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Norman Gene "Norm" Macdonald[NOTE 1] (October 17, 1959 – September 14, 2021) was a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, producer, and actor. He is best known for his five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, which included anchoring Weekend Update for four years. Early in his career, he wrote for Roseanne and made appearances on shows, including The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio. He also starred in The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001. Comedy Central named him #83 on the five-part miniseries 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. He is noted as one of Conan O'Brien's favorite and most frequent guests on his various talk shows. His brother is Canadian journalist Neil Macdonald, of CBC News' Washington, D.C. bureau.

Macdonald died from acute leukemia at a hospital in Pasadena, California on September 14, 2021 at the age of 61. He had been diagnosed nine years prior, though he disclosed his diagnosis to only a few close friends and family members, fearing that revealing his condition to the public would "affect the way he was perceived," according to his brother Neil.

Characters/Impressions[]

Characters[]

  • Stan Hooper

Impressions[]


SNL Career[]

  • 1993-1994: Featured Player/Writer
  • 1994-1998: Repertory Player (left: March 14, 1998)
  • 1994-1997: Weekend Update Anchor (anchored until: December 13, 1997)
  • October 23, 1999: Host
  • May 16, 2009: Cameo

Gallery[]

Notes[]

  1. Breaking with common convention, he intentionally did not capitalize the D in Macdonald
Preceded by:
Kevin Nealon
Weekend Update Anchor
(19941998)
Followed by:
Colin Quinn
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