Remembering Norm Macdonald, a relentless original

Norm Macdonald’s death this past September came out of nowhere. The 61-year-old comic, known for his time on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s, had been diagnosed with cancer nine years ago. Keeping the diagnosis under wraps made the announcement of his death all the more shocking––it was also an incredibly Norm Macdonald thing to do. 

Norm Macdonald was perhaps as pure a comedian as they come. At no point in his career, which took off in the stand-up scene of the late 1980s, did he prioritize anything over funny. It was this stubborn adherence to his craft that fuelled his string of deadpan, controversial, brilliantly pointed OJ Simpson jokes on SNL’s Weekend Update––even if, as the rumour goes, it cost him the highest profile gig of his career. So, in accordance with his belief that the joke trumped all else, Norm Macdonald refused to let news of his cancer inevitably shift how audiences would perceive him. He wanted to be funny, and for us to enjoy his work without being bogged down by feelings of pity.

While some of Macdonald’s SNL castmates went on to enjoy prolific careers in mainstream media, he occupied a more niche space. “I think a lot of people feel sorry for you if you were on SNL and emerged from the show anything less than a superstar,” wrote Macdonald in his 2016 sort-of-memoir, Based on a True Story. “They assume you must be bitter. But it is impossible for me to be bitter. I’ve been lucky.”

Norm Macdonald never had that one career-defining TV sitcom or movie role after his SNL departure, but he never seemed all that interested in mainstream stardom. His body of work included the cult comedy film Dirty Work, the TV series Norm (he played Norm), and, of course, some all-time great appearances on late-night talk shows. But the thing he was most passionate about––his true life’s work––was stand-up. 

“I’m always trying to work on stand-up comedy, trying to make it perfect,” said Macdonald in an interview, before adding with a smile that he knows he never will. “My dream always was I go onstage and just talk to the audience, and whatever subject they bring up, I already have a bit on it.” Never quite satisfied, he was engaged in this pursuit of comedic perfection throughout his career––perhaps it’s this obsession we can thank for the many hours of Norm Macdonald content available to binge on YouTube.

I suppose that’s where I fit into this piece. I can’t tell you anything about Norm Macdonald that isn’t available all over the internet. Myriad comedians and celebrities have eulogized and shared their favourite Norm stories—to say Norm Macdonald was the comic most respected by his peers would not be an exaggeration. Plus, if you do some digging, you’ll find an amazingly dedicated fanbase of people who revere Norm to the point that they can quote him at practically any time in any conversation about any given topic––and who, in doing so, are in a way fulfilling Norm’s dream of comedic omniscience. 

From a personal standpoint, Norm Macdonald was a hero of mine. As part of a student-run satire paper and a toe-dipper in the waters of stand-up, I look up to Norm for his fearlessness of telling the jokes that he found funny rather than pandering to his audience. In fact, watching clips of Norm on YouTube during most lunch periods in high school––particularly from his outrageously off-kilter talk-show, Norm Macdonald Live––is what made me want to try comedy in the first place.

Much of Norm Macdonald’s career took place before I was born, or at least before I was a cognizant human being. Embarrassingly, I didn’t know who he was until I saw him in a commercial for KFC playing the role of Colonel Sanders. After a couple of Google searches and some Wikipedia scrolling, I realized why I vaguely recognized him: he was Burt Reynolds from Celebrity Jeopardy on SNL. Even with 20 years between the two roles, something about Norm Macdonald––his voice, his constant smirk, his airy demeanour––stood out so uniquely that anyone who’d seen him only once before would recognize him.

It’s no wonder he played a guy named Norm––no matter what role he played, Norm Macdonald was always himself.