We're a little upset this isn't celebrated as an anniversary, but apparently, the UI athletic department was (metaphorically) firebombed to hell 12 years ago. During a fundraiser.
We're not giving away the answer yet--although if you're over 30 or have read the Hlog today, you already know--but it prompted this surreal recap in the Daily Iowan, featuring one of the single finest two-sentence stretches in journalistic history, helpfully boldtagged for your convenience:
About 80 percent of the 1,300-person audience left during [his] performance, said UI Men's Athletic Director Bob Bowlsby, who was among those who walked out. Athletic department officials contemplated pulling [him] off stage, said Rick Klatt, UI assistant athletic director for external affairs. However, most of the audience members who remained laughed and applauded [his] routine.
[He] frequently used the word "fuck," described his own masturbation habits and offered his opinions on anal sex between homosexual men. His jokes about women having sex with pigs also appeared to offend the audience. As parents led their teenage children out of the auditorium, [he] said, "What do you want me to talk about -- losing my luggage at the airport?" and, "What did they expect, for me to hold up a picture of Yassir Arafat and make a joke?"
"[His] performance was anything but comedy," Bowlsby said. "It was profane, vulgar, and off-color. The last thing I want to do is to suppress anybody's First Amendment rights, but I feel his material is inappropriate in the majority of venues in America."
So who is it and why are we talking about it now?
ANSWER: Norm MacDonald, and for the first time since that fateful performance, the man is coming back to Central Iowa.
As Hlas noted, Norm is appearing at the Riverside Hotel and Casino on October 25, which if our math is correct is, uh, carry the one... next Tuesday? We never learned calendars.
Actually, it's a Sunday, the night after a road date with Michigan State. Perhaps that was mandated by the UI: "Norm's trying to set a date for Riverside." "We going to have any fans staying the weekend?" "That was one of his first choices..." "Then he ain't coming!"
Norm is, in case you couldn't tell, a heavy influence on us at BHGP. Yes, we know, shocking. and although the Hloggeur chose a fine YouTube to represent ol' Norm's style, we prefer something more longform, something you could probably better expect in October. We like to think a little bit of this goes in everything we write:
Norm MacDonald @ Sports Awards, 1998 (via fivealex2009)
Oh, who are we kidding? Nobody's got stones like that.