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Norm Macdonald Dies at 61
- Thread starter tormented
- Start date
We all know Norm was kind of a piece of shit in his political views and had a boomer mentality when it came to many political and sociopolitical issues, and probably did some untoward shit regarding women.
He was also a comedy genius and brought me so much joy throughout the first 30 years of my life. I am conflicted about holding his now-dead feet to the fire about his missteps. Right now, I am just sad he's gone.
I will say that this news hit me hard and I miss him, already.
He was also a comedy genius and brought me so much joy throughout the first 30 years of my life. I am conflicted about holding his now-dead feet to the fire about his missteps. Right now, I am just sad he's gone.
I will say that this news hit me hard and I miss him, already.
Lmao, basketball players. So you don't know literally the most basic fact about OJ or these other men. That's uhh…interesting.
I don't understand what you mean about suffering. He didn't denigrate the mans achievement in any way. The men reacted because as fellow players, they likely know OJ. Which is why he made the joke in the first place. Making people slightly uncomfortable is half of his schtick.
The man the joke was directed at laughs, one guy face palms, and one shakes his head. One of them disliking the joke doesn't equal racism. You're free to not like OJ jokes, but I don't think it's fair to paint him as racist. Everyone in the country was clowning on OJ. And I'm gonna be honest, I'd be a bit surprised if you knew literally anything about the case after your last post.
Making a joke while you are talking to a black man is not inherently racist. He mentioned the trophy they both won, but the man in the audience was not the butt of the joke in any way. He seemed to think it was funny.
OJ Simpson himself won the Heisman Trophy in 1968 and in fact his trophy was set to be seized from him to pay the danages in his civil case (but wasn't, which is a whole other story altogether, but I digress).
There's nothing subtle or esoteric about his ESPY's joke, it's really quite blunt and straightforward, which is why of course he nailed it.
There's nothing subtle or esoteric about his ESPY's joke, it's really quite blunt and straightforward, which is why of course he nailed it.
i cant say im not sad, very deeply sad
but seeing all the loveing outpouring of his bits
and all his many many MANY quotes on death
it's making me feel ok
he kept his cancer personal, that was his choice, and im ok with that
he knew what to do
he always knew what to do
but seeing all the loveing outpouring of his bits
and all his many many MANY quotes on death
it's making me feel ok
he kept his cancer personal, that was his choice, and im ok with that
he knew what to do
he always knew what to do
This segment was not only better than the movie, but it justified the movie being made.
I agree. Also there is a good chance many views that posters think are righteous now in 30 years or so will be looked at as shitty. So I don't hold it against him (the boomer mentality). That said the untoward shit regarding women, I do hold against him. I am going to hold his feet to fire? At this time no.
Norm put his foot in it a bit in recent years but I admire the fact that his comedy never turned into performatively reactionary and victim playing "you can't say anything these days!!!" schtick. If anything he proved how lazy a lot of his contemporaries were in replacing humor with self-absorbed rants about all criticism.
Disagree with the "he knows a lot about politics" part though lol
Disagree with the "he knows a lot about politics" part though lol
People are posting clips of Norm Macdonald being hilarious everywhere because he was a genius comedian. You don't have to interact with it, you don't have to watch the clips, you don't have to take part in the discourse, you don't have to celebrate him. In fact, you seem to have done a good job of not thinking about Norm Macdonald at all until the last 24h, I'm sure you'll manage to persevere through this.
I find it so funny that a lot of people have the automatic reaction of "oh, someone died and seems to be widely celebrated? Guess it's the perfect time to put on my cape and go on a superficial Google rabbit hole to teach the uncouth masses about how this guy I barely know jack shit about is actually the scum of the Earth".
I tell you, the more I hear about this Norm guy, the less I care for him.
I mean this guy was a real jerk!
Im guessing this is funny because that's how he talked? Heh, if so.
*chef kiss*
Also, a good remembrance piece: https://www.gawker.com/celebrity/norm-macdonald-loved-jokes
And here, perhaps, is why Norm Macdonald died less famous than he should have been. He cared about jokes too much, when the business of comedy is not actually about jokes so much as audience shares and sponsors and streams and tickets. The comedy-consuming public claims to care nothing for these matters, of course; we only want funnier and funnier jokes. That is the theory, anyway, but in practice, the public is depressingly susceptible to hype. Fake funny sells. It often sells better than real funny, and it is significantly easier to produce. Norm despised fake funny, both in the industry and in daily life. It troubled him, the way you imagine that song coming out of the ice cream truck would trouble Mozart.
"You watch TV and every joke kills. It's like you're insane or something," he told me. He had a mental list of responses to jokes that weren't laughs, a kind of litany of human dishonesty. He disliked it when people said a joke "works on so many levels." He felt the same way about "I see what you did there," and those exclamations that fill the place where a joke should be: words like "touché!" and "awkward!" He hated the rimshot noise. He hated it when people said "that's funny" instead of laughing. "There should be a different word for a joke that people laugh at," he told me. "There should be a higher one."
I was too young to appreciate Norm during his time, but I recently (like this year) got a look at his comedy and he was really one of the greats. His delivery and timing just took you by surprise and I'm sorry to see him go like this and struggle privately for all those years.
This is some irony.... you are talking about racism but see OJ was a black athlete and assumed it had to be basketball?
This is some irony.... you are talking about racism but see OJ was a black athlete and assumed it had to be basketball?
I mean again, been a fan of Norm since I was a kid in the 90s watching Conan. My favorite comedian. But I noticed since years ago that whenever he'd have a serious interview, where he sounded depressed and didn't joke a lot, that the guy was obviously a secret asshole. He usually kept that out of his bits and I liked him best when he stuck to comedy, to "his character".
Crazy how the guy secretly dying of cancer was occasionally depressed and an arsehole in interviews
lmao basketball player. Can't even get basic facts right.
It's funny because it references a bit you don't recognize and for some reason you seem to believe you need to constantly give input into the life and work of a man whose existence you were unaware of until yesterday.
probably related to groping, with the inclusion of "female comics" I can only assume Norm was more like Louis CK in more ways than one.
yeah that's what I figured but I wanna
be sure.
a very funny guy but problematic as fuck clearly.
I don't think it's in bad taste or whatever for people to post anecdotes about Norm being problematic. I never heard he groped fans before yesterday, but I'm glad it was posted. Not that I'm happy about it, of course, but getting a more compete picture of the guy feels appropriate now, given how private he was. I saw Andy Richter post this nice story today:
Just listened to the WTF podcast he was on and he specifically says that he likes Bill. So who knows what the truth is :)
Dude seems pretty monstrous, it's wild how much you can get away with being funny/a celebrity and how people twist their minds to not let it bother them.
I'm actually surprised, because while I've always known Norm is a complicated dude who's definitely not squeaky-clean, I have not been getting the usual Twitter "actually here's the real soup" responses on him that I usually get from my connections in the comedy biz.
Twitter's algorithm pisses me off sometimes.
Well it was 10 years ago, and while I've never been a fan of Bill Maher anyway, I definitely he's gotten way worse over the years.
Speaking of WTF -- I just finished listening to that ep, and it is a great interview, but the number of times Norm mentions that the only things he fears are illness and death...fuck.
lmao
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I know right ? As you said, It is a great interview and worth checking out.
Repost - Norm Macdonald from 2011 — WTF with Marc Maron Podcast
From October 2011, Marc's revelatory conversation with Norm Macdonald about life, comedy, gambling, death and Rodney. Norm died on September 14, 2021 at age 61.
www.wtfpod.com
"Germany you don't get to be a country no more on account of the fact you keep on attacking the world. What do you think you are Mars or something?"
