Mark Normand

JUMP TO:
(2014) Still Got It!
(2017) Don’t Be Yourself
(2020) Out to Lunch
(2023) Soup to Nuts

Still Got It! (2014)
Rating: Good

Mark Normand reminds me a little bit of John Mulaney. He has that sort of effortless cadence that makes stand-up seem easy. But stand-up is not easy, friends. Standing up? It’s right there in the name. You don’t get to sit. Unless you’re lazy like Marc Maron. Anyway, while Mulaney will talk about Law & Order or horses in hospitals, Normand sticks with the tried and true topics: politics, religion, sexuality, men and women in general. How much more can we really tap out of these topics in 2014? Well, per Mark, quite a bit.

Mark endears you to him right away by how Madison, Wisconsin is full of white people! Just how he likes it! But we’re not here to be entirely subversive, because Mark’s comedy isn’t necessarily vulgar for the sake of vulgarity. Just when it makes sense, you know. He starts out with some really good jokes about how his sober-for-30-years uncle once lost a phone when drunk (“You have to be pretty hammered to lose a landline“) and how Google is blabbing to Facebook ads about his recent searches. There are some trite jokes about the craaazy people in New York City, but that doesn’t last long, and it’s the only derivative portion of his set. All of his other takes on old standbys come from a unique perspective.

Sexuality? A man that Mark had met once would never shake a man’s hand because of how many dicks that he must have touched. Well, Mark tells him “You shook my hand, you don’t mind my dick? And do you know what other large part of population has touched a lot of dicks? Girls.”

Racism? A man that Mark had met once tells him that he doesn’t see color. So Mark leans up close to him and says “Thank you for being honest like that, sir. I’m black.”

Religion? If people in the bible had more modern names, no one would take any of it seriously. “‘Drink the blood of Trevor!’ Hmm, uh-uh. Gross. ‘What Would Trevor Do?’ Yeah, uh, good question, I dunno. Beer pong, maybe?”

Men? When asked if he’s gay now that he’s dating a hypothetical manly man, Mark counters with “Gay? Have you met Jeff? He’s taking me out for lobster tonight! He’s everything I want in a man, but let me tell you, the sex is brutal…”

Women? When asked what the difference between “mad” and “not mad” is, Mark confirms that “not mad” is just “mad with 20 questions”. And although some of his material on women leans toward unoriginal and stereotypical, Mark’s earnest friendliness and lack of any real misogyny gives him a pass in my book. Not like that Louis C.K. guy. He HATES women!

So yes, an overall “Good“. I’m looking forward to hearing how Mark’s material progresses with his next specials, but it’s a tremendous first effort!

Don’t Be Yourself (2017)
Rating: Very Good

During the intro cold open, Amy Schumer gives Mark a pep talk before he walks on stage: he’s underwhelming, painfully mediocre, average in every way, white and boring, and all the jokes he’s about to tell are going to suck. Most of that is correct, except for the part where all the jokes are going to suck. But, yes, the rest is correct.

Don’t Be Yourself is a clear improvement over the great first effort Still Got It! Mark smoothly flows through jokes in rapid fire. You don’t have time to take a breather or you’re going to miss something. Somewhat vulgar and borderline offensive without swearing. He covers a lot of the same topics as he covered in Still Got It!: racism, sexuality, manliness, feminism, religion, and political correctness. A veritable laundry list of cringe, right? But Mark is deft. He knows how to maneuver around these landmines with grace, and he knows he’s charming enough to pull off jokes about the hypocrisy of double standard racism or misogyny (“I’m a feminist, but my ex was… annoying). He has a large chunk on atheism without alienating his audience with preachiness or arrogance (breast implants are like the Bible: what’s on the outside is real, but it’s what’s inside is fake as shit). And, best of all, it’s all very funny!

The biggest improvement over Still Got It! is the vulnerability. Mark spends a good portion of the beginning of his set talking about himself. There’s clearly more material that’s personal and introspective, but whether it’s true or not is hard to tell. I guess you never know, but he talks about his high-functioning alcoholism (you call in sick when you have a headache, Mark shows up hungover, ready to work, and hiding a horrible secret every day), his introversion (he would never go to a party, but he would kill himself if he wasn’t invited to it), and his anxiety about flying (trains are better, it’s like they’ve never heard of a terrorist before). He discusses the weirdness of online dating, how he is internalizing his penis shame (“My dick’s like an indie band, you gotta see it live!“), and how women don’t seem to ever want what he has to offer. It’s self-deprecating, but it’s not pathetic. He delivers the material with cool confidence, like he’s been doing standup for the last 40 years.

Other highlights include Mark’s discussion about homosexuality and how he was complimented by the hottest gay guy he had ever seen; how it was like winning one million pesos: “I can’t do anything with it now, but if I ever cross that line I’ll be SET!“. And, of course, a complaint that women made their gender roles offensive. A woman likes a strong silent type, but a man can’t say that he likes their women silent. And let’s not forget a little Carlin-ism for good measure! Kids acronyms are light-hearted: LOL, OMG, BRB. Adult acronyms are more grim and depressing: DUI, DMV, IRS, UTI, STD.

I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t fucking sleep on Mark Normand. He looks like the annoying, clingy kid in your college dorm, but he’s funnier than your best friend. No brainer.

Out to Lunch (2020)
Rating: Good

It’s just joke after joke after joke after joke with this guy, isn’t it? Just a spitfire of good, witty jokes. It’s like, hey man, save some jokes for the rest of us! Heh heh. It’s not always about jokes, man.

Mark Normand reminds me of a fast-talking, old-timey vaudeville act, like a modern day Groucho Marx. One-liners abound! When asked if he would like to visit a brewery because he likes beer, he says “I don’t need to see where the beer originated. I like porn, I don’t need to go to a broken home.” When presented with the notion that video games lead to school shootings, he incredulously says “I played Monopoly with my friends, none of them own property.” When asked if he cares that transgendered people are using his bathroom, he says “Hey, at least they’re not pooping in the sink.” When accused of being a racist after watching an interracial couple make out on a train, he says “I’m not racist, I’m a creep!” He tells the Wisconsin audience that fat jokes are hard to pull off there. He likes gay people because there are no gay gangs (“That would be a musical.”) He talks about bedwetting with the same energy and cadence as talking about sexually abusing dogs, as he does about pointing out that babies who kick in the womb will grow up to beat their wives, as he does about girls getting shafted on orgasms (so to speak). And these are just a small percentage of his joke output. My dude fits a 90-minute set into 60 minutes.

It’s clear by now, his third special, that Normand is a pure joke writer. He doesn’t tell stories, he doesn’t do bits, all he does is set things up and knock them down. Punchlines, punchlines, punchlines. And that’s a rarity in this day and age. It’s an antiquated structure of standup comedy, but Normand is a true natural. I’m amazed by the flow, the speed at which he traverses topics, the density of the jokes. I may not laugh out loud at all of them — maybe not even half of them — but the craft is admirable as shit. And he still keeps it fresh! Topics he has hit before — offensive words, racism, homophobia, women, sex, introversion, traveling — are all presented with a stash of completely new funny angles. He brings up leopard print underwear being quintessentially sexy even though it’s covered in brown and yellow spots. He points out that polar bears have evolved from brown fur to white fur because the police kept shooting at them. He makes a very poignant observation about that transgendered Caitlyn Jenner: “‘I love Caitlyn Jenner!’ Why? She sucks!” We can all get behind that one.

Normand skirts the line of offensiveness without actually being offensive. He has a smart counterpoint for every touchy subject, making him the Perfect White Cis Male Comedian. If there ever was a thing. Enjoy.

Soup to Nuts (2023)
Rating: Good