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Radio revives comic's career

by Dean Johnson
Friday, April 5, 2002








The last time comedian Jim Norton performed in the Boston area, he was on a bill at Andover's Comedy Palace with headliner Andrew Dice Clay. Ask a handful of established Boston comics if they know anything about Norton, and they'll just shrug their shoulders.


So why is Norton performing at Avalon tonight in a long sold-out gig? Why is the show part of a mini-tour that includes a 1,500-seat venue in New York City and a five-show stand in Philly for nearly 2,500 people?

The answer in three words: ``Opie and Anthony.''

Norton is the comic sidekick to the one-time Boston shock-talk duo that now has a nationally syndicated show heard locally on WBCN-FM (104.1) weekdays from 3-7 p.m.

Norton is the show's self-professed ``sniper,'' willing to say almost anything about almost anyone. Christopher Reeve, Princess Diana, John F. Kennedy Jr. - Norton has made bad jokes about all of them.

``I'm a pig, man, I'm awful,'' he admitted. ``But it's the way my mind has always worked. For me, the challenge is to make something funny out of something that isn't funny to most people. I hate the term `shock value' in comedy. People will either laugh or they won't laugh. Something's either funny or it's not funny.''

Norton hooked up with Opie and Anthony nearly two years ago after he first did their show with Dice Clay, and he knows the regular radio gig has jump-started his career. But the New Jersey native has been doing stand-up comedy for more than a dozen years. He has performed at both the Aspen Comedy Fest and Montreal's annual Just For Laughs event.

``I always wanted to do stand-up since I saw Richard Pryor on HBO back in 1980 when I was 11,'' he said. ``I've always wanted to be a good comic more than anything else.''

He didn't start out as one. ``The first time I tried stand-up was in a bar, and I bombed,'' he said. ``I bombed badly. I'm dirty now. I was filthy then, and it got to the point where I used to hope my shows would get canceled so I wouldn't have to go onstage.''

These days, Norton will try to cram as many as eight gigs into a single night if he's making the rounds of New York City's comedy clubs. He's not much of a writer, so he depends on the constant performing to come up with new material.

His Avalon show will include about an hour of stage time. Opie and Anthony will be doing their syndicated show today from WBCN's studios and are expected to be at Avalon.

``I genuinely like those dudes,'' Norton said, ``and they already have a great show without me. I know that. I'm not like a third partner or anything, I just fire some lines in here and there. I also know when to step back, let them roll and be a spectator.

``I'm the same person onstage that I am on the radio,'' he said. ``I just curse more onstage . . . and it's nice to know there are 850 people in Boston willing to throw their money down the toilet to see me.''

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