norm macdonald

I think last night, Norm MacDonald expressed the thoughts of a lot of television viewers.

He was a guest on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and he started off by talking about how he started on Saturday Night Live the same year that Conan started on Late Night. Then he told Conan that it was "stunning how Jay Leno outfoxed you again." Conan tries to laugh at all of it, but you can sense it's sort of an uneasy, "oh no, where is Norm going with this?" sort of laugh. MacDonald says that everyone thinks Leno is the funny, high-pitched voice guy, but he's incredibly shrewd, because he beat Johnny Carson, David Letterman, and now Conan in the late night wars. "You're in good company."

The funniest part is when MacDonald reenacts a conversation that NBC had with Conan: "remember that discussion we had where you said I'll never have to f***ing follow Leno ever again?" Conan laughs again but quickly (and oddly) changes the subject to the bad economy. Video after the jump.

It certainly won't be the only factor, but the choices made for just who makes up the celebrity panel will go a long way in deciding the fate of this latest incarnation of the classic show. With that in mind, here is the celebrity panel from the recently taped pilot: Sarah Silverman, Norm MacDonald, Bob Einstein (Super Dave!), Scott Thompson (Kids In The Hall), Rashida Jones (The Office), and Niecy Nash (Reno 911). Andrew Daly (Crossballs) is the host.

How does that lineup grab ya? To me, it's not bad. The Reuters article asks if Sarah Silverman is the new Brett Somers or Norm MacDonald is the new Richard Dawson. In a word, no. You just can't fight that kind of nostalgia. So many of us have seen the classic episodes so many times, and have such fond memories of them, that I don't think there is anything they could possibly do to begin to live up to the original.

When you see the names Norm Macdonald and Steve Buscemi, what comes to mind? Perhaps funny or edgy or, in the case of Buscemi, a bit scary looking? I would tend to agree. How about gingerbread men? When you see those names does it elicit a vision of Macdonald and Buscemi as a father-son gingerbread duo? No, I didn't think so.

And yet here they are, in all of their gingerbreadiness, in a holiday commercial for AT&T's GoPhone. In the ad, Macdonald's character wants a cell phone, but all that Buscemi's gingerbread father wants to do is make sure that no one eats anymore of his house this season. In a touching moment the son gets the phone he wants.

Unfortunately, tragedy strikes as we see a human hand breaking off a piece of the gingerbread man's roof, exposing the lovely gingerbread mother in the bathtub. It's probably one of the funnier holiday ads this season (although the Verizon 'Pony' commercial is pretty good) and you can see it after the jump.

Have you heard of Twitter? All the techies are doing it. It's a cell phone or IM tool that allows you to update your friends on what you are doing. It's basically text messaging a whole bunch of people at the same time. The idea is to send out a line or two about what you're up to.

One of the writers on My Name is Earl is a friend of the Twitter creators and so he's incorporating the technology into tonight's show. During the west coast feed (woo! West Coast!), writer Mike Pennie will send 'extras' to accompany the show. Think of it as real simple DVD extras but in real-time on your cell phone. That means you're going to have to watch Earl live tonight from beginning to end if you want the messages to make any sense.

To get messages from Mike Pennie during Earl, join his network here. (By the way, his latest message says they're working on an upcoming script for Norm MacDonald to appear on Earl)

"Trial and Terror": During his interview with Matt Lauer, Bush seemed to express extreme interest in others murdering everyone that Lauer has ever known, seen, and loved. "These are people that want to come and kill your families!" Holy crap. Way to bring the terror, President Bush.

"John Oliver's Journey: Don't Stop Believing": John filed his first out-of-studio report, which was tremendously well done. He introduced the viewers to his difficult journey through America, a nation built on sepia-toned immigrants, as an immigrant. See, I'm sucker for this kind of thing... Awkard British guys, Benny Hill music (just the music, not the program), and exaggerated suffering... That's instant-funny to me. I'm really liking this John Oliver fellow. Keep it up, man! Oh, and would anyone care to share their funniest story about immigrants being dehumanized at work?

On the Howard Stern show today, Artie Lange was talking about his buddy Norm MacDonald, who was supposed to be on the show this morning, but bailed (he was on Letterman last night, though). Lange mentioned a few items that were interesting: Firstly, he thought a specific "Weekend Update" joke about O.J. Simpson -- after O.J. was found not guilty, Norm said something along the lines of "Murder is now legal in Southern California." -- is what got him fired from SNL. Then-NBC exec Don Ohlmeyer was friends with Simpson, and rumors had always floated around that he was always pissed at Norm's O.J. jokes (even though Leno was doing plenty at the time, too). This is the first time, though, that I've heard that a specific joke got him fired.

The second item Artie let slip was that Norm loved doing "WU" so much, that he'd love to just do fake news until he retires. Because of this, Norm may be looking to do a show like that. Not a bad idea; I always liked him on "WU", even if his weridness didn't go over well with the audience, I always admired his "I don't give a shit what people think" attitude. Would you watch Norm do a fake news show? Let me know in the comments.