How to go
Who: Norm MacDonald
When: 7 p.m. Saturday, March 27
Where: Dave Finkelman Auditorium, Miami University Middletown, 4200 E. University Blvd.
Cost: $30 for adults, $20 for students/youth and $25 for senior citizens. $75 for VIP ticket.
MIDDLETOWN — Comedian Norm MacDonald appears at Miami University Middletown on March 27, and he hasn’t worked out his routine yet.
That’s just the way the “Saturday Night Live” veteran likes it. He never tries to figure out in advance what the audience will like - and he got that advice from his comedy mentor, Bill Cosby.
MacDonald opened for Cosby. He said Cosby told him “I did not know how to succeed, but I know how to fail - by trying to please everybody,” he said.
MacDonald adopted that stance, saying, “I had to do something and let the audience take it. It’s impossible to know what the audience will do. If you’re trying to second-guess the audience, you’re even more at a loss. If you do comedy, you have to do what makes you laugh,” MacDonald said.
MacDonald may target such topics as Tiger Woods’ impending return to golf, and a subject that’s near and dear to the native Canadian’s heart - his country winning gold medals at the Olympics.
“And whatever else happens between now and then,” he added.
MacDonald’s comic style is to think about a subject and to “try to find the flaws in the logic of the story.” For example, he had a routine about a man who said he killed his family because the devil told him to do it.
“What would happen if it was not the real devil and you did this just because your buddy Bob was pulling a prank on you?” MacDonald asked.
MacDonald honed his comedic skills when he found out that comedy pays better than construction.
“I was 22 and I was doing manual labor. I went to a comedy club and the guys there weren’t very funny. I was following people like George Carlin and Robert Klein. I said ‘I can keep up with these guys.’ I was making $18 a day doing construction, but $50 a set doing stand-up. That was my ‘ah-ha’ moment,” he said.
MacDonald is probably best remembered for his 1990s stint on “Saturday Night Live,” where, among other things, he was the “Weekend Update” anchor, following in the footsteps of Chevy Chase and Dennis Miller.
“I loved ‘Saturday Night Live’ - it was the place other than stand-up that let you write your own stuff, rather than performing somebody else’s words,” he said.
Of course, MacDonald hopes his own words will leave the audience laughing, as long as it’s in the right way.
“That’s the other thing Cosby told me. It’s important how you leave the stage. People can laugh all the way through a show and afterwards they’ll feel bad about laughing. If they’re smiling afterwards, that feels nice,” MacDonald said.
Mike Williams, the director of marketing for MUM, said the University had been looking at ways to increase name recognition in its Artist & Lecture series, and when the idea came up to do a comedy show, “Norm just sort of fell into place.”
The show will be at 7 p.m. March 27 at Dave Finkelman Auditorium. Tickets cost $30 for adults, $20 for students/youth and $25 for senior citizens. There is also a $75 ticket that offers VIP seating and a post-concert reception with McDonald.
Tickets can be purchased at the MUM box office at Johnston Hall, by calling (513) 727-3383, or ordering online at tickets.muohio.edu.
The next installment of the series features country singer Marty Stuart on May 8.
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2836 or erobinette@coxohio.com.
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