Name: Norm Macdonald on Kevin McPeek's Bigger Vidcast 2012
Uploaded: 2022-03-09T06:00:07.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald on Kevin McPeek's Bigger Vidcast 2012' from TickleMeNorm on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-09. Transcript available. Be Sad Now #normmacdonald #norm.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald on Kevin McPeek's Bigger Vidcast 2012' from TickleMeNorm on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-09. Transcript available. Be Sad Now #normmacdonald #norm.

We're sitting here with Norm and Donald at Kevin and Pete's Bigger Vidcast and
we're
backstage at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle. We've worked four shows with Norm,
absolutely hilarious.
It was fun, man. Yeah, you were awesome, Kev.
I appreciate that. Obviously, legendary comedian. I'm going to ask you some of
the stuff that
I always ask every time, you know what I mean? When you were coming up, who did
you listen
to as far as comedians? Who do you remember watching and listening when you
were younger?
When I was young? Growing up. When I was young, growing up, my dad always
listened to Bill Cosby
and it was funny because he was not a tolerant man of other races.
As a matter of fact, I later told Bill Cosby that and it made him happy because
it seemed
like even though my dad was not a tolerant man of races, he loved Bill Cosby
more than anybody,
so we always listened to him when I was a little kid. That was the first, by
far the first, before anyone else.
Okay. And then like when you got into the '70s and early '80s. Then it was like
when I was a teenager, we all listened to Carlin,
George Carlin and, you know... Richard Pryor. Not Richard Pryor, no. Oh, really?
I mean, I don't know why, but it was George Carlin and it was Cheech and Chong
were kind of like the underground guys.
I think maybe Richard Pryor was too sophisticated for me or something or I just,
for some reason, I didn't...
I don't know why I missed him because I listened to everybody else. I don't
know why I missed him.
Maybe he hadn't... Maybe he was a little later or something. No, that wouldn't
be it.
But anyways, I love... Obviously, I love Richard Pryor the best of anybody.
Right.
I don't know why he committed my consciousness currently.
But when I saw Richard Pryor, I was like, oh my God, like...
That's how you do it.
Yeah, that guy, that's like... That's like crazy. That's like when you read
books and then all of a sudden you read,
you know, a Leo Tolstoy or something. You're like, oh, that's different, you
know?
Right. You know what I loved about Pryor was he would always animate, like,
these inanimate objects in the stories.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I just love it. Like, my heart would say, or the cows, or the car said...
And the smell, you know, and all that. Right.
That's amazing.
It's like you sort of like, wow, his heart has a point of view in this story.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, it's everyone's heart attack or shooting the car or...
Right. And the lion, the tiger making the move and stuff.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, the heart. And then God would put him down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And his heart would say...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then shooting the car, and the car's like, oh, man, you know? And I
remember...
And his acting was so amazing in those films because it was so small, you know
what I mean?
Like, it wasn't big, like Carlin's was big.
Right, right.
Like, Carlin did that big, over-blowing acting, and Pryor did, like, real small
stuff.
Right, right. And Carlin played, or Richard Pryor, he would do every character
in the story.
Yeah, that's right.
Like, he went around.
Right.
You know? So here he is walking, then the dog's like, I'm gonna fuck you.
That's right.
Then he's playing his heart, and then he's playing, you know?
That's right.
You're right.
It's like, wow, he just, he brings, he steps into every role.
Yes.
And tells the story, you know? Like, man, that was...
It seemed he had everything in the arsenal, yeah.
Yeah, that's, yeah. And, you know, I think we talked about it earlier. Like,
Flip Wilson was big in my life.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And he was like that, where he would be, you know, so the devil said, and then
you'd do the voice.
That's right.
And then, and Geraldine said he'd do that Geraldine voice, and, you know, he
played every character.
And, you know, I don't know that I would ever have the guts to try something
like that, where you do every character in the story.
Oh, my God. I am so unphysical. You know what I mean? Like, I remember, like, I
watched Brian Regan, and I go, man, I wish I could move, and make my jokes come
more alive like that.
Well, but you know what? You do something more, like, you do a visual painting.
I guess with words a little bit.
When I listen to you talk, you picture it in your head. You watch the little
movie of what you're talking about in your head.
There are comments where I'm like, okay, I understand what you're saying, and
that's funny, but I don't picture it, or I don't live it, you know?
Yeah. Oh, that's nice.
And, like, working with you the last couple days, I think I talked about the
story, it's hard not to talk like you.
I find myself going, so I want to, yeah, do a little interview there, you know,
and that's why I feel like I want to talk like you.
Yeah, the funny thing is I don't realize I have an odd voice until people do
impressions.
Or until I hear...
That was the worst impression ever.
I always think it doesn't sound like me, but then when I hear a tape recording
of myself, I realize that it does.
That's what I thought.
That's what I thought.
Well, you've, I mean, obviously you've had a great career, as far as, you know,
doing the things you want to do, it seems like.
It seems like you've been able to...
I was wanting to do it. The only thing I ever want to do is stand-up.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So everything else would just sort of...
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, just like, you know, Mitch Hedberg used to have a great joke about, uh, I
can't where I went, but like...
Right.
You're writing the script?
Yeah.
You can rewrite it.
I'll just send you a copy.
Oh, that's a great joke.
No, but he said like, they make stand-ups like be actors and stuff.
Yeah.
You know, you don't do that to, you know, if you're a good fisherman, you're a
good fisherman.
Can you farm?
You know, whatever, something like that.
But that seems to me what they do in LA a lot.
Especially with acting, because stand-ups aren't really...
In perspective.
Yeah.
They're not irrespective at all.
And, and they're not really fitted to be actors that much.
You know what I mean?
As much as like the grambling guys and stuff like that, that know how to talk
to each other.
Like stand-up's a very specific thing.
And so, so even though things came my way from stand-up, sometimes I wish that
I'd only
done stand-up here.
Yeah.
Because that's what I wanted to do from the start.
Yeah.
It was only stand-ups.
So was it like an agent or a manager that got you, that kind of pushed you into
the other
stuff?
Yeah, it was the, well, they offered me a Saturday Night Live and I felt I
couldn't
turn it down because I, um, the guy told me, you know, you can write on
Saturday Night
Live and then, uh, and then maybe get Upgate, you know, and I wanted to do Upgate
because
I knew I could do that as a stand-up because Dennis Miller had already done it
as a stand-up,
you know?
And, um, yeah, he's really funny.
He's a great guy.
He's a great guy.
And so, uh, so I did that, but it's strange, like, because I, I always kept
doing stand-up.
I love stand-up, but then people, I realized, come back, then when I do stand-up,
people,
um, expect things from you because they know you from, I always think they know
me as a stand-up,
but no one knows, really knows me as a stand-up.
Oh, wow.
So they know you from all these other things.
People that know stand-up know you as a stand-up.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, like the general public.
But the general public would go.
Do Burt Reynolds.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So they say do Burt Reynolds.
You know, I don't do impressions or, or, you know, I did Weekend Update, so
they think
maybe I'm political, but I'm not political.
So, um, so sometimes, uh, you know, it's, uh, and I'm a little, uh, uh, you
know what
I mean?
You do, I've done so many things, so it's like Dr. Doolittle and then I'm doing
some real dirty
joke, you know what I mean?
Right, right.
But, uh, you know, uh, I like comedy clubs because you can do anything and you
can be your
own man and, uh, you know, no collaboration and, you know, I mean, except with
other comics
going over jokes and helping each other.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's, that's what I do miss is like the, like anytime I find myself
working like
more casinos or like more corporate stuff, I miss having other comics around.
Yes, definitely.
You know, like when you gotta, when you're in a corporate situation and you go
up in front
of all these people and you're the only one there who's like, who really knows
how to
be funny.
You almost feel like you've been thrown to the wolves, you know what I mean?
But when you're in a comedy club and, uh, even if like, you know, I take a week
hosting,
you know, like a club like Mark's, I love to come in and host and just have fun
and work
on new stuff.
And I worked on three new jokes this week, you know?
Yeah, that's awesome.
It was so much fun.
But I, I miss the camaraderie of just sitting down, you know.
It's interesting when you say hosting, you know, cause people are all, oh, I'm
the
headliner for sure.
You know, but I was talking to Cosby one time I met him and I wasn't, you know,
but I,
I opened for him and he was telling me when he was in New York, he was the
biggest comic
and he would, uh, uh, the MCs were the lowest comics.
And he says, he always would say, I'll MC.
And his idea was he didn't see, you know, for 15 comics or whatever.
And in between he'd do five minutes each.
And he just always try out stuff, no pressure.
And he said, that's where he, he came up with this, you know, um, this flowing
ability
of his to tell, to storytell because he did it with no pressure between acts
instead of
being the final guy with all the pressure on it.
Right.
And it's funny cause this week, I mean, bless their little hearts.
I've had more people come up and go, um, you know, for an MC, you're really
funny.
Usually the first guy's not that funny.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's the other great.
And I feel bad cause I feel like, you know, those people are starting out and
they should
be in the cradle.
Like let, let, let, you know, a veteran open the show.
Yes.
And then let's bring a new guy up and let him do his little thing.
We'll, we'll, we'll, you know, nurture him a little and then we'll bring out
someone else
and take the show home.
Actually when I started, where I started, I started in Canada and that's what
they did.
The MCs were all very experienced.
Right.
Which makes complete sense.
Yeah.
It kicks the show home.
Lord.
Yeah.
That's the first guy you see.
And you know, he's only done standup for two months.
He could, that could go off the rails easily.
Right.
So, and it's, I've been MC.
It's fun.
Like you're the guy that you're their buddy and stuff.
You know, it's funny.
I've always said like, rather than a standup comedy class, they should teach.
Like I would love to teach an MC class.
Oh, that's great.
Like take all the MCs from the town and go, you know, for 20 bucks, come in on
Saturday
and for two hours, I'll show you how to MC.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's great.
How to do it right.
That's great.
So you, you know, you're going to climb the ladder to become an MC.
David Letterman hosts his show.
Yeah.
He MCs pretty well.
Right.
He comes out.
He's the first person.
He does his monologue.
Then he brings out, I said, you're going to climb the ladder to become an MC.
That's a great one.
So learn these skills because they're going to serve you later.
Hopefully, you know.
That is a great plan.
If you have a big career.
That is a great plan.
If you weren't doing this, what do you think you would like to do or what do
you think
you would be doing?
Well, I didn't get into stand up right away.
So I was like about six years after I left high school, I was doing manual
labor, which
I would probably still be doing.
Yeah.
And I liked it a lot.
I liked it a lot because I think I liked like the aloneness of it and the, and
like,
cause I was always the lowest guy and just, you know, doing jackhammer and
something.
Big hole.
Yeah.
You kind of, your mind just goes away.
You just think, you just have fun thinking daydreaming all day.
Right.
Right.
Which I think is.
Which I was a stand up talent.
I didn't know there was such a thing.
That was a funny thing when I started out.
I had, cause I'd see them on this night show, but I thought there was only
maybe eight or
10 in the whole world.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
That's true.
I never thought of it.
I never thought that.
And then I just got lucky enough to walk into a club and I was like, Oh my God.
There's a whole world.
You know?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I always tell people, cause they're like, I can never do it.
I don't want to do it.
I go, just do it.
Doesn't matter.
Like even if you're no good, like I would, cause I remember on amateur night,
that's way more thrilling
than like tonight.
Like I remember the first times I did it, that was a crazy thrill.
Right.
Right.
Where it was amazing and stuff.
Yeah.
When you can barely remember being up there.
Yeah.
You remember walking down and you're like, what happened in the middle?
Big, but it's so, so cool.
You know what I find so funny is when you look back at old tapes.
You have old tapes.
Yeah.
Oh my God.
You know what's killer to me is like I watch an old tape and I was amazed at
how ambitious
I was as a young, I mean like six months in, I was doing these really
complicated, you know.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I'm like, what in the world made me think I could pull that off, you know.
Yeah.
I mean now I almost go, I could actually make that funny now.
Right, right, right, right.
Maybe that's where the gold mining material is.
Yeah.
In the old tapes.
I also think like when I see the old tapes, I can't believe how badly I'm doing
and how
I thought I was doing well.
Like I think you have a tin ear or something, you know what I mean?
Maybe six people are laughing, that's enough for you.
So you're like, hey, I'm getting some laughs.
I made someone laugh.
Yeah.
Whereas nowadays we'd be like, oh my God, six people are laughing.
You know, this is horrible.
It's weird and you know what's funny is it's not just, when you find out too,
it's not just
you.
Like I've, I've, you know, you've been closing a club where some, where like
some feedback
comes off and you almost feel bad for them they did so poorly.
And they come up and go, well, they were great, huh?
No, that's bad.
And you feel like, I would hate myself if I had that set you just had.
Yeah, yeah.
These people are, you know.
You can't be too deluded, you know what I mean?
You can't be deluded after the lady.
Yeah.
At some point you have to.
Well, Norm, I really appreciate you sitting down with me.
Oh, it was awesome.
It was an absolute pleasure working.
It was a great week, man.
It was a great week.
It was so fun.
It was so fun.
Thank you.
Thanks again.

Norm Macdonald on Kevin McPeek's Bigger Vidcast 2012

We're sitting here with Norm and Donald at Kevin and Pete's Bigger Vidcast and
we're
backstage at Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle. We've worked four shows with Norm,
absolutely hilarious.
It was fun, man. Yeah, you were awesome, Kev.
I appreciate that. Obviously, legendary comedian. I'm going to ask you some of
the stuff that
I always ask every time, you know what I mean? When you were coming up, who did
you listen
to as far as comedians? Who do you remember watching and listening when you
were younger?
When I was young? Growing up. When I was young, growing up, my dad always
listened to Bill Cosby
and it was funny because he was not a tolerant man of other races.
As a matter of fact, I later told Bill Cosby that and it made him happy because
it seemed
like even though my dad was not a tolerant man of races, he loved Bill Cosby
more than anybody,
so we always listened to him when I was a little kid. That was the first, by
far the first, before anyone else.
Okay. And then like when you got into the '70s and early '80s. Then it was like
when I was a teenager, we all listened to Carlin,
George Carlin and, you know... Richard Pryor. Not Richard Pryor, no. Oh, really?
I mean, I don't know why, but it was George Carlin and it was Cheech and Chong
were kind of like the underground guys.
I think maybe Richard Pryor was too sophisticated for me or something or I just,
for some reason, I didn't...
I don't know why I missed him because I listened to everybody else. I don't
know why I missed him.
Maybe he hadn't... Maybe he was a little later or something. No, that wouldn't
be it.
But anyways, I love... Obviously, I love Richard Pryor the best of anybody.
Right.
I don't know why he committed my consciousness currently.
But when I saw Richard Pryor, I was like, oh my God, like...
That's how you do it.
Yeah, that guy, that's like... That's like crazy. That's like when you read
books and then all of a sudden you read,
you know, a Leo Tolstoy or something. You're like, oh, that's different, you
know?
Right. You know what I loved about Pryor was he would always animate, like,
these inanimate objects in the stories.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
I just love it. Like, my heart would say, or the cows, or the car said...
And the smell, you know, and all that. Right.
That's amazing.
It's like you sort of like, wow, his heart has a point of view in this story.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Like, it's everyone's heart attack or shooting the car or...
Right. And the lion, the tiger making the move and stuff.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah, the heart. And then God would put him down.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And his heart would say...
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And then shooting the car, and the car's like, oh, man, you know? And I
remember...
And his acting was so amazing in those films because it was so small, you know
what I mean?
Like, it wasn't big, like Carlin's was big.
Right, right.
Like, Carlin did that big, over-blowing acting, and Pryor did, like, real small
stuff.
Right, right. And Carlin played, or Richard Pryor, he would do every character
in the story.
Yeah, that's right.
Like, he went around.
Right.
You know? So here he is walking, then the dog's like, I'm gonna fuck you.
That's right.
Then he's playing his heart, and then he's playing, you know?
That's right.
You're right.
It's like, wow, he just, he brings, he steps into every role.
Yes.
And tells the story, you know? Like, man, that was...
It seemed he had everything in the arsenal, yeah.
Yeah, that's, yeah. And, you know, I think we talked about it earlier. Like,
Flip Wilson was big in my life.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
And he was like that, where he would be, you know, so the devil said, and then
you'd do the voice.
That's right.
And then, and Geraldine said he'd do that Geraldine voice, and, you know, he
played every character.
And, you know, I don't know that I would ever have the guts to try something
like that, where you do every character in the story.
Oh, my God. I am so unphysical. You know what I mean? Like, I remember, like, I
watched Brian Regan, and I go, man, I wish I could move, and make my jokes come
more alive like that.
Well, but you know what? You do something more, like, you do a visual painting.
I guess with words a little bit.
When I listen to you talk, you picture it in your head. You watch the little
movie of what you're talking about in your head.
There are comments where I'm like, okay, I understand what you're saying, and
that's funny, but I don't picture it, or I don't live it, you know?
Yeah. Oh, that's nice.
And, like, working with you the last couple days, I think I talked about the
story, it's hard not to talk like you.
I find myself going, so I want to, yeah, do a little interview there, you know,
and that's why I feel like I want to talk like you.
Yeah, the funny thing is I don't realize I have an odd voice until people do
impressions.
Or until I hear...
That was the worst impression ever.
I always think it doesn't sound like me, but then when I hear a tape recording
of myself, I realize that it does.
That's what I thought.
That's what I thought.
Well, you've, I mean, obviously you've had a great career, as far as, you know,
doing the things you want to do, it seems like.
It seems like you've been able to...
I was wanting to do it. The only thing I ever want to do is stand-up.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
So everything else would just sort of...
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, just like, you know, Mitch Hedberg used to have a great joke about, uh, I
can't where I went, but like...
Right.
You're writing the script?
Yeah.
You can rewrite it.
I'll just send you a copy.
Oh, that's a great joke.
No, but he said like, they make stand-ups like be actors and stuff.
Yeah.
You know, you don't do that to, you know, if you're a good fisherman, you're a
good fisherman.
Can you farm?
You know, whatever, something like that.
But that seems to me what they do in LA a lot.
Especially with acting, because stand-ups aren't really...
In perspective.
Yeah.
They're not irrespective at all.
And, and they're not really fitted to be actors that much.
You know what I mean?
As much as like the grambling guys and stuff like that, that know how to talk
to each other.
Like stand-up's a very specific thing.
And so, so even though things came my way from stand-up, sometimes I wish that
I'd only
done stand-up here.
Yeah.
Because that's what I wanted to do from the start.
Yeah.
It was only stand-ups.
So was it like an agent or a manager that got you, that kind of pushed you into
the other
stuff?
Yeah, it was the, well, they offered me a Saturday Night Live and I felt I
couldn't
turn it down because I, um, the guy told me, you know, you can write on
Saturday Night
Live and then, uh, and then maybe get Upgate, you know, and I wanted to do Upgate
because
I knew I could do that as a stand-up because Dennis Miller had already done it
as a stand-up,
you know?
And, um, yeah, he's really funny.
He's a great guy.
He's a great guy.
And so, uh, so I did that, but it's strange, like, because I, I always kept
doing stand-up.
I love stand-up, but then people, I realized, come back, then when I do stand-up,
people,
um, expect things from you because they know you from, I always think they know
me as a stand-up,
but no one knows, really knows me as a stand-up.
Oh, wow.
So they know you from all these other things.
People that know stand-up know you as a stand-up.
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, like the general public.
But the general public would go.
Do Burt Reynolds.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly.
So they say do Burt Reynolds.
You know, I don't do impressions or, or, you know, I did Weekend Update, so
they think
maybe I'm political, but I'm not political.
So, um, so sometimes, uh, you know, it's, uh, and I'm a little, uh, uh, you
know what
I mean?
You do, I've done so many things, so it's like Dr. Doolittle and then I'm doing
some real dirty
joke, you know what I mean?
Right, right.
But, uh, you know, uh, I like comedy clubs because you can do anything and you
can be your
own man and, uh, you know, no collaboration and, you know, I mean, except with
other comics
going over jokes and helping each other.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's, that's what I do miss is like the, like anytime I find myself
working like
more casinos or like more corporate stuff, I miss having other comics around.
Yes, definitely.
You know, like when you gotta, when you're in a corporate situation and you go
up in front
of all these people and you're the only one there who's like, who really knows
how to
be funny.
You almost feel like you've been thrown to the wolves, you know what I mean?
But when you're in a comedy club and, uh, even if like, you know, I take a week
hosting,
you know, like a club like Mark's, I love to come in and host and just have fun
and work
on new stuff.
And I worked on three new jokes this week, you know?
Yeah, that's awesome.
It was so much fun.
But I, I miss the camaraderie of just sitting down, you know.
It's interesting when you say hosting, you know, cause people are all, oh, I'm
the
headliner for sure.
You know, but I was talking to Cosby one time I met him and I wasn't, you know,
but I,
I opened for him and he was telling me when he was in New York, he was the
biggest comic
and he would, uh, uh, the MCs were the lowest comics.
And he says, he always would say, I'll MC.
And his idea was he didn't see, you know, for 15 comics or whatever.
And in between he'd do five minutes each.
And he just always try out stuff, no pressure.
And he said, that's where he, he came up with this, you know, um, this flowing
ability
of his to tell, to storytell because he did it with no pressure between acts
instead of
being the final guy with all the pressure on it.
Right.
And it's funny cause this week, I mean, bless their little hearts.
I've had more people come up and go, um, you know, for an MC, you're really
funny.
Usually the first guy's not that funny.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's the other great.
And I feel bad cause I feel like, you know, those people are starting out and
they should
be in the cradle.
Like let, let, let, you know, a veteran open the show.
Yes.
And then let's bring a new guy up and let him do his little thing.
We'll, we'll, we'll, you know, nurture him a little and then we'll bring out
someone else
and take the show home.
Actually when I started, where I started, I started in Canada and that's what
they did.
The MCs were all very experienced.
Right.
Which makes complete sense.
Yeah.
It kicks the show home.
Lord.
Yeah.
That's the first guy you see.
And you know, he's only done standup for two months.
He could, that could go off the rails easily.
Right.
So, and it's, I've been MC.
It's fun.
Like you're the guy that you're their buddy and stuff.
You know, it's funny.
I've always said like, rather than a standup comedy class, they should teach.
Like I would love to teach an MC class.
Oh, that's great.
Like take all the MCs from the town and go, you know, for 20 bucks, come in on
Saturday
and for two hours, I'll show you how to MC.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's great.
How to do it right.
That's great.
So you, you know, you're going to climb the ladder to become an MC.
David Letterman hosts his show.
Yeah.
He MCs pretty well.
Right.
He comes out.
He's the first person.
He does his monologue.
Then he brings out, I said, you're going to climb the ladder to become an MC.
That's a great one.
So learn these skills because they're going to serve you later.
Hopefully, you know.
That is a great plan.
If you have a big career.
That is a great plan.
If you weren't doing this, what do you think you would like to do or what do
you think
you would be doing?
Well, I didn't get into stand up right away.
So I was like about six years after I left high school, I was doing manual
labor, which
I would probably still be doing.
Yeah.
And I liked it a lot.
I liked it a lot because I think I liked like the aloneness of it and the, and
like,
cause I was always the lowest guy and just, you know, doing jackhammer and
something.
Big hole.
Yeah.
You kind of, your mind just goes away.
You just thi