Things That Don't Suck: Norm McDonald

Here are a list of surefire ways to polarize a room:

1. Religion
2. Politics
3. Abortion
4. Norm McDonald


He was in my city this past week doing standup, and I didn't know until the day of due to a friend who may or may not be more obsessed with Norm than myself.

To put things into context, I hate standup comedy, and most standup comedians. I went to a school where there was a comedy program and watched as people, who I had thought were very funny up until that point, turned into the same carbon copy standup comedian that pollutes the comedy clubs every night.

Some are naturally better than others, and a truly adept standup comic can have me in stiches, but for the most part the jokes are a formula. Everything, right down to how comedians time their jokes, I've seen before. People just find something that works and go with it.

Which is why I love Norm McDonald. He takes things that don't work, and makes them funny. The most dramatic case in point:

While the rest of the world tries to outgross, and outswear each other, Norm makes a mockery of the whole process. You either hate him because he's telling bad jokes, or you love him because he dares to tell bad jokes. And you would be hard pressed to find a better bad joke teller.

But after years and years since seeing Dirty Work, and actually enjoying Weekend Update, I wasn't sure if it was a time or a place thing. Humour doesn't age well and oftentimes that counts for comedians as well (Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Adam Sandler... I'm looking at you), so there was some fear in my heart going to see one of my childhood favourites, Norm McDonald, doing standup (you now know my feelings on that).

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.

Even his "Its great to be here" got laughs, since it was at a dank comedy club and Norm always sounds insincere. But his observational humour, insincerity and neuroticism had never been better. It was the feeling of seeing a successful indie movie that hasn't been script doctored into the Hollywood oblivion. It all felt fresh, and it was a welcome departure from the norm (pardon the pun, since in pun form, it hurts my argument).

I can't find anything online that does that show justice, so I'll leave you with another clip of Norm bombing based on a crowd that doesn't understand him (and him secretly seeming to love it).