R.I.P. Norm Macdonald
The '90s SNL star died after privately battling cancer for nearly a decade
TV News Norm Macdonald
Norm Macdonald, a veteran stand-up comedian, renowned cast member on Saturday Night Live on seasons 20 through 23, star of his own series The Norm Show, has died after privately battling cancer. He was 61.
His management firm Brillstein Entertainment confirmed his passing to Deadline. Lori Jo Hoekstra, who was with Macdonald when he died, told the publication that the comedian had cancer for nearly a decade, though decided to keep it a secret between those closest to him. “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,” Hoekstra said in a statement to Deadline.
Macdonald was born in Quebec City, Canada on October 17, 1959. He began his stand-up career in his native country, and moved to the United States to work as a writer on TV series such as The Dennis Miller Show and Roseanne, and joined the cast of SNL in 1993. His main gig at SNL was as the Weekend Update anchor, taking over for Kevin Nealon in 1994. But he also did plenty of notable impressions in sketches, including Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy, presidential candidate Bob Dole, and David Letterman.
Macdonald was known for his deadpan humor and while on the Weekend Update desk, he had no qualms poking fun at politicians and celebrities. During the OJ Simpson trial, Macdonald made jokes that heavily implied Simpson was guilty, much to the chagrin of Don Ohlmeyer, president of NBC’s West Coast division, who was friends with Simpson. Macdonald said on numerous occasions—including on Late Show With David Letterman and Howard Stern— that his comments about Simpson were the reason behind him being taken off Weekend Update. Though he stayed on as a cast member for a short time after, he was ultimately let go from the show.
He did get a moment of vindication when he hosted the show in October 1999, speaking out about his firing in his monologue. “They fired me because they said that I wasn’t funny. Now, with most jobs, I could have had a hell of a lawsuit on my hands for that, but see, this is a comedy show. So, they got me,” he said. “But, now, this is the weird part, it’s only a year and a half later, and now, they ask me to host the show. So I wondered, how did I go from being not funny enough to be even allowed in the building, to being so funny that I’m now hosting the show? How did I suddenly get so goddamn funny?! It was inexplicable to me, because, let’s face it, a year and a half is not enough time for a dude to learn how to be funny! Then it occurred to me, I haven’t gotten funnier, the show has gotten really bad!”
In a 2011 interview with The A.V. Club, Macdonald talked further about the firing, saying, “I completely understand why a businessman would fire me from [Saturday Night Live]. Because he was seeing Jay Leno kill 10 minutes a night, doing his monologue with wall-to-wall laughs and applause, then I do 10 minutes a week to, sometimes, breathtaking silence. He’s just listening for the laughs. But fortunately, I don’t really care about success or money or shit. I could give a fuck. I hate fame. I hate being recognized, because I don’t know how to talk to people. I see Sandler, man, and I’m like fuck, goddamn, I don’t know how he does it, those people are fucking everywhere he walks. If you’re walking with him, all you hear behind is people whispering.”
After leaving SNL, Macdonald co-wrote and starred in the Bob Saget-directed movie Dirty Work, and voiced Lucky The Dog in Dr. Doolittle, reprising the role in the sequels. He also became a recurring presence in the films of SNL castmate Adam Sandler, including Billy Madison, Grown Ups, and Jack & Jill. He also got his own sitcom The Norm Show in 1999, that ran for three seasons on ABC. After Norm, Macdonald continued racking up acting roles and voiceover work and touring his stand-up act. In 2016, he published a semi-fictional memoir, Based On A True Story.
Macdonald was a favorite guest of late-night talk shows: He provided Late Night With Conan O’Brien with one of its funniest segments by roasting the Carrot Top comedy Chairman Of The Board while seated next to Chairman Of The Board co-star Courtney Thorne-Smith, and performed the final stand-up segment on David Letterman’s Late Show. Appearing on Comedy Central’s Bob Saget roast in 2008, he stood out amongst the other comics for doing corny, G-rated “anti-jokes,” with his segment becoming one of the most memorable roasts of all time. As one of his final projects, he was given his own talk show on Netflix in 2018, called Norm Macdonald Has A Show, that ran for one season.
287 Comments
Dirty Work is underappreciated imho.He was also Pigeon on Mike Tyson Mysteries!This is a sad day, he was one of the funniest people ever 🙁
I’ve never seen so many dead hookers in all my life!
This is awful, awful news, he will be enormously missed.
Lord knows I have.
Lord knows I have
Lord knows I have.
He also was the original Death in Family Guy, and much better than Adam Carolla
Isn’t just about everyone “much better than Adam Carolla,” though?
Noam Chomsky is objectively funnier than Adam Carolla.
Except Joe Rogan, who replaced him on the Man Show
it is kind of a low bar.
It’s the lowest of bars, but it bears mentioning.
He also was the original Death in Family Guy, and much better than Adam Carolla
Here’s my favorite of his:
Cobras & Panthers – SNL – YouTube
ah the lowest of bars.
Joe Biden is funnier than Adam Carolla.
Didn’t he also voice some blob creature on The Orville?
Yep! Yaphit, one of the ship’s engineers.
He was great in that on Family Guy. Saying better than Adam Corolla is damning him with faint praise though….
Note to self: Buy ass wart cream for LARGE WART ON MY ASS.
Best Letterman impression, ever.
I use that as a non sequitur all the time, the people who get it automatically go up a notch in my book.
All my life’s about is cracking up people and them cracking me up and trying not to think about dying. That doesn’t cost very much money.Norm
Oh man, Mike Tyson Mysteries was one of the weirdest things ever!
Dirty Work is one of my favorite movies. I still quote “Hello, real cops?” with friends and we crack up
Oh man, I forgot about Mike Tyson Mysteries. He usually had the best lines on the show!
The people killing each other in the next room while describing every detail…Norm & Artie Lang’s massively different side-effect reactions to the test-marketed brownies…“Back then, we didn’t have any of your fancy birth control methods… like pullin’ out!”And so many more.
“Dirty Work is underappreciated imho.”Agreed. So divisive too. What I always loved about Norm was how he really was one of those comedians that you either got or you didn’t. He was never one of those guys that I either aged out of (Sandler comes to mind, although I’m thinking he’d be better off sticking to serious roles anymore) or just ended up proving to be douchebags in real life (see also: Louis CK). Norm was Norm all the time, and his bit as Burt Reynolds on Jeopardy! on SNL never fails to make me laugh, no matter how many times I watch them.
Ugh. This one sucks so much. My stomach is just in knots. Norm (along with Conan O’Brien) likely shaped my comedic tastes more than anyone. I loved everything about his charm, wit and delivery. You just know that even with his own death, he’d have the PERFECT joke for this moment. I’m gonna miss the hell out of him.Fuck you, Cancer.
For me it was Letterman in my formative years but then Norm for sure.
Your two favorites together (which you’ve probably watched dozens of times).YouTube won’t let me post the Courne Thorne-Smith one, which is just as good (“Chairman of the Bored!”)
Norm Macdonald joins in on Courtney Thorne-Smith’s 1997 “Late Night” interview.
Team CoCo just re-posted the CTS/Norm clip.
He already gave it to us: The bad news is Norm MacDonald is gone. The good news is Norm MacDonald is gone.
Sucks we won’t get to see his Burt Reynolds in an Afterlife Celebrity Jeopardy sketch.
In one year we lost both real Turd Ferguson and acting Turd Ferguson.
Burt died in 2018.
Yes, but time has no meaning any more.
Damn, I mistook him for the pile of obituaries in 2020.My bad.
I know, right? Connery and Trebek died 8 days apart and they still haven’t done one. WTF, SNL?
The real question is, who could they get to play Mr. Ferguson as well as Norm did?
Shhh…he’s on a roll.
It was very sudden.
But it was one year on Neptune.
Absolutely my favorite comic. He was a comic’s comic. Man, this absolutely sucks.Time to queue up the moth joke…
Cause of death you guessed it Frank Stallone.Or so the Germans would have us believeMan I’m fucking bawling now.
pretty sure stallone is a full-on insane-o now but even he could tip the hat.
Seen in the vicinity just moments before…
I foresee an upswing in Frank Stallone jokes in the A.V. Club comment sections. “Who saw that plot twist coming on ___? You guessed it. Frank Stallone.” “Who in their right mind asked for this latest pop culture phenomenon? You guessed it. Frank Stallone.”“Why did Ignatiy give this movie an F? You guessed it. Frank Stallone.”
Unfortunately, while he was getting treated, he was at the podiatrist’s office.rip norm
Well, the light was on.
His cancer was caused by…You guessed it: Frank Stallone.
Part of the best SNL Jeopardy! sketch of all time, but also just a really great, underrated comic.
I f’n love his Burt Reynolds impersonation!
RIP Norm Macdonald. Easily one of the funniest comedians ever.
Norm Macdonald was the best late night tv guest. Damn.
His set on the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget when he intentionally bombed is an all-time favorite. Just five minutes of the worst hack jokes you’ve ever heard and he committed to it 100%. People in the crowd had no idea what was going on and the other comics on stage were crying they were laughing so hard. There’s a clip on youtube, but it’s just the audio. 1000 Internet points to the first one that can find it.
Listening to it now, for me it was his finest hour. Nobody else could pull that off in the same way
I will accept my internet points in the form of cash:
Still just the audio though
Try this:
There definitely used to be a full version on there. Fuckin’ YouTube.
Yeah, that’s the clip I mentioned. Just a still photo of Norm over audio of the set. For the full experience, you need to see the puzzled reactions from the crowd that didn’t get the bit, and the people on the dais doubled over in hysterics at what he was doing.
Hmm, I know I’ve seen the video of that.
The two “meanest” insults are just perfect. “I think that Bob should join the Ku Klux Klan. That’s not because he’s racist. He’s not racist. It’s just that he would look better with a hood over his head on account of his face.”
“Now I heard that you have hair on your chest, Bob. Let me tell you, that’s not your only resemblance to Rin Tin Tin … You’re a fucking dog face. How can you not get that?”
I’m sure he’ll have plenty of well-wishers, and a lot of them would like to throw him down one.
Munder him in a well. Seems a bit harsh. But that’s what your post says.
Here’s a piece. The whole roast is apparently on Paramount+https://www.cc.com/video/5wmu79/roast-of-bob-saget-norm-macdonald-how-can-you-not-get-that
Apparently that came from a sincere place too. He was friends with Bob and didn’t want to say bad things about him so he just did that.
He’s also one of the few who didn’t make crass Olsen Twins jokes, which Bob wasn’t too comfortable with
But Bob had no problem sticking his pinky in Kimmy Gibbler’s ass.
The entire roast is available on Paramount+ (which I don’t have, but YMMV).https://www.paramountplus.com/movies/comedy-central-roast-of-bob-saget/ULZyFJbpF8UvwrfTyEFDjkBQa38xxXKw/
You can also buy the roast on Vudu, like me.
This is one of the first bits I thought of.And I loved his Netflix show and wondered if it was ever coming back.
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/6bd322/norm_macdonalds_roast_of_bob_saget/
There it is!!
https://www.cc.com/video/5wmu79/roast-of-bob-saget-norm-macdonald-how-can-you-not-get-thatSome of the Saget jokes, and missing all of the panelists. I also recall there were unaired jokes, which I believe were only removed out of time, because they were just as perfect.
Legendary, but not the best moment between Norm and Bob Saget. This is:
https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/6bd322/norm_macdonalds_roast_of_bob_saget/
He went with a clean set and it was so against type for the Comedy Central Roasts it was even funnier. It is up their with the best of the bunch including the legendary President of Hollywood (Bill Hader) set from the Franco roast.
That reminds me about something Bob Saget definitely didn’t do back in 1990…
R.I.P Turd Ferguson(P.S. I saw him perform at Helium a couple years ago, and he stood next to my table during the middle act. He put away three cans of Red Bull in the span of ten minutes.)
One of the first “spit out my drink” moments I remember from Norm was when he was hosting Weekend Update, and one of the news bits was that Michael Jackson had checked into Cedars-Sinai hospital for some mysterious illness or procedure, and while he was there he decorated his room with posters of young Shirley Temple. Norm said, “Now, now, folks, before you go and get the wrong idea, remember that Michael Jackson is a homosexual pedophile.” This was what, ‘94 or ‘95, and much of the world was still laboring under the delusion (or hope) that Michael Jackson was some harmless, asexual, childlike pixie, so that was a pretty daring thing to just come straight out and say. I became a fan, but it didn’t surprise me when he got kicked off that gig.
I might still have a video of it on one of my old drives. That or I’m sure there’s still torrents out there…
He and Gilbert Gottfried are unsurpassed masters of trolling.
Holy shit, I just watched that for the first time. That is a fucking masterpiece. Thank you for turning me on to that!
Ladies and gentlemen, this man is for the birds!God, that was a classic set.
1000 internet points to you for finding a version that was just audio.
Whatever Norm Macdonald hole you thought you ever fell into, it was a fuckin’ ditch on the other side of the road.
WTF? I didn’t even know he had cancer.Sigh. RIP, Mitch. And Turd Ferguson.
He intentionally hid his cancer from everyone, even his friends and family.
Where did you read that?
Man. Norm was the master of telling unfunny jokes that somehow became hilarious because of it. It was something about his impish, lackadaisical delivery that just made everything he said funny.
I don’t know that I’ve ever been so disappointed in myself for laughing until I cried as with this classic:
He’s not that well known over here in the UK, and I’ve only really discovered him quite recently. The moth joke has quickly become one of my all time favourite routines. RIP Norm.
Conan tried several times, in typical Conan fashion, to derail that brilliant joke with his attention-whoring. I’m so glad it didn’t work.
It’s quite the skill to tell a joke that doesn’t land but then stare at the camera to will the audience to laugh.
He was my all-time favorite comedian. I’m absolutely gutted. Makes a lot of sense why so much of his material lately centered around death.
I guess he should have ate less red meat ………too soon ?
I worked on Mike Tyson Mysteries and sadly never got to meet Norm, but everyone I know who did really liked the guy.That being said, I think the worst thing about this is that we will never hear the really dark jokes Norm Macdonald would have about his own death. I bet they’d be hilarious.
Props to you. That show was awesome
I think one thing that Norm said about his battle with cancer: “I’m pretty sure, I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure if you die, the cancer dies at the same time. That’s not a loss. That’s a draw.”
That was from a bit he did earlier about an uncle who had cancer.
Ah. While not a quote about his own cancer, still very much apropos I guess.
y’know, the more i hear about that Hitler fella, the less i like him…
He sounds like a real jerk!
I’ll never forget how much he constantly shat on OJ Simpson: Rest In Peace.
Came here to post that. RIP
The book jokes are legendary
The Dorf reference slightly less so.
That’s what got him fired. One of the executives were best buds with OJ.
An honorable mention goes to his 98 ESPY’s opening monologue. In retrospect some guys got off light
Well it is finally official; Murder is legal in the state of California.
just gutted. a man who should have lived forever. i’ll never, ever, ever forget how lucky i was to have him on snl when i was a teen. just truly formative.
He also had one of the best Pokémon parodies, especially for the 90’s.Norm also would have won Who Wants to be a Millionaire if Regis didn’t fuck things up.
Right?! He knew the answer!
Counterpoint: Why the f*ck did Norm choose THEN to start listening to the dummies?
This one hurts. His moth joke on Conan is one of the funniest clips on YouTube.
Among his other roles, he was consistently good in a recurring role on The Middle as Mike’s weird brother.
This year, there’s a new “Worst Job in America”, displacing the old number one for the last five consecutive years – “Crack Whore”. The new number one: “Assistant Crack Whore”.
Oh fuck. He made fun of his own puffy face on his podcast…I’m sure the treatment had something to do with that (steroids, I’m guessing). Rest in Peace, eh?
Fucking sucks. “I’m pretty sure, I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure if you die, the cancer dies at the same time. That’s not a loss. That’s a draw.”~Norm
Classic Norm. I’m sure it was delivered with his deadpan voice and that sly little smile of his.He seemed like he balanced being funny with having a generally serious and dry personality, all while not taking himself or his fame too seriously, in a way that was really unique in the pantheon of comics.
He got over his cancer problem, but the malignant cells beat him to death anyway. So, he’s dead. That’s it. Bye. ;-(
There was a man who knew how to tell an old-school joke.
Oh god no. I literally just gasped out loud when I read this headline. I had no idea he was sick. This is awful news. RIP.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I’m sure someone else will post the clip of Norm absolutely roasting Carrot Top’s movie Chairman of the Board on Conan all those years ago.I loved everything about Norm and his comedy. Most recently, his turn on The Middle as Mike Heck’s ne’er do well brother Rusty was a masterclass in playing some wonderfully weird shenanigans totally straight. Looking at the timeline of his diagnosis, he played his whole run in the series while battling cancer, which just blows my mind.Between him and Chadwick Boseman, I’ve gotten two of the worst shocks finding out they died. But I almost prefer it that way, because I’ll never remember them wasting away – just burning brightly as absolute masters of their genres.
I’ll do it and I’ll be a hipster about it. I think it’s even better if you watch his entire segment leading into it. did some digging and found it in 3 parts:
More than his monologues, I enjoyed him as an actor. His characters in The Middle and My Name is Earl were worlds apart, yet perfectly expressed by his dry delivery. Fare thee well, Mr. MacDonald.
A friend of mine put it best, they “pulled a David Bowie”
I remember watching this “live” and absolutely falling in love with Norm MacDonald and wanting to watch anytime he was a guest. I was dying laughing. He was an absolute genius.
I highly recommend his run on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? for those who haven’t seen it. While he gets almost to the very end, he also was the last person to win the fastest finger question. They eventually just gave him the prompt “Spell this famous comedian’s name by aranging the following letters in order: a) O b) R c) M d) N.”
Damn. That’s the second comic we lost today.The first was Jim Breuer after announcing he wouldn’t play venues that require proof of vaccination/testing…
Wow, this is really upsetting news. He was one of a kind, that’s for sure. It always felt like understanding Norm’s humor was like being in a special club. All the best stuff was under the surface. His interviews are always a go-to for me if I’m looking for a laugh late at night. RIP Norm
And who will be delivering the eulogy at his funeral?You guessed it, Frank Stallone!RIP, Norm. Thanks for the many laughs.
Ah, son of a bitch. Way too young. Norm is one of the highlights of SNL in my mind.
Finally answering to Courtney Thorne Smith’s murdered film career in the great beyond…
He was preceded by his career, which officially died in 1997. Cause of death: suicide.
deleted
Word on the street is that his eulogy will be delivered by — you guessed it — Frank Stallone…
Since someone already beat me to the punch, here’s an alternate joke:
Or so the Germans would have us believe…
Rest in peace.
This is the worst news. Ever.
I mean this guy was a real jerk!
The guy who knew the best thing to do on SNL is get fired. Utterly heartbreaking
I wasn’t a real fan, but I’m oddly feeling this one.
I enjoyed about 25% of his sets and didn’t feel him as the host of Weekend Update (I preferred his predecessor, Kevin Nealon). I didn’t like him but I also didn’t dislike him. Even though I never meshed with him comedically, I couldn’t help but appreciate his commitment to a bit and respect his craft. He didn’t make me laugh but he never turned me off, which is a fine line to walk.
This has got to be the worst thing to ever happen during the month of September. -Norm, probably
Classic f’ing Norm.
Every time I watch that clip I have to wonder why on earth Conan thought it was a good idea to taunt Norm with “Do something with that you freak”, but I am forever grateful that he did.
I’m guessing he thought he only had about five seconds left and could head him off at the pass.
Poor CTS, reduced to playing the unreasonably hot wife to Jim fucking Belushi for 10 years.
That show lasted TEN YEARS? I am genuinely shocked. I thought it was 5 or 6.
I still remember watching this the night it first aired. It blew me away how god damn funny it was. I was already a fan, but this clip turned Norm into a comic hero for me.
I always have thought CTS must have been so pissed in the moment. But no way that segment lives more than 12 hours without Norm interjecting. She’s famous now forever.
She had to have been pissed, but at the same time she’s clearly laughing hysterically. Because it was Norm.
“What a terrible name for an airline, reminds me of that tragedy” is delivered in a way that sounds both like it took aeons to master and completely clueless. What a fucking legend.RIP.
“I walked through blood and bones through the streets of Manhattan looking for my brother…he was in Northern Canada.”
That’s just so perfectly fucked up.
Yeah, as much as I laughed at the initial joke, that followup killed me.
I am crying.
“Death is a funny thing. Not funny haha, like a Woody Allen movie, but funny strange, like a Woody Allen marriage.”- Norm Macdonald
FUCK!RIP, you cranky Canadian oddball.
Check out Norm’s dirty Johnny joke on Stern.His long form jokes that build to a stupid punchline are the timeless.
Absolute legend!
I’m the assistant editor who worked on The Norm Macdonald show and I have to say that my experience with him is that he’s a really nice guy in person. I still have a video of my corgi giving him kisses and he’s just super chill about it. Definitely a huge bummer to be losing someone like him.
Sorry, clarification, Norm MacDonald has a Show, not the norm show.
I didn’t even know he was sick.
At least he’s in a better place: hilariously annoying Super Dave for eternity:
Only Norm could pull this off.
“People call me and say, oh, hey, you know who died?! The Crocodile Hunter, he was 44! I say, ‘That’s a ripe old age for a Crocodile Hunter.’”
He will be missed.
I can actually say right where I was when I learned the news about his death back in 2006. It was in a Holiday Inn overlooking Schipol Airport.
I was at uni. Studying journalism, we’d always throw outrageous news story ideas at each other to see if anyone would believe them. We were just about to go in for a lecture when one of my mates came up and said “Hey Steve Irwin is dead” and we were all ‘yeah bullshit. Good one”. Of course, five minutes later after logging onto the uni wi-fi we discovered that indeed it was true.
I learned about it from the TV in the hotel room from Dutch news. Now I don’t speak Dutch but the word for ‘dead’ in Dutch was just close enough to ‘dead’ in German for me to do a double take and ask myself “Did they just say Steve Irwin is dead?”I’d literally on the bus the previous day (Con-Tiki tour!) been telling Omar that not all Australians are as … uh … exuberant as Steve Irwin (but that he was sincere and it wasn’t a put on act).Omar then bunked off the tour early but maybe if he hadn’t done that, it would have led to our tour once reaching Venice not quite being in sync with running into Jackie Chan instead of us running slap bang into him.I always thought I would have been more likely to run into him in Canberra given I lived there for years (and as we know his parents were there) but while at work, it took me like a year or something to realise the one person I didn’t really talk to on the tour was someone I then went on to work with. Hence the time it took for us to work this out.Now she was from the US but ended up marrying one of the guys from the tour who was from Australia and the first thing he asked me on the tour was which part of the US I was from. I presume he hadn’t heard me open my mouth yet (did I ever mention I have Sri Lankan parents)?When we did bring this up at work that we’d done a coach tour across Europe together before coming to Canberra to work, one of our nursing unit managers did say she did the right thing marrying the other guy (not seen/met by her). I get the joke potential but maybe it was a bit uncalled for to say it with quite so much glee?And at this point, I realise this is kind of turning into a Norm Macdonald type story with all of the meandering but without even the decency of a punchline of any sort nor any of the comic timing or delivery.
If there is anyone who would have uttered some iconic final words it would be Norm Macdonald.
In the early days of twitter he actually had a book club that lasted for a hot minute. Days-long discussion of “The Brothers Karamazov” and Norm did not suffer fools.Also no mention of his book? https://www.avclub.com/norm-macdonald-s-lie-of-a-memoir-is-a-rejoinder-to-over-1798189078
I just read the book last year, it was great. The most Norm has ever made me laugh was in that book, a multi-page long bit about prison rape where in the end some how the biggest laugh was the perfectly timed correct grammatical use of the word “whom.”
What a loser this guy was. The last thing he did was lose. Always been a Norm fan. I actually just looked him up again yesterday to see if there was anything new that I missed from him. Just one of the greats.
I’m actually feeling a bit ill. This is a gut punch. Fucking funniest guy ever. Fuck cancer.
This is awful. He was my hero. The best stand up comedian I have ever seen, by a mile. More creative, more fearless, and more unique than anybody, anywhere. And even better than that, on a personal level, he was exactly what you would hope he would be. I got lucky enough to have backstage privileges during a couple of the weekends when he came to perform at the Atlanta Improv and he couldn’t have been cooler. I mean it. After the shows, he wouldn’t go back to his hotel, but instead just hung out all night in the back with us, just sitting around shooting the shit with all the young comics until very early in the morning. He was friendly, supportive, inquisitive, and completely hilarious. They were the very best nights I’ve spent in the comedy business. He exceeded all of my wildest expectations and set the highest bar imaginable for comics who I look up to. He even gave me a xanax! I was like, “Holy shit, Norm, you are actually my hero” and he said, “I’m no hero. I’m just a guy with a very old, very confused doctor”. He was the best there was. RIP.
That was a great anecdote. Thanks for sharing.
OJ Simpson outliving Norm is at least the third-biggest injustice involving OJ Simpson…
He was the funniest part of “The Mike Tyson Mysteries” too. He will be missed.
I’ll never forget him on The Daily Show after Steve Irwin died.
NORM: You shouldn’t be shocked when a guy named ‘The Crocodile Hunter’ dies. “You’ll never believe who died! The Crocodile Hunter!”
JON STEWART (wheezing): Please don’t make me laugh at this!
“that’s a ripe old age for a crocodile hunter!”
He’s doing God’s dirty work now
Awww man. I didn’t need that today. RIP Norm. One of the funniest dudes ever. My Youtube feed is always full of clips of Norm on various talk shows because I just can’t stop myself from clicking on the damn things.
RIP Turd Ferguson
Cause of death? You guessed it, Frank Stallone
One of my favorite Norm moments was when he hosted the ESPYs and roasted absolutely everyone in the room including OJ
Norm was one of my favorite comedians. I always cackle when I think of the Artie Lange anecdote about the ‘Dirty Work’ review. The critic said Lange had all the charm of a date rapist. And Norm replied “Hey man, that’s great. A date rapist has to have way more charm than a regular rapist.” Classic Norm.
He and Jerry Seinfeld discussing Bill Cosby on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee:Norm: you know, Patton Oswalt said “the worst thing about the Bill Cosby thing is the hypocrisy of it all…” and I disagree.Jerry: and you disagree?Norm: I thought the worst part was the raping.
The cause of death? You guessed it. Frank Stallone.
God damn it.
Well, god damn it. This is very sad. I was hoping he’d do another season of Norm Macdonald Has a Show, which was fun. He had Billy Joe Shaver on one episode, and tried to convince Shaver he should have written a line in a song differently. Shaver, of course, disagreed. (Norm introduced him on that episode as “my best friend” and .. it SEEMED true.)I know there’ll be dozens of clips posted here today, so I won’t try to do that, but — that damn moth joke he told on Conan is always, always funny. Really, I once watched it like 5 times in a row, laughed every time.
His “Me Doing Standup” from 2011 is probably my favorite standup album.
oops, 2011. anyway.
His bit on the news is perfect. I was listening to it yesterday actually.
That’s my favorite bit as well. And I mean maybe in all of comedy. Perfectly crafted, perfectly delivered.
“And then it’ll be Janice’s third friend-lady that’s not one of the earlier two and then she goes: ‘I’ll tell you about Janice (is that who you’re askin’ me ‘bout? Janice?) Janice was the type of lady… that you could be talking to your best friend in the whole world and then Janice comes in and you go: ‘Fuck you I’m talkin’ to Janice. ‘Cause Janice is better than you, c’mon let’s face it. She’s better than all of us!’”
funniest person ever on television
“This concludes the jokes about Bob Saget”
I can’t wait for Laserface to show up and lecture us all about why Norm was problematic.
I’m feeling all kinds of shitty from hearing this. Frankly, I’m just heartbroken. We’ve all lost something really special today. Norm was pure comedy joy. He was always funny, and he never failed to make me laugh. Decades of watching him on TV, in movies, online, and seeing his stand-up, and there hasn’t been a moment where he wasn’t hilarious. Even when he bombed. Especially when he bombed.Just as an example, at the beginning of the pandemic, when his coronavirus sets were put up on YouTube, I watched them and they gave me a lot of laughs and a lot of solace at the beginning of what continues to be a very dark time. He was fearless. He risked all for the jokes, and his risks always paid off.
I am really going to fucking miss that old chunk o’ coal.
Here is a clip of his 2nd Letterman appearance after he was fired from SNL Weekend Update. I love to hear Dave crapping on the NBC suits. I loved to watch how great and kind Letterman was with him.
One of my favorite appearances Norm made with Letterman was when Dave told Norm one of the reasons that he liked him so much, is that he was a fan of George Miller, Dave’s long time friend and fellow comedian. Of course, the segement wound up turning into Norm and Dave swapping their favorite George Miller jokes. It was great, just watching two incredibly funny people paying tribute to a peer.
He looked kind of puffy and vaguely unwell when he appeared on The Middle. Since we now know he was battling cancer for over a decade, I guess that would explain it. Damn shame, we lost a real talent today. One who would otherwise still have several years of material left in him.
He was looking really rough at times on his youtube series and there were some vague acknowledgements that he had or was having health problems, but he looked a lot better by the time the show moved to Netflix so I thought he was in the clear ):
Fuck.
I think this is the first time I’ve really seen a celebrity death that hit me. There’ve been plenty over the years where I’ve thought “that’s a shame” but this is the first time where when I read the headline I yelled WHAT? out loud.
I shed a couple tears on this one. Most celebrity deaths sorta gloss over me. I was talking to Mrs. F. about it the last time someone died and I told her one death that really got me was Jim Henson. So much we all lost. And now Norm. Fucking Norm. It’s like if Bob Odenkirk had actually passed a few weeks ago.
Last ones that got me was Neil Peart (I have such a fondness for Rush, though I never got a chance to see them in concert) and Terry Jones (ge was one of my favorite Python’s, and it was so sad that such an engaging, eloquent speaker lost that skill near the end of his life). I’m very glad we still have Bob. That would have been a real kick in the teeth.
Losing Bob Einstein sucked too, Funkman. 🙁
You have no idea. RIP me.
Last night Youtube’s recommended algorithm kept giving me Norm clips out of nowhere.What did you do, Google?!
You know what really killed him, right?You guessed it, Frank Stallone!God I’m going to miss him.
R.I.P. Norm MacDonald. R.I.P Turd Ferguson. (It’s a funny name).
I wouldn’t wish a nine-year battle with cancer (which he didn’t let friends or family know about) on anyone, even someone who made this “joke” on SNL Weekend Update in 1996 about Brandon Teena (the trans man whose story was told in “Boys Don’t Cry”): “In Nebraska, a man was sentenced for killing a female cross-dresser who had accused him of rape and two of her friends. Excuse me if this sounds harsh, but in my mind, they all deserved to die.”
Biggest comedic loss since Mitch Hedberg. He was doing Weekend Update when I was in high school and every Monday morning would be me and the boys just repeating his best lines over and over. Over the last couple years seeing him kindy puffy I was just like “Eh, he’s older – he’s earned getting a little fat now.” Bummed to know it was totally cancer treatment related. RIP Norm. 🙁
Hell I even used to watch that Sports show he used to have, and I don’t give a shit about sports. That was where I was first introduced to Kyle Mooney. You can debate the pros and cons on that yourselves.
Wow this sucks. RIP Norm. His book is legitimately great, too – highly recommend the audio version read by Norm himself!
Damn, I should have known he did an audio version. That’s alright, that just means I get to enjoy it again and hearing his delivery will probably make it funnier even though I already read it.
My favorite Norm quality was that even when he was working off scripts, everything sounded like he just came up with off the top of his head. He was a genius comedian.
How dare you. Seriously. Fuck AVclub forever for not mentioning how you helped tar and feather him over a small faux-pas.
Interesting, I can’t even remember what he did to land himself in hot water. But I do remember him being the AVClub’s (likely, Barsanti’s) Worse-Than-Hitler Of The Day. So in retrospect, whatever he did or didn’t say or do was probably pretty innocuous.
He stuck up for Rosanne and Chappelle after their controversial remarks I believe. He wasn’t defending what they said, but just saying some positive things about his friends. He also used the R word when apologizing. He always had some non-PC things to say, but I never get the sense he had a hateful bone in his body. Truly unfortunate that this was the last time he was really in the public eye. He is my comedy hero and I hope the world remembers him fondly for decades to come.
IIRC it was around when Louis CK and Roseanne Barr were imploding, and he spoke out in their defence in a “they don’t deserve to lose everything / #MeToo and PC are going too far” kind of way. So kind of tone-deaf and oblivious in a kind of “mildly conservative white guy in his late fifties who lives in a bit of an entertainment industry bubble sticking up for his friends who got in hot water” way, perhaps, but I don’t remember anything worse than that. It was a bit of a molehill-into-a-mountain situation if memory serves.
“Lot of bad people, man. Lot of bad — I was reading this one guy, in the paper, y’know? Baddest guy I ever read about. This guy killed his family- if you can believe this, folks- killed his family because the devil told him to. Can you believe that? Man! What a dork, eh? That was the headline, actually: “What A Dork!” “Guy Kills His Family Because the Devil Told Him To.” But can you imagine that, and then afterwards, you go back to the devil, y’know, you go, “Yes, Devil! I did as you instructed- I- I slaughtered my family as they lay sleeping, and then I chopped ’em up and put ’em in a duffel bag. Here they are, I got ’em here in the duffel bag. I’ll be burying them tonight at the shallow grave by the side of the railroad track, as you have commanded, O Lord Host of the Hoary Netherworld.” And then the devil pulls off a mask, “It’s me! Bob!” Then you go, “Oh, Bob!! (sheepishly) Jeez- you got me there, Bob, you got me. Is my face red or what over here? I got my family in a duffel bag! That’s one for you there, Bobby Boy!””
Wow, 2021 is really giving 2020 a run for its money.Absolute legend. One of the all-time greats. This is just unbelievably sad.
One of my favorite Norm MacDonald work was when he played “death” on a Family Guy episode back in 1999.(looks at Peter’s crappy little TV): “Hey, how old is this TV? You could probably get the DuMont Network on this thing.”
I’m partway through “Based on a True Story”, which will read differently now that he’s actually dead. I object to its characterization as “semi-fictional”, as it is 100% true.
OJ didn’t help himself when he yelled out ‘hey, that’s my lucky killing hat’ in court on Tuesday…
It feels like forever ago, but for a while Norm would tweet out stories one line at a time over the course of *days* on twitter and he managed to turn tweeting into a whole new form of art. Sometimes they were poignant, sometimes they were hilarious, and sometimes you weren’t sure *what* they were but you were always sad when they were gone:
https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/heres-norm-macdonalds-magical-twitter-story-about-meeting-bob-dylan
God damnit he was so funny.My all-time favorite Norm MacDonald joke was from his sports show on Comedy Central.“Tiger Woods was caught urinating in the bushes off the 9th green on Saturday. ‘Thanks for waking me up!’ said a urine-soaked Jon Daly.”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 🙁
FUCK
Whoever cast him as Mike’s brother and the great John Cullum as Mike’s dad on The Middle was brilliant. Three experts on dry deadpan deliveries.
“Macdonald was known for his deadpan humor.” Even more so now.
He is such a TURD………………………………………..Ferguson!
See you in the stars, Turd.
I loved him so much on The Middle. Especially in this episode, his first.
As Roger on NewsRadio.
#1 Better Than Ezra
#2 Ezra
Adam Eget, his ‘sidekick’ and pal posted this about an hour ago:“Today I lost my hero. A brother. A teacher. A friend. Today we lost a TRUE artist. An icon. A legend. A genius.
Norm was my favorite comic of all time. He was brilliantly funny. The most original voice in comedy since Sam Kinison. He was infinitely funnier than he was unique and Norm was the most unique comic in decades.
I was constantly astounded by how much work he put into his craft. He was meticulous. He was sharp. He cared about the quality of his work more than anything besides his family. The importance of quality far outweighed the importance of quantity in his eyes.
And how lucky am I for being able to witness that firsthand. To be included. To call him a friend. To make each other laugh hysterically on the way to our podcast recordings, coming up with new bits on the fly.
And how lucky are we to have had Norm. The countless laughs he gave us. And these weren’t just laughs. They were special. Hard earned and visceral laughs. Laughs that come from deep in our guts.
We have so many brilliantly hilarious clips of Norm available for us to watch repeatedly on YouTube for eternity. I’m always somewhat surprised to see how young some of Norm’s fans are each new year. These kids weren’t even born before many of these clips were first broadcast.
But these kids discovered Norm and became obsessed like many of us have over the years. And that is a testament to just how special Norm was. Comedy can easily become dated, but never Norm. It will stand the test of time.
Norm fans feel like we’re apart of something special. A community. A cult of sorts. We can share cryptic and fragmented sentences with each other that would be a mystery to anyone else, yet make us laugh harder than any other fully formed jokes of others. A language based on cherished quotes and memories.
I have endless hours of incredible memories of my time spent with Norm. Once I get through the tears and shock, I know I will find solace and comfort in those wonderful moments which I will genuinely cherish for the rest of my days.
Thanks to so many of you who have reached out to me today. It meant so very much to me. RIP Norm. Thanks for my life.”
No one’s mentioned his character of Yaphit on The Orville. He was perfect as the voice of the gelatinous crewmember.
Oof this hits hard. I listen to his bits pretty much daily. Jesus.
Bob Uecker story from Letterman:
The great Andy Richter joke:
Fuck.
RIP, Turd Ferguson. You were one of a kind.
Here is his last Letterman appearance. Watch to the end. At around 6:40 he starts talking about Dave. Very sweet.
This one stings a bit. I really don’t mind celebrity passings, but Norm was one of the greats. I was lucky enough to shake his hand after a show I went to years ago.
RIP.
I’ll always remember his astonishment at realizing that Gary Oldman was a young man, while Henny Youngman was an old man.
A genius, I’ve spent so many hours watching and rewatching everything he’s done. This is devastating and shocking, been thinking about it all day. I honestly hoped I’d get to see him perform one day and maybe even meet him. Anything I can type seems so insufficient for how much I loved this man’s comedy. RIP
I think Norm always was the best Weekend Update host. Cause his delivery was so on point and he was free, for the most part, to do whatever he wanted. Obviously that method got him fired but…it just felt like “punk” comedy. He was making jokes no one would make and also his deadpan delivery made everything better. He made me laugh even when a joke boomed.It sucks. Cancer sucks. Dude is a legend and we got a lot to look back on. But 61 years old is far too young these days and he could’ve given us more.RIP
In a week we’ve lost Omar and Norm McDonald, both out of the blue. Fuck this, man.
“You fellas have a lot of growin’ up to do, I’ll tell you that. Ridiculous.”Damn, this is rough news. RIP Norm. Between Norm Macdonald and Sean Lock in the UK the other week, apparently the Reaper’s had it in for the deadpan comedian’s comedians on both sides of the Pond recently.
RIP one of the top 3 delivery stand-up comedians of all time.
I can’t find a clip, but I always think of the SNL Star Wars auditions sketch where he played Burt Reynolds. It’s something like:Off-camera guy: “Your sad devotion to that ancient religion has not helped you conjure up
the stolen data tapes, or given you clairvoyance enough to find the
Rebels’ hidden fortress . . . “Burt: *silence*“You’re supposed to choke him.”“Huh?”“You’re supposed to choke him.”“What, like I go over there and choke him?”“No, you make a motion like you’re choking him – “*Off-camera guy goes on to explain more about Darth Vader while Burt chews his gums and looks around bored*Burt: “Let me ask you a question: what kind of a car’s this guy drive?”
I saw him live 3 times, and I can’t imagine anyone else ever coming close. He had the most thoughtful thoughtlessness, like perfect comedy zen.
Then it occurred to me, I haven’t gotten funnier, the show has gotten really bad!” Hah, accurate.
OJ will never rest until the cancer that got Norm is cured.And the research continues!Goddamnit. RIP.
Norm and ‘modern medicine’ on Conan.
While I’m shocked and yeah, a little sad, today has mostly been me laughing a lot as folks share their best Norm bits. Just, the man’s delivery was on another plane. Blunt, deadpan, just “this joke is kinda bad but you’re going to laugh anyway” and goddamn if it doesn’t work.
…and he never came out of the closet.RIPTime to rewatch the special on Netflix and a lot of other stuff.
“Many people are skeptical about the marriage of Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley. Friends say Lisa Marie is more of a sit-at-home type, while Michael is more of a homosexual pedophile.”R.I.P.
Pretty fucked up to have a “writer” who wouldn’t laugh at a norm joke with a gun to her head write his obit. Eat shit Tatiana
Norm’s final words.
Family: “Norm, follow the light.”
Norm: ”Heh, yeah, that reminds me of a story….”
Fuck the AV club for its treatment of Norm during the whole NYT cancelling thing and fuck the AV club for its review of his Netflix series!
If you’ve never watched him totally wrecking the day / making a classic of this show, it’s well worth the full 25 minutes.