Customer Reviews

Ridiculous

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

I'm really surprised by some of the dismissive reviews here. "Ridiculous" is quintessential Norm, juxtaposing his incisive assessments of human behavior and the workings of the world with deadpan preposterousness and wry subversiveness. He's disarmingly good-natured in even the most jaw-dropping scenarios. There are more than enough gems on this compilation of sketches to make it a must-have for any Norm booster or oblique comedy fan.

This is a CD of very funny skits. If you are expecting Stand Up punch lines do not get this album.

The first five minutes, a skit called MR FANTASTIC, is one of the funniest things I have ever heard. Bravo!!! Much of the other material is also very very good, a few tracks (for me) drag. He deliberately builds material slowly, it's his trademark, and often to brilliant effect. A few minutes are lewd in (for me) a pretty pointless way. But after the first five minutes, it was "five star" for me no matter what followed !!

This long awaited cd by Norm Macdonald is big on laughs and even bigger in ambition. Anyone can just take their stand up act and sell it to an audience that has already seen it in a theater or a club. What Norm has done is a collection of all new sketches and nearly all of them are hilarious...and yes, there is still a track featuring a classic stand-up bit. This CD reconfirms what some once knew and others are about to find out - Norm Macdonald should be seen and heard from much more often!

I'm a Norm MacDonald fan, and since there isn't an SNL Best of Norm DVD and very little of anything else on the market with Norm MacDonald I had to pick up this CD. I wish that Norm would have gone the route of Stand up instead of sketch acts in this CD. There are a few good tracks, many mediocre, and a couple worth skipping over.

Here is how I would rate each track:

1)The Fantastic Four -funny sketch about Mr. Fantasic handing out the teams names.(A-)

2)Tex Hooper -The longest track on the CD, Norm is trying to record an album with Tex Hooper. (B+)

3)Gambling Sportscenter -Norms a gambling sportscaster (C+)

4)Worlds first two Gay Guys -The title says it all.(B-)

5)The Twelve days of Christmas -Norms not really a bird guy.(B+)

6)Stan & Lois -Will the real superman please come forward. (C+)

7)Half-time -Continuation of track 3 (C)

8)A wonderful afternoon Gone Awry -Continuation of track 4. It's Will Farrell yelling and saying the same thing over and over for 2 minutes. Definately a skipper (F)

9)Burning Bed -Wife sets husband on fire (D)

10)Girls, Girls, Girls -Molly Shannon has multiple personalities including a very horny one that Norm wants to talk too. (B+)

11)two minute warning -Second continuation of track 3 (C)

12)Do you want a Sandwich or anything -Second continuation of track 4 (D)

13)Hidden Track -Classic Norm Stand-up (B-)

Tracks 1, 5, and 10 are my 3 favorites of the CD. Overall, if your a big Norm fan, I'd still recommend buying it.

Norm MacDonald is, I think, among the funniest comedians ever, of all time, anywhere; seeing him interviewed on talk shows, roasting Bob Saget, or hosting Weekend Update, he strikes me as the kind of person who is never unfunny. You could have a bootleg album of just clips of him giving interviews, and it would be a five-star album. As a fan, then, I have to say, that I like his album, and I plan to keep it, but some of the tracks are such subtle send-ups of the comedy album, novelty song, and sketch comedy forms, they are more anti-humor in many cases than anything traditional--sometimes funnier perhaps to a much younger audience.

"The Fantastic Four" is just straight-up funny, a great kick-off to the album. "Tex Hooper" is 19 minutes long, and so hilarious it made laugh until I was in pain; the album could have been just forty minutes of this--two recording engineers recording a recently-back-from-retirement outlaw country singer. I don't want to give away the hook, but just hear that this is a riot.

"Gambling Sportscenter" is very funny in Norm's awkward way, but then goes on for additional segments that seem a little superfluous. "Worlds First Two Gay Guys" is also very funny, but then goes on for additional not-that-funny segments, comprised mostly of Will Ferrell screaming in pain. The first four tracks of the album are really solidly funny, though, no complaints.

"Burning Bed": I need to hear this one again, because I'm not even sure where the joke is. "Girls, Girls, Girls" a psychiatrist courts one of the personalties of a patient with several of them, with Molly Shannon as the patient. And "Hidden Track," which is not actually hidden is some of Norm's stand-up material, live, and it made me wish he would record an album of just that, because it's just great.

Five stars for a five-star comedian, though the album does seem a bit uneven, and its sketch-comedy form is unexpected and sometimes just inaccessibly odd. Buy it new, for a guy who, in a perfect world, would have every show-biz opportunity he desired.

I think Norm is one of the funniest people alive, but this album is a major misstep. I guess after trying a movie career and having TV shows canceled for virtually every network, the comedy album was one of the few unexplored career routes. I guess it is a good thing that Norm has recently put some effort into resurrecting his stand-up career, because this album of lame skits wasn't going to take him anywhere.

The only reason I am giving this two stars is because there are a couple of funny moments, but those moments are not enough to make up for the hundreds of unfunny moments. In the two years since its release, I have listened to is maybe 4 times. Each time I have remembered why it had been so long since I had listened to it.

I gave this CD 5 stars simply because it completely eclipses 95% of the "Comedy" albums that get released because focus groups full of mongloid rednecks say the material is funny.

With that said, Norm claimed that he has spent nearly 9 years coming up with the material that is on this CD. That is the onus of my tag line for this review, because I've seen Norm ad lib funnier things than some of the tracks on this CD. I don't know whether it is the fact that the non-Norm characters on the CD are not that funny (and, this is true to some extent) or that Norm trying to play a character that he hasn't perfected (unlike his Burt Reynolds or Bob Dole impressions, many of the characters he does on this CD are just lame), but something just held back what this CD could have been.

Also, if you saw the VERY short run of Norm's sketch variety show on Comedy Central (I believe there was only one episode, maybe that's all they intended to do) then you've SEEN 80% of the material on this CD, and don't need to spend $11 to only hear it. But if you haven't seen the comedy central series, then I think the CD is a worthwhile purchase.

A lot of people seem to dislike this album (I've read some very mixed reviews) but I thought it was very good. No, it's not constant laugh-out-loud funny, but the sketches are very amusing and entertaining - most of them have stories to follow so you're chuckling or laughing as you follow the plot. "Tex Hooper" is long (about fourteen minutes) but hilarious - crude, childish, but hilarious. The cameos by Will Ferrell (doing his Harry Carey voice), Jon Lovitz and others are not intrusive and Norm's acerbic wit is at its best.

Some aren't as good as others - I didn't care for "Gambling Sportscaster" - but in particular "Fantastic Four" was very funny. If you're a fan of Norm it's a must.

This CD is, in fact, ridiculous. I LOVE Norm and have been a fan for 10 years. I have always wondered why--and lamented that--he has never released a comedy album. So, when I saw this I thought great, finally a Norm album. Well, yes and no. This is Norm MacDonald and it is ostensibly comedy, but it is not a comedy album per se. This is NOT an album recorded at a performance of any of his stand-up routines. This is a collection of random audio skits which range from really funny to utterly terrible. I'm not sure why he chose to make this his first comedy CD. I listened to it once and I don't think I ever will again. Nothing memorable, and only a few good laughs. Please Norm, release some of those 90's stand-up gems on CD.