He has opened for Andrew Dice Clay, and is known for his extremely raunchy brand of humor.

Norton became a regular on the Opie and Anthony Radio Show on WNEW, and was arrested with Lewis Black in connection with a stunt performed on the show involving the Voyeur Bus which drove through the streets of Manhattan with naked women dancing in front of the windows.

For over a year, Norton was a regular guest on the Comedy Central TV show Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn. He also was selected to be in the final twenty contestants for the second season of Last Comic Standing, but had to back out due to contractual obligations. Norton has been on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno three times.

In 2004, Norton was voted the best comedian and breakthrough performer of the year on the Cringe Humor website, dedicated to some of the top New York comedians. Norton frequently performs at the Comedy Cellar, and sometimes performed at the weekly alternative standup "Eating It" show at the Luna Lounge before the bar closed in 2005. He is friends with many other comedians, including Rich Vos, Jim Florentine, Bill Burr, Colin Quinn, Robert Kelly, and Patrice O'Neal. Norton was the Best Man at Rich Vos' second wedding in 2005, when Vos married Bonnie McFarlane. Dom Irrera has said that Norton is one of the best comedians performing today.

Norton decided he wanted to be a comedian at age 12 when he saw Richard Pryor's special Richard Pryor: Live in Concert. He became a comedian in the early 90s. Jim Florentine helped Norton receive his first paying gig as a stand-up. Norton lived with Florentine for several years as they were both breaking through as comics.

Norton was described as having "comedic integrity" by Colin Quinn in the final episode of Tough Crowd. Quinn stated that comedic integrity was "The ability to critique all the hypocrisies in society, but also to be real enough to admit that you're as guilty as everyone else in the game." Found in his bio, Judi Brown of the Aspen Comedy Festival said, "He's so brutally honest. He's very refreshing in a business where a lot of people are phony."

Norton is currently featured as the proverbial third mic on the Opie and Anthony show on XM Satellite Radio and CBS Radio.

His half-hour HBO stand-up special aired on October 21, 2005, as part of the HBO Stand-up Series One Night Stand. He is also a regular on the new HBO comedy series Lucky Louie starring Louis C.K.. Norton's character is named Rich, "a misinformed, creepy, perverted guy".

His first CD was released in 2004 entitled Yellow Discipline. His latest CD, Trinkets I Own Made From Gorilla Hands was released in April 2005.

There is an internet video about him called "Jimmy Robinson" on Newgrounds which features The White Stripes song "Offend in Every Way."