Don Ohlmeyer for one. He’s the NBC executive who had Norm fired as SNL’s Weekend Update anchor because he wouldn’t stop mocking Don’s friend, famous double murderer, O.J. Simpson.
Oh yeah I remember that now, Norm Macdonald was fired from Saturday night live “for not being funny,” and he found it odd when he was invited back a couple years later to give the opening monologue.
It was great when Ohlmeyer went on Colbert Report and got mocked for saying NBC was going to lose money on the Winter Olympics. Colbert did a fund drive to help, and presented him with a giant check for like $5.08
It’s also great that he’s been dead since 2017. Conan was right when he called him one of the silverback gorillas running TV.
The worse thing about that whole ordeal was the hypocrisy.
I think the only person offended was that one NBC executive who was buddies with noted double murderer OJ Simpson.
Isn’t it weird that we can hear him say that in our heads so clearly but imitating it is impossible.
You know who CAN imitate it? Frank Stallone.
deleted by creator
Got mentioned in another comment.
Likely they didn’t know for the same reason I don’t… Dudes just not memorable ;)
Norm did bash the everloving fuck out of OJ tbh, but as far as in concerned, that shit was funny. You get a pass on stuff as a comic, ya know? At least until will smith shows up…
I mean, he said some blunt stuff about OJ being a murderer. It wasn’t really “controversial” but he was like, I don’t know, man… Okay, here’s the simplest way I can explain the whole thing - so I had this friend for a long time (he’s passed away at this point), and he always told this same story that I think of whenever people get upset with a comedian like Norm MacDonald. The story is about a moth, but the message inside is universal to anyone:
So a moth goes into a podiatrist’s office, and the podiatrist says, “What seems to be the problem, moth?” The moth says “What’s the problem? Where do I even begin, man? I go to work for this guy, Gregory Illinivich, and all day long I work. Honestly doc, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. I don’t even know if Gregory Illinivich knows. He only knows that he has power over me, and that seems to bring him happiness. But I don’t know, I wake up in a malaise, and I walk here and there… at night I… I sometimes wake up and I turn to some old lady in my bed that’s on my arm. A lady that I once loved, doc. I don’t know where to turn to. My youngest, Alexendria, she fell in the…in the cold of last year. The cold took her down, as it did many of us. And my other boy, and this is the hardest pill to swallow, doc. My other boy, Gregarro Ivinalititavitch… I no longer love him. As much as it pains me to say, when I look in his eyes, all I see is the same cowardice that I… that I catch when I take a glimpse of my own face in the mirror. If only I wasn’t such a coward, then perhaps… perhaps I could bring myself to reach over to that cocked and loaded gun that lays on the bedside behind me and end this hellish facade once and for all…Doc, sometimes I feel like a spider, even though I’m a moth, just barely hanging on to my web with an everlasting fire underneath me. I’m not feeling good." And so the doctor says, “Moth, man, you’re troubled. But you should be seeing a psychiatrist. Why on earth did you come here?” And the moth says, “Cause the light was on."
So that’s basically what I think.
Despite his appearance and delivery, i always thought Norm was the most “punk rock” comedian. He actually stood for something, stood by his friends and was true to himself. I did not always agree with his bits… But i never thought he was outright hateful. I think he tried to touch on the humorous or more absurd elements of society, with his commentary. Which was mostly the stuff i liked least… However, i believe that while Norm may not have understood some of these things, he wasn’t intolerant of them.
Norm was about as big of an anti-celebrity, celebrity as i can think of. He always seemed eager to be silly and to laugh, and to love his small group of friends. I’m fairly cemented as being left of center, and i adored Norm.
There’s a comedian I get pushed on YouTube sometimes, and I feel this way about him. I’m not always on board, but he’s at least writing and delivering jokes.
So many “edgy” comedians just given up and bitch about being canceled for two hours… To a sold out stadium.
I believe the reason he got fired from SNL was he kept making OJ Simpsons jokes and one of the top NBC execs was friends with OJ. Not quite the same thing as a public outcry, but I’m not sure of any bigger controversy regarding Norm.
Plenty of people. Probably the most substantial recent controversy I can think of was when he called out a comedian for an anti-Christianity joke while judging Last Comic Standing. I understand his explanation for why he did it but that doesn’t mean it didn’t get misinterpreted. Like most of Norm’s controversies, I think he was a victim of his own intellect and nuance, and for assuming that other people were as capable of critical thinking as him.
Pretty funny and insightful to me, but I mostly saw him on SNL a long time ago and more recently on Tyson’s Mysteries, where he was hilarious.
I wouldn’t say I was offended, but I did find him more mean than funny.
Most of the people I know who seemed offended were more offended that they just didn’t find him funny. I always felt, and still feel, bad for them.
I honestly don’t remember anything that he did that was funny.
His deadpan monotone delivery. His ascerbic wit, constant roasting. Steady & intimidating And he never broke or laughed (that I’ve ever seen). A bit of a writing & comedic performance genius in my opinion.
I don’t know. I watched him on SNL and it never did much for me.
I didn’t really know much about him until fairly recently, I remembered when he died and everyone on Reddit was mourning him and I had never really heard of him, but lately I’ve been binge-watching Norm Macdonald clips on YouTube and oh my gosh I’m captivated by him.
kind of similar sense of deadpan captivating humor as Nathan Fielder who I also just recently became aware of and I’m also currently mesmerized by.
Maybe I’ll have another look. I just found him not memorable on SNL but that’s not always the best way someone can display their talents.
Try this compilation okay he’s not absolutely the best comedian to ever grace the planet, and some patience is required to hang on to listening to him until he builds up to the joke, but I just like his personality he is so calm and deadpan, I don’t know why I’m making a post about him but blah blah blah
It’s really hard to explain, because really, he’s not that funny, but I find that hilarious!
Like the moth story, or Uncle Frank in 'Nam, he just creates this awkward tension where you know your listening to a joke, but this guy is saying just such depressing or horrific shit while keeping a slightly goofy tone. You expect a punchline around every corner, but he just keeps dragging you in, and you’re wondering how this terrible story is going to be funny, and he hits you with a mediocre punchline that any third grader could have seen coming a mile away, but he’s built so much tension and sucked you into this story and you couldn’t see what was right in front of you the whole time.
He’s not telling a joke, he’s playing a joke on YOU. That could be part of why people either love him or hate him. As long as there’s no harm, I’ll be the first to laugh at a joke played on me, but I know there are others that don’t appreciate that at all.
deleted by creator
I will when it’s not 530 am haha.
deleted by creator
If you didn’t like his Weekend Update bits they were some of his best stuff IMO. You might also look at his guest appearances on Conan O’Brien, he regularly cracked Conan up.
Found Andy Richter
Just looked him up on YT. First two bits were “there are too many deserts now” and “Norm doesn’t know what metaphors are”. Not offensive but super dated. He was probably very funny in his day.
He did different sorts of comedy, many of his bits were purposely anti-comedy. For a great example of that, see his roast of Bob Saget.
He also told some very dirty and controversial jokes at times, usually with a sly grin on his face like a naughty school kid.
