Norm Macdonald: Ridiculous

Release date September 12th

There are some comedians out there that you may have to acquire a taste for. At first they may seem to put you off with their mannerism or they way they deliver their jokes. Norm Macdonald is one such comedian. He often slurs or mutters his words; he is sarcastic and appears to have little or no internal censor. Macdonald says what many of us have thought but social restrictions and political correctness prevents us from saying. While many other comedians have routines based on observations Norm takes his audience on a strange journey into his twisted and humorous mind. In his latest CD, Ridiculous, from Comedy Central, he brings his off beat thought process to his many fans. Among the 13 tracks are routines that will make you laugh and wonder why you never quite saw things in just that light before. Some of the humor may be considered offensive but lets face it we have all wondered about exactly what Norm is talki g about.

In the track ‘The Fantastic Four’ Norm is Reed Richards, head of the Fantastic Four. He runs into some problems when he assigns names to each of the other four. While everyone else has a name that describes their powers Reed is Mister Fantastic, a bit too much self aggrandizement for the others. In this skit Norm is joined by Lori Jo Hoekstra, Steve Higgins and Fred Stoller.

Norm’s incorporation of music into his routine is displayed in the track ‘Tex Hooper’. Here, along with the comic talents of Artie Lange from Mad TV and the Howard Stern Show, has Norm as a worried music producer. Tex had been a major star but now rumors of alcoholism and strange behavior have Norm’s character worried. Things seem to be going well until he realizes that Tex’s love song is about making love to an underage boy. Norm’s character has sunk everything he has into this performer and realizes that as an artist he is unmarketable.

Norm continues to push the envelop on the public’s homophobia with the track "World’s First Two Gay Guys". This time Norm is aided by his fellow Saturday Night Live alums, Jon Lovitz and Will Ferrell. They recant the story of Bill Delaney and Fred Henderson who back in March of 1954 where the first to realize they where gay. They had everything a man could want, football, television and sex with women. Bill and Fred think that sex would be great without women so Bill offers the idea that they should try it between themselves. Although they think it sounds like a good idea the mechanics of the process is something they have to work out.

Yet another of Norm’s Saturday Night Live friends, Molly Shannon, gets to show her comic abilities in ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’. Here Norm is a psychiatrist helping his patient, Molly with her multiple personality disorder. The first personality to come out is shy and retiring but the second one is basically a nymphomaniac. When that personality teases Norm and then retreats back into the patient’s mind the psychiatrist becomes desperate to bring her back out. Norm is frustrated as personalities of little girls and librarians come out. There is even a male personality to make Norm anxious for the loose and wild personality.

Even a well loved song like the ’12 Days of Christmas’ gets Norm’s special brand of attention. He plays a man whose girlfriend sends him the gifts noted in the song. Much to his chagrin he just doesn’t know how to cope with the ever growing menagerie of animals and people that keep showing up delivered. All he wanted was a hat and he gets swans, turtledoves and other assorted creatures. In this track the sound effects alone are worth while.

Lori Jo Hoekstra returns for ‘Burning Bed’ where she plays a wife who set her husband on fire. He is completely burnt except for a small patch on his scalp. The hatred of the wife towards her husband may not seem like a proper source of humor and perhaps it isn’t but Norm Macdonald makes us laugh anyway.

I have to admit that this is not a family comedy album. It reminds me of the first comedy records I heard as teen, irreverent bits by the likes of Lenny Bruce and Redd Foxx. They all have one thing in common, they don’t care what society things, and they are going to speak their twisted minds. If you get the humor you will have the time of your life. The typical taboos of the society we live in such as sex are brought out to the open as Norm pokes fun. His unblinking comical mind doesn’t take on the morals of society as much as he does our reactions to them. What made him the constant bane of the producers of Saturday Night Live gives the audience a great time here. Back on SNL he pushed the limits, knowing it was a live show. He uttered the dreaded ‘f’ bomb, made fun of a network executive’s friend OJ Simpson and generally made life horrible for the network censors. Here there are no holds at all. This is the way his dry humor was meant to be enjoyed. He may look like any average Joe you would see in the streets but in that agile mind of his lurks a darkly humorous intellect.

The CD itself is done very well. There is a better than average stereo separation between the numerous characters Norm invited to play with him. Unlike so many stand-up comedians that put out an album Norm is not afraid to share the spotlight. His friends are some of the best comedians around and he gives them an opportunity to bring their own spin on his routines. This is a perfect party album just make sure the children are tucked away in another room first. Get this album and enjoy it time and time again. Norm Macdonald is one of the most underestimated comedians of our day and this is the perfect format for his humor.

Posted 8/27/06