Norm MacDonald: Greatest (Canadian) In America?
In high school, I was absolutely convinced that Norm MacDonald was the greatest person in the world. When he claims he's a big fan of Courtney Thorne-Smith from seeing her on Tom Snyder, it's truly a thing of majesty. He tops that, of course, with a remark about her film career that's so amazing I choose not to reveal it here.
So: three videos of Norm on Late Night in 1997, including this exchange...
Norm (interrupting Thorne-Smith's interview): "Are you talking about Melrose Place?"
Conan: "You are the biggest ass in the world."
Now, for the past five or ten years, Norm has mostly been performing in casinos and playing poker professionally, as far as I can tell. But as our friends at Videogum pointed out, he recently put on one of the truly great performances in Norm MacDonald history.
As you probably know, Comedy Central organizes phony "roasts" for semi-celebrities like Flava Flav and Pamela Anderson. Funny comedians who don't know these people at all come on, and tell some jokes they (or maybe Doug Benson or Morgan Murphy) wrote the night before. Unlike an actual roast, which is an expression of long-standing friendship, the Comedy Central Roast is an expression of 16-24 year old boys persistent commitment to dirty joke watching and general contemptuousness.
Norm MacDonald recently guested on the Bob Saget roast. Now Norm and Saget are actually friends -- Saget directed Norm's (hilarious) film "Dirty Work." But Norm was apparently intent on bringing down the whole affair. Not only did he read the newspaper throughout, pausing only to look up, confused, when someone directed an insult his way, but he performed the amazing jokes below.
After the roast, Norm talked to MaxFunPal Chris Hardwick, and insisted that he believe the event to be a toast, not a roast.
Norm has a really special gift -- the ability to sincerely commit to something absolutely, while mocking it with equal vigor. He's an amazing talent.
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So: three videos of Norm on Late Night in 1997, including this exchange...
Norm (interrupting Thorne-Smith's interview): "Are you talking about Melrose Place?"
Conan: "You are the biggest ass in the world."
Now, for the past five or ten years, Norm has mostly been performing in casinos and playing poker professionally, as far as I can tell. But as our friends at Videogum pointed out, he recently put on one of the truly great performances in Norm MacDonald history.
As you probably know, Comedy Central organizes phony "roasts" for semi-celebrities like Flava Flav and Pamela Anderson. Funny comedians who don't know these people at all come on, and tell some jokes they (or maybe Doug Benson or Morgan Murphy) wrote the night before. Unlike an actual roast, which is an expression of long-standing friendship, the Comedy Central Roast is an expression of 16-24 year old boys persistent commitment to dirty joke watching and general contemptuousness.
Norm MacDonald recently guested on the Bob Saget roast. Now Norm and Saget are actually friends -- Saget directed Norm's (hilarious) film "Dirty Work." But Norm was apparently intent on bringing down the whole affair. Not only did he read the newspaper throughout, pausing only to look up, confused, when someone directed an insult his way, but he performed the amazing jokes below.
After the roast, Norm talked to MaxFunPal Chris Hardwick, and insisted that he believe the event to be a toast, not a roast.
Norm has a really special gift -- the ability to sincerely commit to something absolutely, while mocking it with equal vigor. He's an amazing talent.
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posted by Jesse Thorn at Wednesday, September 10, 2008
9 Comments:
Thank you Jesse. Norm MacDonald has slipped off the radar for a little while, I still miss the Norm show and Weiner Dog, not to mention his "fake news" on Saturday Night. His set for the Comedy Central Roast was so classic, so stand-out, so old-school-studio-era. Who else but Norm MacDonald could get a chuckle out of Saget's "cauliflower" head?
I second the thanks, Jesse! I remember seeing this when it aired and to this day it remains one of my all time favorite TV interviews. The 'B-O-R-E-D" gag still cracks me up every time I think about. All those hours you spend scouring the internet are certainly paying dividends.
That was a comedy desert. In a good way.
"If I'm not mistaken, I heard some people cussin'".
I like how he was up there delivering to the silence of all the people that didn't get it, then cut to Jimmy Dore almost in tears.
Holy christ. When that interview first aired, my friends and I laughed about it for a full year afterward. I was so excited when you posted this, I had to run out to my roommate and order her to watch it. Also emailed the link to my friends who were equally psyched to see it again. Thank you so much. I had almost forgotten about this.
norm is a god among men. dirty work is one of the greatest movies of all time. that's all i can say.
-koval-
Jesse,
I've always loved that Norm MacDonald appearance. The line about Carrot Top is hilarious. Also did you see you got love from the Hater at The AV Club? Way to go man. Keep up the good work.
-Willy
norm macdonald fucking sucks. i didn't laugh at one fucking thing
^^That's probably because he didn't swear or make a joke about bowel movements. You're one of those people in the audience that didn't get it.
That was excellent though, both were great. Norm is really talented.
Norm is genius. With one demented and beautiful idea, he managed to mock and deconstruct Comedy Central culture more effectively than a biting 10,000 word essay. And he got his comp drinks to boot.
Brilliant.
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