Norm Macdonald Had the Best Joke About Rob Schneider’s Act

Conan O’Brien’s sidekick Andy Richter once described the late, great Norm Macdonald’s legendarily long-winded jokes as, “It’s like someone saying, ‘I gotta show you something,’ and then they take you on a four-mile hike to show you a dog turd.” Rob Schneider’s act is different — he starts and ends with turds.

This past week of social media trends has featured an explosion of praise for Conan following his chaotic Hot Ones interview, a deep dive into Macdonald’s legendary insults after the death of his old adversary O.J. Simpson and a deluge of digs on Schneider due to a Politico report that claimed that, late last year, the comic was ejected from a holiday gala for prominent Republican political figures for being too “gross and vulgar.” The comedy world has seemingly slipped into a portal back to the late 1990s with these three figures continuing to make headlines, but the real peak of their combined humor potential came during an episode of Conan in 2016, when, in front of the entire extended Adam Sandler entourage, Macdonald told a minute-long joke about Schneider’s place in the Sandlerverse chain of command.

It’s important to understand that Macdonald and Schneider were very close friends throughout their careers, so in the below clip, Macdonald’s joke originates from a much more loving place than where we’re receiving it now:

This clip comes from an interview where Sandler, Schneider, Macdonald, Nick Swardson and David Spade were promoting their “Here Comes the Funny” comedy tour, so the show Macdonald’s describing is a real one that actually happened across America for a couple months in 2016. Besides Macdonald himself, every comic in those awkwardly arranged couch bleachers has been the butt of a mean Twitter joke about how hack comedians continue to find success, so it’s very telling Macdonald chose Schneider to be the punchline of the meandering story. 

That being said, Schneider and Macdonald remained close friends and colleagues until Macdonald’s passing in 2021, but according to Conan, death didn’t stop Macdonld from ragging on his old friend. During the “Remembering Norm Macdonald” memorial/comedy special at the 2022 Netflix Is a Joke festival, Conan said in his speech, “I’d like to start by telling you the very last words that Norm Macdonald spoke on this earth. He said, ‘When I go, make damn sure they have a memorial for me. See to it that it’s part of a much larger festival promoting a streaming service. Make sure you arrange it hastily and have it early in the morning. And, damnit, make certain that many of the tributes are on video tape, and Rob Schneider is featured prominently!'”