Heads up, friends: We will be laugh-crying today.
Because the world lost a hilarious personality this week. Canadian comic and actor Norm Macdonald died at the age of 61 in Los Angeles on September 14, following a private, nearly decade-long struggle with cancer.
Macdonald’s influence began behind the mic as a stand-up comedian, performing at the Ottawa Yuk Yuk’s amateur night, and eventually at Just for Laughs in Montreal. He put his straight-faced wit to work writing for the Roseanne sitcom in the early ’90s before being recruited by 30 Rockefeller Plaza.
Then, from ’93 to ’98, he performed on Saturday Night Live, quickly earning a spot in the Weekend Update anchor’s chair. Chevy Chase, the bit’s creator, later called him “the only other guy who did [the segment] funny.”
Through the rest of his career in film, TV, sports commentating, voice acting, comedy, and more, Macdonald used his unique insight and deadpan delivery to make people laugh, think and sometimes squirm.
“Comedy is surprises,” he famously said, “so if you’re intending to make somebody laugh and they don’t laugh, that’s funny.”
Here are some of Norm Macdonald’s funniest moments. RIP, legend.
The moth joke
Turd Furguson
His final stand-up set on Letterman
Hanging out with the 'Grown Ups'
The time he roasted Carrot Top’s film on Conan
On understanding suicide
When he roasted Clinton, and everyone else, at the 1997 White House Correspondents Dinner
His relentless Weekend Update coverage of the OJ Simpson trial
The ‘professor of logic’ joke
The time he live-tweeted the 'SNL' 40th Anniversary
The reunion of A-listers that happened with the SNL 40th Anniversary episode in 2015 was televised live, but the event’s most intimate coverage was provided via Macdonald’s Twitter account. His play-by-play was at times funny, at times historical, and entirely humble.