Norm Macdonald Made Tim Allen Totally Uncomfortable With Questions About His Time in Prison
Comedy is a game with simple rules — three is the magic number, always reply with “yes, and…” and, if there’s a topic that is uncomfortable to you, Norm Macdonald will bring it up on camera.
When proud conservative comedian and convicted drug smuggler Tim Allen joined Macdonald on Norm Macdonald Live in 2017, it didn’t take long for Macdonald to make Allen squirm with some abrupt and agonizing queries about the Home Improvement star’s 28-month stint in federal prison for trafficking over 650 grams of cocaine into the U.S. Macdonald’s question came as such a surprise to Allen that he almost started naming names before Macdonald could even finish the joke.
In typical Macdonald style, it’s an excruciatingly long setup to get to a very simple punchline, and Allen’s discomfort becomes increasingly palpable the more Macdonald details his past misdeeds. It wouldn’t be like Macdonald to clear any kind of touchy question with an interviewee, and it’s plainly apparent that this was a curveball that Allen didn’t see coming.
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Allen handled the awkward interaction as well as anyone who spent two years in prison for drug crimes could navigate a question about selling cocaine. In fact, the Santa Clause star gets points for his quick quip, “You just learn to pick soap up with your feet, that’s all that I learned,” though given how Allen ultimately got sprung from the joint, he probably should have added, “and you get out early if you rat out all your friends.”
