The night Norm Macdonald mortified the University of Iowa
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Always? Any Norm fans in this thread like Dane Cook?
I’m going to guess there’s not many.
Also, how does that even come up? They’re so drastically different in their styles. There’s nothing similar between the two.
Ryan died in December of 2018 from a heart attack while on his treadmill. Just a few months after this article. Sad deal.
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No you haven’t because no they aren’t.
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- Sep 13, 2002
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Dane Cook is a talentless asshat who steals jokes and is loathed by fellow comedians.
Norm Macdonald is brilliant and original and is universally loved by fellow comedians.
NorthDSM is dumb.
100% trolling on Dane Cook.
100% serious about Norm sucking balls and him being the Radiohead of comedy.
“Radiohead of comedy” is fitting. I’d also accept “Rolls Royce of comedy,” “Tom Brady of comedy,” or “Peter Luger Steakhouse of comedy.”
To wit:
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- Sep 13, 2002
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“I don’t know if you guys are history buffs or not, but….uh…”
Gets me every damn time 😂😂😂
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“You don’t really have to have cheese sandwiches in the van, by the way.”
You know this would be a great game to watch. If I didn't have any money on it.
I don't know the difference between a hippy and a hipster. But they are both fun to watch get beat up.
I don't know the difference between a hippy and a hipster. But they are both fun to watch get beat up.
Norm on Conan -- that clip in particular -- is what lead me to become a huge fan. His guest appearances kill.
I think it should be a goal to get Norm to do another show in the IC area. Granted it can't be at a U of I building, but crap, we can string together 15K(probably higher now)
It would be an anticipated event
It would be an anticipated event
I hadn't heard that routine before. I was literally in tears laughing.
I might pull that out in my repertoire during a mediation coming up. Scare the crap out of someone.
Always remember the deep grave
Just FYI. Ryan Driscoll passed a few years ago.Many were disgusted. Some were delighted. University of Iowa athletic department people were mortified.
But time heals some wounds, so let us observe Thursday's 20-year anniversary of a night that has lived in infamy with more amusement than ire.
On June 22, 1997, then-'Saturday Night Live' cast members Norm Macdonald, Jim Breuer and Darrell Hammond performed stand-up comedy in the University of Iowa's Hancher Auditorium. Macdonald was the anchor on SNL's 'Weekend Update' segments. He also did popular impersonations of Bob Dole, Larry King and Burt Reynolds in sketches.
A November 1997 Rolling Stone feature on SNL included this passage:
On the walls of Norm Macdonald's lived-in office — along with the portrait of Richard Nixon and a photo of Macdonald with Howard Stern — there's a bulletin board. On that board is a cute snapshot of Macdonald's young son, Dylan, and two tacked-up letters.
One is a note from Bob Dole, written in the fall of 1995: 'If you're ever in Washington and want to see the real article,' Dole writes, 'please feel free to stop by my office. With two terms of a Dole presidency, I can keep you employed until the year 2004!'
The other letter comes from Rick Klatt, assistant athletic director for external affairs for the University of Iowa, and was apparently written on June 23, 1997: 'This letter is to inform you that the invitation to you and a guest to participate in the golf event on the University of Iowa campus later today has been formally withdrawn. Your performance last night at the Hancher Auditorium was inconsistent with values and morals of the staff of the University of Iowa Men's Athletic Department and the University of Iowa and Iowa City community as a whole. You insulted the intelligence and decency of a great many people with a monologue which was, at minimum, irresponsible.' …
For several years, AEGON (now operating under the Transamerica brand name in the U.S.) held the AEGON Advantage Golf Tournament in Iowa City to raise money for the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame and the renovation of Finkbine Golf Course.
In addition to golf, an entertainment program the night before the tournament was part of the event. In 1997, the show was open to the public as well as the tournament guests. Hancher had a seating capacity of about 2,000, and a capacity crowd came to see the three SNL men.
Few might normally have vivid memories of a comedy show they attended 20 years ago, but this was one many recall vividly. Parents who brought their children walked out in anger during the final act of the night, Macdonald's. Some who were and remain fans of Macdonald recall it giddily.
Here are excerpts of The Gazette's review of that Hancher show, and its news story (both written by John Kenyon) about the university athletic department's apology for Macdonald's performance:
The humor ran the gamut Sunday: Darrell Hammond offered impersonation-driven political satire, Jim Breuer wowed with wacky, physical comedy and Norm Macdonald closed with a raunchy set of deadpan observations.
Hammond crafted humor around myriad impersonations. Breuer spent much of his time ruminating on marijuana and alcohol. MacDonald kept the audience in stitches in spots, but his reliance on swearing and sexually oriented material drove many from the auditorium.
University of Iowa Athletic Department officials were teed off enough about Norm Macdonald's Sunday night comedy act that they yanked his golf invitation for Monday.
Several members of the audience left during Macdonald's act, which contained references to sex acts, AIDS and homosexuality. The comic alluded to the stream of people leaving the auditorium, but continued his set. 'What do you want to talk about? Losing your luggage at the airport?' he asked as people left.
U of I Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby said Macdonald's act 'would be considered to be in very bad taste in nearly every venue in America.' Athletic Department spokesman Rick Klatt said the U of I was assured during contract negotiations that Macdonald could meet guidelines. 'We were very explicit about the details of the event, and about the type of people who would be there,' Klatt said.
What it apparently boiled down to was this: The belief was the threesome would give performances similar to what they gave on SNL.
This being a family-friendly website, I'll not detail the jokes/observations Macdonald told that offended a considerable portion of the crowd. But an accompanying video of Breuer describing the evening could be considered NSFW.
Klatt, now the UI's Director of Special Communication Initiatives in the university's Office of Strategic Communication, declined to be quoted for this story. I tried to reach Macdonald on multiple occasions over the last several weeks, to no success. Here is a sampling of people who directly responded to me by emails or phone interviews (big thanks to all of them), as well as comments from Macdonald and Breuer that came from other sources:
Pat Baird, AEGON's chief operating officer at the time:
'It was a University of Iowa function. The University of Iowa had taken the time to put into the contract of each of the three to make clear there would be kids there (and adjust their content accordingly).
'Two of the three lived up to that and one did not. One was really a long way away from the spirit of the contract and the language of the contract.'
Mike Bridenstine, Los Angeles-based comedian/writer who grew up in Muscatine and attended the show as a teen:
'The joke that got the biggest/worst reaction was about bestiality porn. Old people and little kids were filing out. My mom felt so uncomfortable that she walked into the lobby, but complained, 'They piped the sound out there too.'
'I physically hurt from laughing.
'I heard he was disinvited from a golf outing the next day at the University. And (Brian) Duffy did a political cartoon about it in the (Des Moines) Register, where he's getting yanked offstage by a shepherd's hook.'
Ryan Driscoll, former Hawkeyes quarterback from Marion who now lives in Roscoe, Ill.:
'I was there with my now-wife and a bunch of other old teammates and spouses or girlfriends. We all walked out.
'What a terrible experience. He was so offensive that nearly the entire auditorium walked out.'
Jeff Buhr, Houston:
'I was only 20, in between my sophomore and junior year at Iowa, so from my perspective it was absolutely hysterical. It is easily the funniest thing I've ever seen. I was literally crying from laughing so hard.
'People were filing out in droves, but there was a small group of college-aged kids there that were going crazy. I actually tried to get a video or tape of it in the days after the show, but no luck. ... Bowlsby probably had them destroy the tape.'
Teresa Stueck, Cedar Rapids:
'My husband and I were there and as it has been forever ago (1997!) I cannot recall the exact jokes which alienated the audience but more than half left the auditorium.
'We stayed mostly out of curiosity since the mass exodus made the show less of what it could have been. We are fans of Norm's SNL comedy and offbeat humor. What I recall from the show was an apparent intent to piss as many people off as he could after people began to leave.
'People had brought their children and young teens to the event which, unless that comedian is like (Jim) Gaffigan or Heywood Banks, it is irresponsibility on the part of the parents to not do the research ahead of time to assure their kids are mature enough to handle the humor.'
The night Norm Macdonald mortified the University of Iowa
Norm Macdonald hosts the Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto on March 13, 2016. Macdonald, a comedian and former cast member …www.thegazette.com
Do not bring kids to an adult humor show! At Clear Lake ,Iowa some parents were mad after taking children to a Tommy Chong show. What did they expect? Life is more than a corn field.Many were disgusted. Some were delighted. University of Iowa athletic department people were mortified.
But time heals some wounds, so let us observe Thursday's 20-year anniversary of a night that has lived in infamy with more amusement than ire.
On June 22, 1997, then-'Saturday Night Live' cast members Norm Macdonald, Jim Breuer and Darrell Hammond performed stand-up comedy in the University of Iowa's Hancher Auditorium. Macdonald was the anchor on SNL's 'Weekend Update' segments. He also did popular impersonations of Bob Dole, Larry King and Burt Reynolds in sketches.
A November 1997 Rolling Stone feature on SNL included this passage:
On the walls of Norm Macdonald's lived-in office — along with the portrait of Richard Nixon and a photo of Macdonald with Howard Stern — there's a bulletin board. On that board is a cute snapshot of Macdonald's young son, Dylan, and two tacked-up letters.
One is a note from Bob Dole, written in the fall of 1995: 'If you're ever in Washington and want to see the real article,' Dole writes, 'please feel free to stop by my office. With two terms of a Dole presidency, I can keep you employed until the year 2004!'
The other letter comes from Rick Klatt, assistant athletic director for external affairs for the University of Iowa, and was apparently written on June 23, 1997: 'This letter is to inform you that the invitation to you and a guest to participate in the golf event on the University of Iowa campus later today has been formally withdrawn. Your performance last night at the Hancher Auditorium was inconsistent with values and morals of the staff of the University of Iowa Men's Athletic Department and the University of Iowa and Iowa City community as a whole. You insulted the intelligence and decency of a great many people with a monologue which was, at minimum, irresponsible.' …
For several years, AEGON (now operating under the Transamerica brand name in the U.S.) held the AEGON Advantage Golf Tournament in Iowa City to raise money for the University of Iowa Athletics Hall of Fame and the renovation of Finkbine Golf Course.
In addition to golf, an entertainment program the night before the tournament was part of the event. In 1997, the show was open to the public as well as the tournament guests. Hancher had a seating capacity of about 2,000, and a capacity crowd came to see the three SNL men.
Few might normally have vivid memories of a comedy show they attended 20 years ago, but this was one many recall vividly. Parents who brought their children walked out in anger during the final act of the night, Macdonald's. Some who were and remain fans of Macdonald recall it giddily.
Here are excerpts of The Gazette's review of that Hancher show, and its news story (both written by John Kenyon) about the university athletic department's apology for Macdonald's performance:
The humor ran the gamut Sunday: Darrell Hammond offered impersonation-driven political satire, Jim Breuer wowed with wacky, physical comedy and Norm Macdonald closed with a raunchy set of deadpan observations.
Hammond crafted humor around myriad impersonations. Breuer spent much of his time ruminating on marijuana and alcohol. MacDonald kept the audience in stitches in spots, but his reliance on swearing and sexually oriented material drove many from the auditorium.
University of Iowa Athletic Department officials were teed off enough about Norm Macdonald's Sunday night comedy act that they yanked his golf invitation for Monday.
Several members of the audience left during Macdonald's act, which contained references to sex acts, AIDS and homosexuality. The comic alluded to the stream of people leaving the auditorium, but continued his set. 'What do you want to talk about? Losing your luggage at the airport?' he asked as people left.
U of I Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby said Macdonald's act 'would be considered to be in very bad taste in nearly every venue in America.' Athletic Department spokesman Rick Klatt said the U of I was assured during contract negotiations that Macdonald could meet guidelines. 'We were very explicit about the details of the event, and about the type of people who would be there,' Klatt said.
What it apparently boiled down to was this: The belief was the threesome would give performances similar to what they gave on SNL.
This being a family-friendly website, I'll not detail the jokes/observations Macdonald told that offended a considerable portion of the crowd. But an accompanying video of Breuer describing the evening could be considered NSFW.
Klatt, now the UI's Director of Special Communication Initiatives in the university's Office of Strategic Communication, declined to be quoted for this story. I tried to reach Macdonald on multiple occasions over the last several weeks, to no success. Here is a sampling of people who directly responded to me by emails or phone interviews (big thanks to all of them), as well as comments from Macdonald and Breuer that came from other sources:
Pat Baird, AEGON's chief operating officer at the time:
'It was a University of Iowa function. The University of Iowa had taken the time to put into the contract of each of the three to make clear there would be kids there (and adjust their content accordingly).
'Two of the three lived up to that and one did not. One was really a long way away from the spirit of the contract and the language of the contract.'
Mike Bridenstine, Los Angeles-based comedian/writer who grew up in Muscatine and attended the show as a teen:
'The joke that got the biggest/worst reaction was about bestiality porn. Old people and little kids were filing out. My mom felt so uncomfortable that she walked into the lobby, but complained, 'They piped the sound out there too.'
'I physically hurt from laughing.
'I heard he was disinvited from a golf outing the next day at the University. And (Brian) Duffy did a political cartoon about it in the (Des Moines) Register, where he's getting yanked offstage by a shepherd's hook.'
Ryan Driscoll, former Hawkeyes quarterback from Marion who now lives in Roscoe, Ill.:
'I was there with my now-wife and a bunch of other old teammates and spouses or girlfriends. We all walked out.
'What a terrible experience. He was so offensive that nearly the entire auditorium walked out.'
Jeff Buhr, Houston:
'I was only 20, in between my sophomore and junior year at Iowa, so from my perspective it was absolutely hysterical. It is easily the funniest thing I've ever seen. I was literally crying from laughing so hard.
'People were filing out in droves, but there was a small group of college-aged kids there that were going crazy. I actually tried to get a video or tape of it in the days after the show, but no luck. ... Bowlsby probably had them destroy the tape.'
Teresa Stueck, Cedar Rapids:
'My husband and I were there and as it has been forever ago (1997!) I cannot recall the exact jokes which alienated the audience but more than half left the auditorium.
'We stayed mostly out of curiosity since the mass exodus made the show less of what it could have been. We are fans of Norm's SNL comedy and offbeat humor. What I recall from the show was an apparent intent to piss as many people off as he could after people began to leave.
'People had brought their children and young teens to the event which, unless that comedian is like (Jim) Gaffigan or Heywood Banks, it is irresponsibility on the part of the parents to not do the research ahead of time to assure their kids are mature enough to handle the humor.'
The night Norm Macdonald mortified the University of Iowa
Norm Macdonald hosts the Canadian Screen Awards in Toronto on March 13, 2016. Macdonald, a comedian and former cast member …
Read his book if you get a chance. Great book, but yeah, he's had a really messed up life.
I started watching a Netflix thing on him. Cracked Up?
Yeah, Cracked Up, I thought that was really good. The book is called God If You're Not Up There, I'm Fu#^ed.
But but he just HAS to be a druggie or some other lowlife because ol' James was offended n stuff.
JFC man I want to like old shitheads like James but never mind ƒuck 'em.
- Sep 13, 2002
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Norm was awesome. Dane Cook is an idiot (except the B&E joke which was good).
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What an amazing idea.
Norm = GOAT
^ Imagining the miserable tight asse$ like this in the audience, only makes this story funnier. 🤣
I was sitting and golfing with a former state representative and his grandkids who led the walkout...inappropriate then and would be today in the same venue, with the same mixed audience that he was aware of, and paid to entertain...no class...
You do not take grand kids to a Norm MacDonald show.! This reminds me of the people that brought children to a Tommy Chong show and were offended.
Every one needs to realize the world is not just cupcakes and unicorns.
Every one needs to realize the world is not just cupcakes and unicorns.
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