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Liam Noble Shearer /

The Unsolved Puzzle of Norm Macdonald

Judd Apatow’s Norm Macdonald documentary celebrates the legend but skirts the man.
A person wearing a yellow baseball cap and dark jacket holds a microphone while smiling against a turquoise and white striped background.
Illustration by Noah Hickey/The Dispatch (Photo via Getty Images).

Former NBC executives, personal friends of O.J. Simpson, and former hosts of The View notwithstanding, most people would agree that Norm Macdonald was a legend. He was a comedian’s comedian, revered by his colleagues in the vein of George Carlin or Richard Pryor. But whereas Norm might once have receded into comedy history, remembered chiefly through affectionate anecdotes from his peers, his material has enjoyed a resurgence in the streaming and short-form video age.

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Liam Noble Shearer is a Scottish writer, former U.K. parliamentary aide, and the operations manager at Fighting for a Free Future.

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