Former “Saturday Night Live” star and comedian Norm Macdonald is dead at age 61, his management firm told Deadline Tuesday.
Macdonald had been privately battling cancer for nearly a decade, his producing partner and friend Lori Jo Hoekstra told the publication. No other details were disclosed.
“He was most proud of his comedy,” 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 was a cast member on “SNL” from 1993 to 1998, most notably anchoring “Weekend Update” for three seasons. He also famously played Burt Reynolds on “Celebrity Jeopardy,” one of the NBC sketch comedy show’s most beloved recurring segments, memorably calling himself “Turd Ferguson” on a 1999 episode.
Besides numerous talk show appearances, he was also a writer for “Roseanne” in the TV show’s 1992-1993 season; starred on his own comedy series, “The Norm Show,” from 1991 to 2001; hosted the Netflix talk show “Norm Macdonald has a Show”; and starred in movies like “Billy Madison” and “Dirty Work.” His most recent credits include voicing Yaphit on “The Orville” and a recurring role on “The Middle” as Rusty Heck.
“No one could make you break like Norm Macdonald. Hilarious and unique. F--- cancer,” Jon Stewart wrote on Twitter.
“Of the many addictive rabbit holes you can disappear down on the internet, the most pleasurable is ‘Norm MacDonald chat show appearances’. Thanks for all the laughs Norm, very sorry to see you go,” filmmaker Edgar Wright tweeted.
“Oh f---,” Seth Rogen added. “I was a huge fan of Norm Macdonald and I essentially ripped off his delivery when I first started acting. I would stay up specifically to watch him on talk shows. He was the funniest guest of all time. We lost a comedy giant today. One of the the all time greats. RIP.”
“This is a devastating, heartbreaking loss for comedy. I don’t want it to be true. I want him to pop up and say ‘You know who died? That’s right. You guessed it. Frank Stallone.’ (A running joke he did on SNL),” agreed comedian Brad Williams. “RIP to a comedic master.”
Macdonald was scheduled to be perform at the New York Comedy Festival in November. Information about survivors was not immediately available.
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