Line #63 Creator/NormMacdonald


1	[[quoteright:267:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/norm-1_3731.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:267:This ol' chunk of coal.]]
3
4	->''So I says to the guy I says to the guy I says...''
5	-->-- '''Norm Macdonald'''
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7	What happens when a DeadpanSnarker and a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} [[{{Cuckoosnarker}} have a kid]]. Oh, and they're both [[NietzscheWannabe nihilists]]. Well, that or [[Film/TheDarkKnight The Joker]]. [[OverlyLongGag Wait, Norm Macdonald is The Joker!]]
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9	Norman Gene Macdonald (October 17, 1959 – September 14, 2021) was a Canadian-born comedian who achieved mainstream recognition in the 1990s as a writer and cast member of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' (though ''SNL'' has had a lot of Canadian cast members, like Creator/PhilHartman, Creator/DanAykroyd, and Creator/MikeMyers, Norm was the only one who was not born in Ontario; he was born in UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}} and grew up in Alberta). Though he appeared in many sketches on the show (his impressions of Creator/BurtReynolds and Creator/LarryKing were hilarious), he was most widely known for the "Weekend Update" segment, which was considered by many critics and viewers alike to be the [[JustHereForGodzilla only reason to watch]] ''Saturday Night Live'' when it was limping to the barn with SeasonalRot during the show's 20th season and rumors spread that NBC was going to cancel ''SNL'' yet again. Creator/ChevyChase, the original host of the segment, has gone on record calling Macdonald the best of his successors[[note]]though Norm's take on "Weekend Update" combined the dry delivery of Creator/CharlesRocket from season six with the cavalier attitude of Creator/BillMurray from season five, which seems like an unlikely mix, but for Norm and his brand of comedy, it works[[/note]].
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11	After a rather ignominious split from the show (and when the show was starting to become popular again), he did some movies and TV shows, none of which met or exceeded the success he had on ''SNL''. His appearances on late-night talk shows were quite popular, for he had a tendency to lampshade the tropes of whatever medium he was currently operating in.
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13	Known as a comedian for comedians, he was foremost a master of AntiHumor. His comedic method can usually be distilled down to a three-step process:
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15	1. Tell Joke.\
16	2. Joke is so cheesy, it's bad.\
17	3. [[SoUnfunnyItsFunny It's so bad, it's good]].
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19	TropeNamer for GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff, after a recurring bit from "Weekend Update", keeping viewers apprised of the ''Series/{{Baywatch}}'' actor/producer's extracurricular exploits [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin In Germany]].
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21	His most recent series was a sports show on Creator/ComedyCentral called ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Sports Show with Norm Macdonald]]'', essentially a sports-themed version of his "Weekend Update" performances, which was cancelled after one season despite regularly having over a million viewers an episode. He hosted a weekly podcast on Website/YouTube called ''Norm Macdonald Live''.
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23	He voiced Pigeon on ''WesternAnimation/MikeTysonMysteries''. In 2015, he starred as the Colonel in UsefulNotes/KentuckyFriedChicken's advertising. In late 2016, he authored a book called ''Based on a True Story'', very loosely based on his life. He also supplied the voice for the gelatinous crewman Yaphit on ''Series/TheOrville'' for the first two seasons and then posthumously in the third.
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25	Macdonald passed away on September 14, 2021, nine years after being diagnosed with acute leukemia. His cancer had not been announced prior to his death. They fought to a draw.
26	----
27	!! Selected filmography:
28	* ''Film/BillyMadison'' (1995) - Frank
29	* ''Film/ThePeopleVsLarryFlynt'' (1996) - News Reporter
30	* ''Film/DirtyWork'' (1998) - Mitch Weaver (also co-writer)
31	* ''Film/DrDolittle'' (1998) - Lucky (voice)
32	** ''Dr Doolittle 2'' (2002)
33	* ''Film/ManOnTheMoon'' (1999) - Creator/MichaelRichards
34	* ''Film/DeuceBigalowMaleGigalo'' (1999) - Male Bartender (uncredited)
35	* ''Film/{{Screwed}}'' (2000) - Willard Fillmore
36	* ''Film/TheAnimal'' (2001) - Mob Member
37	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' (2005) - Norm The Genie (2 episodes before being replaced by Robert Cait in "Fairy Idol")
38	* ''Film/GrownUps'' (2010) - Geezer
39	* ''WesternAnimation/MikeTysonMysteries'' (2014) - Pigeon
40	----
41	!! Which once again proves my old theory: Germans love tropes!:
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43	* ApprovalOfGod: Creator/BurtReynolds loved Norm's impression of him on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive.''
44	* BaitAndSwitch: Norm never shied away from touchy issues. So what did he do when roasting Creator/BobSaget, who reveled in the extreme? Norm read off a stack of corny dad jokes.
45	* BrutalHonesty: One of Norm's defining traits and a hallmark of his comedy was to openly and bluntly say what others wouldn't or knew but preferred to be delicate about, most infamously in his constant jokes about OJ Simpson and Michael Jackson.
46	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Had one of the most memorable runs on the celebrity version of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', where he won half a million dollars for charity, after spending the week as the ButtMonkey in the Fastest Finger contestant row (he was the last contestant to play the main game and the correct order to his solo FF question spelled out his name). He wanted to go for the million dollars but admitted he was WildMassGuessing and was talked into walking away by Regis so that he wouldn't cost the charity the money he had banked in case he was wrong. [[spoiler:Had Norm chosen the answer he was thinking about, he would have been correct.]]
47	* CaptainObvious: A founding principle of his comedy is to comment on difficult or delicate issues by making bluntly obvious observations.
48	** On WebVideo/ComediansInCarsGettingCoffee, in response to Creator/PattonOswalt saying that the worst part of the Creator/BillCosby rape scandal was the hypocrisy of it all, Norm suggested that the worst part was actually the ''raping''.
49	** A RunningGag in his Weekend Update sketches was to report on a recent event that had a predictable conclusion or an obvious statement by a celebrity, then tell the audience to read more about it in ''Duh'' magazine.
50	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: His take on Larry King. To be fair, this applies to Norm himself.
51	* ComicallyMissingThePoint: His take on Jack Kevorkian.
52	--> Doctor Jack Kevorkian killed his tenth patient last week. When are people going to realize? He is ''not a good doctor!'' Do not go to him!
53	* {{Cuckoosnarker}}: His whole comedic persona, mixing SurrealHumor with a sarcastic delivery.
54	* CursedWithAwesome: As far as diseases go, he suggests in ''Me Doing Standup'' that alcoholism is the best one to have, especially when stacked against something like, say, bowel cancer:
55	--> It's the only disease where you get to drink booze all the time. I mean, I haven't read ''every'' medical journal, but I believe it's the only disease where you get to constantly '''drink booze'''. As a matter of fact, that ''is'' the disease.
56	* DeadpanSnarker: If his delivery were any drier, you could pair it with a nice piece of fish.
57	* DontExplainTheJoke: The less a joke needs explaining, the more likely he'll explain it, especially in his Comedy Central Roast bit.
58	* DudeNotFunny: PlayedForLaughs, especially when he did jokes about [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror 9/11]]. He makes the joke, someone laughs at said joke, and then he gives them grief for laughing at 9/11.
59	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: He titled his 2011 comedy CD ''Me Doing Stand Up''.
60	* {{Foreshadowing}}: At the end of one of Norm's appearances on his show, he asks Conan O'Brien if he can attempt to resurrect his "The Perfect Crime" bit. Conan notes that he can have it, because he rehearsed it once backstage when they were both working at ''SNL'', and it didn't get a single laugh. Since this is at the very end of his appearance, nothing more is ever said of it. A few years later, the bit was the centerpiece of Norm's ''Me Doing Standup''.
61	* TheGadfly: Much like Creator/AndyKaufman, Norm has a history of making truly biting, smart-ass remarks in such a way that people aren't sure if he's joking. Doubtless this contributed to his firing from SNL.
62	* TheGamblingAddict: By his own admission Macdonald lost an inordinate amount of money during TheOughties due to way too much gambling.
63	* IWantYouToMeetAnOldFriendOfMine: Norm is often involved in projects with by Creator/AdamSandler, Creator/DennisMiller, and Artie Lange (who was a cast member on ''SNL'''s [[DuelingShows rival show]], ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' until Lange was fired for his cocaine abuse).
64	* LaughOfLove: Mentioned in his book ''Based on a True Story'' as being the real culprit behind the common (and almost universally false) belief that women find a good sense of humor to be particularly desirable in men, when it's actually the opposite case far more often than not, in that a woman appreciates the sense of humor of a guy she's ''already attracted to'':
65	-->"''Women are attracted to funny men, it is often said. This is not true. It only appears this way because women laugh at everything a very handsome man says. So this gives the very handsome men the idea that they are funny.''"
66	* MeanCharacterNiceActor: Many of the characters that he played were ManChild jerks, and his style of comedy rarely [[BrutalHonesty held back on jokes at someone else's expense]], but he was said to be one of the sweetest guys off camera. The sheer number of social media and TV tributes he received from his friends and colleagues following his death proves how much they loved him.
67	* MutualKill: In a rather fitting joke considering how he actually died, he noted that dying of cancer is just a draw rather than a loss, since you take the cancer with you.
68	* NonSequitur:
69	** Nearly every week, one of his news stories would "support" the conclusion that GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff. The only exception to this was when he got Hasselhoff to appear on the set and read a card saying "Germans love me," which quite reasonably supported his theory.
70	** There was also another recurring non-sequitur that would pop up almost as frequently. The subject? You guessed it: Frank Stallone.
71	** ...Or so the Germans would have us believe.
72	*** Which ended with perhaps the longest BrickJoke ever: "Or so the German Shepherds would have us believe."
73	* PersonalArcade: Once on ''Series/TheTonightShow With Jay Leno'', Norm was showing some photos while joking about selling his home in Los Angeles. One photo was an exercise room with a ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' pinball machine, and Norm comments that the buyer can have the exercise equipment, but not the pinball table.
74	* PrecisionFStrike: Norm accidentally dropped an F-bomb on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive''. After flubbing a line, Norm mumbled under breath, "The fuck was that?" After the crowd reacted, Norm got a brief OhCrap look before giving a nervous smile and saying, "My farewell performance, ladies and gentlemen." Fittingly, this was one of Norm's last Weekend Update segments.
75	* RunningGag: Several on Weekend Update. The most memorable ones were observing that GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff, his weird story of the week which involved Frank Stallone, and his "Notes to Self" reminding him to shamelessly exploit stupid things happening in the news.
76	* SecretlyDying: Like Creator/ChadwickBoseman, he kept his battle with cancer a secret and managed to keep acting all the way to the end.
77	* ShapedLikeItself:
78	** He has said that one of his favorite kinds of jokes are the sort where the punchline is almost identical to the setup. For instance, this one concerning Julia Roberts' divorce from musician Lyle Lovett:
79	-->"According to Roberts, she knew that the end was near when she realized that ''she'' was Julia Roberts, and [[UglyGuyHotWife she was married to]] ''[[UglyGuyHotWife Lyle Lovett]]''."
80	** He once brought on David Hasselhoff as a guest correspondent on ''Weekend Update'' to read a single line from a cue card: "Germans love me."
81	--->"Which once again proves my theory: GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff."[[invoked]]
82	** Perhaps the closest he ever got to perfection:
83	--->"The punishment for having sex with [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfWindsor Princess Diana]] is death; the punishment for having sex with Princess Anne is having sex with Princess Anne."
84	* SoUnfunnyItsFunny: Again, the Roast.
85	* {{Understatement}}: As part of his dry DeadpanSnarker routine. For example, he will describe someone who has committed various atrocities and is basically an avatar for human evil and depravity as "a real jerk".
86	* VerbalTic: He tends to repeat a phrase multiple times that gives his comedic structure an unusual cadence, making it sound like a combination of {{improv}} and [[RealisticDictionIsUnrealistic a slight stutter]]. This contributes to his AntiHumor quality, basically botching the set-up only to deliver a devastating punchline.
87	* WrongGenreSavvy: In the Celebrity Edition of ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', part of his strategy was trying to find Regis' tell for a correct answer, like in a poker game. Regis didn't know the answers either, though Norm did end up winning $500,000.

Context Creator / NormMacdonald