Canadian comedy legend Norm Macdonald’s ten greatest moments

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This article was published 14/09/2021 (1525 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Norm Macdonald — legendary comic, SNL alum and candidate for the world’s most deliberate speaker — has died of cancer, leaving a towering legacy and a gaping hole in the comedy landscape.

Known for his deadpan style and long, meandering jokes that could go from watching nightly newscasts to digging up shallow graves in the span of 12 minutes, one can be sure the Quebec City native always had his audience enraptured and in stitches.

Macdonald started stand-up in his mid-twenties, making regular appearances in Toronto comedy clubs like Yuk Yuk’s. However, it wouldn’t be until his breakout role on Saturday Night Live that he caught the eyes of millions.

A year after his SNL debut, Macdonald anchored the show’s “Weekend Update” segment, slinging risqué jokes and punctuating bits with non-sequiturs about Frank Stallone.

But in our humble opinion, nothing could top his appearance on “Celebrity Jeopardy” as “Turd Ferguson.” We’ll let the man speak for himself.

After six years of SNL, 39-year-old Macdonald was booted off the program; NBC’s West Coast division president Don Ohlmeyer said it was due to a drop in ratings, but Macdonald insisted it was because of his repeated jokes about OJ Simpson, both before and after the trial.

After his SNL career, Macdonald made frequent appearances on talk shows like Letterman and Conan while juggling stand-up gigs and starring in the sitcom “Norm”. His first stand-up special, “Me Doing Stand-Up”, aired in 2011.

It was during an appearance on Conan that he debuted what was arguably his greatest bit. May we introduce: the moth joke.

There, nestled between Andy Richter and Conan O’Brien, Macdonald flexed his inimitable comedy chops and channelled his trademark snail’s-pace delivery and dad-joke ingenuity.

Don’t be fooled by his meandering sentences; each word is essential in his rapid fire jokes, fitted into sentences like diamonds on an overpriced Rolex. Punchlines flowed like cresting waves; blink and you’ll miss it.

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Video essayist Nerdwriter1’s analysis of Macdonald said it best: similar to greats like Dave Chappelle, Macdonald did not tell jokes; he lived it.

He not only played, but became “Norm Macdonald” the character: a seemingly-oblivious, slow-talking goof that belied a diamond-tipped wit.

Such perfection in character and delivery was the product of a career’s worth of experience, a lifetime of obsession, Nerdwriter1 explained. There may never be another.

He will be missed.

Kevin Jiang is a Toronto-based digital producer for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @crudelykevin