hell, and undercuts the nothingness of Corden calling a birthday 'the big three-oh' by just saying "thirty" almost to himself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJHfCGD0p3A

[ramsobot]

Is anyone else giving the " (The) Norm (show)" series a rewatch following his sniffing It? It's mildly disconcerting to see him looking so young , handsome and curly haired, I have to say. Also , was this series originally broadcast on a major network? It's really funny stuff, and has all the trappings of a trad sitcom, except Norm gets to say things like " You're a giant whore!"Also good to witness Norm's non- academy award winning acting, makes Jerry Seinfeld look like Rober De Niro, so he does.Conversely, Laurrie Metcalf demonstrates what a grand old comedic actress she is, albeit prone to the " over" side of acting , on occasion.
Well worth a (re)watch, anyways.

It was on ABC, which is (was?) one of the big three networks over here, and a Disney subsidiary. I grew up watching it at the time and loved it then, but haven't revisited since, with the exception of a write-up I did for Splitsider a decade ago or so. It was paired with The Drew Carey Show which was similarly edgy for American network TV, particularly the network that famously cancelled The Dana Carvey Show for crossing the line in spectacular fashion.

[chveik]

i have his sports show on my hard drive. is it worth a watch?

[neov1974]

Norm Show sitcom was probably how I got into him in the first place since SNL was never a UK staple

And as I recall it was pretty funny, elevated by the fact that Norm is its star and similar to say Bill Murray, you automatically root for him and like him

[McChesney Duntz]

i have his sports show on my hard drive. is it worth a watch?

YES. I don't even care for sport(s), and it's choice stuff.

[Petey Pate]

Blimey. Maybe the form of Twitter didn't help, but that just reads as embarrassing, defensive and tedious. Even if it's his sincere opinion it needn't be expressed so whiningly and tautologically.

FWIW I think there's truth in both sides. It's not really "anti-humour" if it's using comedic techniques and getting laughs and appreciation, but it also seems obtuse not to a acknowledge that in some humour something's apparent unfunniness can be the basis for being funny, especially when subjected to various procedures. I suppose that's why "meta-humour" is probably better - comedy about comedy. I think he's just saying that this is still part of the traditional arsenal of comedy, and therefore plain comedy.

It's a weirdly precious, but not surprisingly conservative, outburst.

I wonder who he didn't want to name.  I would assume Tim and Eric, Neil Hamburger or Eric Andre but then again he was friends with Tom Green so he clearly had some appreciation for so-called 'anti comedy'.

[Mr Faineant]

I wonder who he didn't want to name.  I would assume Tim and Eric, Neil Hamburger or Eric Andre but then again he was friends with Tom Green so he clearly had some appreciation for so-called 'anti comedy'.

Was Tom Green anti comedy? I don't remember him doing purposefully shitty material in a smug way. I just remember him doing things that some would describe as "bonkers".

[Deliciousbass]

I wonder who he didn't want to name.  I would assume Tim and Eric, Neil Hamburger or Eric Andre but then again he was friends with Tom Green so he clearly had some appreciation for so-called 'anti comedy'.

NML was on JASH with a lot of pretty awful stuff that could be considered 'anti-comedy', I wonder if that's how he became familiar with the whole thing. I do get his point about using irony as a cheap get-out clause, or as a weak excuse to not commit to something, but there's no way he could accuse any of the performers you mentioned of not committing... so who knows!

[up_the_hampipe]

Was Tom Green anti comedy? I don't remember him doing purposefully shitty material in a smug way. I just remember him doing things that some would describe as "bonkers".

Freddy Got Fingered?

[Kelvin]

Freddy Got Fingered?

His stand up sets also used anti comedy a lot, I seem to remember.

[lankyguy95]

I don't really go on Reddit but I saw this repost of a YouTube comment and thought it was a really sweet story.

In 2017, Norm did a show in Irvine, California. I was there working the show as a drink server. About 5 minutes into the show, a heckler (and a mean heckler...one that really seemed hateful of Norm), started verbally ruining his set. Security was about to remove him, but then Norm stopped security saying he wanted to talk to the heckler. The audience started clapping thinking Norm was going to verbally destroy him. Instead, Norm tried to figure out why he has paid admission to be so hateful. The audience laughed more thinking Norm was setting something up, or mocking the man, but Norm quite seriously hushed the crowd. Somehow, over the course of about 5 minutes, Norm actually defused the guy, who ended up admitting he was lonely because his girlfriend had left him 3 weeks before, and had been angry at the world ever since. It actually became a sincere, deep, vulnerable conversation, and more and more of the crowd realized Norm wasn't setting him up. Norm got the man to agree to stop heckling and said he wanted to meet him after the show. He got security to let him stay, and the show went on.

After the show, Norm had a meet and greet, and a few people lingered curious what would happen between Norm and the heckler that Norm was requesting to stay. Instead, Norm completed the meet and greet, and then asked us to shoo everyone out except for the heckler. After everyone had left (other than me and 2 other staff, and 2 security guards), Norm asked the guy what he was doing the next hour or so. The guy said nothing, and then Norm asked if he wanted to go have dinner. And Norm asked us if the grille would serve a meal to them between sets, which they did.

For the next 45 minutes, Norm had dinner in our club with the guy who an hour before was trying to ruin his set. We gave them distance so I can't tell you what was said, but I can tell you at one point the man was crying. I can also tell you at the end of the meal, Norm shook his hand and put his arm kindly around his shoulder in sort of a half hug, before the man left.

Later that night, Norm had to cancel his meet and greet at the end of the show, because he "wasn't feeling well". And Norm looked rather sick the whole night too. In retrospect, I wonder if the "wasn't feel well" was related to cancer or its treatments.

I also wonder if Norm was trying to impart wisdom about his own past hatred onto the man, and how to transcend it. I thought people should know this story because it's true and it happened in 2017 at a show in Irvine, CA

[YEAHYEAHROCK!]

That is incredibly sweet, and believable too especially knowing what we do now