Biography

Norm MacDonald

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Macdonald was born Norman Gene Macdonald in Quebec City, Quebec. He began his career in stand-up comedy. Macdonald's first job was writing for The Dennis Miller Show (1992) and then Roseanne (1988). While writing for Roseanne (1988), he was noticed by Lorne Michaels, who liked Norm's stand up, and gave him his job on Saturday Night Live (1975).

Macdonald became widely popular when he became the Weekend Update anchor with his trademark line, "And now the fake news". He lasted from September 24, 1994 until December 13, 1997, when he was fired by Don Ohlmeyer, president of NBC on the west coast. His last weekend update was December 13, 1997 and he officially left the show in March 1998. His movie, Dirty Work (1998), which he began working on in the summer of 1997, came out 2 months later. In March 1999, his show, called The Norm Show (1999), came out on ABC and had a 3-season run. During that time, he also starred in the movie Screwed (2000), opposite Dave Chappelle.
- IMDb mini biography by: Norm fan

Sarcastic, monotone delivery
Outspoken, brutally honest personality
Humor derived from bluntly pointing out what others are unwilling to with a disregard for social formality
Known for his unique style of anti-humor, telling jokes where the humor is derived from their lack of quality

He won $500,000 for his charity on the celebrity edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (1999). He guessed the right answer to the million dollar question but was talked out of answering in case he got it wrong.
He never revealed his cancer to the public. Anytime rumors circulated that he was sick, Norm denied it.
Chevy Chase has stated that since he left Saturday Night Live (1975), the only person who he believes has done Weekend Update "right" is Norm Macdonald.
Despite being fired from Saturday Night Live (1975), he was asked to host the show a year later.
Norm was fired from SNL for his constant jokes about O.J. Simpson. President of NBC west coast division was good friends with O.J. Norm hosted SNL a year later and quipped either he'd gotten funnier or the show must suck.

I was in my peak physical condition when I was about like, uh. . . one. Oh God, I looked good, young and fresh! You wouldn't know me now if you'd seen me when I was one, you know? I even looked good for my age. People would come up to me and go, "what are you, zero?" And I'd go, "no, I'm one over here!"
"I'm not gay, so I don't know much about Broadway musicals." - while a contestant on the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" celebrity episode that aired on August 5, 2001.
"I would love to stay at SNL forever. But you can't stay in the same place. People think you're a loser." - to TV Guide magazine in 1997.
[in response to SNL writers calling Friends actor Matthew Perry a genius] What, is he good at math or something?
The comedian Patton Oswalt, he told me "I think the worst part of the Cosby thing was the hypocrisy." And I disagree. I thought it was the raping. It's my feeling most rapists are hypocrites. You don't meet many that go "I like raping and I know it's not politically correct but, by god" and people go "well, he's not being a hypocrite and that's the worst part!"

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