Norm Macdonald: The full interview

From Neal Justin

For most of his stint in the limelight, Norm Macdonald has been labeled "Saturday Night Live" anchor, sitcom star and go-to guest on late-night TV. But for the past two years, he's been focusing on stand-up in a tour that includes his first performances ever in the Twin Cities. Macdonald spoke to us last week by phone from his Los Angeles home:

Q: You didn't do much stand-up for years. Why the change?

A: My son was young. Hanging out with him was much funner than being on the road. Now he's 17 and it's not so much fun for him. He wants the apartment all to himself. He's reached the point of his life where he's no longer this beautiful, young child you can carry on your shoulder. Now he's in the front yard punching me in the chest. No, he's a good kid. Also, I had a fear of flying and stuff. I overcame it. One day I was thinking about it and it occurred to me that you're much safer in a plane. First of all, you're never going to crash. And secondly, you don't have people around who are going to bug you. There's too much security. You're doubly safe.

Q: I don't think you've ever been to the Twin — wait a second. Are you eating an apple?

A: What? How did you — this is a newspaper interview, right, so it doesn't matter, but yes, I am eating an apple.

Q: Now let me guess what kind. Red.

Q: It's a gift. This is a relatively new comedy club you'll be at. What makes a good club?

A: I like it when it's located in the biggest mall ever. I'll bet it's almost impossible to find. People walk in and say, 'This is the least impressive thing I've seen all day.' I'll probably be doing a lot of material on the Gap. There must be 45 in there. I don't know what Minneapolis-St. Paul is like, but I imagine it's more cosmopolitan thatn some other cities I've been in. You'll be some small town in Kansas, like Topeka, and someone will say, 'Hey you want to make people laugh, make fun of people from North Topeka. What? Those are the people that are the closest to you as possible. You have a lot in common and you want to make fun of them?

Q: A lot of people who will be coming probably expect this very edgy comic. But I was surprised that your two sitcoms ("The Norm Show" and "A Minute With Stan Hooper") were quite sweet and mainstream. Are there two Norms?

A: I don't know why people think I'm mean. Maybe my one eyebrow is diabolical. I mean, I'll be onstage and people will ask me to pick on their friend. What? I've never picked on friends. I'm a completely harmless person. One of my favorite jokes is about the abbreviation for indentification. The 'I' stands for 'I' and the 'D' stands for - dentification. Now that's a harmless joke. Sometimes I'm fascinated with subject matters, like apples, but sometimes I'm interested by a serial rapist. I don't mean to be dirty. It's just the stuff around me sometimes gets dark.

Q: Your comedy sounds so natural, almost like you're making it up on the spot. How do you prepare?

Q: Let me guess what you're doing now. You're taking a bath.

A: What? No, I'm walking outside. You must be hearing the traffic.

Q: OK, I'm one for two. I always loved your impressions on "Saturday Night Live" [Larry King, Burt Reynolds]. Do you miss having that opportunity?

A: Oh, yeah. I wish I could do Glenn Beck. I could do him pretty easily. I know guys like that in real life, these manic-depressives. I'd love to do Bill O'Reilly. Both those guys are oversized characters. They're practically doing characters themselves, like doing Bogart or James Cagney.

Q: I understand you've got a new show in development. What's the latest?

Q: Who's the hardest host to make laugh? Who's the best?

A: Being a funny talk-show host, it's almost impossible to have a good one. You can't do an act for 40 years. You have to be yourself. I mean, there's not 18 or 40 great hosts. I would say the best guy of all is Letterman. He's the most experienced. I always feel comfortable in his hands. he know when to stop me. Other guys don't know when to stop you and then you peter out. He's very fascile. He knows when to get out. The toughest host was this kid. It was like 4:30 in the morning on MTV, promoting some movie. Now I can usually make comedians laugh, but this was a beach house with people in bathing suits. It was horrible. Everything I said, people didn't know if it was a joke or not. When they don't know it's a joke, it just looks like you're lying.