Norm MacDonald wanted to prove he was ready for primetime after leaving Saturday Night Live.
Teaming with producer Bruce Helford (The Drew Carey Show), MacDonald developed a self-titled sitcom, The Norm Show, later shortened to just Norm, which like Carey's show, aired on ABC. The series bowed as a spring replacement in March 1999, getting three seasons in two calendar years (1999-2001).
Like Carey, MacDonald was surrounded by an ensemble that included Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne, The Conners), Max Wright (ex-ALF, Misfits of Science), and Ian Gomez, who had recurred on The Drew Carey Show, and had guested on Whose Line is it Anyway? during the Carey era. Gomez would later turn up on Supergirl for 1 season (season 2). Norm didn't follow Carey into syndication, however, due to not having enough episodes for daily reruns.
Edit, 8/28/23: Had to change the video. We have an excerpt with guest star Bob Einstein (aka Super Dave Osborne):
I remember exactly one exchange from Norm MacDonald's sitcom.
ReplyDeleteWhat you need to know is that Norm played a newly-hired social worker (see: last job you'd ever hire this guy for).
Filmed in front of a live audience.
Here's the exchange: Norm is trying to reposess a dog from a guy.
The Guy: Hey, you can't just take my dog away!
Norm: I'm a social worker! I can take your kids away!
The studio audience laughed, really hard.
Draw your own conclusions ...
He is abrasive, and social workers often get a bad rap, especially when it comes to separating families for the wrong reasons.
ReplyDelete