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Last year, TBS changed their renowned slogan "very funny" to the absolutely edgy "veryfunny". It seems that the space was getting in the way of funniness, as spaces are wont to do. As to continue this commitment to funny, they are developing more comedy programming to go along with the previously mentioned shows from Deon Cole and Ashton Kutcher and their Big Bang Theory reruns. Two of those shows, Most Likely and Zone Lord, will be produced by TBS's boyfriend, Conan O'Brien, and one show, Norm MacDonald is Trending, will star Norm MacDonald and likely be beloved by his fans and overlooked by his non-fans. The breakdowns [...]

Norm Macdonald said yesterday on the Dennis Miller Radio Show that he'd happily write jokes for Eddie Murphy's Oscar hosting gig. His vote of confidence is pretty convincing: "Eddie’s become a little zen-like… He’s stepped back a little from the 'crazy Eddie' of old. I think this is going to burst him back to the 'incredibly funny Eddie Murphy,' and I can’t wait to see him.” Let's hope the "Eddie Murphy camp" takes Norm up on his offer.

Here's a fun exclusive clip from the upcoming DVD release of Norm MacDonald's Me Doing Standup. It didn't make it into the broadcast, but it'll be included as a deleted scene if you shell out for the hard copy when it's released on the 14th, along with a few others. In it, Norm talks about the lousy deal that agreeing to be a designated driver is. And you know what? The guy's right. That's why I always try to drink within walking distance of my apartment, as being a mess at that distance is a lot less risky.

When Norm MacDonald was hosting SNL's Weekend Update, his relationship with the studio audience was a serious chunk of his charm. He would repeatedly put the audience on the defensive, making them feel like they shouldn't laugh at something, and then force them to laugh anyways. It was that push and pull that made Norm feel a bit of a badass; he wasn't going to come to the audience, he was going to make them to come to him.

But the audience for Norm's new show, Sports Show with Norm MacDonald, is a different animal entirely, and not in a good way. Almost every joke he told in last [...]

If you want to fan the flames of your excitement boner/lady boner for tonight's premiere of Sports Show With Norm MacDonald on Comedy Central, then go read the entirety of the Norm MacDonald A.V. Club interview. Everything he says is a dark gem. Rather than discuss his new gig, MacDonald instead explains why stand-ups can't act, insults Jerry Seinfeld and reveals the exquisite pleasure of completely bombing. "I guess what I find funny is that when I’m bombing, I start smirking; then they fucking hate me. Because they think I’m making fun of them or something. But the reality of it makes me laugh," Norm muses. "If I’m [...]

While not the most versatile SNL cast member ever, Norm Macdonald is certainly one of the most beloved in the show’s storied history, having achieved cult hero status with comedy fans for his blunt, aloof style and his razor-sharp wit. Since he was ousted from the Weekend Update desk and subsequently left Saturday Night Live, Macdonald has struggled to find the proper vehicle for his comedy in the world of TV and films. His sitcoms (The Norm Show, A Minute with Stan Hooper) and Sports Show didn’t last long, while his movies (Dirty Work, Screwed) both flopped. Still, Norm Macdonald’s one of the funniest guys around, whether it be [...]

Every year, TV networks horde up pilots for potential new shows and then whittle this group down to a few programs that actually make it to air. While it's often the case that these passed-over pilots are rejected for good reasons, there have been tons of high-profile projects from respected comedy auteurs to get shot down by trigger-happy network brass (especially at Fox!). Let's take a look at some of the comedy series that almost were, and how they could have changed the careers of those involved and the face of television as we know it.

Norm MacDonald, the greatest talk show guest of all time, was on Conan's couch last night, and he was as unpredictable as we've grown to expect. He spent his time telling a rambling joke about Andy Richter, talking about his experimentations with S&M, and generally making it difficult for Conan to steer the conversation in any sort of coherent direction. Bless that man.

Tonight is an all new Sports Show with Norm MacDonald, and here are the first two minutes of it, which Norm naturally dedicates to Kobe Bryant calling a ref a not-too-appropriate name during a game and getting busted for it. Oh, Kobe! You're such a card! And also a seemingly terrible person.

These days Norm MacDonald is all over the place — he has a Comedy Central special, a Twitter feud with Steve Martin, a profile in the New York Times, and a new show that premieres tonight. So what better time to revisit one of his most hilarious achievements ever: creating the original Saturday Night Live Celebrity Jeopardy sketch, which is one of the funniest and most enduring in the show’s history. Thanks to Funny Or Die, all 14 sketches are available online. Here they are from start to finish.

Weekend Update is by far the longest running segment in Saturday Night Live's history, with the anchor position being one of the most coveted gigs on the show. Since the fake news sketch debuted in the show’s very first episode (then hosted by Chevy Chase), it’s been featured in just about every episode of the show (except for during the Lorne Michaels-less era in the early 80’s when it was retitled SNL Newsbreak and Saturday Night News). Weekend Update holds an important place in comedic history in that it served as the spiritual predecessor to other pieces of faux-journalism that came to dominate American comedy in the 21st century [...]

Why does Pitchfork, a website about indie music, review comedy albums? What makes them, music writers, occasional experts on comedy? Because both come on CDs? How do they choose which comedy albums they review? Why do they italicize movie and album titles but put TV show names in quotes? What do those rating numbers even mean? None of these questions are answered by today's review (6.5!) of Norm Macdonald's Me Doing Standup.

I recently interviewed Norm MacDonald about his new show, Sports Show with Norm MacDonald on Comedy Central. But in addition to talking about his new show, we also discussed his recent standup special, his approach to standup, why he's not the greatest actor, and what's going on with his friend Artie Lange.

If you enjoyed Norm MacDonald’s perpetually-grinning, surprisingly-understated stint on SNL’s Weekend Update in the mid-90’s, it's a safe bet that you’ll love Sports Show with Norm MacDonald. In his recent interview with A.V. Club, MacDonald commented on his time in that anchor chair this way: So on Update, the only real original thing was trying to take away the cleverness of the punchline and make it as blunt as possible. And then I tried to make the punchline as close to the setup as I could. And I thought that was the perfect thing. If I could make the setup and the punchline identical to each other, I would [...]