The New Norm MacDonald Stand-Up Special is Sad

 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.

Everyone Be Seated, It's Time for My Ted Talk...

 

Building a Mini Hyrdroelectric Plant

 

Not much to say about this, the title is self-explanatory, except I envy this guy. This is what I wanted to be when I grew up.

Charismatic Voice - Interstate Love Song

 

The Charismatic Voice reacts to "Interstate Love Song" by Stone Temple Pilots. I never knew the backstory to this song nor do I recall ever seeing that beginning to the music video. 

Charlie Chaplin is not involved in any way.

If you're unfamiliar, TCV is a former Opera singer who now does these kind of youtube videos. She's done a series of Grunge songs and her fondness for the genre has been one of the pleasant surprises of the channel.

Robert Plant - 29 Palms

 

In theory, early-to-mid nineties adult contemporary is one of my least favorite musical genres. I was a teen and thought "This has none of the energy of rock nor is it slow enough to be beautiful." It's caught in a muddled no-man's land of commercial product.

But "29 Palms" by Robert Plant is one of the only exceptions, though I can't explain exactly why. This song takes me back to Summer of 2007 and now it's synonymous with Summer for me.

But the thing I wanted to point out was the brilliant lyric corruption it contains. In the first instance(?) of the chorus, Plant clearly says "29 Parm" - an instant classic that goes in the Hall of Fame of Lyric Corruption right up there with "Caribou Queen" by Billy Ocean and "Shamone" in "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson.

The song was secretly about Italian food this whole time. Who knew?

A Digression on Carpet Cleaning Videos

Carpet cleaning (or rug cleaning) videos is another genre of youtube videos in the same vein as Restoration videos. It ticks both the "things going from disorder to order" and the "oddly satisfying" boxes; it's also ASMR according to the channel tags. Unlike the restoration genre, however, it doesn't seem to be as advanced and there are a number of channels that don't "get it." In fact, as far as I'm concerned, the entire genre mostly comes down to just one channel - the one above.

I have a number of questions about the nature of the cleaning. You'll note that he's constantly working side-to-side. You'd be constantly transporting dirt from the rug to another part of the rug. Wouldn't you want to work from the center outwards to get the dirt out of the rug as soon as possible? Similarly, dirt is constantly going from the surface, sinking downward to the bottom of the rug. Therefore, I would think that there should be constant flipping. Even more important than that, dirt, going downwards is hitting the tile and getting trapped. It seems to me you'd want to put the rug on top of something that allows the water to freely flow out - perhaps a screen. Do the professionals know best? Are there good rebuttals to these questions? I don't know.

One of the weaknesses of this genre, it seems, is that you really want the carpet to get clean to have that dramatic before and after contrast but that never really happens the way it "should." A carpet never gets fully clean, it only gets cleanER. It gets cleaner and cleaner and cleaner but at some point you just have to arbitrarily stop. As an ignorant newcomer, that diminishes the enjoyment... Though, you get used to it after several hours.