Name: Norm Macdonald being interviewed by Neil's wife - Trump, Trudeau & Bad Comedians (2018)
Uploaded: 2019-05-09T14:39:15.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald being interviewed by Neil's wife - Trump, Trudeau & Bad Comedians (2018)' from Happy the Dog on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-05-09. Transcript available.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald being interviewed by Neil's wife - Trump, Trudeau & Bad Comedians (2018)' from Happy the Dog on Comedy Buff. Published 2019-05-09. Transcript available.

-President Trump boasted at a fundraising dinner last night
that he made up information in a meeting
with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trump is so bad at lying,
he lets the public immediately know he lied.
If Trump ever had to take a lie detector test,
he'd probably just draw the crazy lines himself.
"I did not collude with Russia."
-Since he announced his candidacy,
Donald Trump has been fodder for late-night hosts
and throughout his presidency,
they've found new material in his policy and speeches
and all those tweets.
Riffing off Trump has become a ratings bonanza
and some are hitting the president pretty hard,
infusing their satire with objection and analysis.
But is there comedy in today's politics?
Joining me now from Santa Monica, California,
Norm MacDonald.
Now, full disclosure, we've shared many off-camera laughs,
he's my brother-in-law.
So, hello, Norm, welcome to "Question Period."
-Oh, it's great to be here, Joyce.
It's kind of unreal that you're hosting "Question Period,"
because I remember it as a child with Bruce Phillips.
-So you know the show?
-Sure, yeah, yeah.
I know "Question Period," "W5," all of the shows.
-When Bruce Phillips hosted Trudeau, Trudeau's father was prime minister,
and today it's his son who's running the political show here.
Do you think Justin Trudeau is funny?
-I don't follow it that closely, but, you know,
I don't think-- no, I don't think he's funny.
Not like his father was funny.
You know, I don't think, from just my cursory knowledge
and watching of Justin, or my prime minister,
I shouldn't call him Justin, of the prime minister,
on YouTube, that he seems not to have inherited
his father's flinty intellect.
-You met Donald Trump when he was on "The Tonight Show,"
on "Jimmy Fallon Show."
Now, tell us about that encounter you had with Donald Trump.
-Well, I'd met Donald Trump many, many times in New York City,
just because when I was doing "Saturday Night Live,"
he was a fixture in New York City,
and he'd come to a lot of the shows and he was just a local eccentric,
you know, that people mostly loved in New York
because he fixed the rink in Central Park when the city couldn't.
But, you know, when I was on "Jimmy Fallon,"
that's when he was-- that's when Jimmy Fallon tussled his hair
and got in trouble for it, and I was the other guest.
So I was just out in the hallway and I said,
"Donald, could I have a picture?
You could call him Donald then."
I guess you can still call him Donald.
We don't have to call him President, apparently.
But I said, "Could I get a picture with you?"
And he said, "Yeah, absolutely, sure, Norm."
And then he walked down the hall and got in the elevator
with the Secret Service guys.
So-- but he was just doing it as a joke.
A lot of times, the problem with candidates that--
or political candidates that do comedy is obviously--
comedy doesn't translate well to the page sometimes.
You know, sarcasm is lost, obviously, and things like that.
So-- so if someone says something that's meant self-disparagingly
or satirically and you want to take it out of context, you can.
That happened a lot of-- a lot of times with Trump on the campaign trail.
But, you know, he's being caricatured on "Saturday Night Live,"
like, quite mercilessly by-- by Alec Baldwin.
And, like, is it funny to you?
Is that funny?
No.
The only reason I don't find it funny--
when I was there, Daryl Hammond did Donald Trump.
And that shows how far back Trump goes, because that was 20 years ago.
But Daryl did him then.
It was a softer Trump, you know.
I think it was a Trump that was a lot closer to his real self.
But if you do-- the problem with-- if you do an impression of someone,
you have to like that person, you know, because you're playing the person
and people like themselves.
So you can't play someone and have contempt for them at the same time.
You know, it doesn't work as an impression.
So I don't like-- I don't like his impression.
And I have no political affiliation.
I just mean from a comedy-- from a comedy level.
Where is the funny in Donald Trump?
Because he does think he's funny, right?
Yes, but other people think he's funny, too.
I attended one of his just to see, you know,
because I wanted to see it for myself.
His performances in front of these grand halls.
And he's enormously funny and entertaining.
And I don't know that there's-- normally with politicians,
you know, it takes-- you need to be humble, you know,
to be really funny.
And I think that's why Ronald Reagan was the funniest president
that I ever saw, because he always had this humility to him.
I was kind of lost with President Obama,
because people told me he was funny.
But to me, he was too self-aware.
And of course, Hillary couldn't have been more strident,
you know?
And I think people don't vote on issues as much as they just
vote on who they'd-- like that old sob about who you'd
rather have a beer with, you know?
And nobody wanted to have a beer with Hillary Clinton,
you know?
You say that he has to be--
that one person has to be humble to be funny.
But I don't think Donald Trump is very humble, is he?
No, there's no humility to Donald Trump.
Donald Trump is more funny in the way that a WWE wrestler is,
you know?
So he is a different kind of funny, which is a--
sort of a self-deluded--
I don't know if it's self-delusion, though.
I don't know if it's-- I think it's just all an act.
I don't think, really, that Trump ever wanted to be president.
I think that he was always just playing to be president
or whatever that hall he was playing in was, you know?
And I've seen this happen with comedians, too,
that you start thinking you're good because the people that
come to see you all like you, you know?
But the reason they came to see you is because they like you.
So politicians and comedians both make that mistake of
thinking they're much better than they are because they're
never criticized by the people that don't like them.
That's why social media is so good because you can see the
people that don't like you at all.
I listened to an interview you gave Larry King,
and you said the ruin of Donald Trump will be his addiction
to playing the halls, right?
So he's a great performer.
He just wanted to be you like he wanted to be a stand-up
comedian, and he just accidentally became a president?
My guess would be that his plan was to make a big splash,
lose-- oh.
That's not good.
What should we do now, Joyce?
Just don't answer, OK, if it's possible.
No, I won't answer.
Yeah.
Should I start answering that question again?
Sure.
Yeah.
I think him becoming president surprised him.
I think-- you know, it's funny that people don't remember,
but back in the debates, there was a big, big issue with Donald
Trump saying if he lost, it meant to be like--
God, are you kidding me?
I know, I doubt I did.
Oh, one second.
Hello?
Yes.
Oh, I got to call you back.
I'm on the TV, man.
Yeah, I'm on the TV right now.
Oh, my God.
I'll call you right back.
Sorry about that.
OK, I'm not going to ask you the question again.
I feel that Trump-- personally, I feel that he didn't think
he was going to become president.
And interestingly, the thing that people don't remember
was that-- what I remember-- was that during the debates,
there was all this talk of Donald Trump saying if he loses,
it means the election is rigged.
And all the media were saying, no, no, that's impossible.
You know, take that back.
You cannot say that about the American Republic.
No election here could ever be rigged.
That's impossible.
And, of course, now they're saying the exact opposite.
But I think it was Trump's idea at that point that he would
say it was going to be rigged, thinking he thought
Hillary was going to win, I think.
And then he would start a network or something like that
where he could speak and be the loyal opposition
of his own, you know, something different than Fox.
Let me ask you this.
So your Bob Dole imitation was pretty famous back in the day.
So would you do Donald Trump today?
Would you do a Donald Trump imitation?
I try to not do comedy about Donald Trump because I think
I had one joke about Donald Trump that I ever did where I
said that the Americans hated Hillary Clinton so much that they
voted for someone they hated more than Hillary Clinton to rub it in.
And that's the only time I ever made a joke about Trump.
But I try to stay away from it because it's just, you know,
it's low-hanging fruit.
And also, you know, Trump oftentimes is doing self-parody and nothing
looks dumber than if you parody self-parody, you know.
And I try to really get caught not understanding.
So comedy in the time of Trump, is it more difficult than it was when you
were on Saturday Night Live?
It's more difficult in the time of Trump for good comedians and
it's way easier for bad comedians, you know.
You don't have a world view by just saying you don't like Trump.
You know, I mean, that doesn't count like you can't you can't just
say I hate Trump and and that makes you a good person and the
Democrats just can't say I hate Trump and that means they have a
position, you know, that's no position.
So so for for idiots, it's an easier time because you go, well,
that guy's that guy's the idiot, not me.
But if you try to do smart comedy, it's
better to stay away from stay away from Trump, you know.
Norm MacDonald, thanks so much for being with us today,
for spending this time with us.
It was great.
Great to see you.
Great to see you.
I love you, Joyce.
Love you, too.
Bye bye.
Thank you very much.
I do watch a lot of parliamentary television.
I come from Ottawa.
It's pretty exciting.
I go down, I watch Question Period, you know, and I think
that's a good name for it.
question period because there's never any answers.