Norm MacDonald He left us at the end of last summer and we are still over the tragedy. To better pass the duel, or maybe not, Netflix has released the latest show of the comedian. ‘Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special‘, is literally the last breath of one of the greatest American comedians of the last 30 years.
I’m going to tell it one last time
If the accounts correct me, in 2017 Norm Macdonald was in the middle of his treatment for leukemia, diagnosed and kept secret since 2014. It was then that the incredible ‘Norm Macdonald: Hitler’s Dog, Gossip & Trickery‘, an hour of the best possible Norm, as radical as ever but somewhat more fearful than usual.
Because, while spouting hilarious gems about Germany, suicide, or the professorship, old Macdonald insisted on sending signals by talking about cancer, death, fear and old age. Seen now, a year after his departure, it is much more valid and, in a way, vital. Norm always stuck to comedy. Until the end. And in that duel he always emerged victorious.
And although this very limited and heartbreaking latest effort recently released on Netflix is not, of course, up to the best recital of the Canadian comedian, his desire to make people laugh (or to make themselves laugh), sheltered from COVID and fearing to be closer that never of the end. In fact, this recording was a backup in case something goes wrong. Unfortunately for everyone, everything went wrong.
The show, it could not be otherwise, comes with an important additional burden: it was recorded in early 2020, just before he underwent a complicated procedure. Macdonald would live another year and a half, but it seems that the special was intended to be released after his death, so it feels like Macdonald’s work. a man facing his mortality. To do so, nothing better than their usual likes, phobias or bad habits, such as gambling.
I would never recommend this nothing special to anyone who wanted to get into the world of comedy. This is what Peacock’s seasons of SNL are for, his excellent movies ‘Trash Job’ and ‘Busted’, two anthology comedies with Macdonald in top form. But I think it is necessary to check how far a craftsman of laughter is capable of going tell one last joke. Beyond the content, too long for an online broadcast via Zoom, the most exciting part comes at the end.
When Macdonald decides not to drop a microphone he has paid for out of pocket, the broadcast ends and, sitting in a room, his friends Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, Adam Sandler, David Spade, Molly Shannon and Conan O’Brien remember the legacy and the artist. The anecdotes are funny, but in reality no one can avoid leaving a duel that leaves a huge hole for them.
Macdonald never told them he was ill, and that discretion is honored in that colleagues meeting, where the hat that Norm wears in the recording rests on a table between Letterman and Chappelle, in silence, without anyone touching it. According to her friends, Macdonald was not one to show feelings, so her cap is there, with them, without fanfare. ‘Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special’, leaves the regular body. But goodbyes are like that.