Comic Jim Norton’s key motivation: Fear
Comic Jim Norton has a packed schedule: His Kneeling Room Only tour plays Hard Rock Live Orlando on Friday. His Sirius XM show, “Jim Norton & Sam Roberts,” airs weekday mornings. There’s his podcast “UFC Unfiltered With Jim Norton & Matt Serra.” And there’s his acting career, including a Martin Scorsese movie.
“I’m trying not to fall through the cracks,” said Norton, 49. “Everything’s going to be taken away.”
By working on many fronts, he hopes he won’t lose everything. “Fear is the motivating factor in most things I do,” he said. “It’s the fear of disappearing, the fear of being forgotten or of never being known.”
“Kneeling Room Only” (Tickets, $35 and up, at hardrock.com) represents new material, and the title sets the hour apart from “Mouthful of Shame,” a Netflix special that came out last year.
His topics in the new tour include the #MeToo movement, President Donald Trump and “my own disastrous personal life.”
“I always try to update my personal life and what’s going on in the country,” he said. “Luckily, it’s been a lot of fun to watch what’s been happening in the country.”
He pays attention to politics. “You have to,” he says, citing his Sirius XM show. “You’re talking about stuff for three hours.”
Trump has been great for comedians, Norton said, but 98 percent of entertainers take the same angle that the president is terrible.
“Mock the guy,” he said. “People have forgotten our job is to be funny. You can make a point, but try to be funny while you’re doing it.”
Norton loves Stormy Daniels, the porn star who said she had a fling with Trump in 2006. “It’s really fun to watch a bunch of guys criticize Trump for having sex with Stormy Daniels,” he said. “A bunch of men have to pretend they don’t know what he sees in her. She’s hot. She’s a porn star. What do people expect?”
He points to “Mouthful of Shame,” his latest special, as his best. “I do think as you go on you become more comfortable in what you’re saying,” he said.
He relishes the audience that the Sirius XM show provides. “We’re heard everywhere in the U.S. and Canada. You can get us on demand 24 hours a day,” he said. “It’s a great platform, because we’re heard by a tremendous amount of people.”
On the acting front, he is playing comedian Don Rickles in Martin Scorsese’s film “The Irishman.” Norton shares scenes with Oscar winners Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.
“Scorsese is such a lovely guy,” he said. “He wants everyone to feel good on the set. There’s a nice energy. That’s why everybody performs well for him.”
For a reaction shot, De Niro asked to hear Norton’s act during a scene. “It was one of the greatest moments of my life,” he said.