In estimating the adversities of life, we would seldom have much reason to complain of the evils we suffer, did we understand the dangers we daily escape. Norm MacDonald More Quotes by Norm MacDonald More Quotes From Norm MacDonald [Televised stand-up] never really makes me laugh. The only one I ever saw that I liked was Richard Pryor, and that was [shot on] film. Norm MacDonald sawsfilmlaughing In terms of merit, sports has mathematical statistics. That's how you know who the best player is. Norm MacDonald statisticsplayersports It got very tedious saying the same jokes in the same way with the same attitude. Norm MacDonald jokesattitudeway There's no such thing, of course, as an old-fashioned gay guy. They're the most decadent people. Norm MacDonald gayguypeople I don't have any ego about it, but I find there's not a great work ethic in show business. A lot of people are in it to make money, and coming from stand-up, you have to work so hard because almost nothing works, and if you lose the audience for three minutes, you're dead. Norm MacDonald work-ethicegopeople Stand-up has the best writers, because it's the hardest writing by a million miles. Norm MacDonald hardestmileswriting I like doing a funny show where I don't have to act and fall in love with a girl. Norm MacDonald falling-in-lovegirlfall There hasn't been an original voice in stand-up since Sam Kinison. Norm MacDonald originalsvoice I have always loved Las Vegas. It's a traditional place for lounge comics to perform, and I love that. Norm MacDonald traditionallas-vegasvegas 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 create a different kind of joke. Norm MacDonald differentkindperfect [sam] Kinison, when he started out, he'd come to Canada when I was first starting, and he'd always [bomb]. Norm MacDonald canadabombsfirsts I don't know anything about politics. I wouldn't put too much into my prediction on politics. Norm MacDonald predictionstoo-muchknows I completely understand why a businessman would fire me from 'Saturday Night Live'. Because he was seeing Jay Leno kill 10 minutes a night, doing his monologue with wall-to-wall laughs and applause, then I do 10 minutes a week to, sometimes, breathtaking silence. He's just listening for the laughs. Norm MacDonald wallfirenight Richard Pryor is my favorite stand-up ever. Norm MacDonald my-favorite I hate fame. I hate being recognized, because I don't know how to talk to people. Norm MacDonald hatefamepeople I don't have any ambition. Norm MacDonald ambition I'm not gay, so I don't know much about Broadway musicals. Norm MacDonald broadwaygayknows On Update, the only real original thing was trying to take away the cleverness of the punchline and make it as blunt as possible. Norm MacDonald updatesrealtrying I just like doing standup, that's all I'm interested in or good at. Norm MacDonald I'm not original, but I strive toward it as much as possible. I tried really hard on Weekend Update to do something that I considered original, which was, I tried to cut all cleverness out of the joke. Norm MacDonald updatesweekendcutting