Jim Norton (comedian)
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Jim Norton (born July 19, 1968) is a professional comedian born and raised in New Jersey. He is heard on Free FM 92.3 New York's and XM Satellite Radio 202's The Opie and Anthony Show; has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno four times; co-starred in the short lived HBO series Lucky Louie; and had a cameo appearance in the film Spiderman. He is best known for his extremely raunchy brand of humor.
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[edit] Career
Norton decided he wanted to be a comedian at age 12 when he saw Richard Pryor's special Richard Pryor: Live in Concert. He became a comedian in the early 1990s, when comedian Jim Florentine helped Norton receive his first paying gig as a stand-up comic. Norton lived with Florentine for several years while they broke into show business.
[edit] Radio
Jim Norton became a regular guest on The Opie and Anthony Show on WNEW in the late 1990s after having numerous entertaining appearances both by himself and along with Andrew Dice Clay. In 2000, he was arrested with Lewis Black, Rick Delgado, and a busload of naked teen women in connection with a stunt performed on the show involving the transparent "Voyeur Bus", which drove through the streets of Manhattan with naked teen women dancing behind its windows. Before Norton became an official member of the show, it was canceled by Infinity Broadcasting due to the St. Patrick's Cathedral Sex for Sam 3 incident on August 15, 2002. Ever since the show returned to the airwaves in October of 2004 on XM Satellite Radio, Jim Norton has been an official member of The Opie and Anthony Show.
[edit] Television
For over a year, Norton was a regular guest on the Comedy Central TV show Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. He also was selected to be among the final twenty contestants for the second season of Last Comic Standing, but had to back out due to contractual obligations. Norton has been on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno four times, and The Late Show with David Letterman once.
In 2004, Norton was voted best comedian and breakthrough performer of the year on the Cringe Humor website, dedicated to some prominent New York comedians. Norton frequently performs at the Comedy Cellar, and sometimes performed at the weekly alternative standup "Eating It" show at the Luna Lounge before the bar's closing in 2005. He is friends with several other comedians, including Rich Vos, Reverend Bob Levy, Jim Florentine, Bill Burr, Colin Quinn, Robert Kelly, Patrice Oneal and Howard Stern sidekick Artie Lange. Artie admitted this on the Sid Rosenberg sports radio show on WAXY "790 The Ticket" in Miami in October of 2006. Norton was the Best Man at Rich Vos's 2005 wedding to Bonnie McFarlane. Dom Irrera has said that Norton is one of the best comedians performing today.
Norton was described as having "comedic integrity" by Colin Quinn in the final episode of Tough Crowd. Quinn defines comedic integrity as "the ability to critique all the hypocrisies in society, but also to be real enough to admit that you're as guilty as everyone else in the game." In Norton's bio, Judi Brown of the Aspen Comedy Festival says, "He's so brutally honest. He's very refreshing in a business where a lot of people are phony."
In 2006, Norton landed the role of Rich on the HBO show Lucky Louie. Rich is a foul-mouthed, perverted, "ill informed", straight shooting character that lives with his mother and deals pot to high schoolers for a living, departing from the traditionally tamer sitcom model of a supporting character. In September 2006, it was announced that the show would not be renewed for a second season.
During the month of June 2006, Norton began hatching what could be called his brain child: Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour. During August and September of that year, Norton was the headline comedian for some dates of Traveling Virus comedy tour. [1]
[edit] Selected works
His first CD was released in 2004 entitled Yellow Discipline. His latest CD, Trinkets I Own Made From Gorilla Hands, was released in April 2005. His half-hour HBO stand-up special aired on October 21, 2005, as part of the HBO Stand-up Series One Night Stand.
Norton is currently featured as the third microphone on The Opie and Anthony Show on XM Satellite Radio and CBS Radio.
[edit] Trivia
- Norton is an avid autograph and celebrity photo collector. In June 2006, he commented on the CBS radio show of his disdain for the New York Yankees after Derek Jeter's Turn 2 10th Anniversary Charity Event. He was upset that Jeter repeatedly avoided autographing a photograph for which Norton posed with the Yankee shortstop, and even more annoyed when he saw Jeter eagerly pose for a woman's photo. Norton also criticized Ron Guidry and Jim Leyritz, who did not show enthusiasm for his requests for a photo. With the exception of Joe Torre and Jason Giambi, Norton apparently felt snubbed by the star attendees, and claimed he was no longer a Yankee fan, and was considering supporting another team. As yet, he has not decided who he will root for, but only that he hates the Yankee players. (Of note, XM Satellite Radio made a $20,000 donation for their table at the event.)
- Norton also criticized Gene Simmons (of KISS fame) for blowing off Norton's request for an autograph, leading to an on-air tirade by Norton. Norton publicly disavowed his fandom of Gene Simmons. However, Gene Simmons eventually visited the radio show, and Norton confronted him on the subject. Simmons gladly took a photo this time and explained he was preoccupied at the event, not realizing Norton was there. Norton's faith seemed to be restored after this encounter.
- Norton is still a huge fan of Black Sabbath and frontman Ozzy Osbourne, vowing to defend them "to the death".
- He plays the role of Officer Morrison in video game Bully by Rockstar.
- Norton was once thrown out of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular for allegedly trying to sneak into the dancer's locker room while the girls rehearsed.
- In Norton's youth, he earned a record score for the computer game Asteroids, which got him a photo in a local New Jersey paper, his first known publicity.
- Norton had a one-liner cameo in the film Spider-Man. The line comes in the middle of the film where people on the streets of New York are being interviewed regarding what they think about Spider-Man. Norton, portraying the surly truck driver character, replies "He stinks and I don't like him".
