Norm Macdonald: Hitler's Dog, Gossip & Trickery

TV Special
2017
15
1h

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Norm MacDonald in Norm Macdonald: Hitler's Dog, Gossip & Trickery (2017)

In this new stand-up special, Norm Macdonald delivers sly, deadpan observations from an older -- and perhaps even wiser -- point of view.In this new stand-up special, Norm Macdonald delivers sly, deadpan observations from an older -- and perhaps even wiser -- point of view.In this new stand-up special, Norm Macdonald delivers sly, deadpan observations from an older -- and perhaps even wiser -- point of view.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.3/10

3.5K

YOUR RATING

19User reviews

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
The special doesn't have an intro or title sequence. The stand-up material starts right away and the title appears at the end of the show.

Goofs
Norm Macdonald incorrectly states that astronaut Harrison Schmitt was the last man to walk on the moon. Gene Cernan was.

Quotes
Norm Macdonald: LSD, that was about the strongest drug I ever did - acid. I don't know if you've ever done acid, but... When I was young, they would tell me, "You have got to be careful with that acid, on account of you can do it," and then you have a flashback. Like, ten years could pass, 20 years could pass, "and then you get a flashback." So I thought, "Well, that sounds like a good deal," you know? I went to my drug dealer Frank. I said, "Frank..." is there a drug on the market where I pay you $5... I take the drug, I get high, "and then, 20 years later, I get high again?" He said yes. And I think of myself as somebody who's good at stretching his drug dollar. But the point of the whole thing is for me to tell you young folk... that it's not... it's not true at all, you know? Because I have not done LSD since I was a teenager. Ten years have passed, 20 years have passed. Sadly, 30 years have passed. And still... no flash... What a gyp that turned out to be. I... Just more horseshit by the big acid companies if you ask me.

Connections
Referenced in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Norm Macdonald/Chelsea Clinton/Robert Irwin/Rae Sremmurd (2017)

User reviews19

Review

Featured review

8/10

"Important things are going on... it's raining in the forest!"

Norm MacDonald is a guy that's openly against doing specials, so it's nice that we actually get some televised stuff for the first time in six years (apart from a brief Letterman appearance). To start out with the good: Norm's still an absolute genius, making people laugh at the sheer absurdity of his premises. There are no rapid-fire punchlines, as the years progress Norm's increasingly comfortable with just having long, meandering stories and takes his time to set up a joke. The absolute best bit in the special is the one where he teaches us you never have to lie... if you say everything in a sarcastic voice. The way he acts that out is classic stuff.

With that said, there are two somewhat disappointing elements about this special. For one thing, Norm doesn't like it when his performances get edited but this could have definitely used some editing. Some bits just go absolutely nowhere and just confuse the crowd. For instance, there's a bit on George Washington that just completely dies, and it makes you wonder if Norm really thought his delivery could save a bit that literally has no jokes. Norm's delivery and timing is amazing, maybe the best of all time. But you still need to write, even if you can make people laugh by mispronouncing the word 'capsule'.

Another thing that's somewhat of a letdown is that a lot of this material is old. There are some decent quality bootlegs available from 2009 and 2010, and I recognised a lot of bits from those bootlegs. He's been doing these bits for seven or eight years now? For a guy who allegedly hates to tell the same joke twice, that seems pretty lazy. I can laugh at the restaurant bit a hundred times, but I was hoping I'd discover lots of new material. That didn't happen, I knew pretty much everything.

However, it's good to see he's still having fun with this. He's a natural and an incredibly mysterious guy, so all the new footage you can get of him is a gem. Furthermore, I don't think I've ever laughed more at the ending of a comedy special, because it was just so perfectly in character for Norm. Overall I'd say this special is a little below 2011's "Me Doing Stand-Up", but certainly not by much.