Norm McDonald, best known for his sharp and incisive Weekend Update one-liners on ‘Saturday Night Live,’ died at 61 after a nine-year private battle with cancer, Deadline reports.
After leaving SNL in 1998, Macdonald starred in his comedy series, Norm, from 1999-2001. He also did a one-season talk show for Netflix, Norm Macdonald Has a Show, in 2018.
He also earned a CableACE Award nomination as part of the writing team for the 1992 variety special Free to Laugh: A Comedy and Music Special for Amnesty International.
BREAKING: Famous stand-up comedian and actor Norm McDonald is dead at the age of 61. https://t.co/1aeK6nqBzm
— WTRF 7News (@WTRF7News) September 14, 2021
“He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him,” producing partner Lori Jo Hoekstra told Deadline.
“Norm was a pure comic. He once wrote that ’a joke should catch someone by surprise, it should never pander.’ He certainly never pandered. Norm will be missed terribly.”
