Time
JUNE 8, 1998 -- BY JOEL STEIN

Q&A: Norm Macdonald

MacDonald, once of Saturday Night Live, stars in and co-wrote Dirty Work, opening June 12.

You're a good-looking guy. Good-looking guys aren't funny.

I'm not that good-looking.

You're a good-looking guy.

For a comedian. But not for a real person. I have some weird things that make me unattractive.

Things I don't want to know?

No. I just have a weird voice and an odd personality.

Did that hurt you with the ladies?

Well, girls aren't interested in funny guys.

They say they are.

What it is is they laugh at everything a super-handsome guy says. On SNL when hosts would come in who were super-handsome...

Like?

I can't say.

Because you don't want to say he's not funny, or because you don't want to say you find another man attractive?

I don't want to slam him. But he wasn't funny at all, but girls would laugh like crazy.

First you're fired from Weekend Update for not being funny, then college kids throw beer bottles at you during a show. You ever think, "Hey, maybe I'm not funny"?

I think if you're funny, some people are going to hate you.

So you were so funny people threw things at you?

Exactly.

That's pretty funny.

If you meet a guy who everybody thinks is funny, he's not funny.

He's just good-looking.

Yeah.

When that happened, you were playing Quinnipiac College. You need a new agent.

He's not around anymore.

Do you read the news anymore?

No. I'm completely uninterested. You're a guy up on the news. What is this Pakistan thing? Is this a dangerous thing that could affect me?

No. Don't worry about it.

© 1998 Time. All Rights Reserved.