One of the funniest to ever come out of SNL (and Canada) imo.
Sad to hear.

Norm Macdonald, Comedian and ‘Saturday Night Live’ Star, Dies at 61

Norm Macdonald, the deadpan comedian, actor, writer and “Saturday Night Live” star, has died after a battle with cancer, Variety has confirmed. He was 61.

Macdonald privately battled the disease for almost a decade. “Norm was an original! He defined American humor with honesty and blunt force,” Jeff Danis, president of DPN Talent and one of Macdonald’s reps, told Variety in a statement.

Dozens of comedians, including Seth Rogen, Jon Stewart, Ron Funches and Jim Gaffigan, paid tribute to Macdonald, “one of the greatest comedians to have ever lived,” on social media.

The comedian got his start in showbiz as a writer on “Roseanne” in 1992 after making rounds at comedy clubs in Canada. He joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live” in 1993, and the next year, began his memorable stint as “Weekend Update” anchor until early 1998, when he was replaced by Colin Quinn. Macdonald was known for his dry humor, non-sequiturs and impressions of Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Larry King, Quentin Tarantino and many more during his five-year run on the show.
[variety.com]

no i really loved him

My all time favorite comedian.

Whenever you feel down and depressed, go to Youtube and look for Norm's apprearances on Conan, Letterman and other variuous talk shows.

Nobody came close to be as funny as Norm.

61 is to young to die.

Losing Charlie and Norm within a few weeks. The world is a sadder place today.

A funny clip about Kermit Jagger.
Norm was one of a kind for certain..

Very sad news about a truly gifted comic.

His appearance on one of Letterman's final shows was sublime.





RIP, Norm.

Sad news .... guy could be dead=pan funny
Learnt about him thru The Letterman Show ...
left the world at an early age .....

Thanks for the laughs .... RIP



ROCKMAN

I also thought of that last appearance on Letterman. I'll never forget his sincerity as he poured out his feelings for Dave. Letterman was really taken aback by it. There was mutual admiration between the two and the genuine emotion shared was something I'll never forget.

Thanks for the laughter, Norm.

Had a very dry sense of humour, loved him on SNL doing Weekend Update as well as Burt Reynolds on Jeopardy.

Very sad...RIP Norm MacDonald.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

“It's official! Murder is now legal in the state of California.”

Yes, deadpan is the word. Or non-sequitur maybe. Saw him on Letterman. Never was a fan of stand up comedy but I think talkshows is the perfect format for it.
Saw clips from his own show on Youtube and got the feeling he had mellowed quite a bit. Very likeable. 61 is of course far too early to go. Safe journey.

From David Letterman:

In every important way, in the world of stand-up, Norm was the best. 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.
Dave Letterman

[twitter.com]

[twitter.com]

Amazing to me to learn he privately battled cancer for 9 years leading up to this.
Hard not to read this quote in his voice..

Norm MacDonald on battles 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.”

Damn. Smart, funny, dimples for miles…I had such a crush on Norm. So sad…RIP.

It's probably the thing he is least famous for, but I really liked him as the voice of Pigeon in the Mike Tyson Mysteries cartoons.

[www.youtube.com]

Was he known in the U.K. and/or rest of Europe. Or was he a uniquely American/Canadian voice?

This is sad.

Norm was well-known at least to my generation of Swedes since the early 90ies and SNL, and then The Norm Show.

His SNL opening monologue - having been fired from the show just a few months before - is superb.

R.I.P.

RIP. He will be missed.

The owner of Yuk Yuk’s, where Norm Macdonald got his start, says the late comedian had three qualities that made him successful at his craft.

“He was smart, honest and cutting. Three great things you want to see in a comedian,” Mark Breslin, CEO and founder of the Yuk Yuk’s standup comedy clubs said Tuesday, recalling the career of Canadian Norm Macdonald, a funnyman who died after nine years with cancer.

He was 61. His family said Norm died peacefully in hospital in Pasadena, Calif., from acute leukemia on Tuesday, an illness he was very private about.

“He was a friend too. We were pals. I lost a pal today,” Breslin said of Macdonald’s passing.

The former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, actor and voice-over personality, who was known for his deadpan style where he often milked a joke, even when no one else was laughing, was born in Quebec City.

His niece, Andrea Macdonald, a team editor on the Star’s production desk, remembers the man she fondly called “Uncle Norm.”

Star editor Andrea Macdonald with her "Uncle Norm" and her sister Maxine in 1991.

Once when she was a youngster, around 4 or 5 years old, visiting him in Toronto in the 1980s, (she would stay here overnight while travelling from London Ont. to the family farm in Ottawa) he took her to see the movie “The NeverEnding Story.” One scene frightened her and she had to run out of the theatre.

“He was there consoling me, but also kinda laughed with me,” she says, choking up recalling the moment. “He liked to tease me in a friendly way.”

She remembers him as the “fun” uncle.

“He was a big part of my life growing up. He was around a lot,” his niece says.

Norm grew up with his older brother Neil, a veteran CBC television journalist, and his youngest brother Leslie. The brothers first lived at the Camp Valcartier Canadian Forces army base in Quebec City, where their father was a principal and mother a teacher. They spent about 17 years there.

According to family lore, Norm and his brothers would crack each other up imitating the locals in the area.

“That’s where he got his chops for imitating people,” his niece says.

The family had a farm in the Ottawa Valley area and Norm would sometimes get a stern look from his father whenever Norm imitated visitors to the property.

“Grandpa apparently didn’t appreciate that,” Macdonald’s niece says chuckling.

As his success as an entertainer later blossomed, the family basked in the joy with the comedian. Macdonald arranged for his niece to be in the front row of the studio for the season premiere of “Saturday Night Live” in 1995.

“He was such a big part of everyone’s life. Everyone was very proud of him,” his niece says.

“He was a very private but emotional person. He always did his best to take care of all of us,” she went on to say.

Macdonald got his big break after working the open mic comedy scene in Ottawa and Toronto then later heading to Los Angeles and taking off in the U.S. — his highlight as one of the cast members on “SNL” in the mid to late 1990s, including a period on the show where he hosted the popular Weekend Update segment, a satiric take on the weekly news.

He was known for killer impressions, including a gum-chomping Burt Reynolds and former Republican presidential nominee and U.S. senator Bob Dole.

Comics both in the U.S. and Canada mourned Macdonald’s passing on social media and elsewhere.

Well-known Canadian actor and comedian Seth Rogan said: “I was a huge fan of Norm Macdonald and I essentially ripped off his delivery when I first started acting. 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. RIP.”

Breslin recalls the days when Macdonald first started out doing off the wall bits at Yuk Yuk’s in Ottawa and Toronto as a shy amateur in the mid to late 1980s.

“Most comedians suck when they first start out, and stink for a while before they get good. Norm shows up for amateur night in Ottawa and he’s absolutely fantastic in five minutes. My manager there told me Norm thought he bombed. (The manager) ran after him and told him, ‘You gotta come back.’ He came back the next night and killed again,” Breslin recalls.

In fact, Macdonald was so good, he was pulled off the amateur roster in Ottawa in three weeks, which Breslin believes is a record for his club.

“When he came to Toronto (as a headliner) I expected someone great, and I got it,” Breslin says. Macdonald spent about two or three years honing his routine in Toronto’s Yuk Yuk’s on Richmond St., Breslin says.

Deborah Knight, Macdonald’s publicist in Toronto at this time, recalls his dry wit.

“He said ‘oh, I have to perform for you as well?’ He was so funny. It was a deadpan way of thinking of a publicist,” she recalls.

“He had observational humour that cracked you up because he said it so genuinely. He had quick, off-the-cuff remarks that made you feel at ease even when he was poking fun at you,” Knight said, recalling a client who was “a lot of fun to work with.”

“He was humble and a riot to be around. He always had a quip to crack you up,” Knight recalls.

Breslin remembers spending time with Macdonald in Aspen, Colo. around the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. Macdonald was appeared at a comedy festival in the city.

“He did as brilliant a set as I’ve ever seen. His entire 45 minutes was on one theme — fear. Fear of politics, fears concerning his body and his mortality,” Breslin says, recalling the edgy bit.

During his stint on Weekend Update, Macdonald dropped lines that were very cutting and close to the line. After O.J. Simpson’s acquittal, Macdonald famously said, “Well it’s official. Murder is legal in the state of California.”

A short time later he lost his Weekend Update gig and was let go from “SNL” entirely. Some blame NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer, who was friendly with O.J. Simpson, for Macdonald’s fate on the show.

“What you want from a comic is honesty because you can’t get that from anyone else,” Breslin says of the controversy.

Perhaps it’s a mark of irony that one of Macdonald’s most famous standup routines was about his uncle’s cancer treatment, and a sign of his acerbic wit that he shredded the cliche of cancer as a battle, or the notion of “losing” to the disease.

Todd Van Allen, a standup comic and voice actor in Ottawa, was around for Macdonald’s early open mic days. Then, as always, Macdonald’s material was “dry, witty, well thought-out” and often silly, Van Allen says.

“His delivery, his word choice. It was always succinct and in his own style. We’re never going to hear anyone like that again, which makes his passing that much sadder.

[www.thestar.com]

A great Canadian Comic/Comedian and very sad news. RIP Norm.

Loved Norm. Very sad news...
He will be missed.

funny, funny man

I had to rewatch Dirty Work last night in tribute to Norm. He made me laugh everytime!
RIP.

This is so sad to hear. He was a brilliant guy. He had such an interesting perspective and take on things, and a unique sense of timing. Also he seemed genuinely kind. RIP.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2021-09-15 18:16 by ryanpow.

Quote

Re: OT- RIP Norm MacDonald
Posted by: tatters ()
Date: September 15, 2021 04:10

It's probably the thing he is least famous for, but I really liked him as the voice of Pigeon in the Mike Tyson Mysteries cartoons.

[www.youtube.com]

i love this show too and he easily stole the spotlight from tyson

Oh yeah, the Letterman impression. Pure comedic gold. Thanks for posting.