(Redirected from Norm MacDonald)
'Norman Gene Macdonald' (born
October 17,
1963) is a
Canadian actor and
comedian. He is known for his biting sarcasm, distinct muttering, slurred delivery, and prevalent use of the word "
crackwhore" which became well known during his three years anchoring ''
Saturday Night Live's'' ''
Weekend Update''.
He performed as a
stand up comedian in
comedy clubs across Canada before moving to
Los Angeles, California. In Los Angeles, he wrote for the popular
sitcom ''
Roseanne'' and performed on shows including ''
The Drew Carey Show'' and ''
NewsRadio''.
Comedy Central named him #83 on the five part mini-series ''
100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time''.
Early life
Information about Macdonald's past is difficult to ascertain because, as with many comedians, many of his personal revelations are part of his performance.
His father, Percy Macdonald, served with the
Canadian Army during
World War II and helped liberate the
Netherlands. After the war, he and his wife Fern became teachers, who raised three sons, Norm, Leslie, and
Neil.
Norm's brother
Neil is an award-winning journalist with the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
Norm Macdonald attended grade school in the early 1970s at Alexander Wolff School on
Canadian Forces Base Valcartier outside
Quebec City, where his parents taught. His father was his
genetics teacher in grades 6 and 7, and required Norm to address him as "Mr. Macdonald". After completing Grade 7 at AWS, he continued his education at Quebec High School in Quebec City, the same school as fellow comedians
Mike Ward and Maxim Martin.
There are a number of conflicting stories about his educational background:
★ He dropped out of high school at the age of 15.
★ He attended
Algonquin College in
Ottawa, Ontario, majoring in broadcasting, where he ran for President of the student union against Warren Love, but dropped out to pursue a career in show business.
★ He has also claimed to have attended
Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario to study math, and to have played Junior AAA hockey in Ottawa.
Saturday Night Live
Macdonald joined the cast of
NBC's popular ''
Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') program in 1993, where he occasionally did impressions of
Larry King,
Burt Reynolds,
David Letterman,
Charles Kuralt, and
Bob Dole, among others.
On ''Saturday Night Live'' Macdonald most notably anchored the segment ''Weekend Update''.
Chevy Chase, the first anchor of ''WU'', has opined that Macdonald is the only anchor since Chevy's tenure to have "done it right." .
[1] Macdonald used a
deadpan style during the segment, which included repeated references to prison rape, '
crack whores' and the
Germans with their love of ''
Baywatch'' star
David Hasselhoff. He also commonly and inexplicably used
Frank Stallone as a
non sequitur punchline. Macdonald would repeatedly noodle
public figures such as
Michael Jackson and
O.J. Simpson. Throughout the Simpson trial, Macdonald would constantly pillory the former
football star, saying Simpson was guilty of the brutal slaying of his wife
Nicole. In the broadcast following Simpson's
acquittal, Macdonald opened ''Weekend Update'' by saying: "Well, it's official: murder is legal in the state of California." He also continued to denounce Simpson after the trial.
After the announcement that Michael Jackson and
Lisa Marie Presley planned to divorce, Macdonald joked about their irreconcilable differences on ''Weekend Update'': "She's more of a stay-at-home type, and he's more of a homosexual pedophile." He followed this up a few episodes later with a report about the singer's recent collapse and
hospitalization. Referring to a report of how Jackson had decorated his hospital room with giant
photographs of
Shirley Temple, Macdonald remarked that viewers should not get the wrong idea, adding, "We'd like to remind you that Michael Jackson is, in fact, a ''homosexual'' pedophile." The joke elicited audible gasps from some audience members. He responded to this by saying, "What? He is a homosexual pedophile."
Macdonald made another controversial joke during the
February 24 1996, show when he commented on the sentencing of
John Lotter, who was convicted of brutally slaying
transgender male
Brandon Teena: "In Nebraska, a man was sentenced for killing a female crossdresser [sic] who had accused him of rape and two of her friends. Excuse me if this sounds harsh, but in my mind, they all deserved to die."
[2]
Another uncomfortable moment occurred during the
April 12 1997 show when, during a ''Weekend Update'' story about
Tabitha Soren, he caught a frog in his throat in the middle of a sentence and, live on the air, muttered, "What the fuck was that?" The audience applauded, and Macdonald laughed the error away. At one point, he called it his "farewell performance" and, in closing, said, "Maybe I'll see you next week." NBC only received three complaints about the gaffe, and Macdonald was not punished.
A ''Rolling Stone'' magazine article about the show at the time suggested Macdonald had trouble getting along with some fellow cast members, whom he taunted frequently. In the article,
Chris Kattan said, "If Norm says I'm gay then put in that I say he's an asshole."
[3]
Macdonald's time with ''Saturday Night Live'' effectively ended in late 1997 when he was fired from the ''Weekend Update'' segment upon the insistence of NBC West Coast Executive
Don Ohlmeyer, who pressured the producers to remove him, explaining that Macdonald was "not funny." Some believe that Don Ohlmeyer's friendship with O.J. Simpson — a celebrity whom Macdonald often antagonized on the show — may have fueled Ohlmeyer's decision.
[4] Ohlmeyer denied the rumor, arguing that other NBC late-night comedians (''e.g.'',
Jay Leno,
Conan O'Brien, and other ''SNL'' players) also constantly lampooned Simpson with little to no sanction, and that his decision was based solely on audience reaction through tapes he had personally reviewed. Despite the incident, Macdonald left the show the following year under decent terms with Ohlmeyer, who originally pushed for producer
Lorne Michaels to give Macdonald a shot at the ''Weekend Update'' desk in 1994. On
February 28 1998, his last appearance on ''SNL'' occurred as host of a fictitious TV show called ''Who's More Grizzled?'', who asked questions of "
mountain men" played by that night's host
Garth Brooks and special guest
Robert Duvall. In the sketch, Brooks' character said to Macdonald's character, "I don't much care for you," to which Macdonald replied, "A lot of people don't."
After Macdonald left ''SNL'', his successor,
Colin Quinn, gave a short prologue in his first day anchoring ''Weekend Update'', during which Quinn mentioned that Macdonald had shown him "the ropes" of the segment. Quinn then asked the audience if they ever went to their favorite pub seeking their favorite bartender -- and found him to be replaced by a less qualified man named "Steve". After a brief pause, Quinn deadpanned, "Well I'm Steve." Castmember
Will Ferrell then appeared as Chicago Cubs announcer
Harry Caray, who repeatedly referred to Quinn as "Norm", adding, "Norm, have you gained some weight?"
In a ''Late Show with David Letterman'' interview, Macdonald said that after being fired, he could not "do anything else on any competing show."
[3]
Recurring characters on SNL
★ Stan Hooper, a cynical man who exploits other people. (The short-lived FOX sitcom ''
A Minute With Stan Hooper'' featured a milder version of this character).
Celebrity impersonations
★
Al Michaels
★
Andy Rooney
★
Barry Scheck
★
Bob Dole, particularly in a famous three-part pre-taped sketch where Bob Dole is a castmember on the MTV reality show, ''The Real World''.
★
Burt Reynolds
★
Charles Kuralt
★
Clint Eastwood
★
Craig Reid from The Proclaimers
★
David Letterman
★
Dr. Jack Kevorkian
★
Flea, from
Red Hot Chili Peppers
★
George Burns
★
John Gray
★
Juan Peron
★
Larry King
★
Lou Gehrig
★
Marv Albert
★
Quentin Tarantino
★
Rod Serling
★
Slim Pickens
★
Tommy Lee
After ''Saturday Night Live''
Soon after leaving ''Saturday Night Live'', Macdonald cowrote and starred in the "revenge comedy" ''
Dirty Work'' (1998), with
Jack Warden,
Don Rickles,
Chevy Chase,
Chris Farley,
Artie Lange and
Adam Sandler. Later that year, Macdonald voiced the character of Lucky the dog in the
Eddie Murphy remake of ''
Doctor Dolittle'' (and its
2001 sequel ''
Doctor Dolittle 2''). He reprised the role in the ''
Doctor Dolittle 3'' (
2006)(not starring Murphy).
Macdonald voiced the character of Death on an episode of ''
Family Guy''. Due to a conflict with his stand-up comedy schedule, he was unavailable to voice the character for the next two appearances; the role then went to
Adam Carolla.
In
1999, Macdonald starred in the
sitcom ''
The Norm Show'' (later renamed ''Norm''), co-starring
Laurie Metcalf,
Artie Lange, and
Ian Gomez. It ran for three seasons on
ABC. Macdonald also voiced
Hardee's restaurant's (
Carl's Jr. on the US West Coast) costumed
mascot, the Hardee's star in advertisements. Macdonald appeared on
Miller Lite commercials that year.
He appeared (to much applause) on the September 1999 ''Saturday Night Live'' primetime special celebrating the program's 25th year on the air. Macdonald was one of only three former ''
Weekend Update'' anchors to introduce a retrospective on the segment.
Macdonald returned to ''Saturday Night Live'' to host the October 23, 1999 show. In his opening
monologue, he expressed resentment at having been fired, then concluded that the only reason he was asked to host was because "the show has gotten really bad" since he left.
[6]. His multiple utterances of "God damn" were edited out of future repeats of the episode.
Also in 1999, Macdonald made a cameo appearance in the
Andy Kaufman biopic
Man on the Moon. When
Michael Richards refused to portray himself in the scene reenacting the famous
Fridays incident where Kaufman throws water in his face, Macdonald stepped in to play Richards, although he is never referred to by name.
In 2000, Macdonald starred in his second motion picture, ''
Screwed'', which like ''Dirty Work'', fared poorly at the box office.
Despite his supposed lack of higher education, Macdonald reached the $1 million question on the Celebrity Edition of ''
Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?'' on
November 12 2000[7]. He guessed correctly for the $250,000 and $500,000 questions. Host
Regis Philbin convinced him to stop at $500,000, since the loss of the prize money could have affected Macdonald's chosen charity. His after-game guess on the last question was revealed to be correct, so he would have won the million dollars.
Macdonald continued to make appearances on television shows and in films, including '', '', and ''
The Animal'', all of which starred fellow ''Saturday Night Live'' alumnus
Rob Schneider and were produced by
Adam Sandler.
In 2005, Macdonald signed a deal with
Comedy Central to create a new
sketch comedy pilot called ''Back To Norm'', which debuted that May. The pilot was never turned into a series. Its infamous cold opening parodied the shocking suicide of
Budd Dwyer, a Pennsylvania politician who, facing decades of incarceration, committed suicide on live television in 1987. Rob Schneider appeared in the pilot.
Also in 2005, Macdonald performed as a voice actor, portraying a
Genie named
Norm, on two episodes of the cartoon series ''
The Fairly OddParents''. But he could not return for Norm the Genie's third episode, "
Fairy Idol", due to a scheduling conflict.
In 2006, Macdonald again performed as a voice actor, this time in a series of commercials for Canadian cell provider
Bell Mobility, as the voice of "Frank the Beaver". The campaign had a commercial tie-in with
2006 Winter Olympics in
Turin and with the
2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The ads ran heavily on
CBC during the Olympics and throughout the
NHL's postseason. Due to its success, the campaign was extended throughout 2006 and into 2007 to promote offerings from other
Bell Canada divisions such as
Bell Sympatico internet provider and
Bell ExpressVu satellite service.
[8]
In September 2006, Macdonald's sketch comedy album, ''Ridiculous'', was released by
Comedy Central Records. It features appearances by
Will Ferrell,
Jon Lovitz,
Tim Meadows,
Molly Shannon and
Artie Lange. On
September 14 2006, Macdonald appeared on ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart'' to promote ''Ridiculous''. During the appearance, Macdonald made some controversial jokes about the recent death of
Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter. Stewart, holding back laughter, pleaded with Norm to change the subject.
Norm was a guest character on My Name Is Earl. In "
Two Balls, Two Strikes" He played Lil Chubby, the son of Burt Reynolds character Richard Chubby. Lil Chubby is a parody of Burt Reynolds, very similar to his portrayal of Reynolds on SNL.
Norm is also a poker player. In the
2007 World Series of Poker, he came in 20th place out of 827 entrants in the $3,000 No Limit
Texas Hold 'em event, winning $14,608.
[9] He also made it to round two of the $5,000 World Championship of Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em.
Macdonald is associated with several films due out in 2007. (see "Filmography" for details)
Political humor
Paradoxically, while referring to himself as apolitical, Macdonald has made controversial reference to politically-charged issues, with mixed humorous results.
At the end of the ''Weekend Update'' segment before the
1996 presidential election, Norm urged viewers to vote for Bob Dole (of whom Macdonald frequently performed a comic impersonation), though hinting that he had solely said it so that he could continue impersonating him. In 2003, Macdonald appeared on
Barbara Walters' program ''
The View'', publicly renouncing his Canadian citizenship as a joke over his home country's decision not to participate in the Iraq War, and said that he would be becoming a
naturalized citizen of the
United States (as of January 2006, he stated that he remains a Canadian citizen. "I just keep renewing my green card," said Macdonald in a telephone interview
[10]). On the
November 16 2000 episode of ''The View'' Macdonald said that he thought
George W. Bush was "a decent man" and he jokingly called
Bill Clinton a "murderer" (see
Vince Foster). Macdonald later stated in ''
Maxim'' magazine that he is completely apolitical, and that he was joking when he said Clinton "killed a guy," a statement which was, according to Macdonald, taken far too seriously by the hosts
[11].
Filmography
Television
# ''
The Norm Show''
#''
Family Guy'' (provided the voice of Death on the episode
Death is a Bitch; was replaced by Adam Carolla)
#''
Fairly Oddparents'' 2005 (voice of Norm the Genie)
#''
My Name Is Earl'' 2007
References
1. Shales, Tom. ''Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live.'' Back Bay Books, 2003.
2. Saturday Night Live: Brandon Teena & Friends "...deserved to die." Riki Anne Wilchins
3.
4. Shales, Tom. ''Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live. Back Bay Books, 2003.
5.
6. Norm Macdonald's Monologue Saturday Night Live
7. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire(1999)
8. Bell Recruits Two New Spokesbeavers Announcement With links to two Quicktime videos.
9. The 2007 World Series of Poker
10. Phone Interview with Norm Macdonald Guy MacPherson
11. We Want Answers: Norm Macdonald
External links
★
Norm's unofficial fan page
★
Norm Macdonald on Tom Green Live, 02/10/2007
★
Norm Macdonald on Tom Green Live, 01/31/2007
★
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