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Steve Martin and Martin Short paid tribute to Norm Macdonald during their Wednesday night appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, calling the late comedian “remarkable” and saying that there was “no one more original” in comedy.
“There was no one funnier — brilliant Canadian,” Short began before Martin interjected with a quick story about how their Hulu series Only Murders in the Building pays tribute to Macdonald.
“In our show we do a tribute to comedians — I’m serious about this — and we name different comedians like Bob Newhart and people,” Martin said. “We do a tribute to Norm Macdonald and we use one of his lines. We say — and this is one of his lines — he said, ‘There’s only two categories of cliff diving: grand champion, and stuff on a rock.'”
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Following audience laughs, Short continued his praise for the comedian and former Saturday Night Live anchorman, who died at 61 on Sept. 14 after living with cancer for nine years.
“I really think that in comedy, particularly, the originals stand out the most and they stay with us long after they’re gone, and there was no one more original than Norm Macdonald,” he continued. “There was no one who did his style. There was no one who had his rhythms. He was remarkable and so kind and funny.”
During their appearance, they also spoofed The Tonight Show‘s guest games with their own takes, which include a slow and uneventful game of chess, a painful mousetrap challenge and a thermometer guessing game that was the show’s “least watched video of all time,” according to Fallon.
Speaking to the fake “Tonight Show Chess” game, Martin acknowledged, “Jimmy, not all ideas can be winners,” before Short followed, “Why did we think that would be an exciting game to watch?”
Watch the full sketch below.
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