”Norm Macdonald Has a Show” launching September 14, 2018 on Netflix

Netflix Takes Another Shot at Talk Format With ‘Norm Macdonald Has a Show’

Netflix Takes Another Shot at Talk Format With ‘Norm Macdonald Has a Show’

By CYNTHIA LITTLETON


CREDIT: COURTESY OF NETFLIX

Netflix is taking another try at a comedic talk show format with the Sept. 14 launch of “Norm Macdonald Has a Show.”

The “Saturday Night Live” alum has set “SNL” boss Lorne Michaels, David Letterman, Jane Fonda, Michael Keaton, Chevy Chase, Judy Sheindlin, and M. Night Shyamalan as guests. Netflix has ordered 10 half-hour episodes from Lionsgate TV, which will be released all at once.

Plans for the “Norm Macdonald” launch come on the heels of Netflix’s cancellation on Aug. 17 of two topical talk shows, “The Break With Michelle Wolf” and “The Joel McHale Show With Joel McHale.” Netflix ordered Macdonald’s program to series in March.

Wolf came into her show with major momentum after her turn at the White House Correspondents Association dinner made headlines in April. “The Break” served up fresh episodes on Sunday nights. The quick hook for a show from a rising-star comedian suggests that viewership was low enough to discourage Netflix from investing more in promoting it as weekly appointment viewing.

“Norm Macdonald” is billed as a series of conversations with celebrity guests, with Macdonald and his “trusty sidekick” Adam Eget. In that format, the series might be more conducive to binge-watching than a show like Wolf’s built around topical jokes that might not age as well for those prefer to watch multiple episodes at a time,. Macdonald’s program sounds similar to the deep-dive conversation format of Letterman’s Netflix interview series “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.”

Other guests lined up for “Norm Macdonald” include David Spade, Drew Barrymore, and singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver.

Lori Jo Hoekstra, a longtime collaborator of Macdonald’s, is co-showrunner alongside Macdonald. K.P. Anderson and Daniel Kellison are also executive producers. David Letterman is billed as “location scout” for the show, which lensed at Sunset Bronson Studios in Los Angeles.

 

With the current state of comedy, the world badly needs Norm Macdonald right now.

 

I like Norm.

 

No one loves Norm more than me, but I fear that this new show will be, at best, a watered down version of his previous one, the Norm Macdonald Live podcast. The live podcast gave him much more time for his meanderings and his dark, politically incorrect humor. And what a pleasure it is to see Norm unleashed! I have watched all of those podcasts, many of them multiple times. Here's hoping they get released on DVD or at least available on youtube again. Now that Norm is on Netflix, clean shaven, with mostly non-comedian guests and a show half as long, this now show appears like it couldn't be more leashed.

 

I'm not Norm!

 

It's been bothering me that he might not have had enough to do.

 

Yeah, I agree with you. Netflix won't let him get away with the un-PC -- and thus very funny -- stuff he did on his podcast. The podcast was obscure and basically seen as an independent venture, so the SJW hordes on Twitter couldn't do anything about it -- if they even knew of it.

Norm has said that he missed a show like Tom Snyder and that he wished he could host one, so this is basically it.

 

I hope Netflix will still let Norm remind viewers about how he first met trusty sidekick Adam Eget. #queensborobridge #15dollarsaman

 

I hope Eget gets to ask the guests questions, as his tend to be particularly insightful.

 

"Where do you get your ideas from?"

 

If there's no studio audience for this (like the podcast/YouTube show), it should be good. Judging from the picture in the initial post, it looks like they'll still have the guest read Norm's finely-crafted jokes from the blue cards.

 

I though some one would have chimed in with “E-I-E-I-O.”

 

That youtube show of his was gold.

I'm still mad that I didn't grab those videos from youtube. Although I do have a handful as Mp3's. I haven't checked in a while, I hope they get re-uploaded in full.

 

What I love about McDonald isn't that he's so politically incorrect...it's that he doesn't appear to realize he's politically-incorrect. His wide-eyed whimsey makes him look like he'e not trying to be funny, he's just not trying to censor himself.

Does that make sense?

 

Maybe we'll get to hear more about Robert Fish.

 

If he does the whole thing as Burt Reynolds, I'll watch.

 

I think you mean Turd Ferguson

 

Cannot wait to see the old chunk of coal do his thing!

 

It will be hard to top the You Tube shows -- one of the great things about them is just how far out there the show could get - see the Gilbert Gottfried episode, or the Andy Dick one. Loved them. Hopefully this is not a bland version of those classics.

 

It is a wonder he got a show in this politicly strict climate with the non-PC wildness of Norm Live. He always brings the chaos, which is one of his strengths. One of the funniest guys ever for me. Perhaps he could be the next great interviewer we are lacking now, as he has a thoughtful cerebral side, and is capable of spontaneous smart conversation. I suspect we will get a rather edited version, cause he has a history of almost deliberate self destruction, and will say anything as long as he thinks what he is doing is funny or valid.

 

Quebec City's finest.. Can't wait for the this!

 

Most comedians are smart. Norm is a pure genius who manages to find comedy where no one else can or has.

 

I'll watch.
I'll often go back and re-watch Norm's episode of Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee.
Makes me laugh every time.

 

I'm always glad to hear of a new Norm project. I'd like to see him steer away from Hitler for a while, and concentrate more on Josef Mengele, I think there's some good stuff there, but it looks like the Netflix show isn't the place for that.