Jim Norton (comedian)

Early life

Jim Norton was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. His mother was a librarian and his father was a former marine and army reservist who later worked as a driver for the US postal service. Norton grew up in North Brunswick, New Jersey, and attended North Brunswick High School. During this time, at age 13, Norton started to drink heavily, "mostly vodka and grain alcohol" because it got him drunk quicker. "That feeling of discomfort that was always there, wasn't there when I drank. It was just a way of feeling comfortable ... I was horribly insecure, horribly shy, always feeling ugly and weak". At 16, Norton started to cut himself with a razor blade in an attempt at "attention-seeking ... It was "notice me!" crap. I was 16, 17, and drunk. I never did that stuff sober". He then missed some schooling, including his graduation from high school, after his alarmed parents sent him to a rehab facility in Princeton, New Jersey for one month, where he continued to sneak in alcohol but changed his thinking and completed the course at 18. When he was away, his class had voted him as class clown. Norton had his last drink at New Year's Eve 1985 going into 1986, and has been teetotal and drug free since. After being sober for around three years, he obtained his GED and attended Middlesex County College for one semester, where he received "one B and three F's".

Stand-up

Norton wished to be a stand-up comedian at age 12. He took an interest to comedy after his mother would bring comedy albums home from her work, and named Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Woody Allen, and Robert Klein as his early favourites. He performed his first stand-up routine in April 1990 at an open mic night at the Varsity pub in Sayreville, New Jersey when he was 21. He later described his performance as "awful". He then spent the following five years working on his stand-up in the New Jersey, Boston, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Florida areas with fellow comedians Jim Florentine and Bob Levy who were coming up at the same. Around ten years into his stand-up career, Norton felt he found his voice and felt comfortable enough on stage.

After his appearance on The Louie Show in 1997, Norton landed the opportunity to open for comedian Andrew Dice Clay on tour,which lasted through 2000. While Opie and Anthony were off the air from 2002 to 2004, the situation encouraged Norton to write a considerable amount of new material which he recalled improved his performance and writing. He assembled a new, 45-minute act and, in 2003, he released his first comedy album, Yellow Discipline. In April 2005, Norton released his second comedy second album, Trinkets I Own Made from Gorilla Hands. In the same month he filmed a pilot episode for a Comedy Central sitcom named Lucky Louie with comedian Louis C.K., playing as Louie's friend Rich, and filmed his first half-hour HBO comedy special as part of the network's One Night Stand series, at a sold out show after his manager informed him of the chance to perform a showcase in the New York City area.

Norton frequently tours the United States, performing at well-known comedy clubs. In 2004, Norton was voted best comedian and breakthrough performer of the year on the Cringe Humor website, which is dedicated to some prominent New York comedians. Norton frequently performs at Caroline's and the Comedy Cellar. Norton was the best man at Rich Vos' 2005 wedding to Bonnie McFarlane. Dom Irrera has described Norton as one of today's best comedians. He returned to the 2007 tour as well.

Norton's 2012 special, Please Be Offended on Epix. This was succeeded by the 2013 special American Degenerate. American Degenerate premiered on Netflix on November 21, 2013. Most recently Norton released his special Contextually Inadequate on April 24, 2015 on Epix.

Radio

In 2001, Norton became a co-host of the Opie and Anthony radio show on WNEW in New York City, with hosts Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia. He first appeared on the show in 2000 with Clay during his time opening for him on tour and became a regular guest and sat in on some shows. In November 2000, Norton was arrested with comedian Lewis Black and show producer Rick Del Gado during their live reports on board the Teen Voyeur Bus, a transparent bus of topless women driving around the city. It so happened that the bus' route was also the route that the president was also taking that day, but the show was not informed of the news. In August 2002, the show was cancelled following the controversial Sex for Sam 3 segment and remained off the air for two years. Norton returned to the radio with Hughes and Cumia on XM Satellite Radio, an uncensored satellite radio service, in October 2004.

In October 2008, Norton was sued by New York City attorney Roy Den Hollander over his treatment during a phone interview on the radio show. In August 2009, The New York Post reported that Hollander was willing to drop his suit if Norton would also drop his motion to have Hollander sanctioned for filing a baseless claim, as well as being forced to pay Norton's legal fees.

On December 2, 2009, Norton had an on-air argument with Jesse Ventura over the September 11 attacks and measures against illegal immigration. Ventura was arguing against what Norton claimed was the Border Patrol practice of stopping individuals and asking for ID deep within US borders, claiming that such actions were unconstitutional. At some point, when Norton disagreed with him on this, Ventura suggested that Norton did not believe in the Constitution, to which Norton strongly objected. Soon after, as the argument became more heated, Ventura walked off the air and the two exchanged explicit comments towards each other.

On May 27, 2010, The Jim Norton Show premiered on Raw Dog Comedy. Norton hosts the program, which features other comedians as well as clips of live stand-up.

Norton debuted an Internet talk show on the video streaming channel VICE, in June 2014. Guests included comedians Dave Attell, Whitney Cummings, and Gilbert Gottfried, and Mike Tyson, Dana White and Rick Ross.

After Cumia was fired from SiriusXM in July 2014, Hughes and Norton continued to broadcast and became the hosts of Opie with Jim Norton, during which time the channel was renamed Opie Radio. The show ended in September 2016. During this time, Norton also hosted a weekly advice show on SiriusXM, The Jim Norton Advice Show.

In October 2016, Norton became the host of Jim Norton and Sam Roberts with former Opie and Anthony intern and producer Sam Roberts. Norton has his own playlist segment on Ozzy's Boneyard channel on SiriusXm Radio.

In 2016, Norton raised money through Indiegogo for a project that involved an animated cartoon project, The Chip Chipperson Show. Norton voices the title character as well as his other creations such as Uncle Paul, Jelly, Edgar Mellencamp, and Ted Scheckler.

Jim is the current host of the first UFC sponsored podcast UFC Unfiltered, with former fighter Matt Serra.

Television

In 2004, Norton's regular two-year spot on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn ended after the show was cancelled, and his place on the second season of Last Comic Standing was lost because of a contractual obligation to film around pilot episodes for MTV, something he secured following the success of his One Night Stand special. None of the pilots made it to the air.

Norton's first half-hour HBO special aired on October 21, 2005. His second was filmed in 2007 which aired live on October 13 that year. In 2006, Norton landed the role of Rich on the HBO series Lucky Louie. Rich is a foul-mouthed, perverted, "ill-informed", straight shooting character who 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 June 2008, Norton appeared in several episodes of The Gong Show with Dave Attell as one of the celebrity judges. Since mid-2007, Norton has been a regular guest on Red Eye w/ Greg Gutfeld on the Fox News Channel. On June 21, 2010, Norton guest-hosted Red Eye. Norton has also appeared regularly as a correspondent for The Jay Leno Show as Jim Norton: The Uninvited Guest. Starting in 2010, Norton began appearing in Louis CK's FX sitcom, Louie.

Books

In early 2007, Norton announced the near completion of his first book, a collection of stories of his life with anecdotes from his childhood and his comedy career. Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch was released on July 10, 2007. It reached No. 4 on The New York Times Best Seller list under hardcover non-fiction, and entered the Amazon.com Top 10 for books the day it was released, peaking at No. 7.

Norton released his second book, I Hate Your Guts, on November 4, 2008. It reached No. 13 on The New York Times Best Seller list under hardcover non-fiction.

Film

Norton has had various cameo appearances such as in the 2002 film Spider-Man and the 2008 film Zack and Miri Make a Porno. Norton described the role in Spider-Man as being a quarter-step above being an extra. He has also appeared in the films Furry Vengeance , Cop Out" and Special Correspondents.

Norton had a pivotal role in the film Courting Condi, counseling Devin Ratray on how to win the heart of Condoleezza Rice.

Personal life

Norton lives in New York City, and is a fan of heavy metal and hard rock including Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, and KISS.

Selected works

Albums

DVDs/Specials

Books