Norm Macdonald.Photo: Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
Late night hosts dedicated portions of their Tuesday shows to honoring late comedianNorm Macdonaldafter the news of his unexpected death.
Macdonald, best known for his time anchoring theWeekend Updatesegment onSaturday Night Livein the 1990s,diedearlier in the day at the age of 61 following a private, nine-year cancer battle.
DuringThe Late Late Show,James Cordencalled him an “absolute comedy legend.”
“All Norm ever wanted to do was make us laugh and he was absolutely brilliant at it,” he said. “There was nobody quite like him. I felt privileged every time I got to be in his orbit. He leaves us as one of the all-time greatest comics, perhaps the single greatest guest in the history of late-night television, I think.”
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“We’ll miss you, Norm, so much,” continued Corden, 43. “Thank you so much for the laughs, Norm. We’ll never, ever forget them.”
Jimmy Fallon, meanwhile, addressed Macdonald’s death at the close of his monologue, revealing that he was one of his “comedy idols.“The Tonight Showhost, who also hostedWeekend Updatewhen he was onSNL,went on to recite one of Macdonald’s old jokes that he had committed to memory years ago.
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“He was a comic’s comic and everyone absolutely loved him top to bottom and he will be missed,” Fallon, 46, concluded.
OnThe Late Show,Stephen Colbertshared that he was a guest writer forSNLfor several weeks while Macdonald was working on the show. He recalled Macdonald welcoming him to write specifically forWeekend Update.
“He is in my opinion the greatest host ofWeekend UpdatethatSNLever had, not to take anything away from the rest, but he was my cup of tea,” said Colbert, 57. “I liked the fact that he would tell jokes that he, in the nicest possible way, didn’t seem to care if the audience liked them, but he liked the joke. They were dark, sometimes too dark for me, but they were strange and he just had a wonderful presence and again took me in.”
“I wish I were a good enough comedian to come up with a joke right now about Norm Macdonald having died,” he continued. “But the only comedian I know who could get away with a ‘Norm Macdonald is dead’ joke is Norm Macdonald. 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.”
Seth Meyers, anotherWeekend Updatealum, similarly recalled Macdonald’s unique comedic style.
“He was the gold standard and he will continue to be the gold standard and I would just suggest that everybody go watch him tell the moth story onConan, go watch any number of Norm Macdonald things tonight because they are really truly timeless,” Meyers, 47, concluded. “Rest In Peace Norm.”
source: people.com
