JHostler wrote:As a huge Norm fan myself, I find this fascinating. It took me YEARS to "get" him - precisely because I didn't have a feel for his delivery. Great comedians, like great magicians, can breathe life into material ill-suited for mere mortals. Macdonald is a genius in this regard... as was Steve Martin in his day. But if it doesn't "grab you," it just doesn't.[/i]
Norm Macdonald is a fascinating person to listen to in an interview. I am convinced he is a legitimate genius. He has an interesting taste in books. He only reads the old Russian masters. And he has gone bankrupt a few times due to addiction to sports betting. On one occasion he even threw his last 60 grand into the Atlantic ocean after a series of bad gambling losses as an act of spiritual cleansing.
In one interview he even recited a lengthy gambling poem which he claims he only heard once. But it stuck in his head forever - word for word. Apparently Andy Kaufman had this ability as well. He used to be embarrassed on the set of 'Taxi' that he could instantly memorize his lines with just one read through.
Here is an email I sent to a magician friend a couple of years ago. It discusses Norm's perspective on comedy, and how it has helped shaped my thinking about magic.
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My favourite comedian is Norm Macdonald. One of the cool things with him is that he is utterly fascinating to listen to in the serious interviews he has given on various podcasts.
He has an odd taste in comedy himself (one that doesn't resonate with me). He actually thinks Bob Hope is the greatest comedian of all-time.
He justified this by saying that he feels the highest form of comedy is to not destroy people with laughter. But to sort of get people into a good natured frame of mind where pretty much anything is funny. In a way – he is more interested in chuckles than killer laughs. As long as the material he is working on is genuinely interesting as opposed to getting a chuckle from a hack bit or a dumb pun.
My take on his thoughts were this. As with magic - there is a technique to stand-up comedy. As beginners in magic we assume that fooling people with a trick is this incredibly difficult thing that takes years of practice. When in fact it can be learned quite easily.
The same is true of stand-up comedy. Getting laughter from an audience becomes automatic once you have the basic techniques in place (admittedly these are harder to learn with comedy than with magic).
Indeed - there are a number of comedians I don't even like. Who can still get a laugh from me quite easily. Since it isn't too difficult to craft material in a way that will surprise an audience and get a laugh.
Anyway - from listening to Norm Macdonald the impression I get is that he finds "being funny" too easy. To the extent that it is no longer the fundamental goal for him in comedy since it is so easy to achieve.
This chimes with some of the thoughts I have about magic. Fooling people with magic is easy. And after awhile you want a different challenge. With Norm Macdonald - he found that aiming for a state-of-mind where you could see the absurdity and strangeness of life in a good humoured way was a more interesting goal for his comedy.
As opposed to trying to "destroy" the audience with the funniest material possible (which is how most other comedians approach comedy - particularly early on in their career).
I mention this since I feel magicians can learn from Norm's thoughts in this area. Focusing on strong magic that fools people is a trap that you can fall into. And ultimately - I sense spectators find it a bit irritating after awhile. Whereas - mixing in more absurd approaches to magic allows the spectator to consider magic from the point of view of more than simply
"Was I fooled or not?".
It is just interesting to hear a great comedian talk about the fact that getting laughs is not his main goal in comedy.