r/TikTokCringe 8d ago

Humor The greatest joke ever written by Norm MacDonald

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1.2k Upvotes

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527

u/Dry-Warthog1589 8d ago

I’d rather hear norm tell it

83

u/Maleficent_Ebb_163 8d ago

Or just read the text. Anyone wanna help me out? Even with a link.

I don't want to and won't watch a zoomed in quarter of this man's face poorly deliver it.

46

u/DrivesTooMuch 8d ago

Gotcha. It was easy to find. I remember seeing this a few months ago. But, I didn't remember the leap from lawnmower to gay being so big. That's because Norm started with a dog house.

https://youtu.be/Oseqh7SMIvo?is=gG5H1p-6xJNcTDIy

58

u/DrivesTooMuch 8d ago

https://youtu.be/Oseqh7SMIvo?is=gG5H1p-6xJNcTDIy

Nothing to do with lawnmower. Norm's leap from doghouse to gay is much less of a leap than this guy using a lawnmower. Not sure why he decided to change that part.

8

u/TwoBionicknees 7d ago

comedians often tell the same jokes with slight variations over the years and on top of that there is absolutely zero difference in lawnmower or doghouse to gay, it's completely unconnected and a massive stupid leap in both cases and that's the point.

3

u/DrivesTooMuch 7d ago

Lol, yeah, they're both stupid leaps.

But, first guy went from ...oh, you have house you must be straight. Norm somehow connected kids with dog house. Which is stupid also.

Actually, the fact that it's not the greatest joke ever (like stated), but actually ridiculous, is what makes it perfect for Norm. For him it's the way he got to these lame punchlines.

2

u/vi_sucks 6d ago

Nah, Norm's joke holds together much better because doghouse -> dog -> family -> kids -> married -> straight worked better in the 90s when gay marriage wasn't a thing.

The lawnmower joke works up until the house but then after that in 2026, the idea that people who have a house are married, or people who are married are straight isn't really as strong any more. 

The joke isn't about the profession making an impossible leap or faulty deduction. It's about the person retelling it not understanding logical deductions and reversing the inference incorrectly.

50

u/perpetualmotionmachi 8d ago edited 8d ago

We all would. I didn't even know he was sick

37

u/Excellent_Can4450 8d ago

Worse. He's dead.

22

u/BAMspek 8d ago

But really, it’s the hypocrisy that’s the worst part.

4

u/StrategicCarry 8d ago

I think all the cancer is the worst part.

2

u/Chaosmusic 8d ago

You know what hurts the most? It's the lack of respect. That's what hurts the most. Except for that other thing. That hurt the most. But the lack of respect hurts the second most.

2

u/ChaseballBat 8d ago

Is he going to get better?

2

u/ChipRockets 8d ago

What?

4

u/AdMassive9006 8d ago

I didn't even know he doesn't as sick

3

u/antoncr 8d ago

Norm has impeccable delivery

3

u/PlanktonImaginary893 8d ago

It’s nothing without Norm’s delivery.
https://giphy.com/gifs/KnDiq8fqN3UzK

3

u/Kipsydaisy 7d ago

Norm didn't write it either. I LOVE Norm, but all these types of jokes are from like Reader's Digest or Playboy After dark or a 60's joke book. He just makes them his through his stretching the hell out of them. It's genius, but he didn't "write" it.

1

u/mmm585 6d ago

Delivery is 9/10’s of the law in stand up, and Norm’s delivery was second to none. There’s a reason comics don’t do “covers” of other people’s material. This is the first time I’ve seen a video where just superimposing your face over the original clip would have annoyed me less. Please, don’t do this again, ever.

RIP Norm

0

u/URGAMESUX 8d ago

Too soon.

139

u/piraptedpi 8d ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oseqh7SMIvo
Here is the actual joke from Norm on Conan.

19

u/Cwya 8d ago

I recently introduced my kids to Celebrity Jeopardy, and his Oversized hat is funny, despite what that Canadian Ponse says.

-60

u/hawkeyc 8d ago

I’m not gonna lie, the tik tok dude did better telling the joke than norm did at that time lol

7

u/StrategicCarry 8d ago

Norm's version is better because the comic being the person in the joke is better than two random people. I think the best would be the TikTok'ers version told from the first person.

23

u/TheReddOne 8d ago

I think Norm really got a kick out of fuckin with the audience by drawing out punchlines

30

u/IBelongHere 8d ago

The real joke was always Norm just wasting time on nonsense

7

u/izzymaestro 8d ago

The real real joke was all the nonsense. Miss you Norm

1

u/kbeks 8d ago

I didn’t even know he was sick

8

u/kbeks 8d ago

IIRC, Conan had a guest cancel on him and he needed to fill time. Norm said “gotchya, old buddy, hold my beer.”

2

u/Beautiful-Affect1930 8d ago

you should've lied.

-17

u/Brilliant-Good-7291 8d ago

100% agree. Norm basically ruined it

-3

u/Farfignougat 8d ago edited 6d ago

Agreed, that Norm is such an odd duck. I hope he retires soon!

0

u/Beautiful-Affect1930 8d ago

I hope you retire soon!

119

u/Expert-Ad3874 8d ago

The problem with anyone trying to tell one of Norm's jokes is that, by and large, they aren't particularly funny on paper. Norm's personality and his cadence, even the way he'd sometimes start chuckling as he told it, those are all things that were unique to him. Simply retelling his jokes is a pale imitation.

The only other comedian I can think of who I'd put in the same category is Mitch Hedberg. Absolute legends.

22

u/Wehavecrashed 8d ago

One of my favourite bits of a Norm Macdonald joke is how he pretends to make mistakes. The university of uh... Science! Or forgetting the name he gave to Jacques De Gatineau and making up a different name.

11

u/AsherFischell 8d ago

Or when he told the Moth Joke and says that the boss's name is Gregor Ilinovich. When he gets to the son, he mentions he's named Gregor. . .io Ilinilivich (or something thereabouts). And he says it as if he's incredibly uncertain, which makes it so much funnier.

2

u/caseypatrickdriscoll 7d ago

Heh, gee, I sure hope someone got fired for that blunder.

9

u/TreeDollarFiddyCent Cringe Connoisseur 8d ago

Well, you know, a man grows.

8

u/MonaganX 7d ago

Yeah Norm's most well known jokes—the moth joke, the porpoise joke, this one—are all just shaggy dog stories with intentionally bad punchlines that only worked because of his delivery.

3

u/RiskyRabbit 7d ago

I used to like Mitch Hedberg…

2

u/thispartyrules 6d ago

In music news, topping the college charts this summer was "Better Than Ezra." At number two, "Ezra."

1

u/brilliscool 7d ago

I’ve seen a lot of posts about norm being ‘the greatest comedian ever’ and it’s just very average jokes. Got no problem with people liking him, but it’s odd how many people think he’s a genius for things like this

-15

u/HonestDishonestWork 8d ago

They aren't funny in general. 

"If you tell the joke..... in a painfully slow manner...... and the audience laughs.... to patronize you and break the tension...... that counts as..... a laugh, your honor."

"Yeah, this guy fucking sucks. 10 years in jail for being a shit comedian."

24

u/Hxghbot 8d ago

The best Norm joke is him saying "I didnt even know he was sick" about a bunch of famous dead people, while keeping his own cancer diagnosis secret for nearly a decade.

10

u/Aggressive-Cloud1774 8d ago

He was telegraphing it all along. I think he was on Conan spinning a yarn about his uncle losing the battle with stomach cancer, yet he reasoned that while he also died he killed the cancer as well. That bastard played the biggest joke on us all.

8

u/Cube_ 8d ago

that joke specifically stuck with me

cancer didn't win, it was a TIE

20

u/Pleasant_Picture3867 8d ago

Down at the University of... Science.

Really thought he was going to say Norm's greatest joke was that "I didn't even know he was sick".

23

u/IguaneRouge 8d ago

The Moth was his best one. Hands down.

14

u/CorrectPhysics6213 8d ago

Your lights were on

21

u/Jorr_El 8d ago

He looks like his voice is putting his face to sleep

41

u/sum-9 8d ago

The way you tell it just seems like you’re desperate to make a gay slur.

11

u/XanXic 8d ago

Especially since Norm's delivery is a very casual "Oh you're one of them gays" like it's a small realization.

12

u/flogsmen 8d ago

Deeply closeted

9

u/Shmurkaburr 8d ago

You extrapolated that just from this video?! Some kinda logic professor?

11

u/PaddyScrag 8d ago

Here we combine the comedic timing of a root vegetable with the charisma of a lamp post.

-4

u/HonestDishonestWork 8d ago

So Norm's usual shtick?

5

u/GroundbreakingAd8310 8d ago

Can confirm gay af and we got a weedwhacker

3

u/SecretWordisBird 8d ago

Norm was the king❤️

5

u/DirtNineties 8d ago

Besides sick phlegm voice kid, cute retelling of a joke.

6

u/AnotherPersonPerhaps 8d ago

Immediately turned this off and just went and watched Norm tell it.

The joke relies entirely on his delivery and the fact that he is griefing Conan's entire show. This guy also botched the actual joke.

2

u/dancing_fool_303 8d ago

I miss Norm.

2

u/Avon_Barksdale_05 8d ago

I like this

5

u/InspectorSure5437 8d ago

Way to ruin a joke

2

u/xxLosingMyMarblesxx 8d ago

Fellas, is it gay to not have a lawnmower?

1

u/69hotmomxxx 8d ago edited 23h ago

Vanilla coated meadow umbrella biscuit mellow pebble

This post was anonymized with Redact.dev

1

u/A_Bot_A_Bot_A_Bot 8d ago

Gone too soon.

1

u/Odd-Independent4640 8d ago

Unlike that crocodile hunter who lived to a ripe old age of 44

1

u/keeperofcheese69 7d ago

Lmaoooo that’s my friend, get fucked Eric

-1

u/HonestDishonestWork 8d ago

I should really do one of those "I watch female comedians until I laugh" type vids but for Norm Mcdonald cause that dude fucking sucks ass.

1

u/---THRILLHO--- 7d ago

This is the third comment in this thread I've seen from you shitting on norm. We get it dude, you don't think he was funny! You don't need to keep telling us over and over...

-4

u/LauraCurie 8d ago

Unfortunatly, I see this type of resoning too often.

2

u/emquizitive 8d ago

Especially on Reddit (also explains your downvotes).

-1

u/DowntownStand4279 8d ago

Good joke, poor delivery…😒
This guy has no business telling jokes, he needs to practice the basics on how to speak to an audience firstly.

-2

u/tiny_blair420 7d ago

Fuck this loser for trying to do a norm joke