50 facts about Norm Macdonald

Learn 50 things about Norman Gene "Norm" Macdonald, Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, producer and actor.

1. Norman Gene "Norm" Macdonald is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, producer and actor.

2. Norm Macdonald is best known for his five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, which included anchoring Weekend Update for three years.

3. Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom Roseanne and made appearances on shows including The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio.

4. Norm Macdonald also starred in The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001.

5. Comedy Central named him #83 on the five-part miniseries 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time

6. Norm Macdonald is noted as a favorite talk show guest of David Letterman, Howard Stern and Conan O'Brien.

7. His brother is Canadian journalist Neil Macdonald, of CBC News' Washington, D.C. bureau.

8. Norm Macdonald was born in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada.

9. Norm Macdonald was raised in Ottawa, Ontario.

10. His father served with the Canadian Army during World War II and helped liberate the Netherlands.

11. Macdonald's first performances in comedy were at stand-up at clubs in Ottawa.

12. Norm Macdonald appeared at the 1987 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal.

13. Norm Macdonald joined the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) television program in 1993, where he performed impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Charles Kuralt and Bob Dole, among others.

14. Following Kevin Nealon's departure from SNL, Macdonald anchored the segment Weekend Update.

15. Chevy Chase, the first anchor of Weekend Update, has quipped that Macdonald was the "best Weekend Update anchor since - well - Chevy Chase".

16. Current Update anchor and head writer Colin Jost named Macdonald as a primary influence on Jost's own work behind the "Update" desk, explaining that Macdonald's tone was one that Jost grew up with in high school.

17. Macdonald's version of Weekend Update often included repeated references to prison rape, crack whores and the Germans' love of Baywatch star David Hasselhoff.

18. Norm Macdonald would occasionally deliver a piece of news, then take out his personal compact tape recorder and leave a "note to self" relevant to what he just discussed.

19. Norm Macdonald would occasionally deliver a piece of news, then take out his personal compact tape recorder and leave a "note to self" relevant to what he just discussed.

20. Norm Macdonald repeatedly ridiculed public figures such as Marion Barry, Michael Jackson and O. J. Simpson.

21. Norm MacdonaldMacdonald'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."

22. On February 28, 1998, in one of his last appearances on SNL, he played the 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.

23. In a Late Show with David Letterman interview, Macdonald said that after being fired, he could not "do anything else on any competing show."

24. Soon after leaving Saturday Night Live, Macdonald co-wrote and starred in the "revenge comedy" Dirty Work (1998), directed by Bob Saget and co-starring Artie Lange, Jack Warden, Don Rickles, Chevy Chase, Christopher McDonald, Traylor Howard, and Chris Farley. Later that year, Macdonald voiced the character of Lucky the dog in the Eddie Murphy adaptation of Dr. Dolittle.

25. Norm Macdonald reprised the role in both Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006).

26. Norm Macdonald voiced the character of Death on an episode of Family Guy.

27. Because of a conflict with his stand-up comedy schedule, he was unavailable to voice the character for his next appearance; Death has since been voiced by Adam Carolla.

28. 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.

29. Norm Macdonald voiced Hardee's restaurants' (Carl's Jr. on the U.S. west coast) costumed mascot, the Hardee's star in advertisements.

30. Norm Macdonald also appeared on several Miller Lite commercials that year.

31. Norm Macdonald appeared on the September 1999 Saturday Night Live primetime special celebrating the program's 25th year on the air.

32. Norm 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, echoing a perennial criticism of the show.

33. Also in 1999, Macdonald made a cameo appearance in the Andy Kaufman biopic Man on the Moon.

34. In 2000, Macdonald starred in his second motion picture, Screwed, which, like Dirty Work, fared poorly at the box office.

35. On November 12, 2000, Macdonald appeared on the Celebrity Edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? winning $500,000.00 for Paul Newman's Charity Camp. could have won a million dollars, but admitted he was too nervous to go for it.

36. Norm Macdonald continued to make appearances on television shows and in films, including Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and The Animal, all of which starred fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus Rob Schneider and were produced by Adam Sandler.

37. In 2003 he played the title character in the Fox sitcom A Minute with Stan Hooper, which was canceled after six episodes.

38. Also in 2005, Macdonald performed as a voice actor, portraying a genie named Norm, on two episodes of the cartoon series The Fairly Odd Parents. But he could not return for the third episode, "Fairy Idol", owing to a scheduling conflict.

39. In 2006, Macdonald again performed as a voice actor, this time in a series of commercials for Canadian cellphone services provider Bell Mobility, as the voice of "Frank the Beaver".

40. 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.

41. Norm Macdonald On September 14, 2006, Macdonald appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to promote Ridiculous.

42. Macdonald was a guest character on My Name Is Earl in the episode "Two Balls, Two Strikes" as "Lil Chubby", the son of "Chubby" (played by Burt Reynolds), similar to Macdonald's portrayals of Reynolds on SNL.

43. 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.

44. He also made it to round two of the $5,000 World Championship of Heads-Up No-Limit Hold'em.

45. On the comedy website, Super Deluxe, he has created an animated series entitled "The Fake News".

46. Norm Macdonald has filled in during Dennis Miller's weekly O'Reilly Factor "Miller Time" segment on January 2, 2008, and guest-hosted Dennis Miller's radio show on January 3, 2008.

47. Norm had also been a regular contributor on Miller's show every Friday, prior to an unexplained absence that left Miller wondering on-air if the show had somehow miffed Norm.

48. On March 26, 2013, Macdonald premiered his new podcast, called Norm Macdonald Live, co-hosted by Adam Eget, streaming live weekly on Video Podcast Network, and posted later on YouTube.

49. In November 2013, Macdonald began to mention on his Twitter page that he has been busy writing. Norm mentioned that he was currently busy writing his memoirs, on the Rob Breakenridge Show on February 6, 2014.

50. On May 15, 2015, Norm Macdonald was the final stand-up act on the Late Show with David Letterman and included in his set a joke Letterman had told the first time Macdonald had ever seen him, during his appearance on a Canadian talk show, 90 Minutes Live, in the 1970s that a teenaged Macdonald had seen in person as a member of the studio audience.

Source: Wikipedia.org