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Me: “I’m going to see Norm Macdonald this weekend!”

Everyone I Know: “Norm Mac… From SNL? Is he supposed to be funny?”

Norm Macdonald is at the Helium Comedy Club tonight and tomorrow—and yes, he is in fact funny, a fact he well demonstrated at last night’s show. I wonder if other people who saw the show will agree with me, though: Macdonald’s mumbled, halting delivery and strange pacing had half the audience convinced that he was waaaasted. (“Have another cocktail, Norm!” was a representative heckle.) He wasn’t. I’ll bet you $50. He’s a professional standup comedian who makes a running gag out of his fundamental cluelessness—out of the fundamental cluelessness of everyone, in fact, and of how basically sad and futile it is for anyone to pretend they know what the fuck is happening at any given point. (Heavy, I know.)

The show’s pacing was strange—there was no build, no sense that the crowd was being controlled in any real way, just great bits interspersed with unapologetically awkward pauses. He did do some of the best crowd work I’ve ever seen, in response to an audience that couldn’t keep their damn mouths shut. When one guy interrupted the setup of a post-Halloween joke about things that scare us by shouting “clowns!” (fuck that heckler so much. Relevant Lindy West article), it prompted a pretty dazzling riff on the many things that are scarier than clowns—like choking to death on black bile in the middle of the night. And when someone shouted “Occupy Portland!” during one lengthy pause, Norm came back with “Good thing it’s not called ‘Occupy Poland,'” which is just… the best.

Some of his material will give some Portlanders trouble, I’m sure—he said “retarded” about 50 times, expressed a very un-Portland skepticism about the possibility of meaningful political and social change, and had a particularly scathing bit about the worthlessness of the WNBA—but if you are comfortable laughing at things you don’t necessarily agree with (or if you believe life is essentially arbitrary and meaningless!), he’s worth checking out.

Oh, and as always, here’s the
relevant Marc Maron interview. One of my all-time favorites.

Oh, and fair warning. Norm’s feature performer was Kevin Farley, who opened with this joke:

What do you call a guy who likes musicals but isn’t gay?
Gay!

And then proceeded to do an impression of his dead brother Chris, do a bit about shopping at plus-sized men stores, and speak at surprising length about how much he does not want to have sex with another man. It was rough.

Tonight’s shows are sold out, but there are tickets available for tomorrow nights two shows right over here.

Alison Hallett served nobly as the Mercury's arts editor from 2008-2014. Her proud legacy lives on.

13 replies on “Norm Macdonald at Helium”

  3. I liked him on SNL, and I like that he doesn’t polish anything.

    That said, this recap is exhibit #234235 why I continue to not see comedy at clubs, even though I like comedy.

    The faux conversational medium + booze + darkness = almost always sucky experience for those who very easily get bent out of shape by drunk, mouthy dum dums.

  6. Weekend Update with him was the best, but this post is pretty much what I expected his standup to be. And fuck Helium, fuck them in the face.

  7. Saw him last fall when he was one of the first big names to come to helium. His delivery is a bit different, but it’s remained pretty constant in all the things I’ve seen him in. He ended with a slightly uncomfortable for some bit about “shallow graves” and how if he were a serial killer he’d make sure to dig deep, but he hammered it so much that I think that people who were off put had no choice but to laugh at the end.

    Oh, and Dirty Work is a masterpiece.

  8. Dirty Work IS a masterpiece, and Macdonald’s set last night was fantastic—I liked him when he came last fall, but last night’s set was even better. Definitely recommended.

  9. His standup routine from when he hosted the ESPYs a few years back is legendary for the extent to which every athlete in attendance was actively hating on him by the end of it.

  11. My boyfriend and I saw Norm MacDonald last night for the 10pm show… and I gotta say, Kevin Farley was rough, but actually better than Norm. He couldn’t complete a cohesive thought and had some pretty awkward things to say about teachers not being heroes. (My boyfriend is currently a student teacher in a Masters program at L&C, so this is where he really lost us.) I don’t recommend the Helium club. The usher sat us right next to the kitchen, which was extremely distracting. There were people having full conversations around us, but the waitresses wouldn’t say anything to shut them up. Food is horrible, drinks are expensive.. Some people ended up getting up and leaving – the act went too long and just wasn’t very funny. Waste of $50 for two tickets..

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