Name: Norm Macdonald on the Grill Room Podcast w Alan Bastable 2011
Uploaded: 2022-03-01T06:00:07.000Z
Description: Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald on the Grill Room Podcast w Alan Bastable 2011' from TickleMeNorm on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-01. Transcript available. Be Sad Now #normmacdonald #norm.

Watch the stand-up comedy video 'Norm Macdonald on the Grill Room Podcast w Alan Bastable 2011' from TickleMeNorm on Comedy Buff. Published 2022-03-01. Transcript available. Be Sad Now #normmacdonald #norm.

Hello and welcome back to another edition of the golf.com grill room podcast
where each week we take you inside the ropes of the game's biggest
personalities. I'm Alan Bastable and my guest today is comedian and actor Norm
MacDonald. Norm is probably best known for his years on Saturday Night Live
where he employed his rye wit as an anchor on the weekend update news desk.
That experience no doubt prepared him well for his newest venture the sports
show with Norm MacDonald which debuted earlier this month on Comedy Central.
Here's a quick clip from that debut episode that golf fans might appreciate.
Okay so Norm joins us on the phone now. Norm I hope you're ready to talk a
little golf.
Yeah let's talk golf Alan.
So the show the sports show is obviously a platform that allows you to poke fun
at all sports but in that debut episode golf landed in your crosshairs a few
times which I was a little surprised by.
How closely do you pay attention to the game?
I pay attention to all sports but the Masters just happened two days earlier so
that's why it's such an important story and Tiger almost made it was looking
like a historic day as he crossed the bridge Hogan's bridge but it wasn't to be.
Now were you a little disappointed by that? Are you disappointed when a guy
like Charles Schwartzel wins the Masters?
Well I'm very disappointed because I want the like I like watching the best and
you know it's sad that he got knocked out because you know I don't know I don't
want to I like other guys but they're not in it you know the top guys Tiger
leaves and then so does Lee Westwood and Mickelson and everybody else's guy you
know everybody leaves every time Tiger leaves.
So that's depressing too.
Well I guess when a guy like Mickelson or Lee Westwood wins it's not as funny
right?
Well not as funny?
Yeah as a guy like Charles Schwartzel winning the Masters.
Oh yeah but I'm not going for I would rather have Tiger win than a funny guy a
guy with a funny name.
The joke doesn't mean as much to me as the golf.
Alright I didn't realize you were such a hardcore fan.
No no I want to see golf prosper because I've watched golf ever since I was a
kid and before Tiger like no one understood it.
You try to explain it to a back man when it was just the middle aged man
playing the world's slowest sport.
Then when Tiger came along at least he generated some interest and now people
are back to not caring again.
But he'll come back.
It's just a matter of time.
He'll win one major this year.
So you mentioned you watched growing up as a kid.
Did you start playing as a kid?
How much golf do you play?
I'm no good.
I've played all my life but I suck.
But it doesn't stop me from I've already issued a challenge to Dustin Johnson.
I guess I haven't.
I may as well do it now.
And what is that challenge?
He probably listens to your podcast.
You know I don't know.
I did see he laid off his caddy today.
Oh well then good then.
This is my challenge.
It'll even be a little harder without a caddy.
I'll play him one round of any course he likes.
Or any course I like I guess.
No any course he likes.
And I get one free throw every hole.
That's the only.
And I think I can beat him.
Alright.
How do you characterize your game?
Are you a big hitter?
Are you a good putter?
What do you do well?
Anything?
I throw the ball once per round pretty good.
Now who was the best stick going back to your Saturday Night Live days?
Who was the best guy on staff there?
With golf?
Yeah.
Was there any great golfer?
I don't know man.
Maybe Farley was the best golfer.
No David Spade was the best golfer I guess.
If Farley was the best golfer I think you guys have issues.
I know he'd be in trouble.
I know.
Will Ferrell plays.
Will Ferrell plays a bit right?
I think he plays yeah.
But I've never played with him.
I don't know.
Now did you see this guy Kevin Na on the PGA Tour who made a 16?
Yeah.
That was depressing.
Actually we're covering it on the show I think tonight.
What did you take?
I don't know.
We haven't put it together yet.
But it was fun to see him come out and just be laughing with his buddy.
But it was so funny to see him so deep in the woods.
You never see anyone that deep.
It's crazy.
It was like helicopter footage of a crime scene or something.
He remained in remarkably good spirits I thought.
Yeah he did.
He came out smiling.
It was good to see.
Does that make you feel better about your game when you see a tour pro go out
and take
16 shots on a hole?
Yeah when I see it it makes me feel better for sure.
Because you know you almost never see like yeah that's like you know that's not
you always
expect one of those on the card every round.
These guys get one in their life and it's a surprise.
Now you're known for your impressions.
Have you thought about any golfers that might be ripe for an impression?
Golfers that would be good to do an impression of?
Yeah.
He would probably do Nicholas.
Yeah you don't hear many of them talk since only Tiger seems to ever have a
microphone in front of him.
Yeah but he doesn't talk when he does have a microphone in front of him.
That's true.
That's the issue with him.
I can't think of it.
I mean I'd like to say I do a mean Duffy Waldorf but I don't.
Who introduced you to the game?
Did your dad play?
No my dad didn't play.
We didn't have any money when I was young so you know it was a rich man's game
now.
Now it's a poor man's game.
But back then it was just rich people we never even thought we were allowed to
play.
And you grew up in Quebec City right?
Yeah.
So are you a Mike Weir fan?
Mike Weir?
I don't know I mean you know I was born like we had the this is the problem of
Quebec with sports.
If you want me to get serious.
Sure.
I'm sure you want me to get serious.
That's why we had you on.
Yeah Mike Weir is great.
We had a player named George Knudson.
He was the best Canadian golfer.
And then I guess Mike Weir was.
But then we had Mo Norman who invented natural golf.
He's from Canada.
The eccentric, the bipolar Mo Norman.
Tell us about these normcasts.
I understand you did one for the Masters.
I didn't get a chance to listen to it.
Oh yeah I did a normcast for the Masters.
The idea is that if you want to watch the Masters or any event that I'm
watching and normcasting
you can feel free to turn on the Ustream on the free computer and listen to me
watching the game along with you.
That's what I like to do.
And then I take tweet quests from the blogosphere.
So you've got a pretty considerable following.
What, $200,000 or so?
All right, yeah.
For a late comer.
That's pretty good.
Were you on a Sunday afternoon if you're flipping around would you watch a PGA
Tour event or a rerun of one of your old movies?
Oh no, I'd watch a PGA Tour event, no question about it.
That's probably my favorite thing to do is watch a PGA Tour event.
You know, I like when courses are tough.
I don't like when the leader has 32 under or something.
But I'll watch most of them anyway.
I mean, does golf generally lend itself to satire?
I mean, more so than, I mean, I would think basketball or football, there's
plenty more jokes.
Oh, there's not many jokes in golf because also, like right now, it's whatever
the sport is defined by the personality.
And obviously, there's only one personality right now.
Yeah.
You know, sometimes a guy will wear a different colored shirt, you know, and
try to be a colorful character.
But, uh, or that guy, you know, that goes down for the putts, you know, Villegas.
It's not Villegas.
Right.
Yeah, Camilo Villegas.
Yeah, Villegas goes down for the putts.
So at least he knows to do something colorful, but they're mostly colorless
characters right now.
Right.
Except for, uh, I don't know, even Rory's kind of boring, I don't know.
What'd you make of his, uh, his implosion at the Masters?
That was pretty tough to watch.
Yeah, that was pretty, that was pretty hard to watch, but, you know,
it looked like, uh, yeah, everyone else was under par except him, which was
really bizarre.
But, um, but it was, it seemed like everything was setting up for Tiger in the
fall for, for
McElroy, and then they, the cast of no-names all around him, and, uh, but we
just have to
wait another event.
Right now, all the four, uh, owners of the, of the, um, majors, uh,
suck.
I mean, they don't suck.
That's not where I thought you were going with that.
I don't want them to be.
I don't want them to be, put it that way.
And a couple of years ago, there was, like, every one was a disappointment.
Like, Kenny Perry was going to be the oldest guy to win, and he got beat by, by
Cabrera or
somebody.
Right.
And, uh, you know, Y.E. Yang beat Tiger, and then Phil Mickelson, and David Duvall
were
two back, and they didn't win, and the fourth one, I can't remember, was also
depressing.
Oh, and Watson.
Watson, Sink, Sink beat him out.
Yeah, all in the same year.
Like, four almost good stories.
But you do like, you like Tiger to rebound and get at least, at least one major
this year?
Yeah, because I think, like, uh, it's been hard on him.
You sound like you've almost, you almost take this personally.
Yeah, no, well, I do, because I've been watching the guy for 16 years, you know?
I'm the real victim in this.
I'm the forgotten victim.
The guy spent 16 years of his life watching the guy play golf, just so that I
could see
him lose because of some weird thing happening.
All right, give us, before we let you go, give us, uh, give us one bold or
fearless prediction
for, for, uh, the rest of the golf season, uh, a non-Tiger prediction.
Yeah, I almost had couples for the Masters, and then it looked good for a
couple days.
That was my last bold prediction.
Yeah, couples, a problem with him, he only, he only shows up at one major every
year.
Yeah, I know, that's the big problem.
Well, I'd say, uh, John Daly will win on the PGA Tour this year.
Wow.
And I'd say, uh, for a major, I'd pick, uh, it's so boring when I don't talk
for a long
time.
It's the beauty of the podcast, we can edit all this out.
Yeah, I'd pick, uh, I'd pick, uh, I'd pick L's, I think L's will win a major.
There's my two shockers.
All right, well, we'll, we'll hold you to that, and we'll check in with you,
and we'll
check in with you later in the year.
Hey, Norm, uh, thanks a lot for your time.
Oh, thanks a lot, I appreciate it.
Good luck with the show.
Okay, thank you.
That was comedian Norm MacDonald, whose sports show with Norm MacDonald airs
Tuesday nights
at 10.30 on Comedy Central.
That's a wrap for the Grill Room podcast.
Please come back and join us for another episode next week right here on golf.com.
You can also subscribe to this podcast on iTunes.
Simply visit iTunes and search for golf.com Grill Room.
I'm Alan Bastivill.
Thanks again for tuning in.
Bye.