Norm Macdonald

Macdonald joined the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) television program in 1993, where he performed impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, Charles Kuralt and Bob Dole, among others. The following year during the show's twentieth season, Macdonald anchored the segment Weekend Update. Current "Weekend Update" anchor and writer Colin Jost named Macdonald as a primary influence on Jost's own work behind the "Update" desk, explaining that Macdonald's tone was one that Jost grew up with in high school.[16]

Macdonald's version of "Weekend Update" often included references to prison rape, crack whores, and the Germans' love of Baywatch star David Hasselhoff. He would occasionally deliver a piece of news, then take out his personal compact tape recorder and leave a "note to self" relevant to what he just discussed. He commonly used Frank Stallone as a non sequitur punchline. Macdonald repeatedly ridiculed public figures such as Marion Barry, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and O. J. Simpson. Throughout Simpson's murder trial, Macdonald constantly pilloried the former football star, often heavily implying Simpson was guilty of the brutal slaying of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman. In the broadcast following Simpson's acquittal, Macdonald opened "Weekend Update" by saying: "Well, it is finally official: murder is legal in the state of California."

During the February 24, 1996, episode, Macdonald made a controversial joke about the sentencing of John Lotter, one of the two men who committed the notorious murder of Brandon Teena: "In Falls City, Nebraska, John Lotter has been sentenced to death for attempting to kill three people in what prosecutors called a plot to silence a cross-dressing female who had accused him of rape. Now this might strike some viewers as harsh, but I believe everyone involved in this story should die."[17][18]

After the announcement that Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley planned to divorce, Macdonald joked about their irreconcilable differences on "Weekend Update": "She's more of a stay-at-home type, and he's more of a boy-hungry pedophile." He followed this up a few episodes later with a report about the singer's collapse and hospitalization. Referring to a report that Jackson had decorated his hospital room with giant photographs of Shirley Temple, Macdonald remarked that viewers should not get the wrong idea, adding, "Michael Jackson is a homosexual pedophile."

On the April 12, 1997, show (host Rob Lowe, musical guest The Spice Girls), during a "Weekend Update" story about Tabitha Soren, Macdonald accidentally coughed in the middle of a sentence and muttered, "What the fuck was that?" The audience applauded, and Macdonald laughed the error away (saying at one point "My farewell performance" and, in closing, "Maybe we'll see you next week").

In early 1998, Don Ohlmeyer, president of NBC's West Coast division, had Macdonald removed as Weekend Update anchor, citing declining ratings and a drop-off in quality. Macdonald and others believed that the real reason for his dismissal was his series of jokes calling O. J. Simpson a murderer during and after the trial; Ohlmeyer was good friends with Simpson and supported him during the proceedings.[19]

After being removed from the role, Macdonald went on CBS's Late Show with David Letterman and Howard Stern's syndicated radio show. In those appearances he accused Ohlmeyer of firing him for making jokes about Simpson.[19] The jokes were written primarily by Macdonald and longtime SNL writer Jim Downey, who was fired from SNL at the same time. Downey pointed out in an interview that Ohlmeyer threw a party for the jurors who acquitted Simpson.[20] Macdonald was replaced by Colin Quinn at the Weekend Update desk beginning on the January 10, 1998 episode.[21]

Ohlmeyer claimed that Macdonald was mistaken, pointing out that he had not censored Jay Leno's many jokes about Simpson on The Tonight Show.[19] Ohlmeyer stated that he was concerned that ratings research showed people turning away from the program during Macdonald's segment, and network insiders told the New York Daily News that Ohlmeyer and other executives had tried several times to get Macdonald to try a different approach on Update.[22] Media watchers pointed out that if Macdonald had been viewed as unfunny by SNL producer Lorne Michaels, his removal would have occurred at the end of the season, without any media attention.[23]

Macdonald remained on SNL as a cast member, but he disliked performing in regular sketches. On February 28, 1998, in one of his last appearances on SNL, he played the host of a fictitious TV show called Who's More Grizzled? who asked questions of "mountain men" played by that night's host Garth Brooks and special guest Robert Duvall. In the sketch, Brooks's character said to Macdonald's character, "I don't much care for you," to which Macdonald replied, "A lot of people don't." He was fired shortly thereafter.

Matters intensified when Ohlmeyer prevented NBC from airing advertisements from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the new film Dirty Work, starring Macdonald, out of retaliation for what he saw as disparaging SNL and NBC with Letterman and Stern.[19] Ohlmeyer's boss, Robert Wright, later overturned the decision not to show ads for the movie on NBC but did leave in place the ban on playing it during SNL.[24] Macdonald continued to insist that he did not personally dislike Ohlmeyer but that Ohlmeyer hated him.[24]

Macdonald complained about the NBC advertising removal for his film to the New York Daily News, calling Ohlmeyer "a liar and a thug".[22] He said he never badmouthed SNL or Michaels, who he said always supported him. Macdonald pointed out that he had only taken issue with Ohlmeyer, while the people taking shots at NBC and SNL were Letterman (who wanted Macdonald to come to CBS) and Stern (who wanted him to join his show opposite SNL).[24] Macdonald also asserted that Ohlmeyer's influence had caused his promotional appearances for his film to be cancelled on WNBC's Today in New York, NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and the syndicated Access Hollywood (a joint venture between 20th Century Television and NBC).[22] The shows Macdonald named denied being influenced by Ohlmeyer.[22] Macdonald said Ohlmeyer was "about a thousand times more powerful than I am. It's difficult for anybody to take my side in this. This guy should get a life, man."[22]

It was felt that there was some irony in the situation as Dirty Work was a revenge comedy. When an interviewer pointed this out Macdonald said "It would be good revenge if everybody went and saw this movie if they want to get revenge against Don Ohlmeyer for trying to ban my ads."[24]

In a Late Show with David Letterman interview, Macdonald said that after being dismissed from anchoring Weekend Update and leaving SNL, he could not "do anything else on any competing show."[25]

In later years Macdonald came to the conclusion that Ohlmeyer had not removed him from Update for his Simpson material. He told an interviewer that he felt he had been removed because he was seen as insubordinate: "I think the whole show was tired of me not taking marching orders. Lorne would hint at things  ... I'd do Michael Jackson jokes. And Lorne would say, 'do you really want a lawsuit from Michael Jackson?' And I'd say, 'Cool! That'd be fuckin' cool, Michael Jackson suing me!'"[26] Elsewhere Macdonald said, "In all fairness to him, my Update was not an audience pleasing, warm kind of thing. I did jokes that I knew weren't going to get bigger reactions. So I saw [Ohlmeyer's] point. Why would you want some dude who's not trying to please the audience?"[27]

Macdonald returned to Saturday Night Live to host the October 23, 1999 show. In his opening monologue, he expressed resentment at being fired from "Weekend Update", then concluded that the only reason he was asked to host was because "the show has gotten really bad" since he left,[28] echoing a perennial criticism of the show. The next episode, airing November 6, 1999, and hosted by Dylan McDermott, featured a sketch wherein Chris Kattan, as the androgynous character Mango, is opening letters from celebrity admirers and, after opening the last one, says "[The letter is from] Norm Macdonald—who is that?"

Soon after leaving Saturday Night Live, Macdonald co-wrote and starred in the "revenge comedy" Dirty Work (1998), directed by Bob Saget and co-starring Artie Lange and featuring Chris Farley in his last movie; the film was dedicated to his memory. Later that year, Macdonald voiced the character of Lucky the dog in the Eddie Murphy adaptation of Dr. Dolittle. He reprised the role in both Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006). Macdonald voiced the character of Death on an episode of Family Guy. In 1999, Macdonald starred in the sitcom The Norm Show (later renamed Norm), co-starring Laurie Metcalf, Artie Lange, and Ian Gomez. It ran for three seasons on ABC.

Earlier in 1999, Macdonald made a cameo appearance in the Andy Kaufman biographical drama Man on the Moon, directed by Milos Forman. When Michael Richards refused to portray himself in the scene reenacting the famous Fridays incident in which Kaufman threw water in his face, Macdonald stepped in to play Richards, although he was not referred to by name. Macdonald also appeared in Forman's previous film, The People vs. Larry Flynt, as a reporter summoned to Flynt's mansion regarding secret tapes involving automaker John DeLorean.

In 2000, Macdonald played the starring role for the second time in a motion picture, Screwed, which fared poorly at the box office.[29]

On November 12, 2000, he appeared on the Celebrity Edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, winning $500,000 for Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Charity Camp.[30] Macdonald continued to make appearances on television shows and in films. In 2003 he played the title character in the Fox sitcom A Minute with Stan Hooper, which was canceled after six episodes.

In 2005, Macdonald signed a deal with Comedy Central to create the sketch comedy Back to Norm, which debuted that May. The pilot was never turned into a series. Its cold opening parodied the suicide of Budd Dwyer, a Pennsylvania politician who, facing decades of incarceration, committed suicide on live television in 1987. Rob Schneider appeared in the pilot. Later in 2005, Macdonald performed as a voice actor, portraying a genie named Norm, on two episodes of the cartoon series The Fairly OddParents, but could not return for the third episode, "Fairy Idol", owing to a scheduling conflict. In 2006, Macdonald again performed as a voice actor, this time in a series of commercials for the Canadian cellphone-services provider Bell Mobility, as the voice of "Frank the Beaver". The campaign was extended through 2008 to promote offerings from other Bell Canada divisions such as the Internet provider Bell Sympatico and the satellite service Bell TV.[31]

In September 2006, Macdonald's sketch comedy album Ridiculous was released by Comedy Central Records. It features appearances by Will Ferrell, Jon Lovitz, Tim Meadows, Molly Shannon and Artie Lange. Macdonald was a guest character on My Name Is Earl in the episode "Two Balls, Two Strikes" as "Lil Chubby", the son of "Chubby" (played by Burt Reynolds), similar to Macdonald's portrayals of Reynolds on SNL.

On the comedy website Super Deluxe, he created an animated series entitled "The Fake News".[32] Macdonald has filled in during Dennis Miller's weekly O'Reilly Factor "Miller Time" segment, and guest-hosted Miller's radio show, on which he was briefly a weekly contributor.

On June 19, 2008, Macdonald was a celebrity panelist on two episodes of a revived version of the game show Match Game.[33] On August 17, 2008, Macdonald was a participant in the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget, performing intentionally cheesy and G-rated material that contrasted greatly with the raunchy performances of the other roasters. In AT&T commercials around Christmas 2007 and 2008, Macdonald voiced a gingerbread boy in a commercial for AT&T's GoPhone.[34] In 2009, Macdonald played a fictional, down-on-his-luck version of himself on FX's The Norm Macdonald Reality Show.[35] On the May 16, 2009, episode of Saturday Night Live, Macdonald reappeared as Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy!, and in another sketch. On May 31, 2009, he appeared on Million Dollar Password.[36]

Macdonald became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien during its 2009 and 2010 run. He has made frequent appearances on the Internet talk show Tom Green's House Tonight, and on May 20, 2010, was guest host.

In September 2010, Macdonald was developing a series for Comedy Central that he described as a sports version of The Daily Show.[37] Sports Show with Norm Macdonald premiered April 12, 2011.[38] Nine ordered episodes were broadcast. Macdonald's first stand-up special, Me Doing Stand-Up, aired on Comedy Central on March 26, 2011.[39] On February 26, 2011, he became a commentator and co-host (with Kara Scott) of the seventh season of the TV series High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network.[40]

In June 2012, he became the spokesperson for Safe Auto Insurance Company. Along with television and radio commercials, web banners and outdoor boards, the effort included a series of made-for-web videos. As part of the campaign, the state minimum auto insurance company introduced a new tagline, "Drive Safe, Spend Less."

In 2013, Macdonald premiered his new podcast, called Norm Macdonald Live, co-hosted by Adam Eget, streaming live weekly on Video Podcast Network, and posted later on YouTube.[41] It received positive notices from USA Today,[42] Entertainment Weekly,[43] and the "America's Comedy" website,[44] while the Independent Film Channel stated that while Macdonald remained "a comedy force to be reckoned with", and "did not quite disappoint", the show was "a bit rough around the edges."[45] The second season of Norm Macdonald Live began in May 2014 and the third began in September 2016.

In 2014, Macdonald unsuccessfully campaigned on Twitter to be named the new host of The Late Late Show after then-host Craig Ferguson announced he would be leaving.[46][47]

On May 15, 2015, Macdonald was the final stand-up act on the Late Show with David Letterman: during his set, which ended with him breaking into tears as he told Letterman that he truly loved him, Macdonald included a joke Letterman had told the first time Macdonald had ever seen him, during a 1970s appearance on the Canadian talk show 90 Minutes Live, where a 13-year-old Macdonald had been in the studio audience.[48] Also in 2015, Macdonald was a judge for the ninth season of NBC's Last Comic Standing, joining the previous season's judges, Roseanne Barr and Keenan Ivory Wayans and replacing fellow Canadian Russell Peters from 2014.

In August 2015, he succeeded Darrell Hammond as Colonel Sanders in TV commercials for the KFC chain of fast food restaurants.[49][50] Macdonald was replaced by Jim Gaffigan in the role by February 2016.".[51]

In September 2016, Macdonald's semi-fictional memoir Based on a True Story was published by Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau.[52] It debuted at number 15 on the New York Times best sellers list for hardcover nonfiction,[53] and made number 6 on the best sellers list for humor.[54]

As of May 2017, Macdonald has continued to evolve in his stand-up, moving toward a more reserved, deadpan style. On stage he has claimed to have "no opinions" and the minimalist delivery has been described by The A.V. Club as "reduc[ing] gesture and verbiage down to an absurd minimum."[55]

In March 2018, Netflix announced it had ordered 10 episodes of a new talk show entitled Norm Macdonald Has a Show, to be hosted by Macdonald.[56] The series premiered on September 14, 2018.[57]

In February 2020, Macdonald launched Loko, a dating app he co-created which relies heavily on video to make first impressions.[58]