Norm’s fake late gift to Conan for The Tonight Show, given after Conan was leaving, is a great example of his sort of expectation-bending humor.
His appearances on The View are legendary examples of his ability to be uncontrolled and play the dumbest guy in the room at the same time while actually being the sharpest. His intentional subversion played off as uninformed is a seemingly one of a kind talent. There are videos of interviews where he describes some of the background to things he did on the show.
“Not everything has a point” just gets me. It’s amazing how the hosts just want to jump from talking point to talking point and just refuse to let the guest actually talk, which Norm really plays off of.
And lastly, the moth joke remains a shining example of his anti-jokes.
His monologues at roasts, awards shows, and the correspondents dinner were examples of not being afraid of anything.