STAND-UP TUESDAYS: Mark Normand

July 29th, 2014

Angie Frissore

Stand-Up Tuesdays is a weekly comedy spotlight written by the wonderfully talented Angie Frissore. Covering both known and unknown comics, Stand-up Tuesdays is your new source for all things funny.

This week, Angie puts a spotlight on Mark Normand’s comedy career. If you or your comedy troupe would like to be featured on Stand-Up Tuesdays, please email utgjames@gmail.com.

Though my to-do list keeps growing exponentially, there’s one album that’s been waiting patiently for its chance to shine in Stand-Up Tuesdays. Mark Normand’s debut comedy album, Still Got It, was released digitally by Comedy Central a couple of weeks ago, coinciding nicely with the airing of the comedian’s recent taping of The Half Hour. Still Got It is a nice little throwback to an old-Hollywood style of performing, as Normand fluidly cracks wise through his set, while pointing out some insightful and hilarious observations on modern society.

Taped at Madison, Wisconsin’s Comedy Club on State, Still Got It offers Normand riffing on the similarities between religion and magic, stereotypical racism, and not being manly (and being fine with it). While he seems to hesitate a bit at the start of his set, he soon finds his pace and doesn’t look back.

“You never really meet an ignorant gay guy,” Normand observes. “You never meet a gay guy who’s like, ‘I only love three things: my truck, my gun, and dick.”

Still Got It proves why Normand is a fast-rising talent on the national comedy scene. In 2013, Normand appeared on TBS’s Conan and Comedy Central’s Inside Amy Schumer, and in 2012, he was featured on John Oliver’s New York Stand-up Show on Comedy Central. He’s been featured in festivals and clubs nationwide, and was recently included in Rooftop Comedy’s Live From Jamestown album.

As a critic, I’ll admit I’m more than likely exposed to a higher amount of comedy than most people – my time is saturated with it, thusly, the notion that there is one joke that Normand uses on his album, his The Half Hour special, as well as Live From Jamestown at first struck me as repetitive. But, that is to be expected when one digests as much stand-up as I do. And at least it’s really quite funny stuff, so even if you hear it a few times, you’ll still laugh.

Check out Mark Normand’s Still Got It today via Comedy Central, and get in on a talent that is sure to makes waves in stand-up.