Just three weeks after his tragic death, Saturday Night Live paid tribute to former cast member Norm Macdonald during the 47th season premiere this week.
Macdonald, who died earlier this month following a private battle with cancer, was an SNL cast member from 1993 to 1998, and was best known for his role as anchor of Weekend Update for three seasons.
Pete Davidson, wearing a t-shirt with Macdonald’s face on it, joined Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che to honor the late legend.
“It’s a bittersweet night for us,” Jost said. “Norm is the reason I ever wanted to do Weekend Update, so tonight we thought we’d turn the last few jokes of Update over to Norm.
The show then cut to a montage of Macdonald at the Update desk, delivering some of his most iconic one-liners: “At the White House this week, President Clinton officially came out against same-sex marriages,” Norm said in the vintage footage. “What’s more, the president said he is not too crazy about opposite-sex marriages either.”
At the time of Norm’s passing, an SNL spokesperson spoke about his influence on a generation of comedians.
“All of us here at SNL mourn the loss of Norm Macdonald, one of the most impactful comedic voices of his or any other generation,” they said. “There are so many things that we’ll miss about Norm—from his unflinching integrity to his generosity to his consistent ability to surprise. But most of all, he was just plain funny. No one was funny like Norm.”
