I got it when he, at age 11, was summoned to our living room along with me and my other brother by our father, the school vice-principal, to be introduced to Mr. Becker, the new Grade 6 teacher who moved his lower lip so weirdly when he talked.
There we stood, in our short pants and clip-on ties after Sunday church service, as Mr. Becker, his lower lip moving weirdly, greeted us, one by one: "Hello, Neil. Hello, Leslie. Hello, Norman."
"Hello, Mr. Becker," replied Norm, his lower lip moving weirdly, a perfect Becker impression. My father's upper lip twitched, showing his gold tooth, which was always a bad sign, and I knew it would be bad for Norm later.
But I was in awe. While both of us had already mastered the Becker impression, Norm actually went for the laugh in front of a hostile audience.
Comedy, he writes in the memoir, must always surprise, never pander.
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Man, usually when a celeb I love passes I'm bummed out for a bit, check out some vids, and move on. But this one is really sticking with me. Just such a comedic genius. I've been binge-watching every single clip and interview with him I can find for the last few days and it just sucks that there won't be anything new. So much joy this man has brought me over the years.
Mitch Hedberg and Mike MacDonald's deaths still hit me hard.
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Norm was the best and a low-key inspiration in my life. I remember at a particularly low moment during some bad personal stuff, I just laid on the couch for days watching Norm MacDonald Live and it gave me some kind of jumpstart to get back into the action.
What a true dude. Nobody better and yes, he was absolutely greater than Carlin.
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Norm was the best and a low-key inspiration in my life. I remember at a particularly low moment during some bad personal stuff, I just laid on the couch for days watching Norm MacDonald Live and it gave me some kind of jumpstart to get back into the action.
What a true dude. Nobody better and yes, he was absolutely greater than Carlin.
The biggest crime of the century was when Netflix disappeared all of his original Norm Macdonald live interviews when they picked it up. So many amazing hour long interviews gone.
They basically all destroyed the Netflix interviews, just pure comedic interviews in long form.
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The biggest crime of the century was when Netflix disappeared all of his original Norm Macdonald live interviews when they picked it up. So many amazing hour long interviews gone.
They basically all destroyed the Netflix interviews, just pure comedic interviews in long form.
Yeah, I suspect they'll resurface soon. It would be a shame if they keep them buried forever and not let people see the comedy genius that he was.
Conan, Andy Richter, and longtime show producer Frank Smiley sit down to pay tribute to and discuss the legacy of Norm Macdonald – from his first stand-up appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien in 1993 to Norm’s infamous Moth joke and the story behind it. Conan wants to try and answer the question: who was this completely original genius and how was he so insanely funny?
