Norm Macdonald Death: What Happened to Him?

Table of Contents

Norm Macdonald, whose laconic delivery of cutting and incisive insights made him one of Saturday Night Live’s most recognized and beloved cast members, died after a nine-year battle with cancer. He was 61 years old at the time.

Macdonald’s death was confirmed to Deadline by his management business, Brillstein Entertainment. Macdonald had been battling cancer for nearly a decade, but had been determined to keep his health difficulties quiet, away from family, friends, and fans, according to Lori Jo Hoekstra, the comedian’s longtime producing partner and friend who was with him at the time of his death. “He was going through a lot at the time,” Hoekstra added.

Hoekstra remarked, “He was really satisfied with his humorous ability.” “He never wanted his sickness to affect how the audience or any of his loved ones saw him,” the author writes. Norm was the personification of pure humor. He once said that a joke should always catch the recipient off guard and not pander to them. He never surrendered to peer pressure. The family said, “Norm will be deeply missed.”

Norm Macdonald Death Reason

Macdonald was scheduled to perform at the New York Comedy Festival in November.

From 1993 to 1998, he was a member of the Saturday Night Live cast, where he was most known for hosting the show’s “Weekend Update” segments for three seasons. Macdonald is remembered for his wry sense of humor — as well as his refusal to soften his stance on O.J. Simpson despite NBC executives’ pressure — and he would go on to become one of the most influential “Update” anchors, helping to shift the show away from Chevy Chase’s slapstick approach and toward Colin Quinn’s more barbed political approach.

Macdonald, who was born in Quebec City on October 17, 1959, began his career in show business in Canada’s comedy clubs, where he polished the deadpan style that would become his signature and a profoundly influential touchstone for a generation of comics.

After competing on the show in 1990, he got his first regular television writing position on The Dennis Miller Show, presented by the man who hosted “Weekend Update” from 1986 to 1991.

Macdonald worked as a writer for Roseanne Barr’s series Roseanne for the 1992-93 season before landing a highly sought-after job as a writer for NBC’s Saturday Night Live.

One of his most well-known SNL impersonations was a gum-chomping Burt Reynolds, complete with dazzling smile, bolo tie, and wiseguy attitude, who was usually at odds with Will Ferrell’s Alex Trebek, who was frequently humorous. He came close to duplicating Reynolds’ performance when it came to other celebrities: Macdonald’s cast included Andy Rooney, Clint Eastwood, David Letterman, Larry King, Mr. Bean, Quentin Tarantino, and Rod Serling, to mention a few.

Norm Macdonald – Awards!

When Macdonald was sacked from the show, it was already a problematic situation, and the decision was usually attributed to his continued vilification of Simpson as a murderer, despite the displeasure of Don Ohlmeyer.

NBC’s West Coast division president and a friend of the former football star. According to the New York Times.

Macdonald claimed his firing was because to his participation on “Update” in “experimental stuff, non sequiturs,” and that “Ohlmeyer would watch Leno kill every night for 15 minutes.” Every joke generated a lot of laughs, but I’d only do it for ten minutes a week and not get any.”

Bob Saget after Norm Macdonald’s death https://t.co/gukfSVeIG8 pic.twitter.com/QuIBsJeSJq

— CNNWynn (@WynnWs) January 10, 2022

And…

Regardless of Ohlmeyer’s intentions, Macdonald was fired, despite the fact that his Simpson coverage was unrivalled for its humorous intensity at the time. While Leno repeatedly featured the wacky “Dancing Itos” during the trial, Macdonald was unwavering in his denunciation of the defendants. The Simpson jury was still deliberating when he read his major “Update” piece: “They must now decide whether to release him or have all of their heads cut off.” When the verdict was rendered in his favour, he said, “Well, it’s now official: Murder is legal in the state of California.”

Macdonald went on to star in his own comedic series, Norm, from 1999 to 2001, after leaving Saturday Night Live in 1998. He portrayed a goofy former pro hockey player who is caught cheating on his taxes and is forced to work as a social worker in New York in the series. Laurie Metcalf also appeared in the film. Norm Macdonald Has a Program, a one-season Netflix conversation show in which he appeared, premiered in 2018. Other TV performances include the title character in A Minute with Stan Hooper, a Fox sitcom that aired for half a season in 2003 and co-starred Penelope Ann Miller and Fred Willard, and the Sports Show with Norm Macdonald, which aired on Comedy Central in 2011.

Nominations!

In 1992, he was nominated for a Cable ACE Award for his work on the Amnesty International variety show Free to Laugh: A Comedy and Music Special, for which he got a nomination.

He had recurring roles on ABC’s The Middle from 2010 until his death in 2018, where he played the ignorant Rusty Heck, eccentric brother to Neil Flynn’s Mike Heck. My Name Is Earl, Real Rob, NewsRadio, The Drew Carey Show, and The Larry Sanders Show, among others, have all featured him as a guest on television. Mike Tyson Mysteries, The Orville, Dr. Dolittle, Fairly OddParents, and the videogame Skylanders Academy are just a few of the animated projects for which he has provided the voice.