“There’s a knock on the door. So I figure, uh oh, old Harold Delaney wants to have sex with me.” If you don’t think that’s a joke, you have a very limited concept of what a joke is.
There's normally some sort of payoff... even if the payoff is really dumb and ridiculous (which it always is). This one sort of just went nowhere. LOL.
@Cord Bullard hm ok I see what you're saying, I don't know why I was thinking punchline in a more traditional (boring) sense but you're right those work too. Norm's the best
He always has a punchline it's just normally so either subtle or completely obvious that I suppose could be missed. That's his thing, hell do such a blatant dad joke in front of a comedy audience and get a laugh. It's genius
Billy Connolly was the same. He would go on long winding tales of his youth and barely even have a punchline before he changed it into another story, but my goodness how you laugh along the entire way 😂 such under rated talent is required for this.
Norm is a genius story teller. Multiple rounds of applause and laughter from the audience just from telling this totally random ale that has no relation to anything.
Never knew of him before recently. His comic timing is impeccable and his "look" at the recipient of the joke as he punches through another line. Just glorious stuff. 90% of my youtubing at the mo is Norm McDonald. Love it.
EoinFC If you have seen it already nevermind.. but if not, watch his "dirty work" movie. I think he might be the funniest presence known to man.. He was awesome!
Oh Lord. For me this was such strange timing. Earlier this month, i located and ordered a used copy of his "Based on a True Story" 'memoir' and it was delivered yesterday - the day that the sad news of his passing broke. And the introduction in his book relates a story in which bogus news of his death had been inserted into his Wikipedia article - which was where i first learned of his death yesterday! I am convinced a small part of my life was briefly possessed as it were by the soul of this humble, childlike fellow as he unites his sense of humor with that of his creator in the next life. Thank you Lord for giving us Norm Macdonald.
Norm. The only thing sadder than your death is knowing that there are people on this earth that will never see or understand your genius. RIP to the true king of comedy.
I finally saw him perform live earlier this year, easily the best comedian I've seen! He seemed to enjoy himself as well, as evident by going long -- which he then worked into a bit, telling us how the club had given him the signal several times now, but they since gave up so he knew he would get reprimanded after the show, but then he told us that his plan was to deny outright that he saw it, predicting the manager's response would then be "what do you mean you didn't see it? You talked about it for 10 minutes after I gave up!!" Yup, he's my all-time favorite as well!!
@@ObscuredByTime comedy central is so far gone these days, Norm #2, only behind Don Rickles, in my book. Fuckin Howie Mandell, comedy central should change their name to Comedy Cemetery. Because they're dead.
Norm Macdonald is like Cool Hand Luke doing stand up comedy! He is one of those rare comedians that even when a joke misses, his facial expression, cadence, timing and voice is so funny, it all works out!
The subbtle part to the joke is Norm making all these great words which would get you a high score but being behind to low scoring words because of the triple word.
@@joshforde698: the real subtle part of the joke was that his story had 3 B's in the game with "rabbit" & "boot," but there are only two B's in Scrabble, and since Norm mentioned there were no blank squares and that the words weren't connected, then there had to be three separate B's, which isn't possible. I think Norm did this intentionally as an Easter egg.
@@dpring777 Even if someone were to pronounce "about" like "a boot", I fail to see what's so funny about the sentence "You never heard tell of about?".
It took me awhile to get Norm and his style of comedy. Now i can't get enough of his stories. Thank you for all the laughs Norm. R I P to a true legend.
Yeah, I would skip past Norm Macdonald. His first impression doesn't knock you over. But, Thank God.. I have a sense of humor! Slowly, I began to get his " punch lines "! Now, I am along for the comic journey!
I know the joke by heart by now, but every time I come back here I'm in stitches. More even than before. Just noticed my last comment on this vid dates from before his passing. Still can't believe he's gone.
Funny thing is, it wasn't a Bed & Breakfast at all, just an old man's house when you think about it. There wasn't anyone else staying, the dude was grumpy, no social skills, and he never even thought of serving Norm any breakfast. Just old Harold Delaney's house
Marco Estiercol I think the story is funnier by giving the guy a full name, even if in reality it wasn't "Harold Delaney". (It wouldn't surprise me if this whole story was made up.) SO many people try to tell stories about "this one guy" and repeatedly use "so the guy says," and such. But simply by using a name, ANY name, it's somehow noticeably funnier, and I wish I knew why.
***** Yeah, but you can ask anybody who's played more than a few games of Scrabble, and they've all been there, trying to make good words like "Avacado", and the other guy just sticks a "T" above your "O" and that's his word: "To". To play a truly good game of Scrabble, there's a balance between competition and cooperation. You both want to make the best words possible, so everybody had room to build all over the board.
I think Norm reminds me of Jimmy Stewart when he would appear on Johnny Carson, a great story teller, you just had to be patient, it was always worth it. Thank you Norm,
It's all about the delivery. Norm had it down to a science. some of the actual jokes aren't even funny it is just how Norm delivers them. What a guy. Sadly he will be missed.
"Old Harold Delaney"! This has always been one of my favourite stories of his; I remember first seeing it years ago, and I wanted to watch it again when I heard about his sad passing today. So glad I was able to find it to see it again! Thanks for posting this!
I couldn't agree more. I was looking for this one too -- so glad to have found it, because there seem to be 1,000 clips of this guy telling his wonderful stories. We miss you Norm.
As a longtime Scrabble player, I love this Norm "story." I think my favorite part is where "Harold Delaney" just puts "hat" on the triple word score spot even though it's not connected to anything.
"There's no one else there." If anyone else says that, it's of no interest, a sort of a dead line that lands with a slight thud. The way Norm says it, it draws you in and actually builds the story. You're there in the moment when he was surprised and disoriented to find himself alone with this old dude.
I wrote something similar on another video. Some comedians tell funny stories. Norm tells stories and makes them funny. That voice, and delivery gets me every time.
_Rolling Stone_ magazine, which is smaller and shorter than it used to be, just recently ranked every single cast member of _Saturday Night Live_ in history, and they put Norm in the bottom ten. Think of every obnoxious, talentless, or just plain boring person to ever be on SNL -- they probably rated that person ahead of Norm. People you don't even remember. Saying Terry Sweeney, Charles Rocket, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Shannon, Tina Fey, Martin Short, Chris Kattan for chrissakes, and just about everyone else is funnier than Norm MacDonald -- well, good luck, _Rolling Stone,_ but I've always hated the magazine, and this is a good example of WHY.
Frank Vee True ... He's not. I'm pretty leftist but I give Norm a free pass on his politics, he can believe whatever he wants, 'cause it only makes it funnier. When you get too many people together who all share the same political views, you get a bunch of nauseating smugness. This is true for both liberals and conservatives. So it was good to have Norm coming from a different perspective. I loved his joke about Michael Jackson & Lisa Marie Presley's divorce: "She's more of a stay-at-home type, and he's more of a homosexual pedophile."
***** Couldn't agree more. In an age when magazines and newspapers are less relevant than ever, they _still_ suck compared to others. (I only buy guitar magazines that actually teach me how to play songs. We don't need to pay for _reviews_ and _interviews._) They deserve to fail. This may seem like a topic jump, but Adam Ant, who's mentally ill but very intelligent, says Live Aid killed rock music in 1985. I think he's right. Live Aid was a good thing, but it turned rock into this OH-so-important and self-righteous thing, with the likes of Bono, Sting, Don Henley, et. al. And _RS_ magazine was very happy to put themselves in front of that, as "We are the established arbiters of what's hip and relevant; you _do not_ succeed in the industry without our support. We're indispensable. You need us; we don't need you." Well, thank god that's no longer true, and also, fuck them. Still, I don't see how anyone _possibly_ rates Norm worse than so, SO many utter failures. Norm _wrote_ for that show before and during his time as a performer. His Weekend Updates are legendary. Yet there is no "SNL: Best of Norm Macdonald" DVD ,like there is for everybody else who was any good. There's even a "Best of Christopher Walken", who only _hosted_ the show many times (and he's awesome, I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, just that he wasn't a cast member). There seems to be this mentality of "It doesn't matter HOW many people love Norm Macdonald. Even if we COULD make money, we WON'T." But I still think of him as relevant. He not only changed my idea of what's funny, but how I actually use the English language in conversation! Example: Y'know how lefties like to make fun of Fox News Channel, and call it "_Faux_ News Channel"? Well, I hate that. From a sheer comedy perspective, that's an epic fail. It sucks. Then I saw something 10,000X better: "Fox Not News Channel". THAT's funny. Fuck clever wordplay, man, I like a _sledgehammer!_ And it was Norm who showed me the light on that. "And now, the fake news." Make Words Count! Don't _toy_ with them. If I was truly good, this comment would be _so_ much shorter, but thanks for reading!
Too bad Norm didn't write fiction. Who wouldn't want to read an endless story with no point no punchline appropos of nothing and yet extremely boring. Except if you got the audio version with Norm himself you know doing the talking on it so you could you know pick up on how hysterically funny the guy actually came across in real life altho you would prefer a video to catch you know the expressions on his face there.
I did not appreciate Norm while he was alive. I only knew him from SNL. But I have watched so many clips the past week. He was a genius. I rarely laugh out loud. It literally takes something epic to make me laugh. I belly laughed the whole time he was telling the Scrabble story. It was hilarious but there was a bit of sweetness or charm to it too. I will listen to this many more times.
I shamefully admit I didn't really know much about Norm MacDonald until about a month ago. I am a fellow Canadian and wish I had took the time in the past to watch this legend. I wasn't ever in to SNL and haven't watched many late night talk shows. I am 43 years old and Norm was becoming massively popular in the 90's and I somehow missed him. All I can say is in the past few weeks I can't stop watching Norm MacDonald. I am so grateful I stopped and checked out a suggestion UA-cam came up with. Norm was a very intelligent person. He was charming and offensive to some. The thing that I love about him is he is real. Bottom line is Norm MacDonald is consistently funny in his work. That is rare today. Most of the popular sitcoms presently can't make me laugh. Put Norm in one and it would. RIP Norm and thank you for making me laugh.
He’s a beautiful soul. As he got closer to the end of his life he became almost monastic, and his exchanges were more and more profound (his later podcasts and radio interviews are gold) He lived in a small, almost empty apartment, was abstinent for years, asked nothing of anyone, and always spoke the truth. He never told people how sick he was, but in hindsight he was sharing some deep truths in his own way. It’s enough to bring a tear to your eye, but he always makes you laugh yourself silly too. Extremely intelligent, well read, knowledgeable in a million directions, but humble as a human being could be. If the goal is to leave it better than you found it, Norm won the game.
I remember when this aired when I was a kid. I ALWAYS remembered this interview because i remember even back then it made me laugh really hard. And this makes me realize as an adult how I had an excellent taste in humor as a kid ;)
I always love a nice story about some old coot who owns a bed and breakfast and forces his only guest to play scrabble all night long while he cheats at the game and then doesn't fix them any breakfast in the morning even though it's a "bed & breakfast". That's my favorite story genre.
There needs to be something like that. The story is very good but it peters out at the end. I was watching Jerry Seinfeld explain his joke writing yesterday, and he was saying how you need your biggest laugh at the end - which is difficult to achieve. You need a punchline to tie it all together.
"Jerry Seinfeld... was saying how you need your biggest laugh at the end" Norm likes Jerry but he doesn't give a fuck about Jerry's simplistic theories of comedy.
Harold Delaney is a real guy who is a Chef for a classic Bed and Breakfast in B.C....I highly doubt he is in his "eighties" though. The fact that Norm used words that counted more letters than what traditionally comes with an official Scrabble game it is at least somewhat fictional.
@JediNxf7 His story had 3 B's in the game, Rabbit and Boot. There are only 2 B's in Scrabble. And Norm mentioned there were no blanks and that the words weren't connected so it would have been 3 B's which isn't possible. I actually think Norm did this intentionally as an "Easter egg"
So many people loved Norm -- I hope he knew it. I always loved this story. I liked his sitcom too and even won a NORM cap from the show when they had a contest where you identified the movie they used a line from.
Sometimes I'll start a sentence, and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation.
Norm is one of the few comedians who's act starts from the first letter, the punchlines hardly ever comes, perhaps towards the end, but it's not needed due to his amazing descriptions and content.
I was waiting for him to finish up by saying the B&B was next door and he just stayed at some random old man's house, but somehow it works without even going there.
This bed-and-breakfast he speaks of his actually in Port Alberni not Victoria but nonetheless living in Victoria I still find this very entertaining. A very big loss for Canada and the comedy world.
How would you possibly know that the b&b he's talking about is in Port Alberni? There's hundreds of b&bs on Vancouver island. You're saying you know Harold Delaney? Or have you mapped all the b&bs in Victoria and none of them are close to a McDonalds?
Only Norm can tell the stupidest, most pointless story with no jokes and make it hilarious.
“There’s a knock on the door. So I figure, uh oh, old Harold Delaney wants to have sex with me.” If you don’t think that’s a joke, you have a very limited concept of what a joke is.
his style, almost no punchline
There's normally some sort of payoff... even if the payoff is really dumb and ridiculous (which it always is). This one sort of just went nowhere. LOL.
I can listen to all his stories about every six months - it's like they are new each time.
the funny parts were the jokes
He is one of the few people who can dribble on forever and not have a punchline and it somehow still funny
@Cord Bullard agree that it's 100% about the journey with Norm. But name 1 punchline throughout that entire story.
@Cord Bullard hm ok I see what you're saying, I don't know why I was thinking punchline in a more traditional (boring) sense but you're right those work too.
Norm's the best
I can laugh at the same joke from Norm for 200 times...and I have been doing it regularly,,,beats me why
He always has a punchline it's just normally so either subtle or completely obvious that I suppose could be missed. That's his thing, hell do such a blatant dad joke in front of a comedy audience and get a laugh. It's genius
i n e v e r b e e n o n e f o r b r e a k f a s t c a n y o u g e t m e a n e g g m c m u f f i n ?
Norm does the best Harold Delaney impression. It's eerie, I tell ya.
It’s like he was there on the stage with Norm and Dave. I got chills.
Apparently sounds just like him too
"I have never been one for breakfast"!
@@miked2654 You never heard tell of a boot?!
I bet Dave loves Scrabble. He's a Letterman after all
also, did you ever notice this? Henny Youngman is an old man, but Gary Oldman is a young man
+Gavin James
what about gary mann is a guy who works over at comedy central
"Faster than a rolling O, Stronger than a silent E, Able to leap capital T in a single bound, it's Letterman!"
and don't get me started on Conrad Black or Barry White...
this deserves so many more likes
"It's not the destination but the journey" That line defines Norm's jokes. RIP man.
For old Harold Delaney, it is the destination.
It's that red triple word right in the corner.
@@trevorjalla underrated comment
OP is also spot on
Norm left behind a wife, 3 children and one long shaggy dog.
Billy Connolly was the same. He would go on long winding tales of his youth and barely even have a punchline before he changed it into another story, but my goodness how you laugh along the entire way 😂 such under rated talent is required for this.
it's the journey he made you take
and then he laughs at you; so much laughter
at you
I live near Victoria and everyone knows you don't play scrabble with old Harold Delaney
The sex is fine though.
Victoria has a ban on scrabble after 11pm.
Good thing he didn't play twister.
@@IffeOnline on your birthday in the dark
You live in Gods country
Norm is a genius story teller. Multiple rounds of applause and laughter from the audience just from telling this totally random ale that has no relation to anything.
Tale... not ale
+Moe TheDestroyer Ale is good too, mate.
Never knew of him before recently. His comic timing is impeccable and his "look" at the recipient of the joke as he punches through another line. Just glorious stuff. 90% of my youtubing at the mo is Norm McDonald. Love it.
Moe TheDestroyer although I agree, American audiences are very eager to clap at any opportunity, annoyingly
EoinFC If you have seen it already nevermind.. but if not, watch his "dirty work" movie. I think he might be the funniest presence known to man.. He was awesome!
"I know a boot...I made avocado" comedy gold? Sometimes it's not what norm says..it's how he says it. Norm's delivery has always been the best.
That was the funniest line in the whole skit. Solid gold.
This comment made me burst out laughing ahh
This is not even a joke and it's still funnier than most comedians whole careers.
Crazy that this is so damn true!!!!
He's no carrot top but few are
wait, you really think that this was a true story?
Hysterical! I laughed and laughed and laughed!
It is a joke
The plot of the lighthouse was lifted directly lifted from this
Hey uhm, uh old Joshtamis prime there...actually "The Lighthouse" is inspired by Greek Mythology,
@@davidvbobb7785 so you’re telling me the movie the lighthouse wasn’t based on an offhand joke story norm Macdonald told on a late night talk show?
@@davidvbobb7785 no way
@@crustman5982 D Bahb is either a brilliant prankster, a complete idiot, or a small child.
@@Selrisitai - D Bahb's comment makes a little more sense if you can "hear" it in Norm's voice.
A legend has passed. Hopefully Norm and Harold Delaney are playing Scrabble again. RIP Norm.
Awful week . Getting Covid and Pneumonia was bad. Norm passing away was the worst. Rest In Peace my brother !!
There’s only one Norm.
Oh Lord.
For me this was such strange timing. Earlier this month, i located and ordered a used copy of his "Based on a True Story" 'memoir' and it was delivered yesterday - the day that the sad news of his passing broke. And the introduction in his book relates a story in which bogus news of his death had been inserted into his Wikipedia article - which was where i first learned of his death yesterday!
I am convinced a small part of my life was briefly possessed as it were by the soul of this humble, childlike fellow as he unites his sense of humor with that of his creator in the next life.
Thank you Lord for giving us Norm Macdonald.
@Dave Riddlin I hope your Covid and pneumonia gets better, Dave. Hang in there and rest up, man!
@@antonchigurh3794 Feel better, buddy!
Norm. The only thing sadder than your death is knowing that there are people on this earth that will never see or understand your genius. RIP to the true king of comedy.
Precisely. I feel fortunate that i "got him".
Me as well. I already miss him.
dude calm down he was just a comedian, Also true king of comedy? pretty sure even norm would disagree with that
@@surferOS101 Why did you feel the need to comment? You're obviously a total douchebag. Just scram.
@@c2cooler2 Make me. You sound trigerred, can't handle a different opinion? Do you need a safe space?
It's 2024 and I still come back to this story to cheer me up when I'm down. R.I.P Norm thanks for the memories.
"I'd sign up for my company's 401(k), but I don't think I can run that far." -Norm
Now that’s funny
Good grief norms ridiculous. The way he talks and tells his stories is one of a kind. I think he's my all time favorite comic.
Comedy Central puts him at #83. Right behind Howie Mandel...
He better be.
I finally saw him perform live earlier this year, easily the best comedian I've seen! He seemed to enjoy himself as well, as evident by going long -- which he then worked into a bit, telling us how the club had given him the signal several times now, but they since gave up so he knew he would get reprimanded after the show, but then he told us that his plan was to deny outright that he saw it, predicting the manager's response would then be "what do you mean you didn't see it? You talked about it for 10 minutes after I gave up!!" Yup, he's my all-time favorite as well!!
@@ObscuredByTime comedy central is so far gone these days, Norm #2, only behind Don Rickles, in my book. Fuckin Howie Mandell, comedy central should change their name to Comedy Cemetery. Because they're dead.
colin quinn and doug stanhope along with norm are my favorites.
Heard this story like 20x and it never gets old.
I regularly come back here.
Never!!!
It's a hilarious story!! 🤣
Norm passed away today. His comedy helped get me through a lot of tough times (and will continue to do so). RIP to one of my personal legends.
Three days after 9/11
I didn't even know he was sick
I wonder if old Harold Delaney outlived him
I knew he was sick, but I didn't tell anybody.
Norm Macdonald is like Cool Hand Luke doing stand up comedy! He is one of those rare comedians that even when a joke misses, his facial expression, cadence, timing and voice is so funny, it all works out!
Brenda Williams He's just a good story teller. Mitch Hedberg was really good at making a missed joke funny.
Brenda Williams I can eat 50 eggs
Norm is the king of random.
@@taurusthefool Mitch hedberg sounds like a real jerk
That might be true, but we'll never know for sure because Norm's jokes never miss.
dave's laughter the whole way thru is so genuine 03:39 you can tell he just loves Norm's story telling
I can’t believe he’s gone. RIP to one of The funniest men to ever live
Do you mean Harold or Norm?
I love how Norm knows all the little details about Scrabble. Makes the story that much better.
The subbtle part to the joke is Norm making all these great words which would get you a high score but being behind to low scoring words because of the triple word.
@@joshforde698: the real subtle part of the joke was that his story had 3 B's in the game with "rabbit" & "boot," but there are only two B's in Scrabble, and since Norm mentioned there were no blank squares and that the words weren't connected, then there had to be three separate B's, which isn't possible. I think Norm did this intentionally as an Easter egg.
@@mobus1603 I think it's a bit of a stretch to think that thats intentional.
@@mobus1603 Considering Norm makes up most of his stories on the spot (or at least their details), that's quite a stretch.
@@mobus1603 i thought the first word was Rabid
"YOU NEVER HEARD TELL OF A BOOT?"
I love this since apparently we Canadians pronounce "about" as "aboot".
David Pring, haha, not so much apparently, but fo sho. JK
I read that just as Norm said it.
@@dpring777 no we Canadians don't...Some Americans are hard of hearing.
@@dpring777 Even if someone were to pronounce "about" like "a boot", I fail to see what's so funny about the sentence "You never heard tell of about?".
It took me awhile to get Norm and his style of comedy. Now i can't get enough of his stories. Thank you for all the laughs Norm. R I P to a true legend.
Me to..but he became the funniest story teller ever .. RIP
Better later than never to discover some great comedy.
Yeah, I would skip past Norm Macdonald. His first impression doesn't knock you over. But, Thank God.. I have a sense of humor! Slowly, I began to get his " punch lines "! Now, I am along for the comic journey!
I've watched this about 100 times, but I still always open it when I see it. Norm was amazing.
Same. "Uh oh" after the door knock kills me every time.
The more I learn about old Harold Delaney, the more I don't care for him.
Seems like a real jerk!
He's not that bad. I once heard that he nursed a baby Flamingo back to health.
I think the worst thing about him is his hypocrisy
@@sicilianjiu-jitsu2984 The hypocrisy? I thought it was him trying to have sex with Norm. Allegedly!
Does he have a doghouse?
I know the joke by heart by now, but every time I come back here I'm in stitches. More even than before.
Just noticed my last comment on this vid dates from before his passing. Still can't believe he's gone.
As a keen Scrabble player, this is one of my favourite stories. So funny and so well delivered. Rest in peace, Norm!
It's amazing that a guy could get so famous not knowing what a boot is.
lol
Can you please explain to me what all these doctors are doing here? Ya'll some Scrabble freaks down at the hospital?
Or how to play scrabble.
I saw this when it originally aired. It is still my favorite Norm anecdote on any talk show appearance he ever did. RIP.
Norm's unique style of comedy really pulls you in. There isn't always a specific punchline but still cracks you up throughout.
Nobody funnier than this old chunk of coal
I heard he's a real jerk
back then he was a young chunk of coal
@@artcorvulay2428 nah, back then he was some yummy man taffy 😍
Tiztu country
Al he’s not
Norm was a genius storyteller with comedic brilliance. RIP
Funny thing is, it wasn't a Bed & Breakfast at all, just an old man's house when you think about it. There wasn't anyone else staying, the dude was grumpy, no social skills, and he never even thought of serving Norm any breakfast. Just old Harold Delaney's house
Marco Estiercol I think the story is funnier by giving the guy a full name, even if in reality it wasn't "Harold Delaney". (It wouldn't surprise me if this whole story was made up.) SO many people try to tell stories about "this one guy" and repeatedly use "so the guy says," and such. But simply by using a name, ANY name, it's somehow noticeably funnier, and I wish I knew why.
***** Yeah, but you can ask anybody who's played more than a few games of Scrabble, and they've all been there, trying to make good words like "Avacado", and the other guy just sticks a "T" above your "O" and that's his word: "To". To play a truly good game of Scrabble, there's a balance between competition and cooperation. You both want to make the best words possible, so everybody had room to build all over the board.
Ben Culture lol of course it's made up.
+Ben Culture I think it just paints a picture of some crotchety old man when you hear an "old" sounding name like Harold Delaney!
James Bond Yes, that's my point, is like a real story about a guy entering an old man's house by mistake and playing scrabble and sleeping there.
He forgot the end of the joke because the taxi drive wasn’t long enough for the driver to finish the joke, that's how he gets his material.
I have never seen letterman laugh more. He was truly amused much to norm's delight.
I'm so glad these clips are saved on youtube forever. RIP Norm!
Well, forever until Google finds a reason to censor Norm.
I think Norm reminds me of Jimmy Stewart when he would appear on Johnny Carson, a great story teller, you just had to be patient, it was always worth it. Thank you Norm,
A dog named Bow
I expected the punchline to be that he's in the wrong house all along lol.
Like Chevy Chase in Germany?
That actually is the punchline, this upload is cut too early
the light was on though
“What bed and breakfast? I thought you were my grandson.”
@@familyfriendlymoniker8623 Ah Dicky, you're channeling Norm. Good for you!
Harold Delaney is probably long dead by now, but his memory lives on....
It's all about the delivery. Norm had it down to a science. some of the actual jokes aren't even funny it is just how Norm delivers them. What a guy. Sadly he will be missed.
I love how he taps into that moment we've all experienced, when we let something go just to get along at 3:38
I've seen a lot of the Norm videos on UA-cam, but this one just struck me as hilarious.
this is my favorite norm story. very cozy
One of the few comedians I love. I had a tear in my eye last night. Will miss you Norm, you were one of a kind.
"Old Harold Delaney"! This has always been one of my favourite stories of his; I remember first seeing it years ago, and I wanted to watch it again when I heard about his sad passing today. So glad I was able to find it to see it again! Thanks for posting this!
I couldn't agree more. I was looking for this one too -- so glad to have found it, because there seem to be 1,000 clips of this guy telling his wonderful stories. We miss you Norm.
As a longtime Scrabble player, I love this Norm "story." I think my favorite part is where "Harold Delaney" just puts "hat" on the triple word score spot even though it's not connected to anything.
I have watched this video so many times. Norm was one of a kind Thanks, Norm, for all the laughs.
"There's no one else there." If anyone else says that, it's of no interest, a sort of a dead line that lands with a slight thud. The way Norm says it, it draws you in and actually builds the story. You're there in the moment when he was surprised and disoriented to find himself alone with this old dude.
Wow I remember watching this interview the night it was on TV, still chuckle at the thought "ya never heard tell of a boot?". Hilarious. RIP Norm.
I wrote something similar on another video. Some comedians tell funny stories. Norm tells stories and makes them funny. That voice, and delivery gets me every time.
_Rolling Stone_ magazine, which is smaller and shorter than it used to be, just recently ranked every single cast member of _Saturday Night Live_ in history, and they put Norm in the bottom ten.
Think of every obnoxious, talentless, or just plain boring person to ever be on SNL -- they probably rated that person ahead of Norm. People you don't even remember. Saying Terry Sweeney, Charles Rocket, Anthony Michael Hall, Molly Shannon, Tina Fey, Martin Short, Chris Kattan for chrissakes, and just about everyone else is funnier than Norm MacDonald -- well, good luck, _Rolling Stone,_ but I've always hated the magazine, and this is a good example of WHY.
political dude
Frank Vee I'm sorry, but what do you mean?
Norm's politics....he's not a far left douche like Rolling Stone
Frank Vee True ... He's not. I'm pretty leftist but I give Norm a free pass on his politics, he can believe whatever he wants, 'cause it only makes it funnier. When you get too many people together who all share the same political views, you get a bunch of nauseating smugness. This is true for both liberals and conservatives. So it was good to have Norm coming from a different perspective. I loved his joke about Michael Jackson & Lisa Marie Presley's divorce: "She's more of a stay-at-home type, and he's more of a homosexual pedophile."
***** Couldn't agree more. In an age when magazines and newspapers are less relevant than ever, they _still_ suck compared to others. (I only buy guitar magazines that actually teach me how to play songs. We don't need to pay for _reviews_ and _interviews._) They deserve to fail.
This may seem like a topic jump, but Adam Ant, who's mentally ill but very intelligent, says Live Aid killed rock music in 1985. I think he's right. Live Aid was a good thing, but it turned rock into this OH-so-important and self-righteous thing, with the likes of Bono, Sting, Don Henley, et. al. And _RS_ magazine was very happy to put themselves in front of that, as "We are the established arbiters of what's hip and relevant; you _do not_ succeed in the industry without our support. We're indispensable. You need us; we don't need you." Well, thank god that's no longer true, and also, fuck them.
Still, I don't see how anyone _possibly_ rates Norm worse than so, SO many utter failures. Norm _wrote_ for that show before and during his time as a performer. His Weekend Updates are legendary. Yet there is no "SNL: Best of Norm Macdonald" DVD ,like there is for everybody else who was any good. There's even a "Best of Christopher Walken", who only _hosted_ the show many times (and he's awesome, I'm not saying he doesn't deserve it, just that he wasn't a cast member). There seems to be this mentality of "It doesn't matter HOW many people love Norm Macdonald. Even if we COULD make money, we WON'T." But I still think of him as relevant. He not only changed my idea of what's funny, but how I actually use the English language in conversation!
Example: Y'know how lefties like to make fun of Fox News Channel, and call it "_Faux_ News Channel"? Well, I hate that. From a sheer comedy perspective, that's an epic fail. It sucks. Then I saw something 10,000X better: "Fox Not News Channel". THAT's funny. Fuck clever wordplay, man, I like a _sledgehammer!_ And it was Norm who showed me the light on that. "And now, the fake news." Make Words Count! Don't _toy_ with them. If I was truly good, this comment would be _so_ much shorter, but thanks for reading!
God damn it! He was, by far, my favorite story teller. His humor was unmatched and will never be replicated. RIP Norm!
Rambled forever
No punchline
And yet
Funny as hell
There's a lot of "mini punchlines."
The punchline got left off of the end of this clip (that Norm had gone to the wrong address)
Too bad Norm didn't write fiction. Who wouldn't want to read an endless story with no point no punchline appropos of nothing and yet extremely boring. Except if you got the audio version with Norm himself you know doing the talking on it so you could you know pick up on how hysterically funny the guy actually came across in real life altho you would prefer a video to catch you know the expressions on his face there.
It could be the longest movie ever. Even longer than The Empire State Building by Andy Warhol. It was only 24 hours long.
Mini punchlines, yeah. Bed and breakfast by a man who isnt much for breakfast but asks Norm to get him an egg mcmuffin. Great bit.
Alas we will now never hear a new rambling hilarious tale from this comic genius. R.I.P. Norm and thanks for all the fish.
I did not appreciate Norm while he was alive. I only knew him from SNL. But I have watched so many clips the past week. He was a genius. I rarely laugh out loud. It literally takes something epic to make me laugh. I belly laughed the whole time he was telling the Scrabble story. It was hilarious but there was a bit of sweetness or charm to it too. I will listen to this many more times.
So long our good friend
One of the all time great storytellers.
LOL @ Norm realizing that old Harold Delaney just threw away the blank squares thinking there were "duds" 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Letterman didn't laugh from the gut like that very often, Norm was just the best.
"I didn't come to Victoria to have sex with old Harold Delaney" That could have been a Stan Rogers song :(
Good ol' Stan Rogers! "The Idiot" is one of my all time favorite ditties!
My favorite Norm appearance ever. When I first heard this, I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe! "You never heard tell of a boot?"
It is great. Did you hear the moth joke?
My husband and I have laughed about this routine since it first aired! It is as funny as I remembered.
who talks like that? old canadians?
@@dessertstorm7476 I'm from Alberta. The people I knew who talked like that were from the East Coast. Great storytellers one and all.
A fella goes out, he has to wear a boot.
Norm was so hilarious. One of so many hilarious stories.
Legend has it that Old Harold Delaney is still hovering over his scrabble board waiting for his egg McMuffin.
LOL.
It turns out that Norm went to the wrong house. Old Harold Delany wasn't renting his rooms, but he welcomed Norm just the same.
No one else makes Letterman laugh that much
Major Rugburn no i think he was laughing because he thought it was funny
TairyGreen89 You haven't seen many interviews with Letterman
You never heard tell of Jay Thomas?
TairyGreen89 No one makes everybody laugh like that. Me anyway
Don rickles
You can tell that Dave really liked Norm.
I made avocado...I know a boot!
Norm you and your special smart humor will definitely be missed.
I shamefully admit I didn't really know much about Norm MacDonald until about a month ago. I am a fellow Canadian and wish I had took the time in the past to watch this legend. I wasn't ever in to SNL and haven't watched many late night talk shows. I am 43 years old and Norm was becoming massively popular in the 90's and I somehow missed him. All I can say is in the past few weeks I can't stop watching Norm MacDonald. I am so grateful I stopped and checked out a suggestion UA-cam came up with. Norm was a very intelligent person. He was charming and offensive to some. The thing that I love about him is he is real.
Bottom line is Norm MacDonald is consistently funny in his work. That is rare today. Most of the popular sitcoms presently can't make me laugh. Put Norm in one and it would. RIP Norm and thank you for making me laugh.
He’s a beautiful soul. As he got closer to the end of his life he became almost monastic, and his exchanges were more and more profound (his later podcasts and radio interviews are gold) He lived in a small, almost empty apartment, was abstinent for years, asked nothing of anyone, and always spoke the truth. He never told people how sick he was, but in hindsight he was sharing some deep truths in his own way. It’s enough to bring a tear to your eye, but he always makes you laugh yourself silly too. Extremely intelligent, well read, knowledgeable in a million directions, but humble as a human being could be. If the goal is to leave it better than you found it, Norm won the game.
Well said. Beautifully put.
He is a comedic legend.
If you ever needed a guy to distract the bad guy with a long story to buy you time while you effect an escape, Norm was your guy.
I remember when this aired when I was a kid. I ALWAYS remembered this interview because i remember even back then it made me laugh really hard. And this makes me realize as an adult how I had an excellent taste in humor as a kid ;)
Another GEM of a story told in NORM'S WAY! I laughed through the whole story!
"You never heard tell of a boot" is a staple of mine since olden times.
So much gold here. Genious at work.
Norm is probably one of the best storytellers in the world.
I always love a nice story about some old coot who owns a bed and breakfast and forces his only guest to play scrabble all night long while he cheats at the game and then doesn't fix them any breakfast in the morning even though it's a "bed & breakfast". That's my favorite story genre.
it was cut off short. I think he ends up says that it wasn't a b&b. he went to the wrong house.
That would be pretty funny I guess but its not true. The full interview is on youtube somewhere and he doesn't say that at the end.
There needs to be something like that. The story is very good but it peters out at the end. I was watching Jerry Seinfeld explain his joke writing yesterday, and he was saying how you need your biggest laugh at the end - which is difficult to achieve. You need a punchline to tie it all together.
"Jerry Seinfeld... was saying how you need your biggest laugh at the end" Norm likes Jerry but he doesn't give a fuck about Jerry's simplistic theories of comedy.
lmao thats something that he would say
Joseph Scott He doesnt but Norm always ends his stories on these late night shows with a big punchline at the end. Always. And theyre great
Norm was one of the funniest comedians ever and I still can't believe that he recently passed-away. RIP Norm.
Rest In Peace Norm. Sad day. A funny man. We love ya eh.
I honestly expected him to say that it turns out he got the wrong address and ended up staying at some random old man’s place by accident.
straight up comedians comedian, dave or any other talk show host is never in a better mood than when norm shows up.
You never know if this Harold Delaney is a real guy or if Norm is making the whole story up. Norm is known to do that for fun.
It sounds like a real story to me.
I think it's a bit of both.
Harold Delaney is a real guy who is a Chef for a classic Bed and Breakfast in B.C....I highly doubt he is in his "eighties" though. The fact that Norm used words that counted more letters than what traditionally comes with an official Scrabble game it is at least somewhat fictional.
@JediNxf7 His story had 3 B's in the game, Rabbit and Boot. There are only 2 B's in Scrabble. And Norm mentioned there were no blanks and that the words weren't connected so it would have been 3 B's which isn't possible.
I actually think Norm did this intentionally as an "Easter egg"
Carl Lange “rabid”
I remember watching this the night it aired. Norm's expression of Old Harold Delaney still cracks me up! Miss you Norm.
Norma's quite the writer. He paints a perfect picture for his audience. No one laughs at the story. They're laughing at the picture.
Norm to me is like that one friend whom I never befriended. It’s kind of a tragedy.
Reminds me of that tragedy.
R.i.p. norm you where great. Really one of a kind.
He's so funny! He's like a little boy who just likes to keep talking...
RIP Norm. What a unique & talented character.💞
Norm Macdonald is a master of the shaggy dog story
and weiner dog.
Rest in peace Norm. You’ve made the world a more bearable place to live.
by dying? seems kinda harsh
So many people loved Norm -- I hope he knew it. I always loved this story. I liked his sitcom too and even won a NORM cap from the show when they had a contest where you identified the movie they used a line from.
9/23/2021. I laughed with tears in my eyes. Thank you Norm.
RIP Norm. One of the all time greats!!!
Sometimes I'll start a sentence, and I don't even know where it's going. I just hope I find it along the way. Like an improv conversation. An improversation.
"You never heard tell of a boot?" - Old Harold Delaney
The more I learn about this Old Harold Delaney character, the less I care for him.
The worst part is the hypocrisy
Rip norm. What a legend. One of the funniest man alive.
That Harold Delaney is a real battle axe.
he makes me laugh before the funny part even starts...
Norm is one of the few comedians who's act starts from the first letter, the punchlines hardly ever comes, perhaps towards the end, but it's not needed due to his amazing descriptions and content.
@@jmp01a24 dedicated
I was waiting for him to finish up by saying the B&B was next door and he just stayed at some random old man's house, but somehow it works without even going there.
Norm had the grace of a swan. The wisdom of an owl. And the eye of an eagle. Norm was for the birds.
This bed-and-breakfast he speaks of his actually in Port Alberni not Victoria but nonetheless living in Victoria I still find this very entertaining. A very big loss for Canada and the comedy world.
Man I love the island, rip normy
How would you possibly know that the b&b he's talking about is in Port Alberni? There's hundreds of b&bs on Vancouver island. You're saying you know Harold Delaney? Or have you mapped all the b&bs in Victoria and none of them are close to a McDonalds?
@@rh5466 They played this skit on the radio in Comox after he passed. They had mentioned where it was.. When u listen, you learn..