Norm Macdonald: Mr. Wrong

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In 1999, we spoke to Norm Macdonald about his firing from 'Saturday Night Live,' being put in 'movie jail' and trying to become a sitcom star. Read our feature on the celebrated comedian:

Mary Ellen Matthews/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Gettyorm Macdonald is crazy. A particularly functional, inspired and funny kind of crazy, but one that makes him capable of the sort of strange grin or bizarre utterance that might make you move a couple of seats away from him on the bus. He’s a man’s man. He likes booze and gambling and jokes about prison sex. In a world full of eager-to-please comedians, Macdonald remains a dark knight. He turns the mind-fuck into performance art.

“I loved Roseanne as a stand-up,” says Macdonald. “When I got the job, they gave me, like, forty tapes of the show to watch to watch. So, I had to go in this room. I watched, like two or three. I got real sleepy — I just don’t watch sitcoms. Like, I don’t even know anyone who watches them. I never had any drive to do a sitcom, because I never had an idea that low-concept.”“None,” Macdonald says.

The pair play Bill and Fred, two bland, middle aged married guys who have just finished watching a football game when Norm’s character, Bill, offhandedly suggests a little sodomy.Norm: That’s all right. Hey, guess this was a stupid idea. I feel like an idiot.Norm: Do I what?It’s a classic Macdonald — Beckett meets buggery, with a little absurdist heteroanxiety thrown into the mix.

Most anxieties fade, though when the pilot is finally shot, two nights before Christmas. From its first moment, turns out to be unusually sharp and smart — a great fit for its somewhat reluctant leading man. Wisely, Helford has opted to let Norm be Norm in the role of Norm Henderson, a former professional hockey player sentenced to five years of public service for gambling and tax evasion. Metcalf plays his more sincere co-worker in the welfare office.

 

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sepinwall Remembering when someone there ranked him as one of the worst SNL cast members ever too

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