Netflix Stand-Up Special Is A Heartbreaking Sendoff For SNL Icon
I don’t like talking about Norm Macdonald’s death … it reminds me of that tragedy. But one thing I do want to talk about is the anti-comedian’s final Netflix special that he unceremoniously recorded in front of his laptop (such a Norm thing to do) while he was literally knocking on death’s door. Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special is exactly what you’d expect from the comedian who turned everything, including his own life, into a punchline for all of us to laugh at even though we probably shouldn’t have, and it’s as heartbreaking as it is hilarious.
A Comedian’s Comedian Like No Other
One sentiment that’s often vocalized while talking about Norm Macdonald’s life and career is that he’s a “comedian’s comedian.” If you don’t know what I mean by that, I’ll gently remind you that long before the jokes found in Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special’s material were ever conceived, the man once wasted nearly five minutes of Conan O’Brien’s time on live television by telling a story about a depressed moth who only kept showing up to a podiatrists office because “the light was on.” The entire joke is a gut-wrenching odyssey of self-loathing, familial fallout, and suicidal ideation that ends with a punchline that’s so profoundly stupid that you can’t help but laugh.
Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special leans in to this anti-joke humor, but with a twist: his health was in a state of rapid decline because of his ongoing battle with acute leukemia, and the world was in a state of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wanting to record his final hour before his passing, Macdonald did the only thing he could in the most Norm way imaginable.
The Final Taping
Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special opens with the statement, “We are honored to bring you Norm Macdonald’s last special, followed by reactions and commentary from a few of his special friends.” Those friends happen to be Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and SNL alums, Adam Sandler, Molly Shannon, and David Spade.
The statement continues, revealing that Macdonald was working on his next Netflix special before the pandemic stopped the world. During this time, the comedian’s multiple myeloma came out of remission, and he had to undergo a stem cell transplant that he possibly wouldn’t fully recover from. In his own words, Macdonald wanted to tape the special with a sense of urgency because he “didn’t want to leave anything on the table in case anything went south.”
An Unrelenting One-Take Wonder
Norm Macdonald shot Nothing Special in one take with the help of his neighbor, producer, and long-time friend Lori Jo Hoekstra. Aside from Macdonald’s immediate family, Hoekstra was the only person who knew about his ongoing health-issues (more on this later).
Using a single HD camera for the front-facing shots, and an iPhone to capture the side angle, Macdonald gets himself situated while Hoekstra’s dog barks in the background before launching into his “set.” Macdonald pounds through 50 minutes of material as if he had been preparing for this last-minute taping for his entire life.
Was This Just Another Bit?
Lori’s dog can be heard barking in the background on more than one occasion, and McDonald doesn’t skip a beat. In fact at one point, his phone goes off during taping of Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special, and he answers it, with:
“Hello? I gotta phone you back on account of I’m doing a special. On the TV. A comedy special. So I’ll call you back, okay? Okay. Sorry about that, guys. Anyways…”
Without skipping a beat, he continues to riff on casinos, cannibalism, politics, and, quite fittingly, his own mortality. Without directly addressing his health problems, Macdonald mentions how he doesn’t get too heavily involved in following presidential elections because why would spend so much time reading 45-page documents and mission statements when just earlier that day somebody told him that he only “gets the one life?”
Kind Words From Some Special Friends
Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special ends with something you’ll only see once, and that’s the man himself breaking character and briefly choking up while talking about how much he loves his mother.
During the round-table discussion, Macdonald’s friends all reveal that they didn’t know he was sick, and that when he continually cancelled plans toward the end of his life, they thought it was another bit. For somebody as outspoken, hilarious, and borderline sociopathic with his joke delivery, we learn that in his personal life, Macdonald was surprisingly reserved, private, thoughtful, and kind. Wanting to focus on comedy, and only comedy, he made the deliberate decision to not let his illness get in the way of the thing he cared about more than anything else: being funny.
One Last Laugh From Beyond The Grave
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While it’s a difficult special to get through because we all know about Norm Macdonald’s struggles in hindsight, Nothing Special is irreverent, energetic, sometimes tasteless, and disarming in a way that no other stand-up routine can ever match. Macdonald knew that he wouldn’t live to see his taping get released on Netflix, but the final product we get to see is an honor to his legacy, and the perfect send-off for one of the most brilliant comedic minds to ever live.
