Jim Norton in ArtVoice

[SOS]

Do you want some discipline?

You Want Some Discipline?
Comedian Jim Norton on Being
Yellow and Blue All Over

Interview by Chris Baumgarden

Jim Norton’s current “Yellow Discipline Tour” is nothing short of a comedic masterpiece. Norton is on his way up—many consider him to be the premier comedian in the genre of shock. Affiliated with radio’s now late “Opie and Anthony Show” (which was cancelled in August for having a contest that concluded with a couple having sex in St. Patrick’s Cathedral) Norton has more time on his hands for the tour. The tour is named for a fetish whose details are best left to the imagination and, oh yeah, comedy.

Unlike many comedians, Norton uses no drugs or alcohol and he’s honest…really honest. He’s more like an Ozzy-obsessed, sniper jesting, self-loathing spokesperson for a society based on half-truths and dishonesty. Cut out the prostitutes and filth and he’s an upstanding citizen.

Norton is a genius. His stand-up is flawless, and best of all, it’s blue. The conservative atmosphere in today’s society suggests that “if it’s dirty, its wrong.” But comedians like Norton push the boundaries in new ways and open up fresh avenues for laughter. Lamentable or not, there is a reason why Jackass the Movie is number one in the country: because human beings often love to laugh at pain and discomfort. Jim Norton is painful and uncomfortable, yet there is also an underlying vulnerability to him.

Artvoice got a chance to talk to Norton during an offstage moment:
AV: Would you label yourself a particular kind of comedian?

Norton: Original and funny. Those are the only labels that matter.

AV: What is comedy?

Norton: Comedy to me is the one thing that keeps me from blowing my brains all over the wall.

AV: Should comedy be censored the same as movies, music, and television?

Norton: No. Of course not.

AV: On television and radio, do you have boundaries?

Norton: Yes. But as far as censoring it as a whole as far as people dictating what you say on your own CD or on HBO, absolutely not.

AV: Do you think it’s harder to “make it” being a “blue” comic?

Norton: I think that you have more vehicles if you’re clean-cut, because television is more available to you. However, look at Sam Kinnison, Andrew Dice Clay, Otto, Richard Pryor, or Lenny Bruce. There are so many comics that have said awful, rotten, controversial things and have become major forces in comedy.

AV: Is there anything progress in getting Opie and Anthony back on the air?

Norton: We don’t know yet, we’re still in limbo, and I wish I had something to tell you. It’ not like we’re being evasive...but when it comes to legalities it takes a long time.

AV: Everyone knows that you were a key element in the Opie and Anthony show, and consequently the show played a huge role in your stardom. There are hundreds of millions of Catholics worldwide and there were only ten million listeners of the show. Do you think that the cancellation was more of a result of who had more power, rather than who was morally right or wrong?

Norton: I think that any time you’re dealing with corporations, they’re going to panic probably a lot faster than they should. But is it about morals? Never. The same company that cancelled Opie and Anthony welcomed Michael Jackson to the Video Music Awards to get a standing ovation; and we all know what he paid to have go away, wink wink, nudge nudge. So no it’s never about morals—corporations don’t give a fuck about morals. If it were about morals all companies would be consistent in their morality, and they never are.

AV: Would you comment on the fact that because of Jim Koch’s (head the Boston Beer Co.) involvement with the Opie and Anthony scandal Boston bar owners protested by refusing to sell Sam Adams beer.

Norton: This is what I mean with morality and business—it’s all about grandstanding. It’s amazing how a bunch of bar owners never got together to dump beer to protest domestic violence caused by alcohol, or to protest drunk driving deaths of children, or anything else that alcohol has caused, see, so there’s an insincerity when they get up on this moral high horse. They want to protest something tasteless—and it was tasteless—but let’s get to the meat of the issue: that product you sell and profit from causes deaths of children every year, and that’s what you should be dumping it for. People just want to connect to an event; they want to marry themselves to an even just so they can feel bigger than they are, and that is revolting.

If you want to laugh at hard-hitting, intelligent humor, then Norton is your man. If you think that his form of humor is awful and disgusting, then check out those TBS re-runs of “Full House” weekdays at 7:30. Man, that Joey is one funny guy! And that Michelle, I‘d like to tussle her hair and call her a good egg—what a doll!

Jim Norton plays the The Riviera Theatre (692-2113) in North Tonawanda this Friday, November 1 at 8 pm. Tickets are available by Ticketmaster (716) 852-5000. Norton’s Web site is www.eatabullet.com

[Joe Orthex]

So that's Francine? cool. wondered what she looked like.
Oh and I agree with all that Lil Jimmy stuff. Nuke em all and let god sort em out I say.
Damn, I would pay 2 fiddy for Francine, fo shoa...

Can I use that Pic?

[SOS]

AV: Is there anything progress in getting Opie and Anthony back on the air?

Norton: We don’t know yet, we’re still in limbo, and I wish I had something to tell you. It’ not like we’re being evasive...but when it comes to legalities it takes a long time

Because of this article, I have a new found respect for Norton.

Yeah, sure.

[FreznoSmooth]

Picked this up at foundrymusic. Heres the linkage: http://www.artvoice.com/oct31_nov6_2...jimnorton.html