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Nothing Special

Norm Macdonald

Netflix · 2022 · 86 min

A webcam, an empty room, and one final stand-up rehearsal.

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Norm Macdonald sitting in front of a webcam in a room, wearing a yellow hat, a blue shirt, and over-the-ear headphones, talking through 50 minutes of new stand-up material, is about as far from a traditional comedy special as you can get. There is no stage, no crowd, and no laugh track—just the low hum of his producing partner’s apartment and the occasional bark of a dog. Recorded in a single take in June 2020, this was intended as a rehearsal tape. Macdonald had a major medical procedure scheduled the next morning and, knowing his cancer was worsening, wanted to get his latest hour on the record.

Released on Netflix in May 2022, eight months after his death, the special captures his late-career style in its most distilled form. He wanders through routines about his gambling habit, the absurdity of using airplane seat cushions as lifeboats, and the bleak reality of living wills, delivering lines with his signature folksy, deadpan cadence. He touches on hot-button topics with a shrug, turning potentially controversial setups into self-effacing punchlines, and at one point questions why anyone would look to stand-up comics for life advice in the first place.

Following the solo set, the special transitions to a half-hour roundtable where Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Adam Sandler, David Spade, and Molly Shannon watch the footage and swap stories. They discuss Macdonald’s absolute disregard for audience approval, his precise word choices, and his habit of intentionally mispronouncing common words. While the transition from intimate home video to celebrity panel is a bit jarring, the main attraction is Macdonald himself, working through his thoughts in a room with nobody to impress.

The set list

5 bits

  1. A doctor checking reflexes with a reflex hammer

    Compares the procedure to a 1950s cartoon where a doctor hits your knee with a hammer, causes pain, and notes that the reaction is excellent.

  2. Comedians being viewed as modern-day philosophers

    Questions why society expects comedians to possess wisdom, contrasting it with the Vietnam War era when no one asked Red Skelton for his opinion, and feeling bad for actual philosophers.

  3. Living wills and end-of-life medical intervention

    Notes that most people will inevitably end up plugged into a wall with their family deciding when to pull the plug.

  4. The closer (spoiler). Show it

    Drinking milk and reflecting on mothers closer

    Begins with him drinking a glass of milk and transitions into an earnest expression of love for his mother.

  5. Phone call interruption during the set

    Pauses his routine to answer a ringing phone and informs the caller he has to call them back because he is recording a comedy special on TV.

How it plays

Tone
Deadpan, understated, unsentimental, intimate, and mischievous
On stage
Deadpan, understated, charmingly folksy, and puckish with twinkling eyes, behaving like a grizzled old-timer whimsically reminiscing
Pace
Unbroken one-take delivery, loose and unhurried with characteristic long pauses, deliberate mispronunciations, and wandering tangents
About
mortality and sickness, living wills and doctors, cannibalism, slut-shaming, modern social changes and culture, motherhood

What the critics said

Norm Macdonald's parting standup set is as dry and unconventionally hilarious as fans could have hoped, and the specter of the comedian's encroaching mortality gives his characteristically unsentimental sendoff a powerful emotional undertow.

In the room: Recorded without a live audience in an intimate home setting; the concluding roundtable with fellow comedians had a warm atmosphere described as part wake and part party.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: en.wikipedia.org, washingtonpost.com, vulture.com, chortle.co.uk, npr.org.

Backstory

Filmed alone in one take in his producing partner's apartment on June 28, 2020, during COVID-19 shutdowns and the day before undergoing a stem cell transplant, ensuring his material would be preserved in case he did not survive.

Details

Released
Taped
2020, Apartment of Lori Jo Hoekstra
Runtime
86 min
Where
Netflix
Director
Norm Macdonald, Jeff Tomsic
Honors
Hollywood Critics Association TV Awards - Best Comedy or Standup Special (Won)Critics' Choice Awards - Best Comedy Special (Won)Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards - Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) (Nominated) and 2 more
Topics
Before
Hitler's Dog, Gossip & Trickery (2017)

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