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Norm Macdonald discusses his new Netflix talk show, his love for Judge Judy and the Saturday Night Live Weekend Update.
USA TODAY & # 39; HUI

Norm Macdonald poses for a portrait in New York, before the premiere of his new Netflix talk show "Norm Macdonald has a show".(Photo: Josmar Taveras)

"Norm Macdonald has a show" is like the laid-back older brother of all talk shows.

The no-frills Netflix series (10 episodes expected on Friday) is an original idea of ​​58-year-old comedian Norm Macdonald, known for his "Weekend Update" in the mid-90s in NBC's "Saturday Night Live". chain of short-lived television comedies and late-night appearances.

Sitting in an empty studio with just a desk and a refrigerator, Macdonald welcomes famous guests, including Jane Fonda, Drew Barrymore and David Letterman (also executive producer) for half-hour conversations.

"He's eccentric, but he always had his own voice, and I respect that," says Lorne Michaels, producer of "SNL," one of his guests. "He likes to play the role of the curmudgeon, but he's really funny."

Macdonald fired this week for his controversial comments in The Hollywood Reporter on the Me Too movement and for its defense of dishonored comedians Roseanne Barr and Louis CK. He spoke with USA TODAY about these topical issues, and why he refuses to do political comedy.

Question: Before this Netflix series, you had three seasons of your podcast, "Norm Macdonald Live", in which you had conversations with other actors and actors. How do you typically prepare for an episode?

Norm Macdonald: I do not do any research. Sometimes after, I say, "Dang, I should talk about this or that." But I just want it to be like a slice (half an hour) of two people talking, rather than something with a diary. And we have nothing in the series that is timestamped – we even have guests with Netflix broadcasts on air, but we have not plugged anything in. That's why we did not want jokes, because we did not want anything for the Netflix library.

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Q: Who was the guest who surprised you the most?

Macdonald: I loved having Judy Judy because she is my favorite person. I thought I was the only one to love her, but she came to the show and it turns out that everyone likes her. All the staff loved him; Someone 9 years old liked it, because she's like a little doll. She is like a perfect miniature judge. I watch "Judge Judy" every day. It is there that I get all my knowledge of jurisprudence. Especially these days, when we talk about impeachment (presidential), I need Judy Judge to explain it to me.

Q: Looking at your past sitcoms, "The Norm Show" and "A Minute with Stan Hooper", why do you think they did not succeed?

Macdonald: Very few sitcoms work and I'm not an actor – I do not know how to act. So when I'm in a show where I have to not only play, but be the star of the entire show, there is no hope. Whenever I did these sitcoms, I said to myself, "Just let me be a minor character or not at all. Let me just write it for someone. "That's why they do not work, because I'm doing a job that I'm not able to do.So that's why this show (Netflix) is good because it's at Also about to get up as best you can, to talk to someone without a script, which I do well. (Laughs.)

Q: You choose not to be political in your comedy. Why?

Macdonald: It is important for me not to do politics, most of the time (the material can be) timeless. But I am also tired of the (news cycle). I never wanted to be a political expert. When I grew up, there were talk show hosts like Johnny Carson, who did his show during Vietnam and Civil Rights, and he never mentioned them.

Jon Stewart was fantastic. he was brilliant. But an unintended consequence of Jon Stewart is that each talk show host suddenly had to become an expert. As a TV viewer, I'm tired of politics, I'm tired of Donald Trump, I'm tired of all those who hate him, by all who love him. I just want to have a show where there are only two idiots talking about meaningless nonsense.

Q: As culture becomes more politically correct, do you think it helps or hurts comedy?

Macdonald: Well, if it gets too politically correct, then it hurts comedy. And also, the idea that we should believe a person because a person is of a certain sex is ridiculous. Previously, if 50 people said that someone was guilty, the public said that person was guilty. Then, if someone says guilty, that's enough. Although I think the Me Too movement is a big thing in the macro sense and it will lead to a better world, I do not want anyone to be seriously hurt, to be innocent doing it. And I could see him end with an innocent and eminent person who blew himself up one day.

Contributor: Gary Levin

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