Photo: Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images
Norm Macdonald is giving fans one last laugh.
On May 30, the streaming platform will debutNorm Macdonald: Nothing Special.Macdonald not only named but also self-taped the special back in the summer of 2020 from his home, alone in his living room.
According to a release from Netflix, Macdonald had hoped to perform the show in front of an audience but venues were shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He shot the special in one take.
“Norm worked so hard on a new hour of material and wanted it to be seen,” Lori Jo Hoekstra, Macdonald’s longtime producing partner and executive producer of the special, said in a statement.
“While this version ofNothing Specialwas not originally meant to be the final product, COVID restrictions prevented him from filming in front of an audience,” Hoekstra continued. “We want to make sure his fans see this very funny hour. He left this gift for all of us.”
The special will include a bonus featurette with some of Macdonald’s famous friends — Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, David Spade and Molly Shannon — honoring theSaturday Night Livevet.
That conversation was taped earlier this month from The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles during a tribute to Macdonald at Netflix is a Joke: The Festival.
Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images for Netflix
Macdonald died on Sept. 14, 2021. He had been battling cancer for 9 years and was determined to keep his heath issues from his family, friends and fans.
“He was most proud of his comedy,” Hoekstra toldDeadlineafter Macdonald’s death. “He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him.”
Norm Macdonald.Al Levine/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty
He wound up being a cast member on the sketch comedy show for five years — 1993 through 1998 — three of which he spent anchoring theWeekend Updatesegment. He became well-known for his impressions of Burt Reynolds, Bob Dole, Larry King, Letterman and Quentin Tarantino, among others.
During his time onSNL, Macdonald also had a role in the Adam Sandler comedy,Billy Madison.
His departure from the NBC show in 1998 was somewhat controversial at the time, as Don Ohlmeyer, then the president of the network’s West Coast division, replaced Macdonald with Colin Quinn, citing a decline in ratings.
After exitingSNL, Macdonald co-wrote and starred in the 1998 movieDirty Work. The following year, he debuted his own show, titledNorm,which had a three-season run on ABC. He also made regular appearances on late-night shows, includingLate Night with David LettermanandConan.
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Macdonald maintained a positive outlook on his life years ahead of his death, writing about his career’s journey in his 2016 memoir,Based on a True Story: A Memoir.
“I think a lot of people feel sorry for you if you were onSNLand emerged from the show anything less than a superstar. They assume you must be bitter,” he wrote. “But it is impossible to be bitter. I’ve been lucky. If I had to sum up my whole life, I guess those are the words I would choose, all right.”
He went on to say that he “never expected to be any [thing] more than a common laborer,” declaring that he would have still been “lucky to have achieved that.”
“But I was blessed with so much more,” he wrote. “I’m a stand-up comedian and have been for over a quarter of a century.”
source: people.com
