Why Norm MacDonald was the Perfect David Letterman Guest

Norm first appeared

on the David Letterman program in 1990.

I

couldn't find definitively...

I thought he was on Star Search before Letterman, but...

They called it his network TV debut.

I'm willing to trust David Letterman when he says that.

So 1990, Norm Macdonald appears first time, at least first time on a big late night program like this.

And let's hear the standup comedy of Norm Macdonald.

I love the TV.

I was at a cat food commercial.

I said, the end of it said all natural food for your cat, all natural food, but cat foods made out of horse meat.

Yeah, that's the way it works in nature.

The cat right above the horse in the food chain.

Matter of fact, every time my kitty gets a little cooped up in the apartment, I tell you to take him down to the racetrack.

Let him stalk some prey down there.

So cute, and he comes trotting back with a stallion hanging out of his

mouth.

I picked that joke in particular from that set because it feels very Letterman-y.

In fact, when you hear him do his Letterman impression, like he tells a joke that Letterman tells, it's very much that cadence and delivery and rhythm that he's doing.

So it's almost like he's doing Letterman on Letterman.

It makes sense that these two guys had such a...

Kinship or I don't know, kindred spirits, whatever you want to call it, where Letterman obviously saw something in Norm that he loved, which I think is pretty rare for Letterman.

I mean, Letterman's a curmudgeon.

He's a closed off guy.