Norm Macdonald Is a Canadian Actor and Comedian

Norman Gene Macdonald is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is known for his biting sarcasm, quick wit, distinct muttering and slurred delivery, and his three years anchoring Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update.He performed as a stand up comedian in comedy clubs across Canada before moving to Los Angeles, California. In Los Angeles, he wrote for the popular sitcom Roseanne and performed on shows including The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio. Comedy Central named him #83 on the five part mini-series 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time.

Macdonald joined the cast of NBC's popular Saturday Night Live (SNL) program in 1993, where he occasionally did impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Charles Kuralt, and Bob Dole, among others.On Saturday Night Live MacDonald most notably anchored the segment Weekend Update. Chevy Chase, the first anchor of WU, has opined that MacDonald is the only anchor since Chevy's tenure to have "done it right".MacDonald used a deadpan style during the segment, which included repeated references to prison rape, 'crack whores' and the Germans' love of Baywatch star David Hasselhoff. MacDonald then occasionally would enter an entry into his personal compact tape recorder reminding himself to do something similar to what he just ridiculed. He also commonly and inexplicably used Frank Stallone as a non sequitur punchline. MacDonald would repeatedly ridicule public figures such as Michael Jackson and O.J. Simpson. Throughout the Simpson trial, MacDonald would constantly pillory the former football star, saying Simpson was guilty of the brutal slaying of his wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman. In the broadcast following Simpson's acquittal, MacDonald opened Weekend Update by saying: "Well, it's official: murder is legal in the state of California." He also continued to denounce Simpson after the trial.

Soon after leaving Saturday Night Live, Macdonald co-wrote and starred in the "revenge comedy" Dirty Work (1998), with Jack Warden, Don Rickles, Chevy Chase, Chris Farley, Artie Lange and Adam Sandler. Later that year, Macdonald voiced the character of Lucky the dog in the Eddie Murphy remake of Doctor Dolittle (and its 2001 sequel Doctor Dolittle 2). He reprised the role in Doctor Dolittle 3 (2006).On June 19, 2008, Norm was a celebrity panelist on two episodes of a revived version of the popular game show Match Game, which was taped at CBS Television City in Los Angeles. The new version features the same set used in the early years of the 1970s version and also stars comedienne Sarah Silverman as a fellow celebrity panelist.