SAD END FOR NORM
‘SNL’ FAVE DIES AT AGE 61
Norm Macdonald, the longtime “Saturday Night Live” funnyman known best as the host of “Weekend Update,” died Tuesday. He was 61.
Macdonald succumbed to a nine-year cancer battle that he kept private, his management team said in a statement.
“He was most proud of his comedy,” producing partner Lori Jo Hoekstra said. “He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him. Norm was a pure comic. He once wrote that ‘a joke should catch someone by surprise, it should never pander.’ He certainly never pandered. Norm will be missed terribly.”
Macdonald started his career as a writer on “Roseanne” before being hired at “SNL” in 1993, where he stayed for five years.
When Macdonald was taken off the “Weekend Update” desk in 1998, the network blamed low ratings, but the comedian took it personally, publicly accusing Don Ohlmeyer, the president of NBC West Coast, of firing him over jokes about O.J. Simpson.
“He thinks of himself as a straight shooter, even though he’s a liar and a thug,” Macdonald told the Daily News of Ohlmeyer in 1998.
A Macdonald idea continued at “SNL” long after he left. He created the “Celebrity Jeopardy!” sketches, the first three of which featured his Burt Reynolds exasperating Will Ferrell’s Alex Trebek. After Macdonald left, Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery — who appeared in the first sketch — became Trebek’s tormentor.
Macdonald’s humor could be edgy.
In his 2011 Comedy Central special, “Me Doing Stand-Up,” Macdonald even touched on cancer and the heroic descriptors used around patients.
“In the old days, they’d go, ‘Hey, that old man died.’ Now, they go, ‘Hey, he lost his battle,’ ” Macdonald said. “That’s no way to end your life. What a loser that guy was! Last thing he did was lose. He was waging a brave battle, but at the end I guess he got kind of cowardly.”
In the later years of his career, Macdonald starred in his own comedy series, “The Norm Show,” from 1999 to 2001, on which he played Norm Henderson, an NHL player banned for life because of gambling and tax evasion. He starred for three years alongside Laurie Metcalf, Artie Lange and Ian Gomez.
He had a recurring role on “The Middle” as Mike Heck’s brother, Rusty, and a shortlived Fox sitcom, “A Minute with Stan Cooper,” which lasted just six episodes.
Macdonald recently voiced Yaphit, a Gelatin lieutenant, in Seth MacFarlane’s “The Orville” and was a popular guest on late night shows, particularly those hosted by David Letterman and Conan O’Brien.
Letterman, who rarely tweets, took to Twitter Tuesday to salute Macdonald, who paid Letterman homage on one of the host’s final shows.
“In every important way, in the world of standup, Norm was the best,” Letterman wrote. “An opinion shared by me and all peers. Always up to something, never certain, until his matter-of-fact delivery leveled you. I was always delighted by his bizarre mind and earnest gaze. (I’m trying to avoid using the phrase, “twinkle in his eyes”). He was a lifetime Cy Young winner in comedy. Gone, but impossible to forget.”
O’Brien was similarly moved.
“I am absolutely devastated about Norm Macdonald,” O’Brien tweeted. “Norm had the most unique comedic voice I have ever encountered, and he was so relentlessly and uncompromisingly funny. I will never laugh that hard again. I’m so sad for all of us today.”
The two hosts were far from the only ones mourning.
“I was a huge fan of Norm Macdonald and I essentially ripped off his delivery when I first started acting,” Seth Rogen tweeted. “I would stay up specifically to watch him on talk shows. He was the funniest guest of all time. We lost a comedy giant today. One of the all-time greats.”
“No one could make you break like Norm Macdonald,” tweeted Jon Stewart. “Hilarious and unique. F—k cancer.”
“Of the many addictive rabbit holes you can disappear down on the internet, the most pleasurable is ‘Norm MacDonald chat show appearances,’ ” wrote director Edgar Wright. “Thanks for all the laughs Norm, very sorry to see you go.”
“One of a kind,” Steve Martin tweeted. Macdonald was born and raised in Quebec City in Canada. He was married once and divorced, and leaves behind an adult son, Dylan Macdonald.
He also leaves a legacy revered among those who loved to make people laugh.
“He was one of our most precious gems,” wrote Jim Carrey. “An honest and courageous comedy genius. I love him.”
“We lost a legend,” Jim Gaffigan tweeted. “Norm was punishingly funny. A unique special point of view and completely organic.”
“You were never not 100% hilarious,” wrote Patton Oswalt.