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SALT LAKE CITY — He looks like he just crawled out of a cave, and he sounds like he had one too many Jack Daniel's beverages, but if you listen with your eyes wide open and your ears even wider, you might just learn something.
Utah native Rodney Norman has garnered millions of social media views on his videos that all seem to settle around one theme: Life is worth living even if sometimes it feels like it isn't.
Unlike your run-of-the-mill life coaches, however, Norman is rather unorthodox in his approach to his uplifting words. In fact, most of his videos resemble a drunken slur.
"There's a lot of uncertainty going on," Norman said in a minimally coherent voice in one of his most popular videos. "There's a lot of people doing stupid things. … It's all stupid. It's always been stupid. It's always probably going to be stupid. I just wanted to take some time to look around this world and say, 'This place is pretty cool! This life thing is pretty cool despite of all the stupidness.' I hope you enjoy your stupid life and appreciate it for what it is."
Typing out the words certainly doesn't do it justice, and the written word isn't Norman's platform anyway — it's comedy.
Norman has been doing standup comedy since 1998, and actually helped at the opening of Wiseguys Comedy Club, which now has three locations in Utah and one in Nevada. In the beginning years of the club, he was the house emcee, and even now does comedy shows several times a year. Norman said that the character that he portrays in his recent videos came about when he combined family history, necessity, empathy and comedic gold.
"When COVID started, all of my work as a comedian got canceled," Norman said. "So I was sitting around the house with not much to do, so I started screwing around making videos. A lot of people were just making stuff that was very doom and gloom and very negative, and I had this character that was based on my grandfather who was an alcoholic. He would always try to share life's lessons to me and my cousins, and he was just kind of discombobulated all over the place, and every once in a while, he would say something brilliant. As I got older, I came up with the idea to do him as a character, but I didn't quite know what to do with him."
Norman explained that after seeing a friend who was a life coach post some inspirational tidbits, he decided that he would turn his grandfather-based character into "the world's worst life coach." The videos surprisingly caught on and took off.
"I kind of stumbled into it by doing it differently than everyone else was doing, and people actually paid attention," Norman said. "Because if somebody who has a perfect body, great tan and who is standing in front of a mansion with a Ferrari, you're like, 'Yeah, whatever. He's obviously successful. What's he gonna tell me?' When it's just some weird old dude in coveralls standing out in front of the woods, you kind of stop and wonder what's going on, and before you know it, all of a sudden, he's giving you a nugget of knowledge."
And those nuggets of knowledge often have a deep undertone.
Delivering a 'heavy message' in a lighter way
"I deliver some heavy messages," Norman said. "I talk a lot about anxiety, depression, suicide, death, and to be able to do it in this matter, it just really connects to people. I'm amazed at how well it works, to be honest with you."
Like many comedians — and humans for that matter — Norman has a story that isn't all happy. It's his backstory that helps him to empathize with people in dark moments, and that empathy drives him to continue to deliver his message.
"I've certainly had a life of tragedy myself, not unlike anybody else," Norman said. "I have a son who died when he was only 10 days old. My father passed away when I was 28, and he was only 54 years old. Twice when I was a kid, our house burned down. I've been where you literally lose everything. I did that twice in my childhood, so I've been through a lot of tough stuff. Having gone through those experiences, I know how overwhelming life can be. There's a way to get through it all because you do get through it all. Everything is temporary. And when you know that, you keep your head above water and keep moving."
Norman, who now lives in Connecticut, spoke about growing up in Utah and being the middle child in a large family that moved around a lot.
"My dad was a diesel mechanic and we moved around a lot," Norman said. "I was born in Granger. We lived in Kearns, then we moved to Provo and back to Kearns. I lived in Sandy – that's where we had the house fires when I was 8 and 10 years old. I lived in American Fork for a couple years, and went to Timpview and Springville High School."
Norman's mother introduced him to philosophy and "a lot of great thinkers." This early introduction caused Norman to study philosophy at the then Utah Valley State College.
"My mother used to have these quotation books with interesting thoughts, and they were my favorite thing to read as a kid," Norman said. "Because of that, it introduced me to a lot of philosophy and a lot of great thinkers. That's what I was attracted to when I was younger, just these nuggets of thought. And as I got older, I've always been interested in theology and religion. I always went to church because I loved the concept and idea of a higher power and trying to understand and learn from it.
"I've studied all the major religions and read everything I could, and I've just noticed themes through it all. And what it all comes down to is our human experience is very unique and amazing and something we should enjoy and cherish rather than feeling like we're being left out. We're actually in an amazing position in this whole thing and we should appreciate it for what it is."
While Norman's unorthodox delivery of the universal message of hope can be found on nearly all social media platforms, he said that he'll be coming back to the Beehive State in September to perform on his home stage at Wiseguys at Jordan Landing.
As for the character that he portrays on his social media platforms, Norman said that he thinks he'll be around for a while to come.
"When I think I've done everything I think I could, something keeps coming up," Norman said.
One recent "nugget of wisdom" hits right where it hurts:
"Get up, get going, get out of your way."
And so there it is.
The story of a man who has a story and a message to share in a very unordinary sort of way.
For more "nuggets" of knowledge, Norman can be found on Instagram and Tiktok @Rodneydnorman, and on his website at rodneynorman.com.
