Watch SNL Pay Tribute To The Late Norm Macdonald
"Saturday Night Live" returned for season 47 this past weekend with an okay episode hosted by Owen Wilson (you can read our review here for more). If you missed the season premiere, then you also missed out on a nice tribute that was given to the late Norm Macdonald, who was a cast member on the late night sketch series from 1993 through 1998. Macdonald was best known for his tenure at the Weekend Update desk, so the segment's current hosts, Colin Jost and Michael Che, offered up a tribute to the comedian.
SNL Tribute to Norm Macdonald
All of Norm Macdonald's best moments at "Saturday Night Live" came from the Weekend Update desk. Macdonald had a trademark sardonic wit about him and endless amounts of dry sarcasm to mock the week's headlines. Macdonald was especially vicious when it came to taking aim at O.J. Simpson during his highly publicized trial for the murder of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald "Ron" Goldman. You'll see one of those outstanding jokes in the footage above.
When Macdonald passed in September, late night host Stephen Colbert shared a story about the time he spent as a guest writer on "SNL" for just three episodes. Macdonald was a cast member at the time, and he embraced Colbert immediately. Colbert recalled (via ET):
"Norm goes, 'Come sit with us. Come sit with us,' and I ended up writing for 'Weekend Update' the whole time I was there. He is, in my opinion, the greatest host of 'Weekend Update' they have had. Not to take away from anybody else, but he was my cup of tea. I liked that he told jokes, that, [I mean this in] the nicest possible way, he didn't seem to care if the audience liked them. But he liked the joke. They were sometimes dark, sometimes even too dark for me. But they were dark and strange and he had a wonderful presence. I wish I were a good enough comedian to come up with a joke right now about Norm Macdonald having died. But the only comedian I know who could get away with a 'Norm Macdonald is dead' joke is Norm Macdonald. And I'm going to miss the fact that there's nobody left on the planet who can do that. And the comedy world is poorer for it today."
Outside of the Weekend Update desk, Macdonald was also well known for delivering spot-on impressions of politician Bob Dole and news anchor Larry King. Though Macdonald wasn't the strongest cast member when it came to appearing in sketches, he was able to fit in well with the likes of Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, David Spade and the rest of the '90s crew. Plus, he had plenty of great comedic moments outside of "Saturday Night Live" too.
Macdonald influenced plenty of comedians, writers, and other showbiz talents who are working today, and if you need any more evidence of that, head over here.