Steve O'Donnell

Steve O'Donnell joined me to discuss Mike Chisholm; stand up; Sarah Silverman; Norm MacDonald loving to tell comic road stories; Massapequa; Jerry Seinfeld; Carson Daly; Larry Jacobson & Groucho; Edward Everett Horton; Jim Norton; Jim Gaffigan; Jackie "The Joke Man' Martling; hating 50's stand-ups; Shelley Berman; Jack Carter; older Rickles on Kimmel; Pat Cooper; David Brenner; Regis Philbin; using his actual gym teacher on Letterman; Norm's impressions; interview with Jane Fonda; Norm's Clint Eastwood; doing a western bit on Sports Show; 25th Anniversary of the ESPY's; Cleveland Baron's mascot; Norm didn't drive; his memoir; Canada's 70's tourism catchphrase; SCTV; Ghoulardi (Ernie Anderson) leads him to Dave; cliches; his twin brother Mark who was more of an auteur and won a Tony for Hairspray; used for twin jokes on Letterman; appeared with his brother on Strangers with Candy; Sklar Brothers; America's Got Talent; Michael Winslow; Vegas residencies; first job as a greeting card writer; sent all his writings to Letterman and Merrill Markoe while working in a tape room at 30 Rock; his interview; having to give two weeks notice and hearing his jokes being told during that time; being told his work is witty; to laugh or not laugh; a typical Steve O'Donnell joke; bringing his parents to Late Night; midwestern slang for rain; doing Letterman was more than just a job; Jim Downey; his brother individually pre-signing books each with an original joke; Dave changes jokes on air for himself; Viewer Mail construction; Alsace or Al's ass; class clowns; Jeff Martin; many comedians wore eyepatches as babies; todays comedy writers are more diverse and better looking; now being one of the few non-performers on a writing staff; being great on podcasts; the trifectas in comedy performed by Brian McConachie, Eddie Gorodetsky, and Ken Keeler; history buffs Larry David & Conan O'Brien; writing on Great Minds with Dan Harmon; writing for the Chris Rock Show; pitching a bit about to Hannibal Burress and pretending to explain what bling is; Hugh Moore and Shy Tony; writing bad jokes; audiences laughing at straight lines or not knowing old sayings or bits and thinking they're new; "No good deed goes unpunished"; animals that speak foreign languages