Politics a nonstarter for Norm Macdonald
Comedian has no desire to be a pundit on new Netflix half-hour talk show
“Norm Macdonald has a Show” is like every other talk show’s laid-back older brother. ❚ The no-frills Netflix series (10 episodes due Friday) is the brainchild of stand-up comedian Norm Macdonald, 58, best known for his mid-’90s stint as a “Weekend Update” anchor on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” and a string of short-lived TV comedies and late-night appearances.
Sitting in an empty studio with just a desk and refrigerator, Macdonald welcomes celebrity guests including Jane Fonda, Drew Barrymore and David Letterman (also an executive producer) for wideranging, half-hour conversations.
“He’s eccentric, but he’s always had his own voice, and I respect that,” says “SNL” producer Lorne Michaels, one of his guests. “He likes the part of the curmudgeon, but he is truly funny.”
Macdonald drew flak this week for his controversial comments in The Hollywood Reporter on the #MeToo movement and for his defense of disgraced comedians
Roseanne Barr and Louis CK. He chatted with USA TODAY about those topics and why he refuses to do political comedy.
Question: Before this Netflix series, you had three seasons of your podcast, “Norm Macdonald Live,” in which you had conversations with other comedians and actors. How do you typically prepare for an episode?
Norm Macdonald: I don’t do any research. Sometimes after, I go, “Dang, I should’ve talked about this or that.” But I just want it to be
like a (half )-hour slice of two people talking rather than something with any agenda. And we have nothing on the show that’s time-stamped – we even have guests with Netflix shows on the air, but we didn’t plug anything. That’s why we didn’t want any topical jokes, because we didn’t want anything that couldn’t live on in the Netflix library forever.
Q: Who was the guest that surprised you most?
Macdonald: I loved having Judge Judy, because she’s my favorite person ever. I thought I was the only one who loved her, but then she came to the show, and it turns out that everyone in the world loves her. Everyone on the staff loved her; someone’s 9-year-old kid loved her, because she’s like a little doll. She’s like a perfect, miniature judge. I watch “Judge Judy” every day. That’s where I get all my knowledge of jurisprudence. Especially these days, when we’re talking about (presidential) impeachment, I need Judge Judy to explain it to me.
Q: Looking back at your past sitcoms “The Norm Show” and “A Minute with Stan Hooper,” why do you think they didn’t succeed?
Macdonald: Very few sitcoms ever work, and I’m not an actor – I don’t know how to act. So when I’m put in a show where I not only have to act but be the star of the entire show, there’s no hope. Whenever I did those sitcoms, I’d be like, “Let me just be a side character or not in it at all. Let me just write it for someone.” That’s why they don’t work, because I’m doing a job that I’m not equipped to do. So that’s why this (Netflix) show is good, because this is about as close to stand-up as you can get, just talking to someone without a script, which is what I’m good at. Good at? I’m the best at it. (Laughs.)
Q: You choose not to get political in your comedy. Why?
Macdonald: It’s important for me not to do politics, mostly so (the material can be) timeless. But I’m also fatigued by the (news cycle). I never wanted to be a political pundit. When I grew up, there were talk-show hosts like Johnny Carson, who did his show during Vietnam and civil rights, and he never mentioned them.
Jon Stewart was fantastic; he was brilliant. But an unintended consequence of Jon Stewart is that every talk- show host suddenly had to become a pundit. As a viewer of television myself, I am fatigued by politics, I’m fatigued by Donald Trump, I’m fatigued by everyone who hates him, everybody who loves him. I just want to have a show where it’s just two idiots talking about inconsequential nonsense.
Q: So as the culture gets more politically correct, do you believe that’s helping or hurting comedy?
Macdonald: Well, if it gets too politically correct, then it’s harming comedy. And also, the idea that we should believe a person because a person is of a certain gender is ludicrous. It used to be if 50 people said that a person was guilty, then the public said that person was guilty. Then it went all the way down to if one person says a person’s guilty, that’s enough. While I think the #MeToo movement is a great thing in a macro sense and will lead to a much better world, I don’t want anyone to be badly hurt that’s innocent in the process of getting there. And I could see it ending with an innocent, prominent person blowing their brains out one day.