Norm Macdonald loved to make people uncomfortable. He enjoyed awkward silences, winding people up, repeating the same weird jokes, creating chaos. But he was also a softie. That’s the Norm Macdonald that comes across in untold anecdotes shared since his passing on Tuesday. Even some of the many clips dropped on social media attest to this. That Bob Saget roast segment he did? It ends with him getting serious and sincerely praising his good friend.
So here’s another heartwarming Norm story: Andy Richter — who was there for some of Macdonald’s top shelf Conan O’Brien appearances — shared a story from his sister about the time she ran into him at his office.
Got a text from my sister this morning pic.twitter.com/feOfB6h9n8
— Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) September 15, 2021
The run-in happened what sounds like quite a long time ago, when she was about 18. Richter was “in rehearsal or a meeting,” she wrote to him over text, and while she waited, Macdonald came into her office. They exchanged pleasantries, but instead of him brushing her off as just Andy Richter’s sister, he “seemed excited and sat down and talked to me for abtou an hour asking me questions about me.”
That’s rare, she said. “No one else that I’ve met that is ‘famous’ or even in your field of work has ever done that since,” Richter’s sister wrote. “Maybe he was just bored that day but I have never forgotten that. He also made me laugh. A lot.”
So there you have it. It’s yet another story about how Norm Macdonald was as decent off-screen as he was often giddily combative on-. And there’s a lot like it.
