Very sad news. Rest in peace Norm MacDonald.

RIP.

When saw some recent videos on his channel I thought "he looks bad or different" (puffy face, etc).
I just chalked it up to old age but I guess I was wrong.

I started watching "The Norm Show" again, and it certainly made me laugh and smile!

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:
RIP.

When saw some recent videos on his channel I thought "he looks bad or different" (puffy face, etc).
I just chalked it up to old age but I guess I was wrong.

He looked like he had gained a little weight but that's all I saw.

I'm going to go look up all his SNL work now and watch it again, he was a unique one and will be missed.

Any idea how old that podcast was boss?

I do not, but if I had to guess, it was in the last couple of years.

No worries
A man that full of joy will be in heaven
Make sure you see him
Thanks for all the laughs Norm

I saw the news alert on my phone last night about Norm. It caught me off guard. I can't say I followed him that much in recent years but I always thought he was one of the best.

One of my favorite jokes of his was the SNL News bit about best and worse jobs of the year:

"Last year's worst job - Crack Whore - has been replaced by this year's worst job - Assistant Crack Whore".

No one else would write that joke, or deliver it the way he did. Seeing the moth joke for the first time shortly after I learned of his death, his real brilliance become more clear.

The comparisons to Andy Kaufman and Dennis Miller are warranted. But someone else I think of is Albert Brooks. Real name Albert Einstein, younger brother of Bob Einstein a.k.a. Super Dave Osbourne. Albert also is a comedian's comedian, and not as popular with the public as with other comedians.

Edited to add:

I remember the Norm show sitcom 20 years ago. There was a scene where he was talking to a woman and she accused him of not paying attention to what she was saying. His response was "If I listen to what you are saying, when am I going to think of what I'm going to say next?" Pure Norm.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Lefty Sig,

quote:

Originally posted by Lefty Sig:
...the moth joke...

The Federalist has a list of his top bits.

https://thefederalist.com/2021...m-macdonald-moments/

He was a good one. I watched a 30 minute video of his bits from SNL Weekend Update, all trashing OJ

Supposedly got him fired from SNL

A tribute from his friend, Bob Saget. Most people who encounter this 37 minute video won't watch it through, but his true fans- the people like me and some others in this forum- may feel a bit better if they do so.

It's the most interesting thing- the immediate reaction of his fans after hearing of Norm's death, and the sorrow expressed openly and without reserve- it's not something you see very often. People will mourn the passing of some celebrity or musician they admired, but public expressions of sorrow seem usually to be restrained, and this is appropriate. I see something different with the passing of MacDonald. I see people not holding back, and I see it all over the internet. That says a lot about the man. Those who weren't fans of MacDonald will see all of this and say 'I don't get it.' But, those of us who recognized the genius of the man, and those of us whom Norm just made laugh, will understand.

I was never a fan of Andy Dick, and David Letterman's turning of his talk show into a platform for spewing hatred and politics in its last few years caused me to despise him. But, when I watch the old Norm Live shows and Andy Dick is cutting up with Norm and Adam, and when I see the love Norm and Letterman had for each other, it has softened my views of Dick and Letterman, to the point that I would invite them to my barbecue and offer them a beer, and the reason for this is Norm MacDonald.

A little strange how hard I'm talking this. Can't really think of any musician or entertainer that has had the effect on me. I think a lot of it is that I felt like part of a cool club because I loved Norm. Seth Meyers, who is typically not very funny, put it well. He said that Norm had just as much fun telling good jokes to a bad audience as he did telling good jokes to a good audience. And if you realized how good the jokes were, then you were on the inside with him and you felt a connection with him. That's why Norm could "bomb" so effortlessly.

quote:

Originally posted by YellowJacket:
A little strange how hard I'm talking this. Can't really think of any musician or entertainer that has had the effect on me. I think a lot of it is that I felt like part of a cool club because I loved Norm. Seth Meyers, who is typically not very funny, put it well. He said that Norm had just as much fun telling good jokes to a bad audience as he did telling good jokes to a good audience. And if you realized how good the jokes were, then you were on the inside with him and you felt a connection with him. That's why Norm could "bomb" so effortlessly.

I'm kinda with you on this one. I've been processing this and wondering why I keep thinking about him so much. It isn't like I knew the guy. It certainly isn't because of his talent either, as a lot of very talented people have passed and I don't give them much thought afterward.

Maybe part of it was just that he seemed to be one of the very few famous people out there that I think I would probably liked to have actually hung out with and gotten to know.

One of the things that I've learned after watching his last appearance on Letterman, and now having listening to Bob Saget's remembrances, is that he seemed to be a pretty genuine and deeply caring guy, and maybe a lot of us could kind of sense that about him somehow, and in doing that , perhaps without realizing it, you form an attachment that you didn't even perceive was there until he was gone.

This definitely seems to be hitting a lot of people harder than the average celebrity death. I think that says volumes about the man.

A punch in the gut for sure. One of the few comedians left.

Thanks for posting the Saget video, Para. Listening to it now.

R.I.P Norm, this sucks.

He was really funny as a guest part on the series The Middle.

I’ve watched a lot of Norm McDonald video the last few days. He just didn’t care what he said, or who he said it to. He was brutal to the Clintons—with them present. Not many comedians are both funny and fearless. McDonald was

Always liked the guy. Like many of you, I've been binging Youtube vids of his comedy. I've been replaying the one of him telling Sarah Silverman "That sounds like some fuckin' Commie gobbledy-gook" and laughing my ass off.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: mesabi,