Speaker 1: Welcome to the Armstrong and Getty Show. We get to
Speaker 1: add to the list of former Saturday Night Live news
Speaker 1: anchors we've talked to, because I believe we've talked to
Speaker 1: Chevy Chase years ago. We've had Dennis Miller on many times.
Speaker 1: I think we talked to Colin Quinn once when he
Speaker 1: had a show out. So now we get to add
Speaker 1: Norm McDonald, who I've actually paid to see do stand up.
Speaker 1: Could not be happier to be talking to comedian, actor, writer, writer.
Speaker 1: Now Norm McDonald is memoir based on a true story
Speaker 1: is out. Norm Welcome. How are you sir? Oh? Great
Speaker 1: stand up? I saw you at Caroline's in New York
Speaker 1: City many years ago and it was fantastic. Thanks man,
Speaker 1: you're in New York City? Yes, I was all right,
Speaker 1: but enough fluffy go ahead? Sorry, Oh no, no, that's right.
Speaker 1: I think we exhausted the conversation. Yeah, that's that was
Speaker 1: my sense of it, and enough enough fluffery. Now the
Speaker 1: tough questions, why aren't you as rich as Seinfeld? Oh?
Speaker 1: Well felt what he did was smart. He created a
Speaker 1: hit television program. Uh, I had a whole different idea.
Speaker 1: I thought, Um, my plan was to watch television programs.
Speaker 1: It's a lot more fun I can tell you that,
Speaker 1: and a lot less stress. Yeah, it doesn't. It doesn't
Speaker 1: pay well at all. I've heard this story million times,
Speaker 1: but I had forgotten you were fired from the news
Speaker 1: anchor on SNL because one of the suits didn't think
Speaker 1: you were funny, which in itself is pretty funny. Um. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the That's the tough part is it doesn't really matter,
Speaker 1: like how many people think you're funny if it's just
Speaker 1: one person that have us owned the camera and you're
Speaker 1: in trouble, we know that. Yeah, yeah, how much you
Speaker 1: I've actually read some reviews of of the book based
Speaker 1: on a true story, um, which almost uniform we say
Speaker 1: it's hilarious. How much memoir is it? Really? Are we
Speaker 1: gonna hear about that sort of thing? Well? Yeah, what
Speaker 1: I did was, um, you know, it's based on the
Speaker 1: true stories of seven seven But what is what I did?
Speaker 1: I didn't want to be suped reliable and uh you know,
Speaker 1: so it's very hard to put in anything you know
Speaker 1: true and and not flattering or you'll be sued. So
Speaker 1: I I thought, what if I put true stuff but
Speaker 1: mix it in with all ridiculous stuff, so that if
Speaker 1: the guy tried to assume me, I'd go, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: what about all that's ridiculous? Of course it's not. None
Speaker 1: of it's true. So that's what I did. So there's
Speaker 1: a you know, there's bombshells in the book, but you
Speaker 1: have to find them. I can't tell you what they are.
Speaker 1: So we read the book and try to figure out
Speaker 1: which parts the ridiculous part, in which parts the true part.
Speaker 1: I like that game, and then speculate on the internet. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I had to put the parlor game, you know that
Speaker 1: sweeping the country at the risk of of of turning
Speaker 1: this serious norm am I correct, You're from pretty rural Canada,
Speaker 1: very rural. Yeah, we had two towns, monk Land and
Speaker 1: av and more and it's gonna seem strange, but everything
Speaker 1: is relative. But we live in a fireman between Muggle
Speaker 1: and Amore. Muggle was a hunter people. Amore was two
Speaker 1: d sixty people. And I swear to guy, like the
Speaker 1: town there was two und fifty people. We thought it
Speaker 1: was like a big town. I'm from rural America. I
Speaker 1: understand that I moved to a town to go to
Speaker 1: college with twelve thousand people, and I and my first
Speaker 1: day there, I thought, how am I ever going to
Speaker 1: find my way around a place like this? But anyway,
Speaker 1: the reason I bring it up is terrified. But then
Speaker 1: you're in Manhattan, for God's sake, and you're dealing with,
Speaker 1: you know, some people who may allegedly be complete snakes
Speaker 1: masquerading as human beings. Um, you're getting banged around by
Speaker 1: show business at this point. What's your view of humanity? Well?
Speaker 1: I remember when I first came to New York, because
Speaker 1: you know, you get this idea of New York from
Speaker 1: from popular culture and everything, you know when you're when
Speaker 1: you're from a small place. And uh so I remember
Speaker 1: because I took the train and went to Grand Central Station.
Speaker 1: Then there was a sign on the I was doing Letterman.
Speaker 1: I was going to go do Letterman, And there was
Speaker 1: a sign on the when you got out and said
Speaker 1: do not go into any gypsy Calves. You know, So
Speaker 1: I have my my suitcase and them, so I don't
Speaker 1: know what a gypsy cab was. So then I got
Speaker 1: into the street and like Calves, because I was carrying
Speaker 1: two suitcases down the street. So Calves just kept stopping. Hey,
Speaker 1: you know, I go not out forget it, like because
Speaker 1: I figured they were a gypsy cab and then so
Speaker 1: I walked like like you know, it's like Jethro Bodine.
Speaker 1: I walk all the way. Then Uh, they put me
Speaker 1: up at the Omni Berkship was just across from Central
Speaker 1: Park and Central Park. I thought they you know, I
Speaker 1: thought they put me at the worst place ever, because
Speaker 1: I would has heard that Central Park was just you
Speaker 1: got mugged. You know, you went to the Central Park
Speaker 1: and you got mugged, and uh, you know, people think
Speaker 1: it's kind of crazy, but I would just stay in
Speaker 1: my room and I remember I would like race down
Speaker 1: and get a COVID cola and race back because that's
Speaker 1: that dangerous. I thought it was. Yeah, it's funny because
Speaker 1: I'm I'm from Roald American. I had that view of cities. Also,
Speaker 1: I've been so scared of it. Hey, um, do you
Speaker 1: watch Saturday Night Live? Like, will you watch this Saturday Night? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Well I think this Saturday is the premiere episode, so
Speaker 1: we will definitely watch it this Saturday. I just wanted to.
Speaker 1: I just wandered. Some of the alums seemed to the
Speaker 1: we've talked to over the years seemed to kind of
Speaker 1: you know, not be into it in some of them are. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, I used to watch it every
Speaker 1: single week, you know, because you know as one of
Speaker 1: those things you watched ever since you're a kid. And
Speaker 1: then there's a period where where you get old where
Speaker 1: you're like, well, I don't know who these people who
Speaker 1: who they're doing an impression of you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: Right right, there is that, And I especially that with music,
Speaker 1: even when I was on the show, like I would
Speaker 1: always realize later that there were big music stars, you know,
Speaker 1: Like the first show I was, I was Kurt Cobaine
Speaker 1: in Nirvana, but I didn't know, you know, to me,
Speaker 1: it was just a band. And then later I was
Speaker 1: like I should have said, I don't know what I
Speaker 1: should have done. Yeah, you should have told them, no
Speaker 1: matter how bad things get, don't put a shotgun in
Speaker 1: your mouth. That would have been a good piece of advice. God,
Speaker 1: you're right. Our interview is good because we've got Norm
Speaker 1: McDonald say oh my lord God, which is one of
Speaker 1: my favorite things you always ever say. Norm McDonald is
Speaker 1: on the line. His book is based on a true story.
Speaker 1: Um and uh oh, By the way, I can't forget
Speaker 1: to say this. There are a number of stand up
Speaker 1: dates norms doing in the various towns where we're on
Speaker 1: the air. Uh, just go to Norm McDonald dot com.
Speaker 1: It's mac m ac norm McDonald dot com next weekend
Speaker 1: in San Francisco. Yeah, and we'll have a link in
Speaker 1: our website so people can be sure to find them.
Speaker 1: But you know, and and we got no reason to
Speaker 1: kiss your ass ONRM. But his stand up is fantastically
Speaker 1: I don't pay to see a lot of people, and
Speaker 1: I paid to see him. Yeah, yeah, thanks man. Well
Speaker 1: that's the only thing I'm good at. Yeah, that's a
Speaker 1: funny thing in show biz you're good at, especially stand
Speaker 1: up for some reason. Then they go, do you what
Speaker 1: about this? Would you like to be a bad actor?
Speaker 1: And then you're like, yes, very much, thank you, that'll
Speaker 1: be fun. I'll be a good idea. And uh, you
Speaker 1: end up doing all this stuff. You have no idea
Speaker 1: what you're doing or how to do it or anything.
Speaker 1: But I never stopped doing stand up. So that was
Speaker 1: a good thing. I never I never. I always realized
Speaker 1: I should just keep doing it. Who's everything everything that
Speaker 1: I got by acts, and because of stand up, well
Speaker 1: I was doing that. I kept doing stand up at
Speaker 1: same time, that's a hell of a skill because you know,
Speaker 1: I've heard Jay Letto talk about it. He always feels
Speaker 1: like he could get in his car and drive around
Speaker 1: American support himself if he ever had to. And you
Speaker 1: could do that too, which is cool. Yeah, Letto Letto
Speaker 1: Letto is a kind of kind of guy we all
Speaker 1: took from you. Yeah, we've seen his stand up two
Speaker 1: live and it is it is laugh until you're in
Speaker 1: pain funny, which always made the you know, hosting the
Speaker 1: Tonight show thing a little odd for those of us
Speaker 1: who are huge fans of stand up. But we're not
Speaker 1: here to talk about Jay. Let him. Norm McDonald's new
Speaker 1: book is based on a true story. He would not
Speaker 1: answer my question about what he thinks of humanity. I
Speaker 1: can only assume he dreams of genocide every night. Ladies
Speaker 1: and gentlemen, The fantastic Norm McDonald. Norm is great to
Speaker 1: talk to you. Thanks man, fun alright, good deal, Let's
Speaker 1: do it again sometime. Would really enjoy that. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: couldn't even have told you that's one of his regular lines.
Speaker 1: But when I heard him say it, he said that
Speaker 1: a million times. Oh lord God, I love him, And
Speaker 1: you know what, he's a Canadian. There may be two
Speaker 1: unlikable Canadians on Earth. He's a a Canadian from living
Speaker 1: between a town of one people in a town of
Speaker 1: two hundred people. Yeah, I a little nervous about going
Speaker 1: to the town to two hundred A big city lost.
Speaker 1: Some people just have a funny way of talking, no
Speaker 1: matter what they say. I guess we've exhausted that conversation.
Speaker 1: You're listening to The Armstrong and Getty Show.