Mark Normand on Kevin Hart, Jerry Seinfeld, Dave Chappelle, & Getting Jumped In NYC I CLUB SHAY SHAY

TL;DR

Comedian Mark Normand shares his chaotic New Orleans upbringing, his crossdressing Black nanny Enus, bed-wetting trauma, and how comedy shaped his life.

Key Points

• 1.Mark started claiming to be Kevin Hart after bombing sets. Too ashamed to give his real name, he'd credit Hart — even pulled it off in front of Hart at the Comedy Cellar.
• 2.His Netflix special 'Numb' was shot in Boulder, Colorado. It's his second Netflix hour; he says material takes years to perfect and he already had new joke ideas after filming.
• 3.Mark grew up as the only white family in a poor Black New Orleans neighborhood. His dad bought a dilapidated mansion without running water, full of mice and termites, that they eventually converted into a bed and breakfast.
• 4.His family's nanny was a Black crossdresser named Enus who lived two doors down. With his dad always working, Enus taught Mark how to shave, fight, drive stick, and talk to women — all while wearing a wig and high heels.
• 5.Enus retrieved Mark's stolen bike by confronting a group of older guys with tools. He walked up in full drag, declared the bike wasn't theirs, grabbed it, and left — Mark called it 'the manliest thing I've ever seen.'
• 6.Enus was murdered in a hate crime — killed by a man who didn't know he was trans. Mark was around 15 when his mom told him at dinner; the killing happened in their family's borrowed van.
• 7.Mark's family was tied up in a home invasion during Mardi Gras. Two men knocked, held his dad at gunpoint, tied up his parents and brother with neckties, stole jewelry, credit cards, and cars — the family moved out after.
• 8.Mark wet the bed until age 14 and relapsed during drinking in college. He traced it to trauma from living in a dangerous neighborhood; it stopped once the family moved, and he once blamed a one-night stand.
• 9.He dated a high school sweetheart for 10–11 years before moving to New York for comedy. Obsession with stand-up killed the relationship; he then went all-in on comedy and casual road relationships.
• 10.His wife DM'd him after seeing his set — while she was on a date with another man. She blew off her date, met Mark at 11 p.m., and they've been together since; they now have a baby and he wants a second child.
• 11.Mark's Tinder profile featured photos with Conan, Fallon, Colbert, and Corden as his selling point. At 5'10", he struggled on dating apps where women filtered out anyone under 6 feet.
• 12.Jerry Seinfeld has called Mark one of the best comics working today. He tours internationally, sells out clubs and theaters, and says New Orleans produces great musicians but no comedy scene because locals are already funny.