I-95 Exclusive: Jim Norton Would Love for Buzz Aldrin to Break His Jaw

You’ve seen Jim Norton on Netflix, heard him on UFC Unfiltered, and caught his brutally honest takes on late-night TV. The stand-up comedian, actor, and bestselling author is also the host of two podcasts—his brand-new solo show Jim Norton Can’t Save You and Sword Fight. 

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Now, Jim is bringing his unfiltered comedy to the Ridgefield Playhouse on Friday, May 30th at 8PM. We caught up with Jim ahead of the show—and this moment from our conversation was our favorite:

Lou: You grew up in New Jersey, and I started thinking about this because it's been a topic on our show before — the New Jersey Hall of Fame. If you take a look at it... I don’t know if you're in it — that’s one question — but...

Jim: "I can tell you no, I'm not in it." 

Lou: But I would anticipate that you'll be in it eventually. It just occurred to me when I looked at the list — it's amazing how many accomplished people are on it. It's wild how so many of them either grew up in New Jersey or spent a significant part of their lives there. Everyone knows the obvious ones — Bruce, Southside Johnny, Bon Jovi — but then you have Jon Stewart, Bruce Willis, Susan Sarandon, James Gandolfini... it's crazy.

Jim: "I know Danny DeVito and Jack Nicholson. I've been to the Hall of Fame. Rich Vos and I actually inducted Abbott and Costello into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. We were there during an induction ceremony — the same night they inducted Buzz Aldrin. Jon Bon Jovi was there too. It was a really interesting night. Then there was this moment with Buzz — he didn’t want to sign my picture. Buzz is a difficult guy. I had interviewed him and taken a photo with him, and when I asked him to sign it, he was like, 'Ahhh, I’ll do it later!' At the time, I was with my girlfriend — she was really hot, had long red hair — and she comes over to me and says, 'Give me the picture.' I asked, 'What do you mean?' and she goes, 'Buzz is trying to f-- me. I’ll get him to sign it.' So I guess he was flirting with her. She whips out the picture, and he practically wanted to vomit on it. His wife was there too, and she just snapped, 'Just sign it, Buzz!' She was clearly annoyed he was hitting on my girlfriend. So yeah, that was my New Jersey Hall of Fame experience — not exactly a great one."

Lou: That’s a great story. Yeah, he’s definitely a strange one. These days, every time you see him in an interview, he says things that kind of hint at the moon landing being fake. Did you ever get a chance to pin him down on that question?

Jim: "No, I believe it happened, so it never really even occurred to me to go in that direction. I’ve seen the video of him punching that guy, Bart Sibrel, in the face. So I was like — the last thing I want is to get punched in the face on my radio show and walk around with an Apollo moon landing ring imprint on my cheek. He was a grouch — it’s unfortunate. He was really, really cranky. Maybe he’s just had enough of the moon. Maybe he’s sick of talking about it. I bet if you asked him about baseball or football, he’d be way more pleasant. But after 60 years of answering the same questions about what it was like to be on the moon, he’s probably had enough." 

Lou: Imagine getting f---ed up by like a 80-year-old NASA astronaut? 

Jim: "I mean, it would be both humiliating and kind of great at the same time. Like, if he actually punched me in the face, I’d probably just be happy it happened — like, ‘Hey, I’ve got a great Buzz Aldrin story now.’ I could tell people, ‘Yeah, Buzz broke my jaw.’"

You can listen to our complete conversation with Jim Norton below.

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