- Norman is multidimensional.
- I like that.
(Heather laughs)
I'm here to live,
and to share myself,
and to make this world a better place.
I'm here to share.
(pins clatter)
(roommates cheer) Yeah!
(upbeat music) (dog barks)
- Norman brings out good things.
(swishing sound) real things, I would say,
about people,
because he's real.
Norman doesn't care what someone thinks about him.
You feel free, you know,
because Norman brings that out of you,
for some reason.
(upbeat music)
- Aha, ah!
- Ah!
- Aha, ha!
- I left Michigan in search of
a painting career here in New York,
then I started working with a partner,
and now we have a company called Gouda,
named after our dog.
(canvas scrapes)
Damn thing won't even get in the door.
(elevator bell dings)
(heavy rock music)
I brought Julie and Becky to the art opening.
You know, it's part of, like, my world.
It's part of how, you know,
artists get to know each other.
They get to, like, talk with each other.
It's an open, free dialogue,
and everyone pointing to themselves,
you know, their own personal little creative world.
- Everything I do is art.
This is truly a documentation of
me actually masturbating in 1979.
- Come on, let's go shopping.
We just kinda split up the duties.
A group of us would go get the groceries,
and others would stay home.
(pop music) It's poisonous.
- But if you don't think about it,
it's like a big snow cone.
- No, if you don't think about it, you'll get cancer.
Don't eat the snow in New York.
I have this infatuation with "Star Trek,"
and I had asked several people that were staying home
to record "Star Trek" for me.
- At 7:00, when she came down here,
it wasn't on.
- Apparently, the program wasn't being taped,
and I kind of was a bit disappointed.
- Well, are you gonna record it now?
- Well, it's all (beep) up.
It doesn't matter if it's being recorded.
- Well, are you gonna, though?
- 'Cause it had to be recorded,
and now it's all (beep) up,
so it doesn't matter.
(heavy rock music) - Norman,
have a Twinkie.
You'll feel much better.
(plastic crinkles) (heavy rock music)
- Yeah!
(heavy rock music)
Hello, we're about to eat dinner,
and you shouldn't be eating a Twinkie
before we eat dinner.
Are you not gonna talk to me now?
I think Norm, you know,
he has to, you know,
he tells a lot of,
he always has a lot of stories about a lot of stuff.
(swishing noise)
- Dolphins not only sleep with their parents,
but they're also homosexual,
and they masturbate with mackerel.
(swishing noise) All of a sudden,
I feel this thing biting on the back of my neck.
- I could do without a Norman story every now and then
for the rest of my life, you know?
I can, I'll spend five minutes,
well, not even five,
a half hour of my time doing something else.
- And it's a tick,
and it's got, like, claws,
and grabbers,
and things to stick into you,
and I'm going, "Oh, my God, it's a tick.
"It's a tick.
"It's a tick!"
(mumbles) You know, he's,
you know, he goes to my art opening.
He goes,
he, you know, he'll come back to the house.
Andre's my friend, and-
- (mumbles) say, "Ooh, that's not what happened." (laughs)
- He's so open, it's so impressive.
Norman, this is-
- Look at, he said something, shh.
- This is God talking.
- Wait.
Hey, Norman, that's not even what happened!
- (laughs)
Norman, shut up so we can eat!
- Yeah! (laughs)
- I'm trying!
I am, I,
I am trying.
(heavy rock music) - Norman invited us
to a party at the Limelight
for one of his friends. (heavy rock music)
- When we were all, kind of, like,
getting into our little, like, outfits and stuff,
it was gonna, you know, gonna be a really neat evening.
(heavy rock music) (crowd murmurs)
(traffic hums)
- I didn't meet any cute boys tonight.
- (smacks lips) I didn't, either.
I was accused of being gay
very early on in my high school experience,
which was a very damaging experience, for me.
I have these older kids come up,
knock me down on the ground and stuff like this,
and say, "Oh, you know, you (beep),
"you (beep),"
this and that,
and I was, like, thinking,
you know, what the hell is a (beep)?
What is this, you know?
And it was kind of a scary thing.
- Norman didn't really come out and say, you know,
"I'm bisexual, how do you feel about that?"
You know, it just sort of surfaced,
and no one's had any reaction to it at all.
It's just great getting to be around him,
because Norman expresses it so normally.
- It was these two guys, right?
- Yeah.
- They were-
- Were they cute?
- (chuckles) (Julie laughs)
I don't know, Norman.
Okay, they were both cute.
- Did they have big penises?
- Okay, (Julie laughs)
look, that part is junk.
Let me tell you, all right.
It was these two guys.
They wanted to go get drunk,
but they didn't have any money.
- Were they Jewish?
- Listen, (Julie laughs)
Norman!
- (laughs) That is the best joke I've ever heard!
(laughs) (slaps back)
- Norman, I'm gonna beat your butt
with a piece of leather strap!
(taps shoulder repeatedly)
Norman! (laughs)
♪ Dear Norman ♪
- Eventually, with, inside myself,
I started to, like, locate fears,
and try to challenge and confront my fears
and say, "Why am I so afraid of,
"if I'm attracted to someone of my own sex,
"why should I be so afraid of it?"
(attendees cheer)
(roommates cheer) Woo, ow!
This is who I am, and,
you know, and I'm not gonna go away,
and I'm very proud to be who I am.
(upbeat rock music)
The day that we were going to paint the mural,
it was just a completely kinda stressful day.
I wasn't really too psyched
about what was happening with Brown,
and I was taking it kind of to even a personal note,
that, you know, I'm just, like, thinking,
God, this ozone hole above our heads
is gonna get larger and larger and larger,
and there's just gonna be more and more people,
and we're gonna suck up more and more resources,
and I just kept seeing doom.
- Dude, Brown came in third.
- On $100 a person,
with an 800 number.
1-800-
426-
1112.
That's it,
thank you very much.
- We still wanted to paint Jerry Brown's number.
You know, we still felt like he was the best candidate,
so why should we stop supporting him?
So we went ahead and painted his 1-800 number.
(upbeat rock music)
- I think that the 1-800 number is kind of a symbol
of trying to start a grassroots kind of position.
(upbeat rock music)
- We're going crazy!
(upbeat rock music)
You are out of control!
Ahh! (giggles)
Norman!
Oh, my gosh. - Get away!
- Becky, there's something on your nose.
- No! (laughs)
- The idea of painting the 1-800 number
was kind of a collective thing.
You know, I think that art is a really great way
to express one's selves,
and also, express each other in a group situation.
It was a really great release,
I must say.
I really needed to get that paint out.
Just throw it.
- You're going to Jamaica?
- No.
- We had a package of tokens to go to the Bronx Zoo.
(roommates laugh)
Why don't you take our tree to Jamaica?
(pool balls clatter)
That's where it would be happy.
- Which one, that one? - Just carry it on the plane.
Do it for Norm.
(plane engine hums)
- Did anything happen while we were gone?
- (chuckles) Yeah,
I got a hickey. - What?
Well, tell me about it.
- Oh, God, it was the best vacation I had,
was over the weekend.
- Norman comes in,
and he is just
the happiest I've literally ever seen him.
He is ecstatic.
- The mating season has arrived.
The birds, the bees,
and yes. (bell chimes)
I got myself a date.
♪ Oh, ooh, ooh, ooh, oh, oh ♪
I was just, you know, extremely overtaken by Charles.
I just thought that, you know,
he's just, like, the, you know,
the greatest thing since Wonder Bread,
and I just felt this incredible
need to have someone.
Can I, like, walk the dog over
and give you, like, a goodnight kiss?
I'm very happy. (laughs)
(upbeat rock music)
(van door thuds) (engine hums)
- The van arrived down to Washington.
Norman, every time he would go faster,
I mean, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50,
on, each 10 was a warp.
Warp 7, warp 8, (chuckles)
and he was just flying,
(siren wails)
and a cop pulls us over and was like,
"I want to see your license,
"your registration, everything."
- I did explain this to the policeman,
where we were going.
He said, "Well, you know,
"I'm sympathetic with your cause,
"but that's not why I'm pulling you over.
"It's because you were speeding."
No, I'm speeding, and (van door thuds)
causing dangerous situations,
and pausing. (chuckles)
Everyone else can speed. (roommates chuckle)
I'm just a trendsetter.
(audience claps)
- We will not let the Supreme Court
have the last word
about our lives,
our bodies, and our-
(audience cheers drown out speaker)
- It's Charles.
- What? - Right there.
- Found you. - Hey, kids.
- Hi.
(smooching sound) Ah.
I had tried, like, the night before,
to, like, get together with,
and spend some time with,
because he was someone that I just found
extremely fascinating and really interesting,
but unfortunately, he had made other plans,
and here, I show up in Washington,
and just, wham.
I'm not even 10 minutes in Washington
and there he is,
and I was like, "This is amazing,"
and we had a day to, like,
you know, spend a little bit of time together.
It was really nice to (inhales sharply)
be a part of a really, an emotional day.
♪ We are gay and straight together ♪
♪ And we are singing ♪ (audience cheers)
♪ Singing for our lives ♪
I just thought of something
I hadn't thought about in the longest time.
When, well, when I was in first grade,
we moved out of this house into Grand Rapids.
I definitely was neurotic about
how to bring my sexuality in
to six people that I didn't know.
Would they treat me differently?
Would I be treated differently?
And I learned that they didn't,
and that was something really important to me.
I think that that is something that
gives me strength,
and that I'm gonna be able to carry.
I won't be afraid of who I am.
I won't have to think those thoughts.
I don't have to think those thoughts.
To, you know, this experience,
you know, gave me that.
- Norm!
(pats back)
Smell ya, bud. - Andre's my friend.
- Of course.
- My friend Andre.
(swishing sound) (upbeat music)