Topic: Norm Macdonald, comedy
As I stated in my last blog entry, I am not usually a fan of comedy. Honestly, I can sit through an entire comedy show or movie and not laugh. Not because it isn't funny, but because it takes A LOT to get me to laugh.
Around 1994, the comedians I considered funny, I could count on one hand and have several fingers left over. Dennis Miller (The Thinking Man's Comedian) and Steven Banks, who had a short-lived PBS show. Then after I had started watching SNL, I became a fan of Norm Macdonald when he started doing the Weekend Update. The man was hysterical! However, after 3 years as the WU anchor, I find out to my shock and horror that he's not funny, according to Don Ohlmeyer. Weird, I laughed every week. But the head of NBC said it, so it must be true. After all, I was a mere viewer. What did I know? My opinion, as well as the opinions of other viewers apparently doesn't matter. That didn't seem right, but oh well...I stuck it out until Norm left SNL completely, and then I boycotted the show. Unfortunately, I missed him hosting a year later because I was too busy boycotting to pay attention to who was hosting.
Norm went on to do some movies and TV shows, including a show called "Norm" that lasted for three seasons. I had seen him on some talk shows for a while and then suddenly, he disappeared.
About a year ago, I joined Twitter. Mostly, I joined to keep up with my favorite celebs. Recently, I decided to search for Norm Macdonald, hoping he would be on Twitter. Lo and behold, there he was. I couldn't believe my eyes! I started following him right away and quickly found out he was doing a Comedy Central stand-up special. "Excited" doesn't even begin to describe how I felt when I heard the news.
I found out the date of the special was March 26, 2011. I tuned in, and OH MY GOD! The man hasn't lost it AT ALL! As a matter of fact, he has only gotten better. Seriously, if I'm laughing, you know it's funny! I have to say, I was a bit shocked at first since I've never seen Norm's stand-up routine before. Weekend Update it isn't. Far from it. However, it was surprisingly tame compared to what I was expecting (based on what I have seen of other stand-up comics). The topics he covered (alcoholism, death, disease, heart attacks, and murder) aren't usually things to make jokes about or that you would normally laugh about. And there was a time when I wouldn't have laughed at these jokes no matter what. However, Norm pulls it off flawlessly in typical Norm fashion. At no time does he make fun of any of these subjects. He simply points out the absurdity of certain things like "waging a battle" with an illness and exaggerates certain aspects of things like how they report the news....in this case, a missing person named Janice, who later turns up murdered. Once you get past the topics he is doing jokes about, you have to admit...he's right. All of his observations are right on the money and done tastefully and respectfully.
I was amazed to find out that this was his the very first time he has ever had a televised stand-up show. What took so long? Comedy Central should have done this long ago! I'm so glad they finally did, and I hope they have him do another special. By the end of the hour, I wanted more. And more there will be. "Sports Show with Norm Macdonald" debuts April 12, 2011 on Comedy Central. I, for one, can't wait. I'm very sports challenged, but with Norm as the host, this is gonna be good!
