I think he just doesn't like political comedy, at least he doesn't respect that at all because it's too easy
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Norm Macdonald Dies at 61
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Well Norm was conservative/Republican-leaning so of course he'd say it's too easy when it slants against his views. I wonder if he called Clinton a murderer before or after doing the White House correspondents diner.
Cared about what exactly? No I don't give Norm "a pass" for having been an asshole "because he had cancer".
I think he explained it once in the past as it's just a cheap way to get at least half the crowd to like you when doing stand-up. Then that's the crowd that will always attend the shows, etc. I don't think that's hard to see/agree with.
And there is a 17 min YouTube clip of him hating on the Clintons since he was on SNL lol, so that would be on-brand. I'm pro them (even as a Canadian) but it was funny then and that vid is still funny now. It's from the weekend update days where it definitely seemed like he just wanted to get in trouble.
What an absurd take
I had been a fan of Norm since he was first on SNL and I've followed his career closer than anyone, but even if I hadn't, even if I'd only heard of him today, that wouldn't somehow preclude me from commenting on his awful behaviour.
Exactly. And it's not like he'd avoided political commentary throughout his career. He was actually a fan of Trump's, for example, which was at least one reason why he had such distaste for comedians going in on him.
I hit a point with Norm where I just assumed anything he said in public had a 90% chance of just being a private bit he was doing to amuse himself, or at least not a definite indicator of his personal opinion. Because I've seen his "Trump isn't that bad" quotes, but then he also gave this interview in 2015 that spells out the problems with Trump as clearly as anyone could at that point.
He doesn't like political humor because he thinks it panders and comedians aren't politicians. The same way he didn't like people who called comedians "great philosophers" because the great philosophers are the great philosophers. He doesn't think there's anything brave about that style of comedy--he thinks it is boring. He's been pretty consistent about this throughout his career.
And he wasn't a fan of Trump. He thought Trump was funny, in a WWE way, but that's necessarily being a fan of the person.
I hit a point with Norm where I just assumed anything he said in public had a 90% chance of just being a private bit he was doing to amuse himself, or at least not a definite indicator of his personal opinion. Because I've seen his "Trump isn't that bad" quotes, but then he also gave this interview in 2015 that spells out the problems with Trump as clearly as anyone could at that point.
Yup, I never took any of his public comments as sincere. He liked to joke and wind EVERYONE up
I hit a point with Norm where I just assumed anything he said in public had a 90% chance of just being a private bit he was doing to amuse himself, or at least not a definite indicator of his personal opinion. Because I've seen his "Trump isn't that bad" quotes, but then he also gave this interview in 2015 that spells out the problems with Trump as clearly as anyone could at that point.
Norm Macdonald talks Trump, Trudeau and the secrets to political comedy
Comedian Norm Macdonald discusses comedy in the Donald Trump era and if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau inherited the intellect and humour of his father. Subs...
youtu.be
This is from 2018. And he's being sincere. Seems like Trump, who he's always had affection for, going up against Hillary Clinton, who he's always reviled, likely pulled him in one direction and made him more vocal in complimenting and defending Trump. Not to mention Norma being witness to liberal media and comedians dragging Trump relentlessly obviously irritated him a lot.
An interesting profile from the Washington Post this morning written by a friend of Norm's. Really sums up his character and clears up a lot of misconceptions. Worth a read. Very touching.
Norm Macdonald talks Trump, Trudeau and the secrets to political comedy
Comedian Norm Macdonald discusses comedy in the Donald Trump era and if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau inherited the intellect and humour of his father. Subs...
This is from 2018. And he's being sincere. Seems like Trump, who he's always had affection for, going up against Hillary Clinton, who he's always reviled, likely pulled him in one direction and made him more vocal in complimenting and defending Trump. Not to mention Norma being witness to liberal media and comedians dragging Trump relentlessly obviously irritated him a lot.
Thanks for posting this interview, him getting phone calls during it…
My take away was a bit different than yours, but I thought his opinions were interesting as always.
He has four punchlines before even starting the moth portion of the joke. It's amazing how the framing makes it so great.
"Yeah that's how I get a lot of my material"
--laughter 'okay why don't we have that guy on next time?'
"ahh that guy....you nah, that guy...nah, wait till you hear me do it."
--laughter
"And so the guy..he goes uhh.... uhh I say uhh, I'll be the guy'
--laughter
Man, celebrity deaths never hit me but Norm was my favorite comedian for years.
I always assumed he would get one last big project or a chance to be funny on a bigger platform but aside from his recent talk show it never happened. Norm was one of those guys who I checked on every few months just to see if he was up to something new, and I was always rooting for him despite the fact that he was already a successful and super established comedian.
Absolute legend. It's a brutal and unfair way to go, but not telling anyone he had cancer for years is oddly a very Norm Macdonald thing to do; and I'm at least happy there's so much of his comedy out there, easily accessible.
I'll miss having him around.
I always assumed he would get one last big project or a chance to be funny on a bigger platform but aside from his recent talk show it never happened. Norm was one of those guys who I checked on every few months just to see if he was up to something new, and I was always rooting for him despite the fact that he was already a successful and super established comedian.
Absolute legend. It's a brutal and unfair way to go, but not telling anyone he had cancer for years is oddly a very Norm Macdonald thing to do; and I'm at least happy there's so much of his comedy out there, easily accessible.
I'll miss having him around.
Sean Lock and Norm Macdonald. Two of my favourite comedians dead within a few weeks of each other, both from cancer.
Norm died on my birthday. I didn't think it would be a thing, but it totally shifted my mindset and attitude.
This is the worst
This is the worst
Not remotely surprised by this either
One of your tweets was deleted and I immediately wonder if it was from a woman who decided coming forward wasn't worth the relentless harassment online
Howard Remembers Stern Show Regular Norm Macdonald
Howard Stern remembers Norm Macdonald and shares stories from the comedian’s many Stern Show appearances.SUBSCRIBE for more videos: http://bit.ly/2qswmZUWant...
www.youtube.com
This is probably the most eloquent I've ever seen him speak about politics lol.I hit a point with Norm where I just assumed anything he said in public had a 90% chance of just being a private bit he was doing to amuse himself, or at least not a definite indicator of his personal opinion. Because I've seen his "Trump isn't that bad" quotes, but then he also gave this interview in 2015 that spells out the problems with Trump as clearly as anyone could at that point.
This isn't necessarily aimed at conservatives, but I saw him do a set in I think 2015 or 2016 where he mocked the idea of "tolerance" toward gay and trans people -- not in an anti-LGBT way but in a "tolerating/acknowledging someone's existence is the bare fucking minimum you can do" way. Which struck me at the time because I've never thought of Norm as someone particularly sensitive to LGBT people lol
He briefly hit on that when I saw him in 2019 too. He definitely used to have some awful trans jokes in the earlier years (there's a particularly bad one from SNL) so it caught me off guard because I had the same takeaway. I know he issued an apology for all of his jokes about that topic in the past too.
On an unrelated note, from a Reddit AMA 3 years ago:
The guy was a homophobe. Anyone who is mourning this asshole is part of the problem. Just a quick sample:
I don't think I've ever been this sad about the death of a celebrity. I've listened to hundreds and hundreds of hours of his content. Growing up it was he who influenced my taste in comedy more than anyone else. His book was such a joy to read. He was the weekend update anchor while I was in high school. It was shortly after my parents divorce and I was forced to live with my dad in a very sad situation. It was Norm who I would look forward to providing me laughs at the end of the week.
Like a lot of people I struggled with loneliness and depression during the heart of the Covid lockdown and it whenever I needed a big genuine belly laugh I would turn on one of Norm's interviews or some of his standup on youtube. He really has made my life a better one.
I recommend checking out what Bob Saget shared about Norm's death. I was balling listening to it. Norm and Bob texting each other "I love you".
RIP Norm.
Like a lot of people I struggled with loneliness and depression during the heart of the Covid lockdown and it whenever I needed a big genuine belly laugh I would turn on one of Norm's interviews or some of his standup on youtube. He really has made my life a better one.
I recommend checking out what Bob Saget shared about Norm's death. I was balling listening to it. Norm and Bob texting each other "I love you".
RIP Norm.
That wouldn't preclude you from doing anything, I just think it's sad how many people get their kicks off looking for a reason to act like judge and jury of the morals of those mourning a famous person they have no connection to in the immediate aftermath of their death. If you think that kind of behavior is anything but self serving and masturbatory, I got a bridge to sell you.
This is the problem I was mentioning in my previous post. Privileged people turn a blind eye when their beloved celebrates are pieces of shit. It's basically progressive and liberal until it's inconvenient. Which is basically what most white people are like. So go ahead pretend it's all an act of masturbatory or whatever.
I think it's very fair to say Norm was homophobic. I know Andy Richter has complained about how Norm's ongoing jokes about him (the gay porn, the Swedish German joke, etc) all depended on the punchline of gay being prima facie funny/shameful. And because Andy has both a gay dad and a gay son, he's like, so what if I'm gay? I have found it very depressing to see younger men and boys latch onto Norm for being someone who attacks marginalized groups and figures. Little edgelords constantly popping up in Andy Richter's tweets to call him "Swedish-German" as a code for gay and whatnot. Much like they have for Bill Burr and Dave Chappelle for attacking women and trans people.
Norm was actually a deeply closeted homosexual, or so he says, when he isn't talking about his sham marriage to an old battle ax
You go back decades and you'll find a bunch of shitty homophobic jokes. That "joke" didn't drop from regular use till like the 2010's, regretabbly. A lot of older comedians will probably have this skeleton in their closet.
Norm McDonald definitely had some shitty takes and perspectives over the years... I don't know why people are obsessed with getting comedians opinions on everything like they know the answers or like they won't try to spin at least one joke from the material they talk about. I really liked Norm's style and general wit and I will miss him.... AND I think he had some shit takes too. Not all his turds were gold.
So we are all assholes? Anyone that was around from the past couple of decades will have shit takes.
I know I told a lot of terrible jokes from when this video was made. The differentiation here is that Norm would still tell a joke like this in the days before he died. If he thought a punchline was funny, he told the joke. Regardless of how offensive it was.
Because mother nature already cancelled him. No use talking about that.
I can't think of a better comedian I've seen live even then he's mixed depending on the show you went to
I️ didn't know this was a thing. I'm assuming based on COVID there's more investment in developing them? I️ need to read up on that
I noticed that too. Wonder if he knew before the interview or not.