Profile of Norm Macdonald on Famous Like Me

Norman Gene MacDonald (born October 17, 1962) is a Canadian-born American actor and comedian. Born in Quebec City, Quebec, MacDonald became a stand up comedian, performing in comedy clubs across Canada. MacDonald eventually moved to Los Angeles, California, and became a writer for the popular Roseanne television series.

Saturday Night Live

MacDonald joined the cast of NBC's popular Saturday Night Live (SNL) program in 1993, where he occasionally did impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Bob Dole and others. While on the show, he frequently used the catchphrase "note to self," which has since seen wider usage.

However, his most notable position on SNL was his three-year stint as anchor of Weekend Update (WU), which is regarded by many fans as perhaps the best in the segment's history. Chevy Chase, the first anchor of WU, has noted that MacDonald is the only anchor since Chevy's tenure to have "done it right." His deadpan style was suited to the segment, although he did rely heavily on running gags, stereotypes, and general outrageousness, including his repeated references to the Germans and their love of Baywatch star David Hasselhoff, regular jokes about the poor job status of 'crack whores' and some audacious comedic attacks on public figures such as O.J. Simpson and Michael Jackson. Throughout the infamous Simpson trial, MacDonald constantly pilloried the former football star and repeatedly suggested that Simpson was guilty of the brutal slaying of his wife Nicole. In the broadcast following Simpson's not guilty verdict, MacDonald opened Weekend Update saying: "Well, it's official: Murder is legal in the state of California."

In another particularly notorious item circa 1995, MacDonald attacked Michael Jackson (a favorite SNL target) during a report about the singer's recent collapse and hospitalization. Referring to a report of how Jackson had decorated his hospital room with giant photographs of Shirley Temple, Norm stated, "In case viewers are confused, we'd like to remind you that Michael Jackson is in fact a homosexual pedophile." The outrageous joke elicited audible gasps of disbelief from some audience members.

MacDonald's time with SNL ended controversially in 1997 when he was sacked from the show upon the insistence of NBC West Coast Executive Don Ohlmeyer, who pressured the producers to remove him, stating that MacDonald was "not funny". Although it was an opinion shared by some, much of the SNL live audience still greeted him with heavy applause. Although it is only speculation, some believe that Don Ohlmeyer's friendship with O.J. Simpson — a celebrity whom Norm often antagonized on the show — may have fueled Ohlmeyer's decision. However, Ohlmeyer defends to this day that other late night comedians (e.g. Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and other SNL players) also constantly lampooned O.J. with little to no sanction, and that his decision was based solely on audience reaction through tapes he had personally reviewed. Despite the incident, MacDonald left the show the following year under decent terms with Ohlmeyer, who, to his credit, originally pushed for producer Lorne Michaels to give MacDonald a shot at the Weekend Update desk in 1994.

After MacDonald left the show, his successor Colin Quinn gave a short monologue before his first starring role in a Weekend Update segment implying that Norm had shown him "the ropes" to being a Weekend Update anchor.

After SNL

Soon after, MacDonald starred in his first movie entitled Dirty Work, which was released to theaters in 1998. The film featured performances from veteran actors and comedians like Jack Warden, Don Rickles, Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Artie Lange, and Adam Sandler. Later that year, MacDonald would also lend his voice to one of the animals in the Eddie Murphy remake of Doctor Dolittle.

In 1999, MacDonald starred in a sitcom called The Norm Show, which lasted three seasons on the ABC television network. Also that year, MacDonald portrayed Michael Richards in the movie, Man On The Moon, which was the story of comedian Andy Kaufman's short and unusual life. 1999 also saw MacDonald in advertising as the voice of the Hardee's restaurant's (Carl's Jr. on the west coast) costumed mascot, the Hardee's Star. MacDonald also appeared on Miller Lite commercials that year.

MacDonald returned to Saturday Night Live to host the October 23, 1999 show. In his somewhat notorious opening monologue, he expressed resentment at having been fired. He joked that they must've asked him back because he had either "gotten funnier" or the show had "gotten really bad." This comment received a mixed reaction from the audience.

MacDonald starred in his second motion picture in 2000, entitled Screwed. MacDonald also starred as Stan Hooper in A Minute with Stan Hooper during its brief run on FOX in 2003.

In 2003, MacDonald became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

In 2005, Norm MacDonald signed a deal with Comedy Central to create a new sketch comedy pilot called Back To Norm, which debuted on Sunday, May 29, 2005. It was not picked up for more episodes.

MacDonald's brother, Neil, and sister, Leslie, are both newscasters for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

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