Tuesday, October 17, 2017

Norm Macdonald is doing cool things on his own terms

Lately my go-to thing on YouTube--and the only thing I've been actively searching for and pursuing on YouTube, because I'm weird and in a weird place mentally, what with my enjoyment of entertainment media--has been Norm Macdonald Live.

I've been going back and forth chronologically within the series, watching season 3 videos, season 1 videos, season 2 videos, whatever. I'm pretty sure there's just three seasons.

Norm's just a no-frills guy with a unique sense of humor and it's been hitting me in the right place lately. What I watched today, which touched my ear and my eye and I wanted to share, is a full hour of Norm's own standup from after Tiger Woods was busted and outed for having sex with ladies and after O.J. Simpson went to prison for stealing his own clothes back. My point is it's relatively new, and also that when he talks about those things, it's pretty dang funny to me. And also his bit about gay pride. It's critical without being insulting. Truly observational humor.



Norm's show resonates with me because he says what he wants, he's independent apart from a few sponsors for which the show does their own Norm-orated advertisements, he's smart as a whip, he loves history, and his knowledge of comedy and entertainment is vast. He's also older now, at 50 I think, and he's had a lot of time to hone his craft. He's solid in front of any guest. Mike Tyson in season 1 of his show made him visibly nervous (just for a few minutes), while Jim Carrey in season 3 made him visibly annoyed. Larry King in season 1 made Norm visibly irritated, and he mentions it in several subsequent episodes. It's fun to make fun of Larry King. He can take it.


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