by Popular Canadian Stand-Up comedian, actor, writer, and Saturday Night Live fame has died at the age of 61 years after battling prolonged cancer. For nearly a decade, Macdonald battled the sickness. “Norm was an original!” said Jeff Danis, president of DPN Talent and one of Macdonald’s reps, in a statement to Variety. With honesty and frank power, he characterized American humor. Seth Rogen, Jon Stewart, Ron Funches, and Jim Gaffigan, among others, paid tribute to Macdonald on social media, calling him “one of the finest comedians to have ever lived.”
Paying tribute to MacDonald, SNL tweeted, “All of us here at SNL mourn the loss of Norm Macdonald, one of the most impactful comedic voices of his or any other generation.” The Emmy Winner, Seth Meyers said, “He was the gold standard, and he will continue to be the gold standard, and I would just suggest that everybody go watch him tell the moth story on Conan.” Another comedian and host Jimmy Fallon paid him tribute saying, “one of the greatest comedians ever” and “a friend of the show – family, really to us”.
Norm MacDonald, after performing at comedy clubs around Canada, made his television debut as a writer on Roseanne in 1992. He joined the cast of Saturday Night Live in 1993 and hosted Weekend Update from 1994 to early 1998. Macdonald and Bruce Helford co-created The Norm Show, which aired on ABC from 1999 to 2001. Macdonald also provided the voice of Lucky the dog in films such as Billy Madison, The People vs. Larry Flynt, and Eddie Murphy’s Dr. Dolittle. On Seth MacFarlane’s Fox sci-fi comedy The Orville, he voiced Lieutenant Yaphit, a gelatinous, shape-shifting engineer. The show will return for a third season on Hulu.
