nothing special

Pretty much no one will challenge that Norm MacDonald is one of the actual legends of comedy, an icon of the art form that was almost revered across the board for not only how unflinchingly funny he was, but how he seemed to have a mastery of balancing several layers of irony at the same time through every facet of his writing and performance. His last special Nothing Special, that debuted on Netflix this week, is a testament to this notion even though it is more of an artifact left behind in a living will as opposed to a traditional hour long comedy special.

Partially because of COVID-19 and partially due to his declining health, Norm saw some sort of writing on the wall and felt the need to have his latest hour, that would unfortunately be his last, recorded in some fashion. Norm’s death did sadly come to pass and thus we got a bit of a peek behind his curtain with Nothing Special.

Like millions of comedians tried once and only a few soldiered through, he did an entirely front facing camera comedy special, but, as Dave Chappelle attests in a panel discussion following Norm’s hour, “he landed the trick.” Performing with no live audience is almost antithetical to the idea of stand-up comedy, though that is what was pretty much afforded for comedians for the majority of lockdown. It takes such great writing and charisma and delivery and so many other things to remain engaging and hysterical with a live audience, but it’s a whole other ball game when you there are no laughs to play off of and you’re alone in your home office, not to mention the specter of death murmuring in the background.

Still, Norm is such a paragon comedian that he performed an hour with headphones on while seated in front of a computer and was the same old Norm that we’ve known and loved all those years. Nothing Special felt like Conan or Letterman just let him go really long on panel and everyone was fine with it. Every joke, aside, tangent was delivered with as much gusto as Norm has ever had and there isn’t a single second that he doesn’t sell with his impeccably offbeat timing that we don’t wholeheartedly buy.

As mentioned above, there is a panel discussion of Norm’s Nothing Special following the actual hour that actually features David Letterman and Conan O’Brien as well as David Spade, Dave Chappelle, Molly Shannon, and Adam Sandler as a lasting sort of tribute to Norm’s memory. One of the more fascinating points is brought up by Conan who describes Norm’s comedy as not needing for you to be there, but, instead it being a treat for any and all to take part in MacDonald’s superb tomfoolery.

You can and should go watch Norm MacDonald’s Nothing Special, now streaming on Netflix.