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One of the greatest stand-up comedians of all time, Norm Macdonald, passed away on September 14 after a battle with cancer. He passed away at 61-years-old after battling the disease for nine years, never once letting fans know. Meanwhile, Macdonald continued to make the entire world laugh with his unique and ingenious comedy stylings.
Norm Macdonald – Comedy Legend
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Most in America got to know Canadian comedian Norm Macdonald when he joined the cast of Saturday Night Live, taking over the Weekend Update desk, although he had been doing stand-up for many years. “There’s something in his comedy — there’s just a toughness to it,” SNL showrunner Lorne Michaels said. “Also, he’s incredibly patient. He can wait.” However, like Bill Murray before him, the audience didn’t get Macdonald at first. “I think it took some getting used to for the audience,” Michaels continued. “It wasn’t instantly a hit. But he just grew on them.”
Sadly for fans and audience members with critical thinking skills, another SNL producer, Don Ohlmeyer, fired Macdonald when the comedian refused to stop insulting O.J. Simpson during his murder trial. You see, Simpson was a friend of Ohlmeyer, and the producer did not want cast members making fun of his friend, despite Simpson’s literal murder charge. The fearless comedian he was, Macdonald refused to stop. After the trial ended, Macdonald took one last shot at Simpson on his last night behind the Weekend Update desk: “It is finally official: Murder is legal in the state of California.”
While Ohlmeyer remained angry and petty until he died in 2017, it did not stop Macdonald from becoming one of America’s biggest comedy stars. He not only starred in a variety of hit movies, like Dirty Work, Billy Madison, and others, he also became a judge on Last Comic Standing, wrote for Rosanne, and even earned his own sitcom, Norm. In more recent years, Macdonald started his own hit podcast, Norm Macdonald Live, released multiple stand-up specials, created a Netflix show, Norm Macdonald Has a Show, and became a favored guest on talk shows like Conan.
Meanwhile, behind the scenes, he fought a private battle with cancer…
Not A Loss, A Draw
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For nine years, Norm Macdonald fought an incredibly private battle with cancer. He didn’t even tell some of his closest friends! “He was most proud of his comedy,” his longtime friend and producing partner Lori Jo Hoekstra told Deadline. “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 also never wanted fame. “I never wanted fame at all. I just wanted to do stand-up,” he said in 2010.
But one thing is clear: Macdonald did not think that he “lost” to cancer. “In the old days, a man could just get sick and die, y’know,” he joked in 2011. “Now, they have to ‘wage a battle.’… And the reason I don’t like it is that in the old days, they’d go, ‘Hey, that old man died.’ Now, they go, ‘Hey, he lost his battle.’ That’s no way to end your life. What a loser that guy was. The last thing he did was lose. He was waging a brave battle, but at the end, I guess he got kind of cowardly… I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure that if you die, the cancer also dies at exactly the same time. So that, to me, that’s not a loss — that’s a draw.”
Now, many other comedians are remembering the comedic master after
Missing The Stand-Up Master
After Macdonald passed, almost every comedian in America talked about how much they loved the stand-up legend. “Norm had the most unique comedic voice I have ever encountered and he was so relentlessly and uncompromisingly funny,” Conan O’Brien tweeted. “I will never laugh that hard again. I’m so sad for all of us today.” On YouTube, Bob Saged posted a 38-minute-long video talking about his relationship with Macdonald. “One of the gifts of my life is that he loved me and that I loved him,” Saget said.
“Every one of us loved Norm…Most fearless funny original guy we knew. An incredible dad. A great friend. A legend. Love u pal,” wrote Adam Sandler. Meanwhile, Jon Stewart shared a sentiment of anger that many felt: “No one could make you break like Norm Macdonald. Hilarious and unique. F**k cancer.”
Norm Macdonald is survived by his son, his mother, and two sisters. Rest in peace.
