There Will Never Be Another Norm Macdonald
I did this joke in which I showed that picture of the girl running away from napalm in Vietnam. I said, In gossip news, Woody Allen s dating again. Lorne told me not to do it, and I told him he was wrong, that people would like it. Then I did it in dress rehearsal and there was this insane audience reaction that went on for two minutes: hate. I was completely wrong.
Or was he? If the point of the joke is that the audience loves you, cheers for you, claps for you, is it really a joke? Does it deserve the laugh if no one is offended? Norm is often held up as a model for the newsy jokesters that followed him to far more popularity and hit shows and money but he didn t just seem disinterested in clapter, he seemed actively interested in turning it against the audience. That remains my favorite Weekend Update aside, about the pie charts on car accidents: So, now you don t know what the hell to do.
Personally, I prefer rainbows and unicorns, but Norm Macdonald is a close second.