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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Orleans, Louisiana

    Norm MacDonald (1959-2021)

    Norm MacDonald Dies: Influential Comedian & Former ‘SNL’ Weekend Update Anchor Was 61

    Macdonald’s death was announced to Deadline by his management firm Brillstein Entertainment. The comedian’s longtime producing partner and friend Lori Jo Hoekstra, who was with him when died, said Macdonald had been battling cancer for nearly a decade but was determined to keep his health struggles private, away from family, friends and fans.

    “He was most proud of his comedy,” Hoekstra said. “He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him. Norm was a pure comic. He once wrote that ‘a joke should catch someone by surprise, it should never pander.’ He certainly never pandered. Norm will be missed terribly.”
    Norm MacDonald used bluntness as a comedy weapon more effectively than anyone, with the exception of Don Rickles (who had a more layered approach and used it differently).



    There are longer versions of this legendary late night interview, but this one had the clearest picture.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Oh, wow. I didn’t know any of that. His opening monologue in his return to host SNL was also legendary.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Feb 2008
    Location
    New Bern, NC unless it's a home football game then I'm grilling on Devil's Alley
    He uttered my most favorite single line joke on SNL's Weekend Update.

    "Kenny G released his Christmas album. Happy birthday, Jesus. I hope you like crap."
    Q "Why do you like Duke, you didn't even go there." A "Because my art school didn't have a basketball team."

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    raleigh
    Quote Originally Posted by CameronBornAndBred View Post
    He uttered my most favorite single line joke on SNL's Weekend Update.

    "Kenny G released his Christmas album. Happy birthday, Jesus. I hope you like crap."


    You must spread some Comments around before commenting on CameronBornAndBred again.


    also, i won't post it, but his bit about the office guy bragging about his son being in the gay parade was priceless.... DEFINITELY NSFW you can find it if you search...
    "One POSSIBLE future. From your point of view... I don't know tech stuff.".... Kyle Reese

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by brevity View Post
    Norm MacDonald Dies: Influential Comedian & Former ‘SNL’ Weekend Update Anchor Was 61



    Norm MacDonald used bluntness as a comedy weapon more effectively than anyone, with the exception of Don Rickles (who had a more layered approach and used it differently).



    There are longer versions of this legendary late night interview, but this one had the clearest picture.
    I watched a full length clip about an hour ago with the whole interview and the way it unfolds is just vicious.
    Carolina delenda est

  6. #6
    Norm was simply fearless. Never backed down, always smiling. A master.
    Nothing incites bodily violence quicker than a Duke fan turning in your direction and saying 'scoreboard.'

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Orleans, Louisiana
    Who gave Norm MacDonald the best tribute? You guessed it... Frank Stallone.

    frankstallone.jpg

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Chesapeake, VA.
    Some people think Norm wasn't very funny, and there is a group of people who think he was comedy genius. I happen to think he was hilarious. Very quirky comedian. Really sorry to see him go.

  9. #9
    This opening of the 1998 ESPYs is worth a watch.

    "Something in my vicinity is Carolina blue and this offends me." - HPR

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Manhattan
    Quote Originally Posted by HaveFunExpectToWin View Post
    This opening of the 1998 ESPYs is worth a watch.

    The OJ joke at the end is a ruthless, calculated snipe. Poor Charles Woodson never saw it coming.

    RIP Norm. One of the only comedians who can consistently make me belly-laugh.

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by HaveFunExpectToWin View Post
    This opening of the 1998 ESPYs is worth a watch.

    I’m always been a Norm McDonald fan but damn. That really, really didn’t age well. Starting from the opening line (I only took the job for the interns) misogyny and racism were flying high. If you think it was all just innocent fun watch the stunned reactions of the women sitting next to their laughing men and the stunned reactions of the black men surrounded by laughing whites.

    And I’m far from being a political correctness policeman. Not at all. For example I thought the joke about ‘black men also can’t jump’ was funny. But the joke about the black athlete turning into OJ - that was pretty humiliating for him and it was clear he was hurt by it.

    I know that the late 90’s was a different time. And I just wanted to celebrate Norm. But it is hard to ignore what’s going on in that clip. Or am I off here?

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Skydog View Post
    I’m always been a Norm McDonald fan but damn. That really, really didn’t age well. Starting from the opening line (I only took the job for the interns) misogyny and racism were flying high. If you think it was all just innocent fun watch the stunned reactions of the women sitting next to their laughing men and the stunned reactions of the black men surrounded by laughing whites.

    And I’m far from being a political correctness policeman. Not at all. For example I thought the joke about ‘black men also can’t jump’ was funny. But the joke about the black athlete turning into OJ - that was pretty humiliating for him and it was clear he was hurt by it.

    I know that the late 90’s was a different time. And I just wanted to celebrate Norm. But it is hard to ignore what’s going on in that clip. Or am I off here?
    I'd wager most comedy from 25 years would make you cringe. We've been rewatching Friends, and the sheer number of fat jokes and gay jokes is rather shocking.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Skydog View Post
    I’m always been a Norm McDonald fan but damn. That really, really didn’t age well. Starting from the opening line (I only took the job for the interns) misogyny and racism were flying high. If you think it was all just innocent fun watch the stunned reactions of the women sitting next to their laughing men and the stunned reactions of the black men surrounded by laughing whites.

    And I’m far from being a political correctness policeman. Not at all. For example I thought the joke about ‘black men also can’t jump’ was funny. But the joke about the black athlete turning into OJ - that was pretty humiliating for him and it was clear he was hurt by it.

    I know that the late 90’s was a different time. And I just wanted to celebrate Norm. But it is hard to ignore what’s going on in that clip. Or am I off here?
    You are not off base and I noticed the same things. I’d love to hear Charles Woodson’s take, but I’m not on his speed dial list.
    Carolina delenda est

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Vermont
    Another affable Canuck comedian who made it big in the U.S...no doubt the devious work of the inimitable Lorne Michaels.

  15. #15
    Comedy evolves and is based on a moment in time. Can't really judge it based on today's standards, but yes, things in the past that were maybe funny then are cringe worthy today. I had the same recoil on the first joke about interns, yikes!

    There was a good discussion of this on the Rewatchables about Mrs. Doubtfire and how that movie could not be made today and is actually inappropriate in today's context. (Although supposedly they were going to make a musical but COVID has delayed that, they assumed the musical was going to make some substantial editorial updates to modernize it).

    Norm definitely had a unique and recognizable style/voice about him and a quick wit. Passed too soon...he did a standup in March 2020 talking about COVID. In it, he claimed he was 68 years old. (He died at age 61).

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15 View Post
    I'd wager most comedy from 25 years would make you cringe. We've been rewatching Friends, and the sheer number of fat jokes and gay jokes is rather shocking.
    Makes you appreciate the genius of the things that have aged well. While there are some dodgy bits, a lot of Python stuff (not Cleese solo work Fawlty Towers though) has done pretty well, for example.

    RIP Turd Ferguson.

  17. #17
    Join Date
    Apr 2011
    Location
    Winston’Salem
    Quote Originally Posted by Bluedog View Post
    I had the same recoil on the first joke about interns, yikes!
    To be charitable to the late Mr. MacDonald, this was within probably six weeks of then-POTUS’s declaration that he “did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky.”
    "Amazing what a minute can do."

  18. #18
    Apologies to all the teachers out there, who I think are heroes, but I love this one with Norm destroying a teacher who has the temerity to call herself a hero.

    https://youtu.be/dAg9M-O9wGo

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Atlanta, GA
    Quote Originally Posted by Skydog View Post
    I’m always been a Norm McDonald fan but damn. That really, really didn’t age well. Starting from the opening line (I only took the job for the interns) misogyny and racism were flying high. If you think it was all just innocent fun watch the stunned reactions of the women sitting next to their laughing men and the stunned reactions of the black men surrounded by laughing whites.

    And I’m far from being a political correctness policeman. Not at all. For example I thought the joke about ‘black men also can’t jump’ was funny. But the joke about the black athlete turning into OJ - that was pretty humiliating for him and it was clear he was hurt by it.

    I know that the late 90’s was a different time. And I just wanted to celebrate Norm. But it is hard to ignore what’s going on in that clip. Or am I off here?
    I laughed from start to finish and I consider myself to be pretty progressive/PC. Are you a Millennial or younger? I ask b/c Norm was clearly poking fun of Bill Clinton with the intern joke. It was hard to miss even 20+ years later.
    Hard at work making beautiful things.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Edouble View Post
    I laughed from start to finish and I consider myself to be pretty progressive/PC. Are you a Millennial or younger? I ask b/c Norm was clearly poking fun of Bill Clinton with the intern joke. It was hard to miss even 20+ years later.
    Does being a 19th century millennial count?

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