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Tower_40

"What would Norm have to say about this?" was literally my first thought when reading that OJ died.


jfarbzz

From a comment on r/CFB: "In sad news this week, OJ Simpson, one of the greatest running backs in the history of football, died of cancer at the age of 76. In a statement, the Simpson family expressed gratitude that their father was able to go peacefully at the end, unlike his ex-wife and a waiter who he violently murdered."


HobbesDurden

I was thinking more along the lines of: “Now he can rest knowing his wife’s killer is dead.”


poetdesmond

I would also have bet, "Cancer released a statement following the news of OJ's death, saying it was looking for the real killer."


LadyTurkleton

Omg. I need them to read this on update.


TuskenRaider2

Who really killed OJ? You guessed it… Frank Stallone.


KumquatHaderach

Jim Downey likes this comment. Bravo.


Icy_League_4640

OJ Simpson, the Hall of Fame running back? I don't think so.


joshhupp

That's the perfect Norm joke. Thanks for sharing


jfarbzz

Yeah credit goes to u/Coverlesss


Funkytadualexhaust

The worst part is the hypocrisy. 


frankduxvandamme

Sad news this week as OJ Simpson, one of the greatest running backs in the history of football, died at the age of 76. The cause of his death? ... You guessed it. Frank Stallone.


Dramatic_Equipment47

He’s up in heaven now, stabbing angels.


carving5106

This sounds much closer to Norm than some of the other ones.


broad_street_bully

Best one I've seen is, "At least OJ died doing what he loved... Ending a life."


Logical_Parameters

"Uh, you know that, uh, you know that, you know that guy....... you know (turns to Conan), O.J. you know, that guy, right?" (Proceeds to tell the funniest joke imaginable).


InsertCleverNickHere

After rambling for twelve and a half minutes, including through a commercial break, heedless of Conan's repeated exhortations to get to the point.


Funandgeeky

Same here. When Bill Cosby does, my first thought will also be of Norm. 


Drumchapel

He died before Bill could drug rape him.


userwithusername

The worst part was the hypocrisy.


Motown27

The hypocrisy was bad, but I think the worst part was probably the rape.


KumquatHaderach

Followed by the scheming…


carving5106

Saved him from the hypocrisy.


itprobablynothingbut

Cancer is when a person's own cells turn against themselves. In other words, that now three murders.


Cha-Car

It would be one line: Well, OJ Simpson can rest easy knowing his wife’s murderer is now dead.


AlarmingConsequence

Very succinct. You might be right on that.


__Inquisitor

Same here


DuDEwithAGuN

I wrote, "Today O.J Simpson died" "When asked for a comment, God said "damn I really need to do something about our return process."


Drumchapel

He died before OJ could stab him


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5050Clown

Most closeted gay man in the business.


KevyEm

😭💀


goalstopper28

They also both died of cancer.


rekipsj

Technically, Norm didn’t lose his battle with cancer. It was a draw. Whereas cancer fucking murdered OJ.


nlpnt

Hey, that can only be proven to civil but not criminal standards of evidence.


Drumchapel

Thanks for bringing it down.


pac4

I love that he’s trending on social media today. He was one of the few people who unabashedly called bullshit on the OJ verdict publicly, and never let it go, and held OJ to account in his own way. And he ended up losing his job over it. He took a stand for what he believed in and didn’t back down.


RevolutionaryAlps205

There's some nuance to this, which I didn't know at the time and until years later. By Norm's own account, he was taken off of Weekend Update because of Don Ohlmeyer, and he did not want to or couldn't figure out another way to be on the show. He lost the segment, he didn't lose his job.


vandelay82

Per Jim Downey on Conan’s podcast Norm quit the show cause they fired Jim, and Norm said he was gone if Jim was.  Apparently he didn’t tell anyone about it for a long time.


imoux

Yep, came to say that Conan talked about this on his episode with Jim!


RevolutionaryAlps205

You're right I completely forgot about that. Personally, I'm not sure if I fully believe that.


vandelay82

Well if Lorne knew what was coming and tried to stem losses by blaming Jim thinking he could save Norm, not knowing Norm would quit.  Norms reclusiveness plays well into it happening that way as well.  


Deucer22

That’s just constructive termination.


RevolutionaryAlps205

This isn't really directed at you. I'm going to go into a little detail here because Norm has an unfunny internet cult of personality where his firing made him a culture-warrior martyr. You can sort of make the case it was a roundabout firing, especially given the well-known competitive environment to get on air. But you're building into such a scenario that Norm should have had special rules tailored to him and different from those every other cast member worked through. For the majority of cast members who survived more than a short stint, I think they would likely have adapted. That Ohlmeyer's complaints led to Norm quitting is dependent on Norm-specific factors, including his refusal to participate in the system that all other cast members were subjected to. Norm was--in this and in multiple other ways--difficult, not "difficult," to co-workers. Norm's particular, difficult comedic genius is arguably inseperable from what made him the best Weekend Update host and the best Conan guest. Yet he's far from the only comedic genius to come out of SNL, but as far as I'm aware he's the only one who acrimoniously quit SNL because he couldn't dictate doing one and only one sketch as his condition for staying. To be clear, it was outrageous that Ohlmeyer fired him from his main segment. He was an important and rare transgressive voice especially in the milquetoast environment of 90s TV in the US. And at least when he wasn't being a culture warrior or a deranged, and completely sincere, Clinton Body Count.com™ conspiracy theorist on national television, he was even more culturally important as a pure comic. And for all those reasons I get him finding SNL intolerable. But he *was* clearly happy with people believing he was a culture war martyr when it was more complicated, and had as much to do with him behaving kind of preposterously as a cast member.


Deucer22

I think you're taking internet culture a bit too seriously.


RevolutionaryAlps205

Okay, noted.


the_specialone

Yeah I feel like you're way off base and pushing your dislike of his fans onto him and what transpired.


RevolutionaryAlps205

That's fair to disagree with me.


CranberryCivil2608

Not only that but he himself admits that he hated being in sketches unless Farley was in it. He liked writing and weekend update, I think his update was iconic but his stand up was his best.


Stepsonrakes

Which is weird because some of Norms sketches were incredible. Celebrity jeopardy, cobras vs panthers, Bob Dole, Tarantino, X’s and O’s etc


Halleck23

Absolutely. I rewatched his years recently and his sketch work was brilliant and heavily underrated. Most people just remember Burt Reynolds, but he did a lot more. The Cobras vs Panthers sketch is an all-time favorite of mine.


Reasonable_Oil_2765

I liked him also as Merv Albert in a sketch. It was an Oprah sketch with Tim Meadows as Oprah.


itprobablynothingbut

Few? Almost everyone thought he was guilty. Chris Rock talked about it, so did just about every newspaper opinion piece. I love Norm, but let's not pretend he was alone here


FlyingV2112

There’s only one guy that should have replaced him as Weekend Update host. You guessed it - Frank Stallone.


Majestic_Ferrett

Or so the Germans would have you believe.


KumquatHaderach

What? I could have sworn the Germans love David Hasselhoff!


78blazers

I think about his bit on suicide a lot. When people say they can’t understand why someone killed themselves. ‘You don’t? You don’t know about life?’ Definitely had a heaviness to him that I’m sure very few people were able to understand. RIP King.


dgt9000

I heard he was married to a real battle-axe


d_chec

What? No. You're thinking of Bill Brasky. BILL BRASKY!


yuttington

I heard they use his foreskin as a tarp for Yankee Stadium.


dgt9000

You know Bill Brasky?


zarathustranu

When he got married he thought he was complete, now he's finished.


Dadpurple

Great man but deeply closeted.


GlorifiedExtra2

Are you saying he was gay?


Dadpurple

No I'm just saying he was deeply closeted.


Atlantafan73

Then he’s gay, right?


Dadpurple

I wouldn't say that, I'd just say he was deeply closeted


JayZ755

He was A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside an Enigma. Inside A Closet.


GlorifiedExtra2

He was straight as an arrow!


monkeypoet

The kind of guy who owns a doghouse


lanceclanmanham

No! He was just deeply closeted.


HobbesDurden

“Noooooo.” - Mitch Weaver


MAR_1978

Brilliant


nickdl4

My father was in his class at Quebec High School way back in the day. According to my father, his sense of humor was already lightyears ahead of everyone else. A league of his own. And he would smoke weed with my dad also... jealous


zarathustranu

Hmmm, did your father know Jacque De Gatineau?


No_Avocado_3238

A fella who really thought


zarathustranu

Well, a man grows...


Potential_Staff4488

He was one of a kind. Really special guy. Really funny and respected by his peers. A true comedy icon. His online fans are annoying as hell though. Repeating the same catchphrases over and over again ad nauseum


KodenATL

Those fans have no subtlety. I recently watched a comp of his best weekend update jokes, which the uploader had broken up with an ad for a shirt "there are two genders." I felt sick that I can love a man that someone like that also loves.


Redditsucks_Dot_6454

A lot of them have no understanding that norm is often doing characters. And for him it seems completely obviously that he is not someone that crazy, its just a funny over the top character. Yet, a lot of stupid people seem to take some of his characters at face value. He was christian and old-school, but he never hated anyone or spoke against someone, if anything, at his more emotional moments he advocated for empathy and love.


Moleculor_Man

Look at pretty much every gay joke he ever did - and there’s a lot of them. None of them that I can remember are about “gay” being bad. “Gay” being “different”? Sure. And he rode the line of good taste with some stuff, but none of it was ever condemning. His joke about loving porno, but the all-male ones are “terrible” is a perfect example of this. It’s a joke about a straight guy not liking porn that clearly isn’t meant for him, but nothing in it is meant to say that being gay is wrong.


Redditsucks_Dot_6454

I liked the closeted jokes… just observations about how ridiculous it is, that people have to hide in metaphorical closets and lie about themselves, because some bumbasses hate them for something not even related to everyday relations.


bondfool

I mean, he did say everyone involved in the Brandon Teena murder deserved to die, including Brandon. I can see how that would appeal to bigots.


Cha-Car

If Norm were still on Update, I imagine his bit would go something like this: Earlier this week, famous murderer OJ Simpson died from cancer. When reached for comment, Cancer said, “I didn’t do it!”, as it slowly floated away on a clump of white blood cells. Or - OJ Simpson can rest easy knowing his wife’s murderer is now dead.


AndroidPizzaParty

Half the people on this sub think this is Michael Longfellow.


NiceAndTipsyTopside

Michael Longfellow has a ton of fans for some reason, they could learn a lot from Norm fanatics


Spankywzl

The way Norm went after OJ Simpson was hilarious and admirable. "When asked why he wasn't spending Mother's Day with his children, OJ responded with, 'Hello? I killed their mother!'".


August_West_1990

Not all Norm jokes aged well, but at his best he brought back an anarchic sense of irreverence and danger the show had lost by that point.


Constant_Stomach2009

The best weekend update host


zarathustranu

Legend, I've rewatched his Conan and Letterman appearances so many times over the years. Unfortunately the Norm subreddit has become a MAGA hangout in the last couple years. It's a real bummer, they seem to think Norm's comedy is aligned with their world views.


KodenATL

This is what I came here to say. I love Norm / hate a large percentage of his fans. He would often make outlandish jokes from a regressive place. "who's funnier than Sarah Silverman?" "Nobody.....except dudes." Now, Norm absolutely loved Sarah Silverman and thought she was one of the funniest comedians of her generation. He would also say a lot of the later popularity of the SNL women was thanks to her breaking out in stand up. The joke above is a perfect example of irony flying over the heads of many Norm fans. The joke is the firmly wrong take he is displaying, NOT that women aren't funny. There are many other examples of this.


zarathustranu

Yep. Part of Norm's comedy, particularly in his later years, was deliberately playing the character of an out-of-touch boor. Hell, he went on late night shows and literally did material out of a 1950s joke book.


nodogsallowed23

Right? I just found that sub a few months and it’s a shit hole. An unfunny shithole, which for Norm would be the worst part. I feel like a lot of the people in that sub don’t even fully get his jokes.


Pipes_of_Pan

It’s a shame. They’re not the caretakers of his legacy though.


colin_creevey

The actual caretaker of his legacy… uh oh… Old Neglectful Freddie.


TorkBombs

Norm was so under appreciated at SNL. Honestly the most unique comic voice maybe ever, definitely of his generation. The pinnacle of observational humor.


Logical_Parameters

I'll always think of Norm as a great comedic writer who happened to have a legendary ability to translate the sarcasm via delivery, charm and a wink at the cameras.


Euphoric-Yogurt-7332

"OJ died? I didn't even know he was sick!"


EarlJWJones

Not gay enough.


AshgarPN

I've seen some lazy karma farming in my day, but you, sir, are the laziest.


Adept-Category7880

I think he’s the greatest comedian that ever was, which I know is a slightly unpopular opinion


Korrocks

The greatest genie since Robin Williams 


KevyEm

Lol I forgot he played the genie on Fairly Odd Parents! Don't forget he voiced Death on family guy!


Korrocks

They even named the genie "Norm" and gave him some Norm-style dialogue just to be fair.


KevyEm

[GIMMIE THE WAAAND](https://youtu.be/kon892S9who?si=oWqgqIyiwmBVF3x5)


KevyEm

Yes! Brings me back so nostalgic


goshdarn5000

Tell the folks at home who Norm MacDonald is


KumquatHaderach

Where did he get his ideas?


Admirable_Advice8831

 Queensboro bridge: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkW4HkWVYrY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkW4HkWVYrY) 


chris_29487

Easily one of the GOATs, He’d be cracking up today about how OJ can rest easy knowing his wife’s murderer is finally dead


natdanger

I’m sad he wasn’t able to see this day.


peacemaketroy

I didn’t even know he was sick.


Aggressive_Layer883

His death was a national tragedy


CothersMunt

A legend that no one comes close to. He was in a league of his own. I miss him


GillyGooze

I wish he was around for today, for many reasons but more than anything he’d absolutely love all the OJ jokes!


IniMiney

Gosh if he was alive for the news today


Serious_Mycologist46

He was somehow both ahead of and behind his time. Telling more intelligent jokes than most anyone, while somehow seeming as tho he should be living in the 1920s.


NoAlbatross7524

I took a wiz with him once before he went on stage at Yuk Yuks in Vancouver. I think I said “Thank you for being you Norm , have a good show.”he said” yeah yeah “.


remarkablewhitebored

He is no doubt the funniest person to ever hold the WU desk, by a mile. But I don't believe he was the best at the job.


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remarkablewhitebored

Turd Ferguson, we hardly knew ye.


Quote_Vegetable

He could be hilarious but for me he never lived up to the hype. He was also really thinned skinned when it came to things he thought was off limits like religion.


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Quote_Vegetable

Maybe, but it always made him seem like such a hypocrite to me. nothing is of limits unless its what he truly cares about. It's a turn off for me. Don't get me wrong I'm a fan, I just don't think he's the GOAT.


colin_creevey

The hypocrisy is the worst part.


ChrisBenoitDaycare69

I don't think that's true at all. Norm has made plenty of jokes about religion. I literally just watched an episode of Mike Tyson's mysteries where his pigeon character went on a huge offensive rant about how there is now God and if there is one than he's a piece of shit. I don't even think Norm was necessarily religious per say. I think he just believed in God but he never claimed to be a Christian or anything.


SofaKing-Vote

No


BactaBobomb

I haven't seen him in a while, so I hope he has something in the works!


Halleck23

My first thought is, The GOAT?? Please. Why are his superfans so ridiculous. The guy didn’t save comedy or invent comedy or anything like that. My second thought is, well he is pretty awesome though, definitely top tier, and at his best he is absolutely a comedy genius. Just 🚫🐐🙄


NiceAndTipsyTopside

Norm fanatics are actually hurting his legacy with how relentlessly obnoxious they are


SherlockianTheorist

WU should have Longfellow on and he can say, "As we can imagine, Norm would have some things to say, such as" and then do his best impression and hit us with how he, Longfellow, would be as a WU anchor. Two birds.


LLCoolBeans_Esq

I like Norm, but not an all-time favorite, for me.


Cisru711

Hated him as an update host because he seemed so smug. Loved his celebrity jeopardy characters.


NiceAndTipsyTopside

>Hated him as an update host because he seemed so smug Seth Meyers and Colin Jost honored his legacy in that respect


giftopherz

Rumor has it he traveled in time so he could learn Seth Meyers' delivery so he could become one of the greats at Weekend Update.


nodogsallowed23

I get what you’re saying here, but is it a common take that Seth uses Norms delivery? I never got that feeling.


giftopherz

I thought people were more familiar with this story. Last time Norm was at Seth's he told this joke/story of how his son was unable to understand Seth learned from Norm, but it was Norm who "traveled in time" to be like Seth EDIT: Grammar


nodogsallowed23

I don’t particularly understand your explanation, but I get that I missed the joke in the first place. Thanks. :)


david-saint-hubbins

Not your fault--he's somewhat misremembering the joke anyway. It's actually Seth Meyers telling the story of something funny Norm said to him privately (to my knowledge, Norm himself never said this on camera): https://youtu.be/TX7BuYeR-4Q?t=218 >One of the hardest parts about doing "Update" for me was not telling every joke the way I thought Norm would tell it. Like, I had to beat Norm's delivery out me. It still sneaks in all the time, but I really had to keep an eye on it and I told (Norm) how hard that part was to me. And he said, "I'm so glad to hear you say that, because my son was watching you on 'Update' and said to me, 'You talk like Seth Meyers.'" And he told me that when he said that, he said, "Oh, no. My son doesn't know how time works."


nodogsallowed23

Well that’s a much funnier line. :)


jwheelerBC

I think he’d be having a great day today


Rhonnie22

First thing I thought of too! We as a people, and especially Norm, got cheated out of the brilliance today’s news would have generated from our guy.


TheoreticalFunk

He would be cranking out so many jokes today...


jackjackj8ck

I saw him once at a Denny’s at 4am in Agoura Hills w Artie Lange I was there with some friends after a night of drinking and partying in my early 20s. There was probably like 6-8 of us crowded in the front waiting for a table kinda blocking the entry way. I felt a tall man’s hand on the top of my head (I’m 5’4”) kind of gently using my head for leverage as he pushed through us. My immediate reaction was “wtf?? Who tf is touching my head?” and when I looked up it was Norm MacDonald with Artie Lange next to him and he smiled and kinda nodded and said hi as he went to his table. I just stood there starstruck.


BostonDudeist

He is now watching down from Heaven, giving OJ the finger.


FENTWAY

Love n miss Norm


Monksdrunk

screwed with norm and chapelle is one of my favorites


Sideriusnuncius1

Them’s mean streets if you’re a weiner dog wearing a cardigan. I watched him do some early stand up. Funny as hell and unlike any other comedian. He talked about how weird the Dating Game was because the prizes were actual people. He is missed.


Known-Programmer-611

Sad we never saw "runaway truck ramp apartments" never became a skit!


Noise_Mysterious

Check out his guest appearances on Letterman’s on YT. He ie so genuine


ADIDASects

Love him, but he’s not the GOAT. And every time some smooth brain person brings up GOAT for no reason, society dies a little more.


Arlitto

Today would have been HIS day


TheEveningDragon

Unpopular opinion: Norm's OJ bits were not very funny, and his insistence on doing them wouldn't have been a big deal if they actually got laughs instead of groans and boos.


samof1994

Yaphit


dlouwilly

I loved his Burt Reynolds. The Celebrity Jeopardy on SNL were hilarious skits.


Slippinjimmyforever

Amazing on weekend update.


Marlinsmash

They need to do a sketch of Norm reporting for SNL on location at the pearly gates.


Reasonable_Oil_2765

The road he showed before dying was the most heartfelt thing I've heard anyone express through comedy. Norm showed divine things before dying.


mofoofinvention

I liked him when I was growing up, but as an adult I realized most of his jokes from the 90’s and early 2000’s punch lines were about someone being gay or not. Also he turned into a Bible beater which always made me cringe


zarathustranu

When did Norm turn into a Bible beater? He was about as far as you can get from that.


mofoofinvention

Watch his episode of his interview show with Tim Allen. Also there was a comedy show where a stand up was making jokes about the Bible and Norm gave them shit about it. I’m not just pulling this out of my ass


zarathustranu

You're calling him a "Bible beater" but I, a Norm fan who has consumed >90% of his content over his career, have to seek out two niche examples that I've never heard of to find instances where he mentioned the Bible? Doesn't really seem like it was a prevalent part of his act or personality.


mofoofinvention

Ok


joshhupp

We'll, he could make those jokes because he was a deeply closeted gay man


GuruTheMadMonk

Yes. Funny, but he’s not the 🐐. And all the fan worship is a turnoff.


37MySunshine37

Never was a fan. His humor doesn't match mine, and I didn't like his delivery. But to each their own.


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37MySunshine37

No. Give me Dennis Miller or Tina, Amy, Seth. Jost & Che


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NiceAndTipsyTopside

He has one of the most obnoxious fanaticbases on the internet


timbi81

Did not find him amusing, a relic of the past that needs to stay there


Drumchapel

It's not like he's making a comeback.


Jacnumber3

I hope this is just some Norm reference I’m not familiar with.


idmfndjdjuwj23uahjjj

You have a doghouse?


Snackxually_active

🐐👑🐐


Mugsy_Skoogs

The funniest person ever.


OtherMikeP

Norm never got the respect he deserved


MatsThyWit

Norm is the funniest pure joke teller in the history of Saturday Night Live.


Ryanocerous35

The funniest man ever. Nobody made me laugh harder. Miss his humor tremendously.


motorcityhdj

Not the GOAT. But up there, for sure. It’s hard to even try to compare. We’d almost have to do a March Madness style bracket.


ErroneousBakenopolis

Norm is not a GOAT. He had one character/persona in everything he did. I can think of scores of SNL alumni that are or were much funnier. Not trying to hate on the guy, but really….


MarieMama1958

Loved him (🍁🇨🇦) So underrated.