this post was submitted on 26 Dec 2023
42 points (81.8% liked)

Ask Lemmy

33834 readers
1416 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
all 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Dankry@lemmy.world 78 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Don Ohlmeyer for one. He’s the NBC executive who had Norm fired as SNL’s Weekend Update anchor because he wouldn’t stop mocking Don’s friend, famous double murderer, O.J. Simpson.

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 33 points 2 years ago

Oh yeah I remember that now, Norm Macdonald was fired from Saturday night live "for not being funny," and he found it odd when he was invited back a couple years later to give the opening monologue.

[–] LordOfTheChia@lemmy.world 19 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The worse thing about that whole ordeal was the hypocrisy.

[–] stewie3128@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 years ago

It was great when Ohlmeyer went on Colbert Report and got mocked for saying NBC was going to lose money on the Winter Olympics. Colbert did a fund drive to help, and presented him with a giant check for like $5.08

It's also great that he's been dead since 2017. Conan was right when he called him one of the silverback gorillas running TV.

[–] jordanlund@lemmy.world 39 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I think the only person offended was that one NBC executive who was buddies with noted double murderer OJ Simpson.

[–] jopepa@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Isn’t it weird that we can hear him say that in our heads so clearly but imitating it is impossible.

[–] Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago

You know who CAN imitate it? Frank Stallone.

[–] Snapz@lemmy.world 22 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I mean, he said some blunt stuff about OJ being a murderer. It wasn't really "controversial" but he was like, I don't know, man... Okay, here's the simplest way I can explain the whole thing - so I had this friend for a long time (he's passed away at this point), and he always told this same story that I think of whenever people get upset with a comedian like Norm MacDonald. The story is about a moth, but the message inside is universal to anyone:

So a moth goes into a podiatrist’s office, and the podiatrist says, “What seems to be the problem, moth?” The moth says “What’s the problem? Where do I even begin, man? I go to work for this guy, Gregory Illinivich, and all day long I work. Honestly doc, I don’t even know what I’m doing anymore. I don’t even know if Gregory Illinivich knows. He only knows that he has power over me, and that seems to bring him happiness. But I don’t know, I wake up in a malaise, and I walk here and there… at night I… I sometimes wake up and I turn to some old lady in my bed that’s on my arm. A lady that I once loved, doc. I don’t know where to turn to. My youngest, Alexendria, she fell in the…in the cold of last year. The cold took her down, as it did many of us. And my other boy, and this is the hardest pill to swallow, doc. My other boy, Gregarro Ivinalititavitch… I no longer love him. As much as it pains me to say, when I look in his eyes, all I see is the same cowardice that I… that I catch when I take a glimpse of my own face in the mirror. If only I wasn’t such a coward, then perhaps… perhaps I could bring myself to reach over to that cocked and loaded gun that lays on the bedside behind me and end this hellish facade once and for all…Doc, sometimes I feel like a spider, even though I’m a moth, just barely hanging on to my web with an everlasting fire underneath me. I’m not feeling good." And so the doctor says, “Moth, man, you’re troubled. But you should be seeing a psychiatrist. Why on earth did you come here?” And the moth says, “Cause the light was on."

So that's basically what I think.

[–] howler@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Despite his appearance and delivery, i always thought Norm was the most "punk rock" comedian. He actually stood for something, stood by his friends and was true to himself. I did not always agree with his bits... But i never thought he was outright hateful. I think he tried to touch on the humorous or more absurd elements of society, with his commentary. Which was mostly the stuff i liked least... However, i believe that while Norm may not have understood some of these things, he wasn't intolerant of them.

Norm was about as big of an anti-celebrity, celebrity as i can think of. He always seemed eager to be silly and to laugh, and to love his small group of friends. I'm fairly cemented as being left of center, and i adored Norm.

[–] Facebones@reddthat.com 1 points 2 years ago

There's a comedian I get pushed on YouTube sometimes, and I feel this way about him. I'm not always on board, but he's at least writing and delivering jokes.

So many "edgy" comedians just given up and bitch about being canceled for two hours..... To a sold out stadium.

[–] CarlsIII@kbin.social 14 points 2 years ago

I believe the reason he got fired from SNL was he kept making OJ Simpsons jokes and one of the top NBC execs was friends with OJ. Not quite the same thing as a public outcry, but I’m not sure of any bigger controversy regarding Norm.

[–] 0x520@slrpnk.net 10 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Well unfortunately he used his final special to spew transphonic trash. Basically any time he wandered his way into politics it was never good, but he had some amazing jokes when he didn't.

[–] Fenrisulfir@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 years ago

I must’ve missed it then. Got a timestamp or link to an example?

[–] LemmyKnowsBest@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world -5 points 2 years ago

He was great all the time.

[–] neurogenesis@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 years ago

Pretty funny and insightful to me, but I mostly saw him on SNL a long time ago and more recently on Tyson's Mysteries, where he was hilarious.

[–] PP_BOY_@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Plenty of people. Probably the most substantial recent controversy I can think of was when he called out a comedian for an anti-Christianity joke while judging Last Comic Standing. I understand his explanation for why he did it but that doesn't mean it didn't get misinterpreted. Like most of Norm's controversies, I think he was a victim of his own intellect and nuance, and for assuming that other people were as capable of critical thinking as him.

[–] RainfallSonata@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

I wouldn't say I was offended, but I did find him more mean than funny.

[–] TonyHawksPoTater@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago
[–] sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 years ago

Most of the people I know who seemed offended were more offended that they just didn't find him funny. I always felt, and still feel, bad for them.

[–] Daisyjones@kbin.run -5 points 2 years ago

Although I've been a longtime fan of Norm MacDonald, I understand that not everyone like his comedic style. Since comedy is subjective, what one person deems funny may offend someone else. Norm had a distinctive way of pushing the envelope, and I completely see how his jokes could offend certain people. As an aside, has anyone thought of employing Buy Primary Data Collection Service firms to get feedback on comedians such as Norm? Seeing a more methodical approach to comprehending crowd responses could be intriguing.