Norm MacDonald

Norman Gene Macdonald[i] (October 17, 1959[ii] – September 14, 2021) was a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor who was known for his style of deadpan humor and interjecting poetic, sometimes old-fashioned turns of phrase. Throughout his career, he appeared in numerous films and was a regular favorite comedian panelist of talk show hosts, with many considering him to be the ultimate late night comedy guest. Early in his career, Macdonald's first work in television included writing for such comedies as Roseanne and The Dennis Miller Show. In 1993, Macdonald was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live (SNL), spending a total of five seasons on the series, which included anchoring the show's Weekend Update segment for three and a half seasons. After being fired from SNL, he wrote and starred in the 1998 film Dirty Work and headlined his own sitcom The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001. Macdonald was also a voice actor, and provided voice acting roles for Family Guy, Mike Tyson Mysteries, The Orville, and the Dr. Dolittle films. Between 2013 and 2018, Macdonald hosted the talk shows Norm Macdonald Live (a video podcast) and Norm Macdonald Has a Show (a Netflix series), on which he interviewed comedians and other celebrities. In 2016, he authored Based on a True Story, a novel that presented a heavily fictionalized account of his life. In 2021, Macdonald died of leukemia, with which he was diagnosed in 2012 and had not publicly disclosed.