MacDonald's act far from Norm-al
■ The popular comedian
delivered a riotous
performance to a sometimes
shocked audience Friday
REVIEW
Norm MacDonald, stand-up
comedy show
By Dave Depper
Oregon Daily Emerald
Some people loved it, some
hated it, but one word effectively
describes the crowd’s reaction to
Norm MacDonald's Friday night
stand up comedy performance at
McArthur Court.
Shock.
A raucous audience of nearly
3,000 students crowded Mac Court
to see the former “Saturday Night
Live’’ star. MacDonald’s performance
lasted nearly two hours and consist
ed almost entirely of material that
was most decidedly adult-themed.
At 8:15 p.m., the crowd was
surprised bv an unexpected guest:
former WWF wrestling superstar
Rowdy Roddy Piper. Bounding
upon the stage wearing a kilt and
blowing on a University noisem
aker, Piper entertained the crowd
for about 10 minutes with a hyper,
confusing act. Highlights included
hitting his assistant in the face with
a folding chair and demonstrating
how a bear searches for honey
hidden in the human rectum.
Taking the stage next was Stevie
Ray Fromstein, an old friend of Mac
Donald’s and also the co-executive
producer of the sitcom, “Two Guys
and a Girl.” Dressed conservatively
and sporting glasses, Fromstein
looked more like a University profes
sor than a stand-up comedian.
Fromstein quickly won the crowd
over, however, with a rousing 20
minute string of jokes and anecdotes
about his troubles with women.
Fromstein advised audience
members to "be careful about who
you marry, because that’s the
woman you’re going to spend the
next five years of your life with.”
Thanks to the excellent job by the
opening acts, the audience was
warmed up by the time MacDonald
slowly walked across the stage at
8:45 p.m. Applause erupted
through the room as the mostly
20-something crowd caught sight of
its collective comic hero.
Walking coolly up to the micro
phone, he said, “So, this is a crazy
fucking town.”
Needless to say, the entire basket
ball court exploded with cheers.
Using Eugene’s “drug town”
reputation as a launching pad for
his material, MacDonald quickly
struck a chord by speaking on the
topic of drug use.
“Crack, of course, nothing good
about crack — except the incredi
ble way it makes you feel,” he said
to riotous laughter.
“I figure that anything that
people will shoot you in the
fucking head for has to be good,” he
continued. “It’s not like anyone
will shoot you for a pizza.”
MacDonald explained that he
was growing a beard for a movie
that he was appearing in, and that
he usually tries to appear more
presentable. He mentioned the fact
that most of the audience looked a
lot better than he did.
“Most of you motherfuckers look
R. Ashley Smith Emerald
Norm MacDonald enters McAuthur Court before his Friday night comedy performance,
which opened with former WWF wrestler Roudy Roddy Piper.
strong, like you could kick the shit
out of me,” he said.
Throughout MacDonald’s set,
faces turned red and jaws dropped
as the boundaries of taste were
pushed. Naturally, he got the
biggest laughs out of the most over
the-top jokes, although a trip into
material dealing with how funny
death and cancer can be wasn’t as
well-received as the previous jokes.
Perhaps sensing that he had gone
too far, toward the end of the show
MacDonald added with a smirk
that “I’m not a real dirty person. I
just talk about what I think
about."The highlight of MacDon
ald’s set very well could have been
the moment he proclaimed that “all
I do is eat grilled cheese sandwich
es and whack off.”
Kristin Donnelly, an undeclared
sophomore, was somewhat sur
prised by the content of MacDon
ald’s performance.
“Not what I expected, but it was
good. I enjoyed it,” she said.
Carl Wiese drove from Corvallis
to catch MacDonald’s act.
“I just like some of his impres
sions. I liked his sitcom, 1 like ‘Satur
day Night Live.’ He does a really
good Burt Reynolds [impression],”
he said.
Robin Ziari, a junior music ma
jor, perhaps put it best when he ex
claimed: “I’ve never heard so many
cock jokesjn my life!”
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