Norm Macdonald Talks About Getting Fired From 'Saturday Night Live' | Letterman

The NBC pinheads fired Norm from Weekend Update and Dave isn't happy. #quisling
(From "Late Show," air date: 1/7/98)

#NormMacDonald #SNL #Letterman

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[ronalddg]

Don Ohlmeyer went on to live for nearly 20 more years after this incident, and still the most notable thing about his entire life, the first thing Wikipedia has to tell you about Don Ohlmeyer is "He received notoriety for firing Norm Macdonald from Saturday Night Live in early 1998"

[danbull]

I love how innocent and disarming Norm seems but he's always the sharpest tack in the room

[richardhoon]

Dave standing up for Norm, love it. Makes even more sense now why Norm was so emotional at Daves last show.

[LisaG]

“You’re not funny ..” “oh, I got nothing to fall back on now..” I’m DEAD 🤣🤣🤣

[joewwright]

One of the all time great talk show appearances. Norm played it perfectly- he was innocently hilarious while letting Dave doing all the real bad mouthing.

[jsokobo]

> Gets fired for making cracks about OJ being guilty.
> Makes another crack about OJ being guilty while discussing his firing.

Legend.

[RJStockton]

5:00 God bless Norm. OJ jokes are the reason they fired him, and he still managed to keep it up. This man was a king.

[kevinblaha]

That joke about still having whiskey left is so finely crafted and delivered, Truly a master of his art.

[motleysue]

“I’ll tell you who’s taking your place. Nobody can take your place, Norm Macdonald.” The truth of this statement is so keenly felt now that he is gone forever. ❤️ I truly enjoy watching these appearances over and over. Thank you!

[reachprasanna]

The fact that Norm noticed Dave still standing and immediately got up shows how much of a respect he has for his idol.

[koryvasquez]

3:46 imagine being fired from your job, and one of your idols says this to you in front of an audience and on live television. Both of these guys are class acts

[ego]

Norm said he stunk in sketches. Meanwhile, he was one of the most important, hilarious parts in one of the greatest sketches ever: Celebrity Jeopardy.

[odradekk]

Dave running on all cylinders trying to save the good name of comedy (incarnated by Norm) is almost moving to me. Moving and absolutely hilarious. This is a stone cold classic of LN television and of comedy in general. RIP Norm.

[BolofromAvlis]

What's crazy now is knowing what really happened with Norm.Jim Downey was on a recent Conan podcast and they talked about what really happened. They came to Norm and told him Downey ( who wrote Weekend Update with Norm) was going to be fired but they wanted to keep Norm on. Norm said he wouldn't do the show without Downey. That's when they fired Norm. What a stand up guy.

[khairirashid]

“Dave was angrier about it than I was because Dave was not under the influence of xanax”

[anthonysteen]

The truth is Norm wasn’t fired…he was forced out bc Don O wanted to get rid of Downey, the head writer for the segment and the reason Norm got the part, and Norm refused to do Update without him.

Not only that Norm didn’t tell Downey until years later.

Norm was a true friend in business that’s full of backstabbers

[woweezowee]

"then I remembered I had more whisky"

Fuckin LOL. Norm was so effortlessly funny.

[christineshotton]

The crowd's support of Norm is heartwarming.

[CircuitRider]

One of the most legendary late night appearances ever. The dynamic here was perfect with Norm playing coy and Dave taking no prisoners. Norm, probably gotta be the funniest guy who ever lived… I’d also recommend Norm’s Letterman appearance from a few months after this (May 1998 I believe) — it may be even funnier, his bit about going to a Broadway play is hysterical. And it’s so wonderful seeing how much Norm made Dave crack up. Few people could make Dave laugh as much as Normie. Love them both, absolute legends.

[wolverineiscool]

Dave did a really classy thing here, he basically validated Norm and it was back when Letterman was at his peak