Needles & Grooves

there is definitely an edgy streak with norm you got to deal with, his jokes were basically made to shock people into booing him by the end of the show (funny enough he got fired for making too many OJ jokes), but I guess part of the appeal of him is that he will make a joke about something like 9/11, not saying its for everyone though

I've seen Weekend Update's where up to half of the jokes are just him attacking women for no real reason, to the point of the audience barely laughing; with a couple actual jokes slipped in. It goes beyond edgy comedy, it's like I'm watching Fox News. And yes I'm well aware of the whole Norm/OJ/NBC story. I have to assume that martyrdom plays a large role in his comedy legacy.

completely fair in your perspective. i haven't seen a lot of norms weekend updates myself and mostly know him for his more modern jokes (such as the moth joke or his 9/11 jokes on his podcast). maybe it is a bunch of sexist dreck who knows

Norm was very hit or miss.

I loved Norm. As someone who grew up loving Late Night TV. We live in much gentler times these days. The funniest part (for me) was the cringy almost anti-comedy Norm was preforming, he was making jokes that he thought was funny and didn’t really give a shit if the audience laughed.

It’s was a lot of hit & miss stuff but the stuff that missed he would lean into it in such of a way that dead silence followed by his wry smile would always crack me up. That all being said I understand why some would not find it funny then and even more so today.

I hear you but at the same time we had David Letterman doing it masterfully and being funny more often than not.

I feel like I’ve seen more than my fair share of “edgy” comedy over the course of my life, and very rarely does it devolve into attacking women for simply existing, like I’ve been witnessing watching these SNL seasons with Norm at the update desk.

And I gotta follow this up with Colin Quinn’s stumbling buffoonery, fuck me….

@Lee Newman I didn’t realize it was a competition. I’m fairly certain Letterman was highly influential on Norm (and that whole generation of comedy) very few, if any did it as well Letterman.

IT’S ALWAYS A COMPETITION!!

@DJSJ to be honest, I don’t think many thought it it was all all that edgy back in the mid 90s. Comedy was much meaner back then. Even Leno, who was never someone that would be confused with shocking or edgy was making fun of women for being fat, dumb,and/or promiscuous. They used to play Howard Stern on FM radio when I was riding the bus to school. It was a different time.

Colin Quinn on-the-other-hand… ugh. I find him funny in some settings usually as a side character in a scripted comedy. I also found him quite funny on MTVs Remote Control game show that I recently rewatched but I found his Weekend Updates incredibly boring. I almost always dozed off during his segment.

@TenderLovingKiller® I’ve been doing some season jumping in my SNL rewatch project so I’ve already seen some of his stuff…dude stumbles and fumbles through every single line he’s given. If it wasn’t for Norms abrupt exit and the need for an update anchor he might have been off the show. Dude might be my single least favorite cast member ever.

I also thought Kevin Nealon’s Weekend Update was really solid and underrated. I didn’t watch much Dennis Miller but from what I’ve seen he was pretty good too (obviously, he’s a giant shithead now ideologically) but probably a bit overrated.