Norm MacDonald pays tribute to his late 'Screwed' costar, Elaine Stritch

Norm MacDonald, Sarah Silverman, Dave Chappelle, and Elaine Stritch in Screwed.

Screwed on DVD.

The 2000 movie Screwed has not exactly engendered a great deal of affection over the years. Written and directed by the team of Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, whose previous collaborations include the script for Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994), the film earned only $6 million on a $10 million budget and current rates a miserable 13% at Rotten Tomatoes, where it is described as "tedious and painfully unfunny."

But 14 years after its original release, some good has come from this little-loved motion picture in the form of a series of tweets by one of its stars, comedian Norm MacDonald, who took to Twitter in order to pay tribute to late actress Elaine Stritch, who also appeared in Screwed.  Norm had previously appeared in the Karaszewski/Alexander-written biopic The People Vs. Larry Flynt (1996), but this collaboration proved less fortunate. Unlike MacDonald's previous vehicle, Dirty Work (1998), this forlorn kidnapping comedy has failed to attract any kind of cult following.

When read in succession, MacDonald's tweets about making this movie form a lovely little short story about show business. Self-effacing and unpretentious as always, Norm dishes on his own lack of acting ability and the entire cast's lack of faith in the screenplay, but he also takes the time to reminisce fondly about his experiences with Stritch and with fellow stand-up comic Dave Chappelle. The line that really sticks with me is a quote from Elaine herself: "Every time I make a film, I think I am making someone's favorite movie." And now, I think I'll let Norm take over. Enjoy.

One time I did a movie with two of the funniest people in the world. One was young black kid and the other an old white lady.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

The young black kid left showbiz before the old white lady.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

Chapelle and Stritch,
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

I knew Chapelle, and I loved his comedy. Later, I loved him.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

I didn't know Elaine. I don't know broadway and all that jazz.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

Me and Chapelle had both done movies the year before in Toronto, Half-baked and Dirty Work.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

This time is in Vancouver and we were both worried. We were worried the movie might turn out to be shit.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

At the beginning of the movie, me and Dave weren't close. By the end, I loved him.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

At the end of the movie he made a speech and he said a really cool thing about me that I wonder if he remembers cause I'll never forget.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

But there was a third person on the movie, an old lady from Broadway named Elaine Stritch, a real actor.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

On movies,stand-ups spend a lot of their time making fun of the actors. Stand-ups don't like to act and don't know how.The good ones,anyway.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

Me and Chapelle boded quick, because we were outside of show business, and, in an odd way, outside of stand-up.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

We stayed at the Sheraton and laughed all night thinking up jokes and in the day we hung out in each other's trailer and laughed all day.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

And Dave taught my kid how to crossover dribble and had the coolest dog what ever lived.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

And we made fun of all the actors in the movie and, goddam, I loved Chapelle.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

But the woman who played the old white lady she was an old white lady herself. And her name was Elaine Stritch.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

And we didn't make fun of her.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

First day, she invited us to her trailer, and she looked at us, then motioned to the script in her hand.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

"You guys know this is a bunch of shit, don't you?" And Chapelle and me, we laughed a long, long time, because she was dead serious.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

She spent her entire time trying to make the movie better. I don't know about Dave but I didn't.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

Every day on that movie I laughed like a motherfucker, sometimes at a young black kid and sometimes at an old white woman.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

And I started to understand that me and Chapelle had been outsiders for a while and Elaine Stritch had been an outsider forever.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

And I remember one time walking down the street, me, Chapelle, and Elaine and thinking if we weren't in comedy we'd never be together.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

But we were in comedy. and we had something much rarer than comedy. We were funny.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

And before the first day of shooting, Elaine called us to her trailer, and told us something.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

She said, " Every time I make a film, I think I am making someone's favorite movie."
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

I talked to Elaine on a weekly basis and she made me laugh with that voice, rough from years of fine whiskey, but long sober.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

I gotta phone Chapelle more.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014

I'll tell you something about Elaine. She was a funny motherfucker.
— Norm Macdonald (@normmacdonald) July 20, 2014