Saturday Night Live just paid tribute to late weekend update anchor Norm Macdonald after his death. Late Norm Macdonald was honored during Saturday’s season 47 premiere show. Macdonald died last month at the age of 61 after battling cancer for nine years.
During the episode’s Weekend Update, co-anchors Michael Che and Colin Jost took some minutes out of their segment to honor the late stand-up comedian. In remembrance of the late comedian’s best moments, old clips of Macdonald hosting Weekend Update was played. Macdonald’s jokes in the clips were centered around former President Bill Clinton, Johnnie Cochran, and many more.
Jost, 39, even noted that Macdonald was the reason he ever wanted to do Weekend Update. The former anchor was a cast member on SNL for five seasons. He became more famous for his impressions of Quentin Tarantino, David Letterman, Bob Dole, Burt Reynolds, Larry King, among others.
However, controversies surrounded Macdonald’s departure from the NBC show in 1998 at the time. The show’s then-president, Don Ohlmeyer, replaced Macdonald with Colin Quinn, citing a decline in ratings.
After quitting SNL, Macdonald starred in the Dirty Work, a 1998 movie he co-wrote. He debuted his own show, “Norm,” the following year. Norm had a three-season run on ABC. He has also appeared on late-night shows, including Late Night with David Letterman and Conan. Macdonald reflected on his career in his 2016 memoir, Based on a True Story: A Memoir, saying that he would describe his life as “lucky.”
