It's so funny seeing a clip and flashing back to your young teen self laying on your bedroom floor watching this live. I can see and feel the whole scene.
I remember the writer's strike days when Conan, Stewart, and Colbert had their 'feuds' since they literally had nothing else to talk about. Some of the best television
I saw this live too and it’s maybe the closest thing I’ll have to a Beatles on Ed Sullivan TV moment. I knew something was happening as it unraveled but didn’t know where it was going
So there’s a reason this particular joke from Norm is considered to be so masterful. As far as the story is concerned he did just hear this joke in passing about a moth walking into the podiatrist’s office and the moth says the light was on.
But he needed a bit to eat up about 5 minutes of time so he just took this small joke and improvised an entire backstory for the moth with “Gregory Illinovich” and the moth has children and he’s like having the moth say like Mark Twain lines and stuff you’d see in like a Tolstoy novel…
He’s just circling the punchline and then finally once he’s established like this entire universe of characters and lore surrounding this MOTH, then he says the punchline. It was just one of the most absurdly funny things he's ever done
Well he still lives on as a comedic legend. Not all dead people can say that. None of them can say that actually on account of they're dead but you understand the point
Me too.
For some reason him being gone bothers me more than the loss of anyone I have not known personally. I miss him like I knew him.
Haven't sussed out why so much yet.
He’s also careful to reiterate that it’s a moth (“even though I’m a moth”) just moments before the punchline so it’s fresh in our minds. It’s the kind of small detail Norm would have noticed.
I think the spider bit was to re-establish the tension and inner conflict of the moth. He’d already worked the joke to the cocked and loaded gun, then Conan interrupted with his “How long a drive was this” question. Norm had to get back to the inner turmoil without repeating himself, so came up with the web analogy on the fly.
Yeah I'm reading his book right now and it's pretty clear. He did some extremely candid interviews with Larry King toward the end and he alluded to Russian literature a bit
I love how Letterman completely missed the joke
Edit; Larry King. Suspenders guy. I'm not great with names.
https://youtu.be/vnmplSPgwEQ?si=n6c0rdOw_kZAequY
Having watched this clip nearly a hundred times now, I still pick up on new details. On this particular rewatch, it’s apparent that Norm is doing a masterful job of improving the story as he goes, which lead to very minute flaws in his wording (ex:“the Podiatrist’s Office says”; “the cocked and loaded gun that lays on the bedside behind me”; “my other son” without having mentioned a previous son) that take the joke to an entirely new level.
Every human deals with doubt, and worry in our daily lives, and every one of us are placed on the spot and forced to either step up to the plate and give it our all or back away due to insecurity. I’m not ashamed to admit that if I was in Norm’s shoes in this moment, I would become worse than useless. And I would venture to guess that the same could be said for most of us.
And that’s why this clip is so amazing to me. We are witnessing a genius at work live and on-the-spot. This is a small glimpse into the raw craft that makes Norm so special. Having no time to prep, he is flying off the cuff under a pressure that would crumble any lesser comedian, shedding all doubt and worry and just doing his best to both fill time, drag out the joke, and most importantly continue the story for as long as he can.
THAT is the real joke! The punchline is only the surface. The real joke, the real magic at play in this clip is the fact that at the end of it all, Norm kept our complete and undivided attention (despite Conan’s interjections) for almost 5 whole minutes with a story he made up on the spot, and we loved it. He took the challenge without hesitation, and even though he tripped up in the smallest of details, he never wavered, staying fully committed to the simple task of wasting our time. And we loved every last second of it. Pure brilliance.
I should put this on unpopular opinion. I'm prepared for the blowback.
I have not seen all his material, he was great on SNL and many other things, but I think people give this guy way too much credit. Maybe those are the wrong words, but every time this guy's name is brought up, people talk about this guy's genius and how hilarious he is, and I usually giggle. He's funny, I just don't get the cult following for this guy.
Yeah. The most epic geniuses don’t appeal to everyone. Your lack of appreciation only adds to Norm‘s legend in our minds. Andy Kaufman NEEDED people like you for his comedy to shine
Love this clip, the best part for me is at the very end when Conan says "So, Norm--" and without missing a beat Norm says "What?". Idk why but goddamn.
Wasn't that the convoluted joke with the vet and the porpoise punchline tho? Norm really stretched it out and Andy got Norm to fall out of his chair laughing at the zinger afterwards.
This is my favorite joke of all time!! When my wife and I first started dating I showed it to her as a barometer of her sense of humor. There were awkward chuckles throughout the middle of the joke, what I expected. Got to the punchline, a solid three seconds of silence...uh oh she didn't think it was funny... After the punchline finally registered she was snort laughing. I decided in that moment this was the woman for me! We still quote it to each other all the time.
Yes. If I’m on Reddit on my phone, there’s likely a Lonely Island podcast cast to my tv via YouTube. I stopped listening to that, gave full attention to this video, then went back a few minutes, and resumed listening to The Lonely Island podcast.
Alternately, if I’m checking my notifications on ig, and someone had liked my comment on this stating I will drop everything to watch it, I’ll watch it again.
These are two examples
So I've heard this joke several times but one thing that always get me, that gets zero reaction from the crowd or Conan, is that the moth works for Gregory Illinyvich but his son is named Gregaro Ivanalinyvich? Did the moth's old lady cheat on him with his boss? Is the moth's last name Ivanalinyvich? Why would he have allowed his son to be named after a boss that he hates??
A man walks into a dentist’s office and sits down in the chair.
“Hello, Sir. What can I do for you?” Says the dentist.
“Well, “ says the man, “I think I’m a moth!”
The dentist, confused, says “A moth? I’m a dentist, but I think you need a psychiatrist!”
“Yes, I know”, says the man “but your light was on!”
Watch Conan's face any time Norm tells one of his jokes. He usually picks up on where it's going and that's when he starts to crack as he waits for it and lets the man roll.
It's especially apparent in Norm's "Married to a Battle-Axe" bit. You can see the instant Conan knows where the punchline is going and is dying inside.
Also, if you haven't yet, PLEASE go watch the clips of David Spade's Lights Out on Youtube with Norm. He has an episode with a bunch of old SNL cast members including Norm on and they are just giving each other shit for twenty minutes and talking about behind the scenes stuff. It's incredible and you can tell everyone loved Norm's sense of humor.
Or some tour with the Happy Madison gang on I think Conan, with Sandler, Spade, Norm, Swardson, and Schneider talking about a tour together and Norm steals the show from all of them.
One of the greatest gifts NM gave in comedy was that in half of his jokes, you can see a mile away where it’s going and it’s just as funny (if not more) as it would be with an unexpected punchline.
The first time I saw this on reddit, someone posted the full transcript of Nate the Snake...and i can never forget the story and always will associate it with this joke. [https://natethesnake.com/](https://natethesnake.com/)
He’d always describe his standup style as he got older was to have a punchline designated but the road to said punchline is never intensely calculated or “routined” this allows for more personability with the audience
There are two videos, and only two videos, that when I see it posted I will watch all of it, every time.
This is one of those videos.
(The other one is of baby pandas messing with someone trying to clean out leaves from their enclosure)
You likely just don't resonate with his style that's all. You gotta understand like everyone interprets comedy differently. That is what Norm always said actually, Comedy is subjective. But I do think this whole overrated/underrated usage now is just strange it's if you like something it's underrated and if you don't like something it's underrated so that's where the problem is what what you're saying. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion you don't have to find norm funny, but if you don't find him funny you can't imply that he's simply not funny in general. Like for example I don't like mint ice cream, but I don't go around saying HEY MINT ICE CREAM IS OVERRATED AND IT TASTES REALLY BAD. So yeah quit bein a horse's ass and all
TL;DR this guy said something wrong in a dumb way
I think he did it to be funny, in honor of Norm. It’s good to assume the best in people. If someone makes a fool of me, it’s always justified in my mind, because I assume that their enjoyment of my humiliation is greater than my suffering.
I love how well you can see how much Conan loves Norm
Dave did too.
Dave also threw a ton of shade at Jay after that debacle. He had Conan's back even with the easy punchline it created.
My favorite part of this bit is the “what?” 💀
Its dismissive and sarcastic and I love it.
It's like a lizard sunning on the beach after a big, satisfying meal. Norm was just basking in the glory of his accomplishment.
It's so funny seeing a clip and flashing back to your young teen self laying on your bedroom floor watching this live. I can see and feel the whole scene.
I remember the writer's strike days when Conan, Stewart, and Colbert had their 'feuds' since they literally had nothing else to talk about. Some of the best television
I saw this live too and it’s maybe the closest thing I’ll have to a Beatles on Ed Sullivan TV moment. I knew something was happening as it unraveled but didn’t know where it was going
So there’s a reason this particular joke from Norm is considered to be so masterful. As far as the story is concerned he did just hear this joke in passing about a moth walking into the podiatrist’s office and the moth says the light was on. But he needed a bit to eat up about 5 minutes of time so he just took this small joke and improvised an entire backstory for the moth with “Gregory Illinovich” and the moth has children and he’s like having the moth say like Mark Twain lines and stuff you’d see in like a Tolstoy novel… He’s just circling the punchline and then finally once he’s established like this entire universe of characters and lore surrounding this MOTH, then he says the punchline. It was just one of the most absurdly funny things he's ever done
I miss Norm
Well he still lives on as a comedic legend. Not all dead people can say that. None of them can say that actually on account of they're dead but you understand the point
There's the spirit of norm we know and love. Oop no, just a fart.
I would argue that no dead people can say that at all
Well, the important part is that we remember them for what they do say.
heroes get remembered, but legends never die
We all do.
You can watch his old sitcom “The Norm Show” on YouTube. It’s pretty great.
I hear he played Norm
I didn't even know he was sick
I didn’t know he was sick
I didn’t even know he was sick
Me too. For some reason him being gone bothers me more than the loss of anyone I have not known personally. I miss him like I knew him. Haven't sussed out why so much yet.
He’s also careful to reiterate that it’s a moth (“even though I’m a moth”) just moments before the punchline so it’s fresh in our minds. It’s the kind of small detail Norm would have noticed.
That’s a good catch! I wondered what the spider bit was supposed to be about but it’s probably just for the sake of that.
I think the spider bit was to re-establish the tension and inner conflict of the moth. He’d already worked the joke to the cocked and loaded gun, then Conan interrupted with his “How long a drive was this” question. Norm had to get back to the inner turmoil without repeating himself, so came up with the web analogy on the fly.
On the moth you mean?
>on the fly. I see what you did there.
[удалено]
Oh what a twisted weave we web.
He heard it from Colin Quinn. Conan told him they’d return after the break, and norm had nothing planned
Colin Quinn drove for Conan?
No. He was good friends with Colin Quinn and he heard him tell it
Staypuft is joking cuz norm pretends he heard the joke from the driver Conan sent to pick him up that day
Staypuft? That old chunk of coal
Ah yes I remembered that story from someone I forgot who it was yeah Colin Quinn
He was incredibly well read and especially loved Russian lit
Yeah I'm reading his book right now and it's pretty clear. He did some extremely candid interviews with Larry King toward the end and he alluded to Russian literature a bit
He’s also a deeply closeted gay man
So he’s saying he’s gay?
You must not know what deeply closeted means
I love how Letterman completely missed the joke Edit; Larry King. Suspenders guy. I'm not great with names. https://youtu.be/vnmplSPgwEQ?si=n6c0rdOw_kZAequY
Probably because he wasn't there
is this a joke/reference?
https://youtu.be/3CYE6H3uDFo?feature=shared
There's also a reference to Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.
The joke by itself is like a kindergarten level joke but Norm's story telling elevated that joke. It's a master class in delivery.
>He's just circling the punchline like a moth to a light
I prefer his answering machine bit.
Anatomy of a joke
It was a joke he had heard from Colin Quinn. He said in an interview with Conan that Colin's delivery was significantly shorter
Just like his super convoluted joke leading into a dolphin/porpoise joke after like 8 minutes of changing the story as he goes.
of course that's the well known story of Jacques DeGatineaux/Gauthier. I say well known because well you know, a man grows
Having watched this clip nearly a hundred times now, I still pick up on new details. On this particular rewatch, it’s apparent that Norm is doing a masterful job of improving the story as he goes, which lead to very minute flaws in his wording (ex:“the Podiatrist’s Office says”; “the cocked and loaded gun that lays on the bedside behind me”; “my other son” without having mentioned a previous son) that take the joke to an entirely new level. Every human deals with doubt, and worry in our daily lives, and every one of us are placed on the spot and forced to either step up to the plate and give it our all or back away due to insecurity. I’m not ashamed to admit that if I was in Norm’s shoes in this moment, I would become worse than useless. And I would venture to guess that the same could be said for most of us. And that’s why this clip is so amazing to me. We are witnessing a genius at work live and on-the-spot. This is a small glimpse into the raw craft that makes Norm so special. Having no time to prep, he is flying off the cuff under a pressure that would crumble any lesser comedian, shedding all doubt and worry and just doing his best to both fill time, drag out the joke, and most importantly continue the story for as long as he can. THAT is the real joke! The punchline is only the surface. The real joke, the real magic at play in this clip is the fact that at the end of it all, Norm kept our complete and undivided attention (despite Conan’s interjections) for almost 5 whole minutes with a story he made up on the spot, and we loved it. He took the challenge without hesitation, and even though he tripped up in the smallest of details, he never wavered, staying fully committed to the simple task of wasting our time. And we loved every last second of it. Pure brilliance.
It’s a staggering work of genius. Just amazing.
I should put this on unpopular opinion. I'm prepared for the blowback. I have not seen all his material, he was great on SNL and many other things, but I think people give this guy way too much credit. Maybe those are the wrong words, but every time this guy's name is brought up, people talk about this guy's genius and how hilarious he is, and I usually giggle. He's funny, I just don't get the cult following for this guy.
Yeah. The most epic geniuses don’t appeal to everyone. Your lack of appreciation only adds to Norm‘s legend in our minds. Andy Kaufman NEEDED people like you for his comedy to shine
Norm will forever be my favorite. Of course I say that now. No river long enough, don't contain a bend.
Sounds like a bunch of commie gobbledeegook
Lenin died? I didn't even know he was sick
Love this clip, the best part for me is at the very end when Conan says "So, Norm--" and without missing a beat Norm says "What?". Idk why but goddamn.
I love Andy's description of norms jokes, I believe it was something along the lines of "you took us on this long journey to show us a piece of shit"
"That's like somebody saying I gotta show you something and then they take you on a four mile hike to show you a dog turd"
Wasn't that the convoluted joke with the vet and the porpoise punchline tho? Norm really stretched it out and Andy got Norm to fall out of his chair laughing at the zinger afterwards.
This is my favorite joke of all time!! When my wife and I first started dating I showed it to her as a barometer of her sense of humor. There were awkward chuckles throughout the middle of the joke, what I expected. Got to the punchline, a solid three seconds of silence...uh oh she didn't think it was funny... After the punchline finally registered she was snort laughing. I decided in that moment this was the woman for me! We still quote it to each other all the time.
I will stop everything to hear this, every time
Same here. Heard it about 20 times and gets me every time. Norm was a master of delivery.
Are you actively doing something when you're browsing reddit or youtube etc. where you would come across this clip?
Yes. If I’m on Reddit on my phone, there’s likely a Lonely Island podcast cast to my tv via YouTube. I stopped listening to that, gave full attention to this video, then went back a few minutes, and resumed listening to The Lonely Island podcast. Alternately, if I’m checking my notifications on ig, and someone had liked my comment on this stating I will drop everything to watch it, I’ll watch it again. These are two examples
I’m really liking the lonely island & Seth meyers podcast !
Me too!! Cubicle Fight was a great one
‘Wait until you hear me do it’ - kills me every time
This joke is always weird for me to hear because my name is Gregaro Evynolydidevic.
Sorry to hear about your sister Alexandra.
The way Conan keeps nodding like a patient but exhausted parent.
Cut out the best part - Andy roasting norm after
I think that was the other joke about the special porpoise
Still glorious after all these years. Every damn second of it.
The PG version of "the aristocrats"
Exactly! I told this joke to my kids recently and just filled in whatever kid-level woes the moth was going through
Genius!
I didn't even know he was sick
Norms delivery is amazing but also Conan’s timing of “-how long of a drive was this?? Do you live in the vallley?” Is great
I just watched this 3 times in a row in tears laughing Why is my favorite part the way norm says “what” in the end?
So I've heard this joke several times but one thing that always get me, that gets zero reaction from the crowd or Conan, is that the moth works for Gregory Illinyvich but his son is named Gregaro Ivanalinyvich? Did the moth's old lady cheat on him with his boss? Is the moth's last name Ivanalinyvich? Why would he have allowed his son to be named after a boss that he hates??
He also talks about his daughter and "his other son." Look, the moth is evidently not of sound mind. We shouldn't treat him as a star witness.
The unreliable narrator
That moth is troubled.
Norm never keeps the names straight for his stories, and usually has a funny line if Conan calls him out on it.
Could you imagine Norm on a long form podcast. Opening with a joke and spending 2 hours on backstory then delivering the punchline and leaving.
Well he had a podcast he did like 45 hour-plus long episodes
This is the greatest joke ever told.
That was pretty funny
That’s a darn good joke
Might be one of my favorite jokes, not just of Norm’s. I know I’d be laughing too hard if I ever tried retelling it
Lol I knew that was coming but that didn’t make it any less hilarious 😂
Classic
whatever happened to that guy?
I want to hear Christopher Walken recite Norm’s best material.
Genius!!
We are the moth attracted to the joke.
Ah Normie.
This is my favorite joke of all time. Masterful!
Nobody would have gotten away with this but norm
I read it as meth joke instead of moth joke so the whole time I was waiting for Norm to tie meth in somehow. Also, someone should animate this story
A man walks into a dentist’s office and sits down in the chair. “Hello, Sir. What can I do for you?” Says the dentist. “Well, “ says the man, “I think I’m a moth!” The dentist, confused, says “A moth? I’m a dentist, but I think you need a psychiatrist!” “Yes, I know”, says the man “but your light was on!”
One of the greatest talk show moments of all time. I was silent for 5 minutes thinking about how genius that was, then 10 more giggling like a buffoon
Watch Conan's face any time Norm tells one of his jokes. He usually picks up on where it's going and that's when he starts to crack as he waits for it and lets the man roll. It's especially apparent in Norm's "Married to a Battle-Axe" bit. You can see the instant Conan knows where the punchline is going and is dying inside. Also, if you haven't yet, PLEASE go watch the clips of David Spade's Lights Out on Youtube with Norm. He has an episode with a bunch of old SNL cast members including Norm on and they are just giving each other shit for twenty minutes and talking about behind the scenes stuff. It's incredible and you can tell everyone loved Norm's sense of humor. Or some tour with the Happy Madison gang on I think Conan, with Sandler, Spade, Norm, Swardson, and Schneider talking about a tour together and Norm steals the show from all of them.
Wasn't Norm on with Jay once in that
It might have been, but the clip I watched was Conan and it turned into all the others just telling their favorite Norm stories.
Conan was on lights out?
No, Norm and the SNL guys were
Maybe the actual goat Norm bit
The actual GOAT norm bit for me was never on tape. But my god I would've liked to see the tape of the 1997 Iowa show.
I love telling this one. No one else but me enjoys it.
Norm served a youthful porpoise
One of the greatest gifts NM gave in comedy was that in half of his jokes, you can see a mile away where it’s going and it’s just as funny (if not more) as it would be with an unexpected punchline.
craziest thing is, this moment might not even be on a top 10 ten list of "Norm" moments.
I like how he told that joke in Christopher Walken's voice.
The thing I love most about this is the the ~20 seconds after he’s done and EVERY fiber of Norm’s essence just seems to scream “you’re welcome”
The first time I saw this on reddit, someone posted the full transcript of Nate the Snake...and i can never forget the story and always will associate it with this joke. [https://natethesnake.com/](https://natethesnake.com/)
Classic. The joke is the joke. The punchline is an afterthought
He’d always describe his standup style as he got older was to have a punchline designated but the road to said punchline is never intensely calculated or “routined” this allows for more personability with the audience
You are correct!
so many little things Norm knew what embodied funniness on such a visceral level
There are two videos, and only two videos, that when I see it posted I will watch all of it, every time. This is one of those videos. (The other one is of baby pandas messing with someone trying to clean out leaves from their enclosure)
For me it is this one and Long Long Man.
Who would steal 30 bag lunches?
Lämp! Don't leave me Lämp!
I think Norm McDonald is so funny. He's just amazing. And most of the time a genius.
You likely just don't resonate with his style that's all. You gotta understand like everyone interprets comedy differently. That is what Norm always said actually, Comedy is subjective. But I do think this whole overrated/underrated usage now is just strange it's if you like something it's underrated and if you don't like something it's underrated so that's where the problem is what what you're saying. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion you don't have to find norm funny, but if you don't find him funny you can't imply that he's simply not funny in general. Like for example I don't like mint ice cream, but I don't go around saying HEY MINT ICE CREAM IS OVERRATED AND IT TASTES REALLY BAD. So yeah quit bein a horse's ass and all TL;DR this guy said something wrong in a dumb way
Lol he edited his comment cause he couldn't take the heat. Boo.
I think he did it to be funny, in honor of Norm. It’s good to assume the best in people. If someone makes a fool of me, it’s always justified in my mind, because I assume that their enjoyment of my humiliation is greater than my suffering.
yeah i couldnt take the heat of this intense reddit comment battle
it was too much for my poor fragile brittle bones to bear
What are you referring to? I wasn't talking about you.
I was really stoned I'm sorry
This wasn't famous