Saturday Night Live kicked off its 42nd season last night, paying tribute to the late former cast member Norm Macdonald. During the Weekend Update sketch, co-anchor Colin Jost called it a “bittersweet night,” citing the former Weekend Update anchor as the reason he wanted to host the sketch.
Jost went on to say that they would “turn the last few jokes of update over to Norm.” Viewers were then treated to a montage of Macdonald broadcasting “the fake news.” The montage consisted of several jokes from Macdonald’s Weekend Update run. Such jokes included a jab at former President Bill Clinton’s opposition to same-sex marriage and a joke taking aim at O.J. Simpson’s lawyer Johnnie Cochran. This was not the only time Macdonald was honored during the Weekend Update sketch. At another point, cast member Pete Davidson was shown wearing a t-shirt bearing Macdonald’s face and name.
Macdonald passed away on September 14 at the age of 61 after a secret battle with cancer. He joined the SNL cast in 1993, taking over as the Weekend Update anchor one year later. Macdonald left the show in 1998.
Along with hosting Weekend Update, Macdonald did several impressions in his run on SNL. Perhaps his most well-known impression was that of Burt Reynold’s in the many Celebrity Jeopardy sketches. Macdonald would perform that role many times to the annoyance of Will Ferrell’s Alex Trebek.
Along with his work on SNL, Macdonald had a brief stint working as a writer for the sitcom Roseanne. He also starred in Dirty Work and voiced Lucky the dog in the Eddie Murphy version of Dr. Dolittle. Macdonald reprised that vocal role in the film’s many sequels. He also provided vocal work in Netflix’s computer-animated series Skylander’s Academy.
