Author Topic: Remembering Norm  (Read 2518 times)

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Uncle

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Remembering Norm
« on: September 24, 2021, 10:28:53 PM »
Norm Macdonald deserves a better thread than I can give him :cancry

I just wanted to say that his book, Based on a True Story, is pretty great for a fan and you can get it in audiobook form, which is also read by him, so it's 7 hours of Norm telling bullshit stories directly to you

you get to hear the platonic ideal of the moth joke
 :rejoice

it's on Amazon with Audible, and if you have a Prime account you can get 2 free books as a trial

on an unrelated note, I have learned to convert .aax files to .mp3

outside of that a lot of great stories and videos of Norm have come out in the past week

Conan has a great long send up podcast, doing his best to articulate what it was that made Norm special: https://www.earwolf.com/episode/conan-talks-about-norm-macdonald/

he also has posted a lot of high res clips from old shows, unprecedented quality of stuff we've only had shitty VHS copies of until now:

















Rolling Stone released a never before published interview that had happened back in 2018, which is surprisingly candid and honest.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-features/norm-macdonald-lost-interview-1226722/

Quote
Norm Macdonald Has a Show was genius in its way, though it never became a sensation, largely because its launch was torpedoed by a public-relations crisis. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote the show, Macdonald expressed sympathy for disgraced comedians Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr, and a furor erupted. For a while, Macdonald became something of a third rail.

The chat I had by phone with Macdonald in advance of the show’s debut was nowhere near controversial. We covered his philosophies on comedy and late-night, why he likes Twitter, his run-ins with Trump, and, naturally, the suspension of civil liberties in Canada in the 1970s. But, because of the hot water bubbling up around him at the time, the interview was held from publication. Now, here it is, a reminder of how inquisitive, forthcoming, and unvarnished Macdonald was.

(in other words he was briefly cancelled so we shunned him but now that he's dead everybody loves him again so here you go ::) )

Quote
Why are you so mean to your sidekick Adam Eget?
I’ve always loved sidekicks. I loved Paul Shaffer, who was almost hipper than Letterman, which was really cool. [Johnny Carson’s sidekick] Ed McMahon was just a dunce, but he was really funny; very, very funny and he served his part well. I decided to take that Ed McMahon scenario and just amplify it up to where it was like when Johnny would rip Ed teasingly, but if you just abused the guy unapologetically. So, I didn’t get a comedian, because I knew I would get blowback. Adam Eget works at the Comedy Store and it’s funny because he doesn’t know what he’s doing and he’s very nice; it allows me to just abuse him very, very hard. I had to stop saying certain things about him because then he gets a million Twitter threats because I just make stuff up, like that he’s a Holocaust denier, or something.

Did people actually believe that Adam Eget is a Holocaust denier?
Yes, amazingly. I started realizing when I was reading Twitter comments that people are angry about it. I remember when I was at SNL and Lorne Michaels, who is very wise, told me, “You know, [you think] you’re really popular on the show, because people will come up and say how good you are. But all of the people who don’t like you won’t approach you.” He said it to put you in your place, but it’s true. Everybody thought they were so great, which people in show business tend to do because people in crowds come to see them. It’s like Trump — how can Trump think he’s unpopular if there’s entire auditoriums cheering him? That’s why I like the Twitter. I actually like the Twitter, because it allows performers to see that no, you’re not that popular.

But “the Twitter” is also a place where people take things very literally and do not pick up on irony.
I trust that if a comedian says it, it’s a joke. I started realizing that it would be a terrible thing to go through life taking everything literally and not understanding irony. I see that more and more. If I was onstage and said, “You know who was great? Hitler!” If you thought that was serious, what a terrible life you have. If you see a comic, then it’s clearly a joke. If you’re in public saying that, then it must be a joke. So, sometimes if I say something about Adam Eget, he’ll say, “Please don’t put that in.” I don’t want him to get murdered or anything.

lots more at the link

also, complete archive of the Norm Macdonald Live show which had been removed from Youtube:
https://archive.org/details/Norm_Macdonald_Live

post other Norm things!
Uncle

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #1 on: September 24, 2021, 10:54:15 PM »



patrice was norm's fave :)
« Last Edit: September 24, 2021, 11:11:18 PM by team filler »
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Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #2 on: September 24, 2021, 11:04:09 PM »
I have 24 bootlegs of Norm performing standup between 2009 and 2019. Even before he died I would just listen to them over and over again. He was never as funny as when he was in front of a live audience, it's something to behold. I don't even know if I like standup now that he's dead, he was the only person doing it that I liked.

Uncle

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #3 on: September 25, 2021, 12:06:48 AM »
I saw this today

I'm not sure to what extent he's being serious or not, but he's really not "on" in this interview and I wouldn't be surprised if it's at least some of his real viewpoints

the hosts are INSUFFERABLE but it's worth a watch anyway

Uncle

Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #4 on: September 25, 2021, 12:46:20 AM »
He was definitely lying when he said he doesn't smoke weed (or maybe he was taking a break at the time) but yeah, that's what I always gathered he was like. He didn't really care about the trappings of wealth or possessions or celebrity the way a lot of famous people do. You can't take it with you.

team filler

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #5 on: September 25, 2021, 12:55:48 AM »






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Nintex

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #6 on: September 25, 2021, 05:42:00 AM »
Quote
(in other words he was briefly cancelled so we shunned him but now that he's dead everybody loves him again so here you go ::) )

Yeah this was such bullshit, when he was doing the Netflix thing and they all cancelled him because he didn't want his friends destroyed by the mob.
Shame we never got a second season of the Netflix thing either  :fbm
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Great Rumbler

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #7 on: September 25, 2021, 09:44:25 AM »


dog

Uncle

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #8 on: September 25, 2021, 01:35:31 PM »
that was one of my favorite bits, the "who the hell is writing these" and norm deflecting with his sheepish grin  :lol
Uncle

benjipwns

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #9 on: September 25, 2021, 08:11:47 PM »

benjipwns

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #10 on: September 26, 2021, 05:05:20 AM »

GreatSageEqualOfHeaven

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #11 on: September 26, 2021, 12:21:48 PM »

Nintex

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #12 on: September 26, 2021, 04:13:45 PM »


When the punchline transcends your own mortality :titus
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Uncle

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #13 on: September 27, 2021, 09:07:39 PM »
watching Norm Macdonald Has A Show on Netflix

he brings up the concept of mortality with everyone, you can tell he was working through it

with Jane Fonda he compared his experience of his father dying when he was young and his memory of him fading, with Jane's ability to turn on the TV and see her father at various points in life expressing different emotions

in retrospect it's clear he was thinking about his own son, and the wide swath of clips he's left for him
Uncle

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #14 on: November 29, 2021, 07:45:07 PM »
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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #15 on: November 29, 2021, 08:09:28 PM »
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Cauliflower Of Love

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #16 on: November 30, 2021, 02:53:24 PM »


I want to smack that dude in the face.

team filler

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #17 on: November 30, 2021, 08:59:50 PM »
let norm rest in piece  :-\
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benjipwns

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #18 on: May 12, 2022, 07:28:42 PM »
One of modern comedy’s greatest talents made one final stand-up special before he passed away — and it’s been kept a secret, until now.

Norm Macdonald, who died last September at the age of 61, privately shot an unreleased one-hour stand-up special.

The acclaimed Saturday Night Live actor-comedian known for his deadpan delivery was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 but kept his illness private. He was working on new material for a Netflix special when he had to go into the hospital in the summer of 2020.

“His test results were not good, so during the heart of COVID-19 pandemic and literally the night before going in for a procedure, he wanted to get this on tape just in case — as he put it — things went south,” Lori Jo Hoekstra, Macdonald’s longtime producing partner, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It was his intention to have a special to share if something happened.”

The result was a stand-up special shot in Macdonald’s living room. The actor filmed the entire hour in a single take. “He looks great and the material’s fantastic,” Hoekstra says.

As it turned out, Macdonald made it through the medical procedure just fine and the footage was literally tossed in a closet. But Macdonald became very ill a year later, before his special could be properly filmed before an audience. “He ended up getting sicker last August and September and he remembered he had shot this and asked me to find it so he could watch it,” Hoekstra says. “He ended up watching it before he passed away.” Macdonald even suggested a characteristically self-deprecating title for the hour: Nothing Special.

Netflix will release the surprise program — Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special‚ on May 30.

The stand-up hour is likely a first in the world of comedy — a postmortem last joke and testament from a comic who relished defying contention. “From the various conversations I’ve had within our circle of friends in comedy and producing, no one has heard of any comparison to this [situation] — not even close,” says Hoekstra, who in addition to Nothing Special, also produced Macdonald’s ABC sitcom Norm and his Netflix talk show Norm Macdonald Has a Show

The program will include clips of Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, David Spade and Molly Shannon discussing Macdonald during the recent Netflix Is a Joke Fest.

“It makes me so happy that I can share it, but also so sad that we can’t share it with him,” Hoekstra says. “He didn’t do this for the shock that it exists. He shot it because he loved his material and was so proud of his material. He worked so hard and it really would’ve bothered him to have done all that work and not been able to show everybody. He did it for the stand-up. I just hope people appreciate that he did this.”

Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #19 on: May 12, 2022, 08:49:33 PM »
Standup with no audience sucks but it's Norm so it might be good.

Also it will probably contain a lot of material already recorded from his 2018-2019 live performances, so it'll only be a new hour for people who don't listen to bootlegs I imagine.

chronovore

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #20 on: May 12, 2022, 09:07:10 PM »


Suffers from the cheesy morphing effects on opening and closing, but otherwise well-presented documentary on Norm. Worth the time.

Cauliflower Of Love

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #21 on: May 13, 2022, 12:32:00 AM »
One of modern comedy’s greatest talents made one final stand-up special before he passed away — and it’s been kept a secret, until now.

Norm Macdonald, who died last September at the age of 61, privately shot an unreleased one-hour stand-up special.

The acclaimed Saturday Night Live actor-comedian known for his deadpan delivery was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 but kept his illness private. He was working on new material for a Netflix special when he had to go into the hospital in the summer of 2020.

“His test results were not good, so during the heart of COVID-19 pandemic and literally the night before going in for a procedure, he wanted to get this on tape just in case — as he put it — things went south,” Lori Jo Hoekstra, Macdonald’s longtime producing partner, tells The Hollywood Reporter. “It was his intention to have a special to share if something happened.”

The result was a stand-up special shot in Macdonald’s living room. The actor filmed the entire hour in a single take. “He looks great and the material’s fantastic,” Hoekstra says.

As it turned out, Macdonald made it through the medical procedure just fine and the footage was literally tossed in a closet. But Macdonald became very ill a year later, before his special could be properly filmed before an audience. “He ended up getting sicker last August and September and he remembered he had shot this and asked me to find it so he could watch it,” Hoekstra says. “He ended up watching it before he passed away.” Macdonald even suggested a characteristically self-deprecating title for the hour: Nothing Special.

Netflix will release the surprise program — Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special‚ on May 30.

The stand-up hour is likely a first in the world of comedy — a postmortem last joke and testament from a comic who relished defying contention. “From the various conversations I’ve had within our circle of friends in comedy and producing, no one has heard of any comparison to this [situation] — not even close,” says Hoekstra, who in addition to Nothing Special, also produced Macdonald’s ABC sitcom Norm and his Netflix talk show Norm Macdonald Has a Show

The program will include clips of Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, David Spade and Molly Shannon discussing Macdonald during the recent Netflix Is a Joke Fest.

“It makes me so happy that I can share it, but also so sad that we can’t share it with him,” Hoekstra says. “He didn’t do this for the shock that it exists. He shot it because he loved his material and was so proud of his material. He worked so hard and it really would’ve bothered him to have done all that work and not been able to show everybody. He did it for the stand-up. I just hope people appreciate that he did this.”

GOAT

Uncle

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #22 on: May 13, 2022, 07:25:18 AM »
Uncle

james

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #23 on: May 13, 2022, 12:59:40 PM »
Ive never heard of him  :doge
:O

Nintex

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #24 on: May 13, 2022, 01:17:35 PM »
I sometimes wonder if half the events we've seen happen lately have happened because Norm MacDonald is telling god what to do.
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Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #25 on: May 13, 2022, 07:43:07 PM »
He's probably in hell trying to convince the devil to go double-or-nothing

Propagandhim

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #26 on: May 24, 2022, 06:19:32 PM »
https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/norm-macdonald-netflix-stand-up-special-release-date

Quote
The late comedian self-taped an hour long special from his home in the summer of 2020. 

Cauliflower Of Love

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #27 on: May 31, 2022, 10:21:57 PM »
This was great.


Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #28 on: May 31, 2022, 10:50:33 PM »
https://www.vulture.com/2021/09/norm-macdonald-in-conversation.html

Quote
It never used to be the case that lots of people cared in a serious way about comedy and comedians. But now there’s interest even in something like the way comedians consider things like form and its relationship to truth. I’m thinking of how people responded to Hannah Gadsby’s or Drew Michael’s work.
What does Drew Michael do?

There’s no audience in his special. It’s him performing against a black … 
There’s no audience?

No audience.
Shit, I was going to do that, but it was going to be funny. But fuck it. I won’t do that anymore.

He’s also playing with the idea of what makes something “stand-up,” and …
[Macdonald picks up his phone and makes a call.] A guy did a fucking special with no crowd.

Who are you calling?
A guy did a special with no audience in the fucking — I don’t know! [To me:] What’s his name?

Drew Michael.
Drew Michael. Can you fucking believe that? Whatever. I’ll talk to you later.

Who were you calling?
Someone at Netflix.

I hate this "special" and Norm would have too

The intention was for him to perform these jokes live in from of an actual audience, which he did, many many times. There's bootlegs where he does these exact same jokes, live, and it is amazingly funny.

Cauliflower Of Love

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #29 on: June 01, 2022, 03:46:54 AM »
stop berating a dead man

ruth would be very upset with you

Cauliflower Of Love

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #30 on: June 01, 2022, 12:07:54 PM »
there was a joke that ende with "i don't have time for that".  but i don't want to scrub through it, can someone with a better memory paraphrase it?

Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #31 on: June 01, 2022, 01:09:48 PM »
https://www.youtubetrimmer.com/view/?v=lqkkFpN-osI&start=258&end=275&loop=0

He does a joke about being in gym locker-rooms? That wasn't in the special though.

Closest I can remember from the special is the joke that ends with "I don't have the imagination for that".

chronovore

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #32 on: June 01, 2022, 06:47:31 PM »
His timing in live gigs is so laconic compared to this solo run through.

Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #33 on: June 01, 2022, 07:04:09 PM »
Yeah, he's speeding through it. Performing for 54 mins here, but if he were doing it live it'd be about an hour and a half because he'd be slowing down, milking the punchlines a little more, and waiting for the laughter to die down.

Cauliflower Of Love

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #34 on: June 01, 2022, 07:25:42 PM »
Yeah, he's speeding through it. Performing for 54 mins here, but if he were doing it live it'd be about an hour and a half because he'd be slowing down, milking the punchlines a little more, and waiting for the laughter to die down.

it's almost like he had no time for that.

Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #35 on: June 01, 2022, 07:31:05 PM »



Transhuman

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Re: Remembering Norm
« Reply #36 on: June 02, 2022, 03:16:43 AM »
there was a joke that ende with "i don't have time for that".  but i don't want to scrub through it, can someone with a better memory paraphrase it?

Did I guess it?