Norm Macdonald Says PC Culture Has Ruined His Comedy
Norm Macdonald opened up to TMZ in a recent interview, talking about how he feels his comedy is no longer as funny as it should be due to the steps he has to take to make sure he doesn’t offend politically correct audiences.
Speaking to a TMZ reporter on Friday at the Los Angeles International Airport, Macdonald was asked if he feels as if he is “walking on eggshells” during his comedy shows in today’s environment where people are more likely to take offense at off-color jokes or social media comments. The 59-year-old comedian answered in the affirmative, explaining that he no longer has the freedom to try new routines to see what works and what doesn’t.
When asked if the starting point in his comedy is “tamer” nowadays, Norm Macdonald said that his act is more “calculated and thought out,” but added that it isn’t as funny as it used to be because of how he has to play things safer these days.
“It’s way less funny. Other than that it being not as funny, it’s wonderful. It doesn’t hurt anyone’s feelings anymore, but virtually no one laughs. So it’s a tradeoff.”
Macdonald did not specifically use the words “politically correct” or the abbreviation “P.C.” to refer to the people he tries to please. However, he told TMZ’s reporter that he currently tries to keep his act clean for a small percentage of the audience “that [ruins] it for everyone,” as opposed to the majority of people who watch stand-up comedy shows as a form of escape and don’t get offended by the jokes.
“I cater my performance to a tiny group of people that hate me,” Macdonald lamented toward the end of the interview.
Norm Macdonald Says He's Not Funny Anymore Thanks to PC Culture https://t.co/klKtfe3pDi
— TMZ (@TMZ) November 2, 2018
As noted by TMZ, Macdonald’s comments about politically correct culture affecting the quality of his comedy came close to two months after he was strongly criticized for remarks he made in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter. In that interview, he said that the current mindset in Hollywood of “admit wrongdoing and you’re finished” isn’t healthy because it doesn’t allow people a second chance after acknowledging their past actions and apologizing for them. Macdonald then mentioned close friends Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr as examples of why such a mindset could be dangerous.
Furthermore, Macdonald also told the Hollywood Reporter that he was glad the #MeToo movement had “slowed down a little bit.” According to a previous report from TMZ, the Canadian comic drew even more controversy when he went on the Howard Stern Show and tried walking back the above remarks by joking that “you’d have to have Down Syndrome to not feel sorry” for sexual abuse victims.
