Norm Macdonald Documentary Review: A Comic Genius in His Own Words

Norm MacDonald performs in Pasadena, Calif., September 3, 2003 (Michael Schwartz/WireImage) A brief critical note: The Judd Apatow–made documentary Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald was released on Netflix last weekend, and I plunked down $20 for a one-month subscription to a streaming service I will likely otherwise never use again, so much did I consider it mandatory viewing. It is a tale narrated entirely by Macdonald himself, not just his most famous moments — nearly all of which are collected here — but also excerpts from the audiobook reading of his remarkable work Based On a True Story. (Memoir? Novel? A bit of both, and a book I’ve bought twice myself already — once to enjoy it as prose, and once to enjoy it in Norm’s own voice.) Norm should need no introduction, but for those unaware: I consider him to have been, without exaggeration, the greatest comedian of the past half-century — certainly the one most acutely tuned to my own comedic sensibilities. Few comedians loved the beauties of spoken (and written) language quite like Norm, or could ramble more entertainingly: His most famous viral moments often came in the form of luxuriously (and pointlessly) detailed shaggy-dog stories
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