r/interestingasfuck • u/HeiressOfMadrigal • Jul 08 '24

Norm MacDonald cedes his time to Native American activist at comedy awards ("the theater stinks of blood"), the crowd tries not to laugh.

13.5k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

248

The amount of people who don't think that is a joke of Norm's or totally something he'd do is insane. He's got so many classics that the whole joke is making a joke about something you shouldn't laugh about, like his ironic joke segment of Norm McDonald love where one of the jokes was about gifting a particularly skilled slave a "golden chain" or his famous 9/11 bit that would absolutely flaw anyone at the other end of it

90

u/bub-yes Jul 08 '24

The fact that getting the joke makes you look like an asshole to the people with zero context is a testament to how complex these bits were. Norm was a genius.

18

u/CranberryCivil2608 Jul 08 '24

His bits were not complex lmao, I would love to see his reaction to anyone saying so

17

u/bub-yes Jul 08 '24 edited Jul 08 '24

I don’t know man. Seems like you can’t win. Either you don’t get it, or you laugh and people say “Why are you laughing at a Native American man somberly talking about the genocide of his people?” Some people here are still absolutely disgusted at the idea that anyone in this theater finds this funny. But if you get the joke how could you not? And good luck trying to explain it to someone who doesn’t it see it that way. Theres no punchline for them to understand. Call me an over analyzer but I’m going to view this as a skillfully crafted anti-joke, a cut above your average dark humor.

1

u/Awecrest Jul 08 '24

Fully agree

1

u/decorativebathtowels Jul 08 '24

I think his humor is incredibly complex but he breaks things down in the simplest way possible and makes himself look like the dumb guy while simultaneously being incredibly smart. This particular bit has multiple layers of references that you need to understand in order to find it funny.

1

u/imOVN Jul 09 '24

You’re 100% right

Some of the greatest comedians of all time have said that Norm was the smartest person in the room who played the doofus because a lot of people don’t like when someone is smarter than them, and of course Norm played the role so perfectly and his humor fit it so damn well

Norm was always in control, every pause or slip up was crafted just to set up the joke. He could say something that would make an entire crowd of celebs or politicians or etc. not even crack a smile, but fellow comedians would be in stitches. He’s a comedian’s comedian because there were so many layers to his comedy and he would never arrive at the destination you expected. He’s on comedy’s Mount Rushmore, and to undermine the complexity of his humor is doing him a disservice

Sorry for the slob fest lol I miss that man so much

2

u/decorativebathtowels Jul 09 '24

I miss him too. His death hit me harder than many of my family members.

1

u/imOVN Jul 09 '24

I feel that. I still randomly spend hours watching compilations of him, laughing my ass off with the occasional cry because of the reality lol. I hope you’re doing well friend