TV tip

"Hitler's Dog, Gossip and Trickery"

Norm MacDonald

Netflix

If I were King, Norm McDonald would be my court jester. His standup material is heavily reliant on the "I'm a self-effacing, old goofball — and possibly drunk  as I deliver these jokes" construct. Perfect. This is all beautifully on display in his new comedy special, "Hitler's Dog, Gossip and Trickery," now streaming on Netflix. Fans will recognize some older material, but the flow of the show and his joke blueprint are consistently killer. Typically, McDonald's bits come from the perspective of befuddled confusion about the modern world and technology from a guy nostalgic for times gone by — and then he delivers surprisingly dark and hilariously ludicrous payoffs. Observations on using sarcasm to avoid lying (which spins off into a wonderful confession about serial killing); a broken Lee Majors getting a late-life call from his agent with an offer for a hearing-aid ad; and the reality of how a son will remember a father who accidentally dies during a bout of auto-erotic asphyxiation are mournful — even uncomforable — but screamingly funny.