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You are here: Home / Absent Friends / RIP / RIP, Norm MacDonald

RIP, Norm MacDonald

by John Cole|  September 14, 20214:19 pm| 52 Comments

This post is in: RIP

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Dead at 61 after privately fighting cancer for nearly a decade.

Absolutely one of my favorite comedians of all time (I was just talking about him on here the other day), up there with Patrice O’Neill, and this one hurts really bad. There was no one who had his delivery, deadpan, offbeat timing, and quirky sense of humor. There are so many routines he did that just make me laugh out loud even on the umpteenth viewing, and his guest hosting and simply being a guest on a talk show made everything better. I’ll leave you with two of my favorite recent pieces. First, Uncle Bert and his fight with bowel cancer (which was delivered while Norm himself secretly had cancer):

And then, one of a typical long, winding standup about Janice:

It’s the little things about him that I loved the most- like saying “half a hour” instead of half an hour. Or live tweeting golf hours after it happened.

Fucking Joe Rogan and Dane Cook and Carlos Mencia will probably live to be 100.

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Reader Interactions

52Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    September 14, 2021 at 4:23 pm

    Only the good die young.

    And antivaxxers.

  2. 2.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 14, 2021 at 4:27 pm

    Funny, funny man. Sad loss.

  3. 3.

    Leto

    September 14, 2021 at 4:30 pm

    His SNL skits will forever make me laugh. Fuck cancer.

    This was one of his best: Celebrity Jeopardy!: French Stewart, Burt Reynolds, & Sean Connery – SNL

  4. 4.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 14, 2021 at 4:34 pm

    He had not looked well for a few years. I guess we now know why.

  5. 5.

    J R in WV

    September 14, 2021 at 4:34 pm

    Sorry to hear of our loss. Not familiar with his work as a non-TV-watcher myself. I read a lot, don’t watch much TV at all aside from news shows. Fnord.

    But losing anyone who can make people laugh, that’s a sad loss in these troubled days.

  6. 6.

    Omnes Omnibus

    September 14, 2021 at 4:41 pm

    FWIW I found his humor very hot or miss.  When he hit, he was hilarious.  But, for me, he missed too often to be one of the greats. RIP.

  7. 7.

    WereBear

    September 14, 2021 at 4:43 pm

    His style of humor always reminded me of Jonathan Winters. The funny snuck up on you.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    September 14, 2021 at 4:44 pm

    @Leto:

    Yes. Great at the news desk.

  9. 9.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 14, 2021 at 4:45 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: ​ 

    Yeah, that does explain his appearance and his voice recently.

  10. 10.

    cope

    September 14, 2021 at 4:48 pm

    He was a funny guy and has died too young by far.  I hadn’t really seen much of him in the last few years but I am pretty certain he was working as a voice over on commercials.

    R.I.P.

  11. 11.

    Elizabelle

    September 14, 2021 at 4:51 pm

    Saw that news, and thought of you immediately. I loved the comedy routine about Germany you put up a few days ago. It was gold. Too soon gone.

  12. 12.

    GrannyMC

    September 14, 2021 at 4:58 pm

    I played poker with Norm MacDonald once. It was a 10-20 Limit Hold’em game at Sam’s Town, one of Tunica, Mississippi’s now defunct casino barges, where he had done a show earlier that night. He never looked at his cards until the showdown. He bet or raised every time it was his turn. I don’t remember if he came away a winner or loser, but he obviously didn’t care. He was just Normal Norm that night, not Norm the Comedian, not trying to put on a show or “hold court”. He was chatty, but it was just chatter, not a performance. I otherwise don’t remember much else about the game, including whether I had a good or bad night. I think it says something about the guy, however, that he was willing to play (for him) low-stakes poker for hours with a bunch of scruffy nobodies and had a good time doing it.

  13. 13.

    HumboldtBlue

    September 14, 2021 at 5:01 pm

    The best of Turd Ferguson.

  14. 14.

    debbie

    September 14, 2021 at 5:06 pm

    @GrannyMC:

    He was probably looking for new material.

  15. 15.

    trollhattan

    September 14, 2021 at 5:10 pm

    I love(d) Norm McDonald. Funny in ways few comedians can master. R.I.P. Norm.

  16. 16.

    JMG

    September 14, 2021 at 5:13 pm

    A great talent. The list of influential and/or famous people his comedy pissed off is very long, and that alone is testimony to how great he was.

  17. 17.

    Cluttered Mind

    September 14, 2021 at 5:22 pm

    This one hits me hard too.

     

    I think I need to go rewatch Billy Madison right now.

  18. 18.

    Miss Bianca

    September 14, 2021 at 5:22 pm

    I have never been a big SNL fan, so I blush to confess that I had never heard of Norm MacDonald. But someone over at LGM posted this link to a joke he told on Conan O’Brien’s show and it made me laugh my ass off. This, while I was waiting for my niece to call me back with an update on my sister’s cancer/stroke prognosis, so let’s just say I was feeling about as jolly as a stone elephant and I *still* laughed my ass off. That’s some talent. RIP.

  19. 19.

    Keith P.

    September 14, 2021 at 5:23 pm

    @Leto: Panthers vs Cobras!  Letterman, too

  20. 20.

    jonas

    September 14, 2021 at 5:31 pm

    His classic delivery of the “but you f*ck a goat ONE TIME and…” shaggy dog joke was a classic. And there will always be Turd Ferguson.

  21. 21.

    hueyplong

    September 14, 2021 at 5:33 pm

    My favorites tend to be the hit-or-miss people when they’re hitting, and McDonald was one of those.

    As for the Rogan/live forever thing, I’ll take the under.

  22. 22.

    zhena gogolia

    September 14, 2021 at 5:45 pm

    @WereBear: Yes.

  23. 23.

    zhena gogolia

    September 14, 2021 at 5:46 pm

    @GrannyMC: Cool!

  24. 24.

    OzarkHillbilly

    September 14, 2021 at 5:51 pm

    I have to admit, I never heard of the guy. Tried watching the first video but the sound was so muddled the tinnitus in my half deaf ears drowned out 3/4s of what he said.

    Sorry.

  25. 25.

    The Dangerman

    September 14, 2021 at 5:51 pm

    He was funny and very, very intelligent. Seems to go that way often with comedians.

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    September 14, 2021 at 5:53 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: It’s probably not a good strategy to try to get an idea of him all at once based on little snippets. He’s an acquired taste.

  27. 27.

    debbie

    September 14, 2021 at 5:59 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    Here’s his silly side as Burt Reynolds on SNL’s version of Jeopardy. Bonus of Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery.

  28. 28.

    rikyrah

    September 14, 2021 at 5:59 pm

    RIP??

  29. 29.

    Leto

    September 14, 2021 at 6:05 pm

    @Keith P.: That Panthers Cobras skit is just too damn funny; when the Panther’s arrive, he calls out his boys, and immediately regrets it! Hahahaha He was just so funny.

  30. 30.

    frosty

    September 14, 2021 at 6:12 pm

    @Miss Bianca: Just a couple of weeks ago I hit on a link to this joke and split my sides laughing. I’d never heard it before. What a delivery!​

  31. 31.

    Miss Bianca

    September 14, 2021 at 6:14 pm

    @frosty: Yeah, that’s the one I linked to. I’m not sure why it hit my funny bone so hard, but it really, really did.

    ETA: Part of it is that you *think* it’s going to be a shaggy dog (or moth) story, and then you finally get the punchline.

  32. 32.

    HypersphericalCow

    September 14, 2021 at 6:15 pm

    I get Rush Limbuagh and Tudker and Alex Jones. I find their worldwiews repugnant, but I get them.

    joe Rogan? I just don’t get him at all. He’s not a good interviewer like Stern, he’s not a good propagandist like Tucker. Obviously, a lot of people find him funny and interesting, or why would he have millions of followers and Spotify pay him a lot of money? I just don’t get it.

  33. 33.

    frosty

    September 14, 2021 at 6:15 pm

    @Miss Bianca: ​
      Well, the start was awesome, explaining where he gets his material. Then the deadpan delivery. And finally the punchline that comes out of nowhere. It’s perfect.

  34. 34.

    Winston

    September 14, 2021 at 6:24 pm

    My wife died from cancer. It wasn’t funny. This isn’t funny. Fuck your funny.

  35. 35.

    raven

    September 14, 2021 at 6:27 pm

    @OzarkHillbilly: I was amazed how many people hadn’t heard of Nanci Griffith but I guess that’s the way it goes.

  36. 36.

    Leto

    September 14, 2021 at 6:27 pm

    @The Dangerman: The really good comedians are usually very smart. Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Norm, Robin Williams… just exceptionally quick in their ability to respond to just about anything, and their ability to incorporate that into their act/set. Robin Williams set when he’s in Afghanistan and the National Anthem goes off sticks out as an example of this.

  37. 37.

    trollhattan

    September 14, 2021 at 6:35 pm

    @HypersphericalCow:

    The Rogan guy seems famous for being famous, like a random Kardashian who popped up in the news because reasons. Evidently he was on “News Radio” as a secondary character, so technically I have watched a thing he was in, a show I liked, too. He’s still around and Phil Hartman is not.

    Thus endeth my Joe Rogan bio.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2021 at 6:40 pm

    the producer of Marc Maron’s WTF podcast:

    Brendan McDonald@ProducerMcD 1h
    Maybe @JesseThorn will correct me if I’m wrong, but when we did a run of WTF interviews to air on public radio stations 8 or 9 years ago, I believe the Norm episode broke the record for the longest Content Advisory ever issued by PRX. Proud moment there.

    (side note: WTF stands for “What the Fuck?”. Bill Cosby refused to do the podcast, back when anybody wanted Bill Cosby to appear on things, because of the vulgarity of the title)

  39. 39.

    zhena gogolia

    September 14, 2021 at 6:42 pm

    Norm MacDonald spent his career making people laugh. He was honored by other comedians as a master of his craft. I don’t think it’s out of line to celebrate and honor him by talking about how funny he was.

  40. 40.

    raven

    September 14, 2021 at 6:42 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:  Red Foxx woulda done it!

  41. 41.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    September 14, 2021 at 6:43 pm

    @trollhattan: post- NewsRadio, he got involved in MMA as an announcer, I think he actually grew a larger following in that world than in stand-up, but I don’t know.

    Then again, Marc Maron, mentioned above, became much more famous as a podcaster interviewing (when he started) other comics than from years of being, as they say, “a comedian’s comedian”, so maybe Rogan hit that market in a very different demo

  42. 42.

    Baud

    September 14, 2021 at 6:44 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Cosby was thinking of the children.

  43. 43.

    Keith P.

    September 14, 2021 at 6:53 pm

    @trollhattan: He also hosted a show where people ate donkey dicks. And he effectively ended Carlos Mencia’s career (physical intimidation helped)

  44. 44.

    trollhattan

    September 14, 2021 at 6:59 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    [Thread drift] I became acquainted with Marc Maron when he interviewed Obama (do I recall correctly it was in Maron’s garage?) and have to say, good interview.

    Then he starred in G.L.O.W. and was very good in that, so definitely no one-trick pony. Has that constantly disappointed with the entire world thing that’s hard to pull off without becoming tiresome.

  45. 45.

    laura

    September 14, 2021 at 7:30 pm

    A fearless comedian revered by fellow artists gone way too soon. As always, fuck cancer.

    Rest in the glow of the laughter Turd Ferguson.

  46. 46.

    Kabecoo

    September 14, 2021 at 7:59 pm

    @Miss Bianca:  several years ago, I passed a group of about 15 people trying to get a big family photo taken in Zion National Park. I was asked to take their picture. One family member was trying so hard to get everyone to smile, but it wasn’t working.

    I told the moth joke, having largely memorized Norm’s version.

    At first there was some griping, but then they got focused to listen. At the punch line, the reaction was perfect, and I took about six shots, every person laughing. A wonderful moment.

  47. 47.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    September 14, 2021 at 8:18 pm

    So cruel. Norm gone, while Adam Sandler is still at large

  48. 48.

    EmanG

    September 14, 2021 at 9:13 pm

    John, I don’t know if you’ve seen this or not, but I’m leaving it here for you. The moral of the story is how I think about communicating with you….

    https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5vaqxy

  49. 49.

    citizen dave

    September 14, 2021 at 9:44 pm

    In other news today, O J Simpson claims he did not kill Norm MacDonald.

  50. 50.

    EM

    September 14, 2021 at 10:00 pm

    @HypersphericalCow: 

    I don’t get Rogan either. Stern to me is the greatest interviewer of all time and like mentioned above I despise Limbaugh but he did have skills as a broadcaster/ story teller. Rogan? He’s just an awful conversationalist/interviewer. He often seems to struggle as to what to say to even just keep the interview going.

  51. 51.

    Miss Bianca

    September 14, 2021 at 10:02 pm

    @Kabecoo: That is so awesome, I was thinking I would have to try to memorize his version, and feeling intimidated because it was so intricate!

  52. 52.

    columbusqueen

    September 14, 2021 at 10:39 pm

    His last major work was voicing Yaffet the gelatine alien in Seth McFarland ‘s show The Orville.  A very funny performance.

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