'SNL' Legends Norm Macdonald, Kevin Nealon Bring Humor to Gillioz Theater

by Julian Spivey
Norm Macdonald and Kevin Nealon, two of the most underrated stand-up comics of the last 30 years, appeared at the Gillioz Theater in Springfield, Mo. on Thursday, August 20 for a night of hilarious comedy and a fascinating Q & A session following each of their sets.

Not only are Macdonald and Nealon vastly underrated, but both are among a small group of comics included in one of the most prestigious groups in comedic television – former anchors of Weekend Update on “Saturday Night Live.” In fact, Macdonald and Nealon are among the very best anchors to ever have that honor.

It’s not always easy to recap a night of stand-up comedy as jokes come at you so fast and furious that many of them will be hard to stick out at you by the end of the night and what you’re left with is the memory of seeing personalities you’ve come to love over the years rather than a remembrance of jokes or one-liners you can repeat to family and friends days later.

Macdonald and Nealon are two comedians that have made me laugh for many years on late night television talk show appearances, stand-up comedy specials and most importantly and memorably as cast members and Weekend Update anchors on ‘SNL,’ a show I developed a strong passion for as a teenager watching re-runs from the glory days of the early ‘90s on Comedy Central.

Because of this, I knew going into this night of comedy on Thursday that it would be memorable and fun despite whatever sets Macdonald and Nealon threw our way. And, those didn’t disappoint either.

Nealon is the more traditional stand-up comic of the two and spouts off hilarious one-liners and jokes one after another, whereas Macdonald is a more story oriented comic where the humor is often more in his lackadaisical delivery than the actual punchlines.

The highlight of Nealon’s set from watching in person, as it is in all of his comedy specials, is his Mr. Subliminal humor – which he turned into his most memorable character on ‘SNL’ – where he compliments audience members and the town in which he’s performing in and throws in little digs or burns quickly at the end of each sentence.

It’s almost a shame that Nealon went first on Thursday night at the Gillioz Theater – not because he was better than Macdonald, but because his structured set, though hilarious from start to finish, was almost completely forgotten about by the time Macdonald finished his set, which ran longer because of the humorous long-windedness of his act.

Macdonald’s set was certainly raunchier than Nealon’s – whose set would’ve worked well in a family setting. I’d say about 90 percent of Macdonald’s set revolved around sex in some fashion and the sheer quantity of rape jokes – one of those comedy taboos – was alarming. But, despite the fact that Macdonald dared to “go there” for much of his set every joke was spot on and hilarious and certainly proved that no topic is truly untouchable in stand-up comedy as long as it’s done right and done well.

The best part of Macdonald’s set was his takedown of Bill Cosby and his rape scandal remarking that a friend of his said that the worst part of the Cosby scandal was the hypocrisy of it all, with Macdonald interjecting that hypocrisy paled in comparison to the whole actually drugging and raping women thing. The typical Macdonald delivery of this was what truly made it one of the biggest side-splitting laughter moments of the night.

So much of Macdonald’s humor is almost impossible to get across in a review of his act, because he’s one of those rare and truly special comedians where so much of the humor is in the delivery rather than the jokes themselves. It’s almost as if sometimes Macdonald seems like a character he’s playing on stage, rather than himself.

One of the best things about his set was a little physical bit he did that I’m not even sure half of the audience realized was a bit, but rather thought was just an odd tick. About 20 minutes into his set Macdonald asked the audience if anybody had a cigarette. Someone threw one up on the stage and Macdonald basically used it as a prop for the rest of his set bringing it to his lips every so often in between jokes and stories and miming like he was going to light it before continuing on with his story, thought or joke. He must have done this 20 times throughout the remainder of his set, with some of us catching on that he was intentionally doing so after a few times of failing  to actually light the cigarette. He made it funny each and every time – but, like I said, I think only some of his in the audience realized it was a bit.

After both comedian’s sets the two came out on stage to do a lengthy Q & A session that was hilarious mostly because of Macdonald’s rambling stories and failure to stay on topic and the way Nealon made fun of him for doing so – claiming that Macdonald truly belonged on an old porch swing, whittling a stick while telling old-fashioned stories. The questions from the audience members where mostly insignificant and oftentimes annoying, but the comedians made the most of this segment and in some ways it proved to be the true highlight of the entire night with both comedians onstage together and seeming to have a blast all the while.

It was a true pleasure seeing two comedians who have entertained me so much since my childhood, especially Macdonald who has always been one of my two or three comedy heroes, along with probably David Letterman and Bill Murray and who’s style of comedy has always sat well with me and somewhat influenced my own sense of humor. It’s not often you get the opportunity to see two comedians of this stature on the same night and the entire time was truly a blast.

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