One Night Stand: Jim Norton

Jim Norton is at his most effective when he is leaning into his own pathetic nature. His set focuses on his usual obsessions: extreme sexual desperation, the logistics of paying for sex, and an overarching disgust with his own physical body. He does not attempt to charm the New York crowd. Instead, he wins them over by acting out his creepy pickup techniques, which look more like a serial killer stalking prey than someone looking for a date.

Recorded at the Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, the set caught Norton at a busy point in his career. He was gaining national exposure as the third microphone on the Opie & Anthony radio show, and his work on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn had established his reputation for dark comedy. This half-hour, part of HBO’s mid-2000s revival of its classic showcase, also features a chunk of material about his trip to perform for troops in Iraq.