Norm Macdonald Live, "Mike Tyson"

Norm has of course come up on Booyah over the years because he’s the single most influential and beloved public person in my life. 

I love him. And I’m about to get sentimental and maybe a little melodramatic. 

Here and there I’ve told Joe that I don’t really think about death that much. I’ve been lucky not to have really anybody I was close to die—it helps to isolate yourself from the world and just watch TV.

But yesterday Joe texted me that Norm had died, and since then I’ve been sad. Seeing the tributes on Twitter made me cry. Which is surely absurd in some way. But people were celebrating what Norm added to the world. And in my clumsy exploration of something like spiritual truth, I’ve come to believe pretty strongly in the fundamental value of creativity.

We don’t gotta go into it. But I think the essence of existence is creative being. 

And if nothing else Norm Macdonald serves as a model for me of someone who made all kinds of shit. A comedy album. Stand-up specials. Sitcoms. SNL. Podcasts. Movies. A novel masquerading as a memoir. Tweets. Talk show appearances. 

That’s what people were sharing and celebrating last night.

So there’s a reminder here that to create and to give is one way to live a lovely life.

And then there’s this. I’ve sometimes thought that if and when I published a book, I’d send it to Norm. He’d probably never see it, much less read it. But because of his Twitter feed and general half-outsider persona, he felt at least a little accessible. 

And I loved so much of who he was in the world. Creatively, he’s important to me. I stole 80% of my on mic voice and who I am and how I try to be funny in life from Norm Macdonald.

It seems very Booyah to me that who I am is profoundly bound up in this celebrity. I absorbed his media content right into the marrow of my soul.

So I wanted to show him something I made, and maybe he’d think I did a good job.

I haven’t thought that about my own parents or really anybody. I’m telling you it’s unusual for me to feel this way, but: I wanted Norm to be proud of me. 

However unlikely it always was that I’d get that, it’s now impossible. 

I like that it’s a silly thought. I like that it makes me cry. 

It’s nonsense infused with love, and that feels right in matters of life and death.

By the way, morbidly, I suppose, I’ve thought about how I maybe do want other people to be proud of me before they’re gone or I am. My son. Occasional Booyah guest and my writing mentor, Matthew. Joe. 

Maybe I’m not as isolated as I like to think, and creativity—because it’s everything—is one way I can build and strengthen more connections in this world, even if that sounds scary.

I don’t want to go on and on, believe it or not. I just want to say that Norm Macdonald was insightful and funny and difficult and inspiring. 

I’ll miss him. And I want to honor what he’s meant to me. With this old Booyah 90s Sports that we’ve kept in the vault because it’s nothing special.

For what it’s worth, we talk about Norm more thoroughly, I think, on our episode about his stand-up special, Hitler’s Dog, Gossip and Trickery. Look for that in our back catalogue from March 2020.

But here’s us talking in 2017 about an episode of my favorite media thing ever, Norm Macdonald Live. 

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Trivial Television, where Ellen & Rob recap TV episodes while sprinkling in facts, fictions, and trivia questions.

Booyah 90s Now, where Rob & Joe break down what it’s been like to live under the influence of 90s media.

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Take care.