Culture My Lost Vegas Weekend With Norm MacDonald
The comedian loved to gamble, and he had a unique system designed to rein in his “crazy” tendencies—but it didn’t always work.
By Michael Kaplan
September 16, 2021 “The worst thing is when you lose a lot of money and someone at the table thinks you’re a billionaire because you’ve been on TV a couple times,” said Norm, pictured here in 2003.Shutterstock As far as cushy gigs go , this one was sweet for Norm Macdonald: Fly from Los Angeles to Las Vegas on a Saturday morning, do stand-up comedy that night, collect $40,000 in cash. But there was a potential catch when it came to playing Vegas. “If I’m in a casino,” Norm explained to me, “I’m gonna gamble.”
It was 2006, and I’d been commissioned by Playboy to do a story on Macdonald—a story that, owing to vagaries of magazine decision-making not made clear to me, never saw the light of day. At the time, of course, Norm was regarded as one of the most talented comedians in showbiz. He had been juggling a lot in the decade after his memorable five-year run on Saturday Night Live had made him famous—movies, roasts, television, a recently-released sketch comedy album. Beyond the work, though, the comedian’s penchant for gambling was pretty well-known. I had already done a piece for which I played in his home poker game. The plan this time was different: He would do his standup act in Vegas and then try to double his payment by gambling at the tables, with me riding shotgun.
Before we got started, I suggested to Norm that it might be expedient if he got paid in chips. He pursed his lips and replied, “That would be the ultimate insult – especially if they paid me extra. It would mean that they had a read on me.” At the Mirage once, Norm began with $5,000, promptly lost $2,000, and impulsively bet his remaining $3,000 on a single hand of blackjack. Norm performed at House of Blues in Mandalay Bay. Dressed in baggy cotton slacks, Tommy Bahama golf shirt, and a black leather jacket, he killed. After closing the show, Norm stashed half of the $40,000 in his Mandalay suite’s wall-safe. Then we cabbed it to the […]
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