Billy Collins

 

 This is an actual exchange that happened in real life.

 

ME: I actually have a movie premiering at the Woodstock Film Festival later this month.

 

BILLY COLLINS: Fuckin' A.

Norm

 

 

 

Absolutely gutted to hear about the passing of Norm Macdonald. I’ve never had a celebrity death hit me this hard. Not even close.

I’m afraid I don’t have the words to describe what Norm Macdonald meant to me. He was the Weekend Update anchor of my youth – and who can forget their first Update anchor? – but it was when I rediscovered him in adulthood that my enjoyment of his humor blossomed into admiration and – yes – love. Norm was more than a comedian; he was an institution, a touchstone, a guru without a creed, a secret shared by millions. He was warm, generous, subversive, paradoxical, and sometimes brutal. Above all, he was irresistibly funny. And – perhaps uniquely among comedians – he was at his absolute funniest when nobody was laughing. He didn’t care if you got the joke. He got the joke. He was perfectly happy to just be up there entertaining himself.

You can spend hours on YouTube gorging yourself on clips of Norm’s bizarre brilliance – and you should – but the moment that keeps coming back to me is his final appearance on Letterman, when for a brief moment he let his jester’s mask slip and showed the big, beating heart behind all his “gossip and trickery.” That’s how I’ll always remember him: as someone who lived life on his own terms, who wasn’t afraid to be vulnerable, and who knew that comedy, like life itself, is always an act of love.

(You can watch the whole thing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFjEvl43zYY&t=2s)

“Man, this is the greatest gig in the world, being alive. You get to eat at Denny’s, wear a hat, whatever you wanna do.” –Norm Macdonald

Thank you for living, Norm Macdonald. I hope they have Denny's wherever you are.