Jim Norton

Early life James Joseph Norton was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. He is of Irish descent. His mother was a librarian and his father was a former US Marine and army reservist who later worked as a driver for the US postal service.

Norton attended North Brunswick High School, from which he dropped out in his senior year. 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." 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. and attended Middlesex County College with the aim of pursuing a Juris Doctor degree and becoming a lawyer, but quit after one month. He earned a B grade in English and failing grades in Problems and Statistics, Science, and Western Civilization. Norton collected unemployment benefits for several years, pretending to look for work while doing sets in local comedy venues, before he decided to pursue comedy full-time. Norton credited Pat Gaynor for putting him on stage that night, and Ward and John Magnuson of Rascals comedy club as being "instrumental" in his early development. In 2003, he had assembled a new 45-minute set and assembled his first comedy album, Yellow Discipline, which was followed by Trinkets I Own Made from Gorilla Hands, in April 2005. Soon after, Norton filmed his first half-hour HBO comedy special as part of the network's One Night Stand series, at NYU's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts after his manager informed him of the chance to perform a showcase in the New York City area.

Norton had a productive start in the 2010s, writing and releasing three hour long specials in three and a half years. He chose the network as they allowed him complete creative freedom and were willing to promote his product. Within three months of its release, Norton was touring with a new hour of material. In the following year, Norton described his career as "stagnant... there's nothing happening." The special includes an opening with Robert De Niro spanking Norton's bare bottom. He appeared in Season 2, Episode 1 of the Netflix standup comedy series "The Degenerates," released on December 31, 2019.

Radio

In early 2001, Norton was hired as the third mic on the Opie and Anthony radio show on WNEW in New York City, with hosts Gregg "Opie" Hughes and Anthony Cumia. He resisted calling himself a "host" of the show as he believes his strongest performances were when he was "an outsider looking in." 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. Cumia said Norton contributed a "dark and perverse" side to the 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 about 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 them to produce 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.

In May 2010, The Jim Norton Show premiered on the Raw Dog Comedy channel on SiriusXM. The show featured Norton as the host with other comedians plus clips of live stand-up.

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. Norton quickly missed working with Cumia, disliked the title of the re-branded program, and felt that he had not taken over the vacant spot left by Cumia, but rather was a voice on a show hosted by Hughes. The show ended in September 2016. During this time, Norton also hosted a weekly advice show on SiriusXM named The Jim Norton Advice Show. In January 2025, Norton revealed that he and SiriusXM had parted ways after failing to come to terms on a contract renewal, ending his tenure with SiriusXM after just over 20 years.

Podcasting In mid-2016, Norton ended an online crowdfunding campaign via Indiegogo for the production of The Chip Chipperson Show, an animated web series based on the same titled character that he does on the radio. He started the character as a way of hassling his girlfriend. The first episode launched on June 21, 2016, and has since run for over 550 episodes. In May 2020, Norton debuted the Doug Bellcast, a new podcast based on his new character, Doug Bell.

In 2025, Norton started a new podcast, Jim Norton Can't Save You.

In July 2026, Norton reunited with Anthony Cumia for the "Anthony and Jim Show" on Patreon and Youtube, with extended shows for Patreon subscribers.

Television In 1997, Norton appeared on The Louie Show starring Louie Anderson. He then lost his place on the second season of Last Comic Standing in 2004 because of a contractual obligation to film pilot episodes for MTV which he had secured following the success of his One Night Stand special. The two pilots were Camp Cool, filmed in Cancún for MTV Spring Break, also starring Al Shearer about helping men meet women, and Stupid Bets. Norton had a contract with Viacom during this time. and appeared twice more by mid-2006. He has appeared many times since, including as a correspondent named "The Uninvited Guest." In April 2005, Norton starred in a pilot episode for Louis C.K.'s HBO sitcom Lucky Louie, playing as Louie's friend Rich. 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 Fox News which he later credited as a contributor in boosting turnouts to his comedy shows. Norton had assistance with the writing from comedians Kurt Metzger and Jesse Joyce. Vice had expressed an interest in filming more episodes, but Norton became unsure because he wasn't paid for the first season . In 2015, Norton starred in an episode of Quinn's parody television series Cop Show. In April 2016, Norton revealed that he had shot two pilot episodes for a potential comedy series on the AMC channel. Though it was not picked up, the show was reworked into a discussion program where he hosts a panel who talk about a single subject for thirty minutes.

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. He criticizes people in the book, including Al Sharpton, Keith Olbermann, and Steve Martin, which includes a rant that Norton later regretted and has since apologized for to Martin.

Film In 2002, Norton appeared on the short film Crooks, a straight to video release about postal workers stealing stamps. Norton had a pivotal role in the 2008 film Courting Condi, counseling Devin Ratray on how to win the heart of Condoleezza Rice.

Norton starred in the crime film The Irishman as a young Don Rickles who tells jokes to a crowd with Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci present. He landed the part without an audition, and De Niro requested that Norton perform his own material after using jokes from Rickles's act from the 1970s.

Personal life In 2007, Norton bought an apartment on the Upper West Side of New York City. He is a longtime fan of Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath, and Kiss and is a close family friend of Sharon Osbourne. He was also a close friend of her husband, Ozzy, before his death in 2025.

Norton has sleep apnea. In 2012, discussing his condition and his efforts to ameliorate it, he said that his sleep apnea mask impacted his sex life, because it was: "the pussy dryer-upper. That's what it's called. I haven't been wearing it at all because ... the CPAP is not the right mask. I need a BiPAP so I'm in the process of getting a new one... I'm sure I'll be wearing the mask again. The mask is certainly a turn off but honestly, I don't care if they like the mask or not. If they can deal with the herpes they can deal with the mask. [Laughs.] I wouldn't put it on when I'm about to fuck but I don't care about stuff like that. If they can tolerate me nude nothing else is going to matter."

Selected works Albums Year Title Notes 2003 Yellow Discipline Recorded at The Stress Factory in New Brunswick, New Jersey 2005 Trinkets I Own Made from Gorilla Hands Recorded at The Stress Factory 2011 Despicable Recorded at The Stress Factory 2012 No Baby For You! Recorded in Boston in 2007

DVDs/Specials

Books

Year Title Notes 2007 Happy Endings: The Tales of a Meaty-Breasted Zilch Foreword by Colin Quinn 2008 I Hate Your Guts A collection of 35 venomous essays

Filmography

Actor +Key Denotes films that have not yet been released

Writer Year TitleNotes 2005 One Night Stand 2007 Jim Norton: Monster Rain Stand-up special 2012 Jim Norton: Please Be Offended Stand-up special 2012 Jim Norton: American Degenerate Stand-up special

Self