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RIP Norm Macdonald

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ulukinatme

ulukinatme 1761

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7 hours ago, 4th&Five said:

 

I'm not big on podcasts, but this one was good.  Gave some backstory to the Moth joke, just another great example of Norm thinking on his feet.  It explains the Bob Saget roast, which was classic.  There's quite a few anecdotes in the beginning, then they get down to the crux of his character towards the middle, then finish with some great anecdotes again.  I'm surprised that among all the possible celebrities they could have, Conan admits that Norm is the most requested.  For a guy that sometimes flew under the radar and didn't play by the rules that's pretty cool.

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ulukinatme

ulukinatme 1761

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Was watching Norm stuff the last few days and came across this clip from a podcast he did in 2016.  Was talking about cancer and basically described how he planned to go out without anyone knowing it at the time.

Reading the comments I found this story.  No idea if it's true or not, but pretty cool if it is:

Quote
In 2017, Norm did a show in Irvine, California. I was there working the show as a drink server. About 5 minutes into the show, a heckler (and a mean heckler...one that really seemed hateful of Norm), started verbally ruining his set. Security was about to remove him, but then Norm stopped security saying he wanted to talk to the heckler. The audience started clapping thinking Norm was going to verbally destroy him. Instead, Norm tried to figure out why he has paid admission to be so hateful. The audience laughed more thinking Norm was setting something up, or mocking the man, but Norm quite seriously hushed the crowd. Somehow, over the course of about 5 minutes, Norm actually defused the guy, who ended up admitting he was lonely because his girlfriend had left him 3 weeks before, and had been angry at the world ever since. It actually became a sincere, deep, vulnerable conversation, and more and more of the crowd realized Norm wasn't setting him up. Norm got the man to agree to stop heckling and said he wanted to meet him after the show. He got security to let him stay, and the show went on.
 
After the show, Norm had a meet and greet, and a few people lingered curious what would happen between Norm and the heckler that Norm was requesting to stay. Instead, Norm completed the meet and greet, and then asked us to shoo everyone out except for the heckler. After everyone had left (other than me and 2 other staff, and 2 security guards), Norm asked the guy what he was doing the next hour or so. The guy said nothing, and then Norm asked if he wanted to go have dinner. And Norm asked us if the grille would serve a meal to them between sets, which they did.
 
For the next 45 minutes, Norm had dinner in our club with the guy who an hour before was trying to ruin his set. We gave them distance so I can't tell you what was said, but I can tell you at one point the man was crying. I can also tell you at the end of the meal, Norm shook his hand and put his arm kindly around his shoulder in sort of a half hug, before the man left.
 
Later that night, Norm had to cancel his meet and greet at the end of the show, because he "wasn't feeling well". And Norm looked rather sick the whole night too. In retrospect, I wonder if the "wasn't feel well" was related to cancer or its treatments.
 
I also wonder if Norm was trying to impart wisdom about his own past hatred onto the man, and how to transcend it. I thought people should know this story because it's true and it happened in 2017 at a show in Irvine, CA.

 

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Pato del Muerto

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42 minutes ago, ulukinatme said:
In 2017, Norm did a show in Irvine, California. I was there working the show as a drink server. About 5 minutes into the show, a heckler (and a mean heckler...one that really seemed hateful of Norm), started verbally ruining his set. Security was about to remove him, but then Norm stopped security saying he wanted to talk to the heckler. The audience started clapping thinking Norm was going to verbally destroy him. Instead, Norm tried to figure out why he has paid admission to be so hateful. The audience laughed more thinking Norm was setting something up, or mocking the man, but Norm quite seriously hushed the crowd. Somehow, over the course of about 5 minutes, Norm actually defused the guy, who ended up admitting he was lonely because his girlfriend had left him 3 weeks before, and had been angry at the world ever since. It actually became a sincere, deep, vulnerable conversation, and more and more of the crowd realized Norm wasn't setting him up. Norm got the man to agree to stop heckling and said he wanted to meet him after the show. He got security to let him stay, and the show went on.
 
After the show, Norm had a meet and greet, and a few people lingered curious what would happen between Norm and the heckler that Norm was requesting to stay. Instead, Norm completed the meet and greet, and then asked us to shoo everyone out except for the heckler. After everyone had left (other than me and 2 other staff, and 2 security guards), Norm asked the guy what he was doing the next hour or so. The guy said nothing, and then Norm asked if he wanted to go have dinner. And Norm asked us if the grille would serve a meal to them between sets, which they did.
 
For the next 45 minutes, Norm had dinner in our club with the guy who an hour before was trying to ruin his set. We gave them distance so I can't tell you what was said, but I can tell you at one point the man was crying. I can also tell you at the end of the meal, Norm shook his hand and put his arm kindly around his shoulder in sort of a half hug, before the man left.
 
Later that night, Norm had to cancel his meet and greet at the end of the show, because he "wasn't feeling well". And Norm looked rather sick the whole night too. In retrospect, I wonder if the "wasn't feel well" was related to cancer or its treatments.
 
I also wonder if Norm was trying to impart wisdom about his own past hatred onto the man, and how to transcend it. I thought people should know this story because it's true and it happened in 2017 at a show in Irvine, CA.

That man?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you guessed it- frank stallone

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BHMCruiser

BHMCruiser 1813

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On 9/17/2021 at 4:43 AM, ulukinatme said:

I'm not big on podcasts, but this one was good.  Gave some backstory to the Moth joke, just another great example of Norm thinking on his feet.  It explains the Bob Saget roast, which was classic.  There's quite a few anecdotes in the beginning, then they get down to the crux of his character towards the middle, then finish with some great anecdotes again.  I'm surprised that among all the possible celebrities they could have, Conan admits that Norm is the most requested.  For a guy that sometimes flew under the radar and didn't play by the rules that's pretty cool.

I loved the podcast but Andy Richter came across as a snotty turd

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ulukinatme

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10 hours ago, BrickHorn said:

It’s a Swedish-German thing.

I forgot all about that.

Norm: "I'm Scottish.  What are you?"
Andy:  "I'm Swedish German."

Norm:  "Really?"
Andy:  "Yeah, why would I lie about that?  It's not funny."

Norm's head starts turning and proceeds to make it funny.  

 

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Dennis Taylor

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13 hours ago, DonkeyCigars said:

He’s very problematic and should be canceled for his anti-Asian behavior in the 2004 classic New York Minute. Also the movie that represents the peak of Eugene Levy’s career, as a side note.

Is my sarcasm meter broken, or are you upset with him for reading the lines for his part?

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Genco

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25 minutes ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Is my sarcasm meter broken, or are you upset with him for reading the lines for his part?

He's passive aggressively whining about cancel culture in a Norm MacDonald tribute thread.

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RomaVicta

RomaVicta 29848

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On 9/17/2021 at 10:02 PM, The Ace of Aces said:

I’m still incredibly sad. At Wegmans tonight I talked to a random human about Norm. This loss is the worst I’ve experienced from a”famous” person. This loss will become bigger as time goes on. He was a genius and underestimated- always. 

Yeah. It's still getting to me. The surprise of Phil Harman's murder was similar. It felt like losing someone you know and losing an important piece of the world. 

McDonald always had the appearance that there was a whole other circus going on in his head, and he just allowed some of it out every once in a while. He was an artist.

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DonkeyCigars

DonkeyCigars 144

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11 hours ago, Genco said:

He's passive aggressively whining about cancel culture in a Norm MacDonald tribute thread.

 

23 hours ago, Upgrayedd said:

Must be talking about a different Eugene Levy.

 

12 hours ago, Dennis Taylor said:

Is my sarcasm meter broken, or are you upset with him for reading the lines for his part?

That was my attempt at trying to pay homage to Norm Macdonald on the RIP Norm thread and make a joke and try and pastiche with his tone/voice. My bad!

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GTX Horn

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On 9/18/2021 at 4:37 PM, BHMCruiser said:

I loved the podcast but Andy Richter came across as a snotty turd

Huge Conan fan here but I don’t like Andy at all. Not really that funny on the talk shows he did with Conan and never really added anything tot he show. I do think there’s something to the rumors that Andy tried to keep Norm from coming onto the TBS show after the Swedish-German joke

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Frank The Tank

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Was the Swedish-German joke a one time thing or an ongoing bit that Norm ran with? I’ve only seen it once and I don’t think Andy got the joke. It didn’t insinuate that he was gay, it insinuated that he got forcefully anal raped against his will.  I might be wrong, but I don’t think that makes anyone who is gay think “What is wrong with me?”

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GTX Horn

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41 minutes ago, Frank The Tank said:

Was the Swedish-German joke a one time thing or an ongoing bit that Norm ran with? I’ve only seen it once and I don’t think Andy got the joke. It didn’t insinuate that he was gay, it insinuated that he got forcefully anal raped against his will.  I might be wrong, but I don’t think that makes anyone who is gay think “What is wrong with me?”

According to Andy that’s a thing Norm fans ran with and would use “Swedish German” as a euphemism for being gay on social media.

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Braff Zacklin

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Love Norm and celebrate his entire catalog, but the "Andy Richter Swedish-German" bit was not original. Way I heard it told back in the early 90s featured "Charlie the Piano Player" instead of "Andy Richter Swedish-German."

My guess is Norm wanted to have a go at Andy, so he dug up that old joke on the spot and substituted Andy for Charlie.

OG punchline was better, by the way.

Spoiler

PROSPECTOR: Say I take you up on this--who all's gotta know?

BARTENDER: Well, there's you, me, and Charlie, of course ... and four other guys.

PROSPECTOR: Four other guys??!! Why in the blazes do they gotta know?f!

BARTENDER: To hold Charlie down. He ain't like that, neither.

 

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ulukinatme

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5 hours ago, GTX Horn said:

Huge Conan fan here but I don’t like Andy at all. Not really that funny on the talk shows he did with Conan and never really added anything tot he show. I do think there’s something to the rumors that Andy tried to keep Norm from coming onto the TBS show after the Swedish-German joke

According to the podcast that Conan just did, it was just that joke that Norm adapted on the fly during his show.  It was a one time deal, but to this day Andy says that fans still come up to him and call him "The Swedish German."

FWIW, Andy said on the podcast he doesn't get mad about it (At least not now).  To a comedian it's the ultimate sign of respect to have another comedian use you in a joke, so maybe he was angry at one time...who knows.  He did say that he cringed a bit knowing that he's yuckin' it up with Conan and Norm over a gay joke and he'd feel guilty anytime he'd see gay family or gay employees on the show, but from a personal standpoint he was fine with it.

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Pato del Muerto

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6 hours ago, GTX Horn said:

According to Andy that’s a thing Norm fans ran with and would use “Swedish German” as a euphemism for being gay on social media.

Now that’s fucking funny. Even though it doesn’t make sense within the context of the joke.  The joke doesn’t even work if he’s gay. 

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BrickHorn

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6 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

Love Norm and celebrate his entire catalog, but the "Andy Richter Swedish-German" bit was not original.

It’s a shaggy dog story. The punchline isn’t the point, and it’s not supposed to be original. The artistry is in the long-winded delivery and the ability of the joke teller to hold the audience’s attention and inspire laughter along the way. 

It’s like The Aristocrats. Comics prove their delivery chops by killing with old, lame material. 

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BHMCruiser

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20 hours ago, GTX Horn said:

Huge Conan fan here but I don’t like Andy at all. Not really that funny on the talk shows he did with Conan and never really added anything tot he show. I do think there’s something to the rumors that Andy tried to keep Norm from coming onto the TBS show after the Swedish-German joke

That would be unfortunate. Richter had his moments, like his line about Norm's youthful porpoise joke "that's like taking somebody on a four mile hike to show them a dog turd." 

Norm made gay jokes about Andy all the time. He made a joke about how Andy's watching gay porn didn't necessarily make him gay. And he made the joke (that I can't find anymore) about Andy becoming a gay prostitute to make ends meet and getting paid $450, AND FIVE CENTS. Andy offers to pay for breakfast, because he is now flush with cash, since he got paid $450, AND FIVE CENTS, for his first night as a homosexual male prostitute. This goes on for a while, and then Norm finally asks Andy, "who paid you the five cents?" And Andy supposedly responds "every one of them." And then Norm tells Conan, "simple arithmetic, that's nine thousand and one dudes." 

In fairness to Andy, he responds with "you can tell Norm is maturing because he is telling my grandfather's jokes." 

Found it:

 

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BHMCruiser

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8 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

The Swedish-German thing was the culmination of Norm making gay jokes about Andy Richter for 20 years.   He spent most of the 90s talking about Andy’s alleged obsession with gay porn.


Then when Conan got the Tonight Show and Andy came back after having been away on separate projects for years, one of the first shows had Norm as the guest.   He immediately welcomed Andy back by referencing the gay porn thing, and then going into a long shaggy dog joke about Andy making $450.05 by prostituting himself (start at 5:00):

 
Either Andy is trying to act woke now to whitewash it, or maybe it actually always bothered him and that’s why Norm went out of his way to make the most ridiculous gay jokes about him every appearance.   I could see either one being true.

sorry I should have read the thread first

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gsoda3

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On 9/15/2021 at 11:24 PM, ulukinatme said:

Norm was definitely one of the troublemakers.  One of the SNL alums said he's one of the last few comics that just didn't give a fuck.  Haven't seen anyone post the View appearance yet:

The reactions were great, Barbara didn't get it, he was just relentless. The Cosby thing is actually funnier in retrospect now.

5:25 mark, norm explains to tom green what happened.

 

 

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Fletch

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On 9/20/2021 at 12:51 PM, GTX Horn said:

Huge Conan fan here but I don’t like Andy at all. Not really that funny on the talk shows he did with Conan and never really added anything tot he show. I do think there’s something to the rumors that Andy tried to keep Norm from coming onto the TBS show after the Swedish-German joke

I’ve been watching Conan for years and Andy has made me laugh like twice. He’s not funny and his input is usually worthless and stupid

 

God this Norm shit is tearing me up. Felt like I lost a good friend. Just fuckin sucks 

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Dennis Taylor

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6 hours ago, BHMCruiser said:

That would be unfortunate. Richter had his moments, like his line about Norm's youthful porpoise joke "that's like taking somebody on a four mile hike to show them a dog turd." 

Norm made gay jokes about Andy all the time. He made a joke about how Andy's watching gay porn didn't necessarily make him gay. And he made the joke (that I can't find anymore) about Andy becoming a gay prostitute to make ends meet and getting paid $450, AND FIVE CENTS. Andy offers to pay for breakfast, because he is now flush with cash, since he got paid $450, AND FIVE CENTS, for his first night as a homosexual male prostitute. This goes on for a while, and then Norm finally asks Andy, "who paid you the five cents?" And Andy supposedly responds "every one of them." And then Norm tells Conan, "simple arithmetic, that's nine thousand and one dudes." 

In fairness to Andy, he responds with "you can tell Norm is maturing because he is telling my grandfather's jokes." 

Found it:

 

I remember watching that one live and I almost fell of the couch when he said "every one of them "

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ulukinatme

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10 hours ago, gsoda3 said:

5:25 mark, norm explains to tom green what happened.

 

 

Yeah, I think I posted his commentary about it in the post after that one.  I've seen multiple people mention it, but the more people tried to tell Norm not to do something, the more he would go the opposite direction.  The reactions were funny, especially Barbara Walters.  "I thought you were supposed to be funny!" 

He was, Barbara.  He was.

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WhatTheBuck

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19 hours ago, longhornmatt said:

The Swedish-German thing was the culmination of Norm making gay jokes about Andy Richter for 20 years.   He spent most of the 90s talking about Andy’s alleged obsession with gay porn.


Then when Conan got the Tonight Show and Andy came back after having been away on separate projects for years, one of the first shows had Norm as the guest.   He immediately welcomed Andy back by referencing the gay porn thing, and then going into a long shaggy dog joke about Andy making $450.05 by prostituting himself (start at 5:00):

 
Either Andy is trying to act woke now to whitewash it, or maybe it actually always bothered him and that’s why Norm went out of his way to make the most ridiculous gay jokes about him every appearance.   I could see either one being true.

I didn’t make it all the way through the first video. Andy seemed like he took it all in good fun. I thought the funniest joke was when Norm said he gave up feeding his cat for Lent. But Norm also said that he himself enjoyed watching gay porn so don’t let that one slip by.

I’ve got no problem with Andy Richter. He was a good straight man, a foil for Conan. I thought Conan’s talent was improv. I never thought he was a particularly good interviewer and his monologues seemed kind of stiff so I rarely watched his show.

Richter also played a murderer on an episode of Monk. I’ve seen him play roles on other shows and always thought he did just fine.

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