Bucket List Feature
Norm Macdonald Hates Polish Jokes
Me Doing Standup (Special) · Aired 2011
Why this bit hits
This bit is a perfect distillation of Norm Macdonald's comedic philosophy: a joke isn't just a setup and a punchline; it's a logical proposition that deserves to be scrutinized. He opens by stating he dislikes Polish jokes not for their offensiveness, but for their profound lack of logic. He then proceeds to tell one, but instead of rushing to the punchline, he painstakingly deconstructs every absurd detail of the setup.
The humor arises from Norm's genuine-sounding frustration with the joke's flawed premise. He gets hung up on the details that lesser comedians ignore: Why are two Polish men working in a sewer? How deep is it? Why would someone on the street ask them for a light? This forensic over-analysis, delivered in his signature meandering style, elevates a dumb joke into a brilliant piece of meta-comedy. The joke is no longer about Polish people; it's about the very nature of joke construction.
By the time he finally delivers the punchline, it's completely irrelevant. The audience isn't laughing at the joke itself, but at the hilarious and absurdly logical journey Norm took them on to get there. It's a masterclass in turning a simple idea on its head and finding comedy in the intellectual process of taking something stupid very, very seriously.
"Why are the Polacks in the sewer? That's the first question I have... What are they, sewer-dwelling Polacks?"
Transcript (excerpt)
Norm: I don't like Polish jokes. I'm not a big fan of Polish jokes. Not because they're... you know, mean or anything. It's the... the lack of logic is what I don't like. A guy will tell me a Polish joke, and then I'll be forced to ask him, like, a hundred questions before he can even get to the punchline, you know?
Norm: Like a guy tells me... he says, "There's a Polack on the street, and he wants a light for his cigarette. And he looks down, and he sees in a sewer, two Polacks working." ...And I go, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what are you talkin' about here? Why are the Polacks in the sewer?"