Throughout "Norm MacDonald Live" and "Norm MacDonald Has a Show" there is some progression but mostly there is consistency - Norm is Norm. But when you get to his interview with David Letterman on the latter, he suddenly seems to be playing a character. He's a goof, he's a gab, he's almost hyperactive - he's like a child who's had too much sugar.
That same character is back, it seems to me, in Norm's new stand-up special. Knowing he was very sick, but also knowing he couldn't do shows in the pandemic, he recorded a stand-up special in his house which was just released on Netflix. There is no crowd, there is no venue, it is just him and a camera (and a dog and a phone call). It may be because of the silence that he's so animated - he knows, perhaps, he needs to supply the energy that a live audience would normally supply. Or it may be some other reason. Far be it from me to claim to know Norm.
But it is strange and it is a style of stand-up comedy that I've never seen from him. He reminds me of a ventriloquist's dummy (in a good way) - he's all eyebrows, wide eyes and teeth. And, though unusual, it mostly works and there is some great material but there is some lull in there too. It may be that the material is as strong as ever but I'm one of those people who needs to hear audience affirmation, I don't know. And it may be that he just lacked the chance to hone the material on the road in the nightclubs. One thing's for sure, the knowledge that he was ill makes the amount of energy he's putting forth that much more heroic and admirable.
Following the stand-up, Netflix adds on a segment where a group of comedians react to the special and talk about it. Obviously it's impossible to talk about what they've just seen without also eulogizing the man and what he meant. This is, shockingly, my favorite part of the special and I didn't want it to end. Norm was so unique and so enigmatic, it seemed like it could have gone on forever. And I must note, though I don't know where to do it, that Conan addresses the earlier questions I had about Norm not being on Conan's show for many years. He says that Norm was invited but kept turning him down, probably because of his illness. That doesn't completely answer the question for me but there's no reason to re-hash that here.
I may be imagining things, I don't know how to judge my own perception, but it seems to me that at one part of the special Norm gets choked up and emotional. That emotion bleeds into the eulogy segment and I was left feeling sad all over again at the tremendous loss for us and the secret suffering that he went through. And this is the end because I don't know what else to say.
