Yeah, it is tempting to think Norm is very dim-witted given his deliberate choice of slower tempo and buildup, but you see things like his Larry-King-interviews-Larry-King skit https://youtu.be/7A6ba43XuOg?t=122 and like he immediately cracks a situational joke without missing a beat and actual-Larry-King catches it immediately and falls over laughing, and only then do I process it and start laughing myself.

I kept thinking about clues to figure out the punchline:

podiatrist, going to be something about feet... psychiatrist vs podiatrist, some kind of pun incoming...

...then you both want to strangle him and fall on the floor laughing simultaneously.

I never dove too deep but always liked him a lot, and I have to agree his delivery was exceptional. I knew about 10% of the way in this was a shaggy dog joke, but he kept me second guessing that the whole time. And he had such a dopey style of speaking, like he was just as surprised and amused by what he was saying as if he was out of body listening to himself. Which is totally disarming when done well.

I respected his comedy, but a lot of it was "comedy for comedians" which highlights the level of his craft. I think his fatal flaw was he never wanted to stoop to the general audiences too much.

Unfortunately his comedy is held up by way too many people as a gatekeeper to "true appreciation of comedy" which is ridiculous. That always seemed part of the self-destructive aspect of top comedy, which almost always is a public face of deep depression.

Norm was a tragic figure, much like many of the comedic greats.

Someone posted a quote from his book on Reddit, I didn't know he had one so I went to go buy it, it sold out while it was in my cart. Now there's just a "collectible" version for $550. People are awful.

Try this one.

https://youtu.be/NMRd-n_s4c8