IMO Norm’s magic was in his delivery more than his jokes. He was a master of comedic pauses that were often masked as stumbles or as if he forgot the joke and was trying to remember it.
He could drag a joke like this out for 5 minutes and have you laughing the whole time.
Truly a master of his craft. Or a natural joke teller. We will never really know. And he probably wouldn’t tell anyone even if was still here.
I miss the guy.
He’s the comedian’s comedian. Most comedians when they get on a network talk show and they try to fill the limited time they have with as many jokes as they can to promote how funny they are so people will watch their sitcom or go to their standup or whatever… This mad bastard just tells one long drawn out version of joke you’d literally find in a desk calendar.
And it’s brilliant because not only comedians, but everyone gets that this guy is doing something bizarre. Nervous laughter turns to real laughter. Then we realize there’s a comedian up there saying things and we’re all laughing, so maybe it’s not bizarre… just a comedian doing what he’s supposed to do?
Norm always made me feel like we were the joke to him. He was somehow just tricking us into laughing at whatever bullshit he was saying. I loved every minute of it.
He was always the smartest guy in the room acting like he was the dumbest guy in the room. Yeah I miss him too.
My reaction as well. He was an absolute master of shaggy dog stories. The punchline is not the point, the delivery is.
He may still have enjoyed seeing this. Maybe make another long and hilarious joke about it. RIP Norm.
Condensed version of a Norm McDonald joke. I mean to get a joke of his on a card you’d need a pamphlet.
I will say I never really got norm until one day he was just funny to me suddenly. It was weird how that switch triggered.
Sometimes art, no matter what it is, takes a frame of mind or a certain delivery to really hit us. Even a small change, like mood, can cause a different little take.
It can be worth giving things that didn’t click with a younger you a second try, you might find you like it, you might find you still don’t, but maybe you’ll understand why better than before.
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I was away for a while. Now I’m back. Also posted it in mainstream communities lately and from this account only.
You’ve probably seen me from other accounts at other times.
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For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet.
I like in the comments someone mentioned that Norm wasn’t meant to be in that spot but someone cancelled so they needed him to fill 5 more minutes after his stand-up. He was out of material and quite literally ad-libbed that joke his driver told him.
Norm enjoyed failure: he’d bathe in the suck and play for himself or his peers at that point. So he was seemingly fearless. I think that helped fuel his ad-libbery because there’s no downside.
Truly, a master of his craft.
Always worth a rewatch! So damn good!
this joke is not funny when brief. half the fun is spending several minutes telling the story before the drop
asdf
Norm told it better.
Thank god the emoji is there, it tells me that it’s funny and I should laugh!
That’s a cool looking Zelda poster you have there in the background.
Why does a paper desk calendar have Facebook emoji?
