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77-746: Norman Gene Macdonald (October 17, 1959 – September 14, 2021) was a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, and writer whose style was characterized by deadpan delivery, eccentric understatement, and the use of folksy, old-fashioned turns of phrase. He appeared in many films and was a regular guest on late-night talk shows, where he became known for his chaotic, yet understated style of comedy. Many critics and fellow comedians praised his frequent appearances on talk shows, while late-night host David Letterman regarded him as "the best" of stand-up comedians. Earlier in his career, Macdonald's first work on television included writing for comedies such as Roseanne and The Dennis Miller Show . In 1993, Macdonald

154-408: A Late Show with David Letterman interview, Macdonald stated that after being dismissed from anchoring Weekend Update and leaving SNL , he could not "do anything else on any competing show." In later years, he came to the conclusion that Ohlmeyer had not removed him from Update for his Simpson material; rather, he felt he was removed because he was seen as insubordinate: "I think the whole show

231-596: A cameo appearance in the Andy Kaufman biographical drama Man on the Moon , directed by Miloš Forman . When Michael Richards refused to portray himself in the scene reenacting the famous Fridays incident in which Kaufman threw water in his face, Macdonald stepped in to play Richards, although he was not referred to by name. Macdonald also appeared in Forman's previous film The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) as

308-618: A non sequitur punchline and absurdly blamed him for such events as toxic waste or high unemployment rates. Frank Stallone took no offense, later stating: "He wasn’t really attacking me, it was just randomly thrown in there". Nonetheless, Macdonald stopped the Frank Stallone jokes after a 1997 request from Sylvester Stallone , Frank's brother, who was guest host for SNL . On the Weekend Update aired on February 24, 1996, Macdonald joked about John Lotter 's sentencing for

385-408: A 1928 New York Times article as having the first appearance of the term in print. That article, a collection of film slang compiled by writer and theatrical agent Frank J. Wilstach , defines "dead pan" as "playing a role with expressionless face, as, for instance, the work of Buster Keaton." There were several other uses of the term, in theater and in sports, between the 1915 Bresnahan article and

462-609: A French-language weekly newspaper called La Gazette du commerce et littéraire, pour la ville et district de Montréal on June 3, 1778. It was the first entirely French-language newspaper in Canada. The paper did not accept advertising aside for the various books that Mesplet also published. The articles were meant to promote discussion, and it focused on literature and philosophy , as well as various anecdotal articles, poems and letters. Benjamin Franklin encouraged Mesplet to found

539-481: A commentator and co-host (with Kara Scott) of the seventh season of the TV series High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network . Early in 2012, it was reported that Macdonald was developing a talk show for TBS titled Norm Macdonald is Trending , which would see Macdonald and a team of correspondents covering headlines from pop culture and social media. Clips for the unaired pilot published by The Washington Post resemble

616-597: A compensation law for Lower Canada. This was among the main events leading to the burning of the Parliament Buildings . Ferres was subsequently arrested, though soon released on bail and set free without trial. In 1939, The Gazette hired its first editorial cartoonist – John Collins , who worked a term of 43 years. In 1968, The Gazette was acquired by the Southam newspaper chain, which owned major dailies across Canada. For many years, The Gazette

693-554: A deadpan delivery. Monty Python include it in their work, such as " The Ministry of Silly Walks " sketch. For his deadpan delivery Peter Sellers received a BAFTA for Best Actor for I'm All Right Jack (1959). A leading figure of the British satire boom of the 1960s, Peter Cook delivered deadpan monologues in his double act with Dudley Moore . In his various roles Ricky Gervais often draws humour from an exasperated sigh. While in his various guises such as Ali G and Borat ,

770-508: A decline in ratings and a drop-off in quality. He was replaced by Colin Quinn at the Weekend Update desk beginning on the January 10, 1998, episode. Macdonald believed at the time that the true reason for his dismissal was his series of O. J. Simpson jokes during and after the trial , frequently calling him a murderer; Ohlmeyer was a good friend of Simpson and supported him during

847-539: A different approach on Update . Macdonald remained on SNL as a cast member, but he disliked performing in regular sketches. On February 28, 1998, in one of his last appearances on SNL , he played the host of a fictitious TV series titled Who's More Grizzled? , who asked questions from " mountain men ", played by that night's host Garth Brooks and special guest Robert Duvall . In the sketch, Brooks's character says to Macdonald's character, "I don't much care for you," to which Macdonald replies, "A lot of people don't." He

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924-560: A fictional, down-on-his-luck version of himself. The show was picked up and Garry Shandling was added to the cast, but it was cancelled halfway through filming. On the May 16, 2009, episode of Saturday Night Live , Macdonald reappeared as Burt Reynolds on Celebrity Jeopardy! , and in another sketch. On May 31, 2009, he appeared on Million Dollar Password . Macdonald became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien during its 2009 and 2010 run. He made frequent appearances on

1001-453: A final Netflix special, and he taped his audienceless dry run with the intention of filming it professionally to an audience. While the proper filming never materialized, the run-through was released posthumously as Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special on May 30, 2022, to critical acclaim. The special was followed with a discussion with Dave Chappelle , Molly Shannon , David Letterman , Conan O'Brien , David Spade , and Adam Sandler . He had

1078-401: A former baseball player named Gene Woodburn written by his former manager Roger Bresnahan . Bresnahan described how Woodburn used his skill as a ventriloquist to make his manager and others think they were being heckled from the stands. Woodburn, wrote Bresnahan, "had a trick of what the actors call 'the dead pan.' He never cracked a smile and would be the last man you would suspect was working

1155-462: A homosexual pedophile." He followed this up a few episodes later with a report about the singer's collapse and hospitalization. Referring to a report of how Jackson had decorated his hospital room with giant photographs of Shirley Temple , Macdonald added: "But don't get any ideas: Michael Jackson is a homosexual pedophile." In early 1998, Don Ohlmeyer , president of NBC's West Coast division, had Macdonald removed as Weekend Update anchor, citing

1232-613: A loss of 54 full-time and 61 part-time positions at the paper. The August 16, 2014, issue was the final issue printed by the Postmedia-owned facility. On October 21, 2014, The Gazette was relaunched as part of the Postmedia Reimagined project, adopting a similar look, and a similar suite of digital platforms, to its sister paper, the Ottawa Citizen , which had relaunched earlier in the year. As part of

1309-581: A military base north of Quebec City. As a child, his father would not let him learn French , as he wanted the family to speak English. Macdonald's father died in 1990 of heart disease . He has described himself as being "half-Scottish and half-Irish". He attended Quebec High School before his family moved to Ottawa , Ontario . In Ottawa, Macdonald attended Gloucester High School . He claimed to have dropped out at 16, but in fact graduated at 14. At 16, he enrolled at Carleton University , where he studied mathematics and philosophy before dropping out. Macdonald

1386-426: A more reserved, deadpan style. On stage, he claimed to have "no opinions" and the minimalist delivery was described as "reduc[ing] gesture and verbiage down to an absurd minimum." In March 2018, Netflix announced it had ordered ten episodes of a new talk show titled Norm Macdonald Has a Show , hosted by Macdonald. The series premiered on September 14, 2018. In September 2018, Macdonald sparked controversy after

1463-461: A new media group, Postmedia , bought The Gazette and other papers from the financially troubled Canwest. To celebrate its 150th anniversary, The Gazette published a facsimile of one of its earliest issues. Much effort was made to use a type of paper that imitated 18th century paper, with fake chainlines and laidlines to make the paper look old. Today, The Gazette ' s audience is primarily Quebec's English-speaking community. The Gazette

1540-529: A party for the jurors who acquitted Simpson. Ohlmeyer claimed that Macdonald was mistaken, pointing out he had not censored Jay Leno 's many jokes about Simpson on The Tonight Show . Ohlmeyer stated he was concerned that ratings research showed people turning away from the program during Macdonald's segment; likewise, network insiders told the New York Daily News that Ohlmeyer and other executives had tried several times to get Macdonald to try

1617-653: A recurring role as Yaphit, a gelatinous engineer, on the Fox science fiction series The Orville , whose third season, subtitled New Horizons , premiered in June 2022; Macdonald appeared posthumously in his last casting. Macdonald said his influences included the comedians Bob Newhart , Sam Kinison , Rodney Dangerfield , Dennis Miller , and the writers Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov . Speaking about Canada's homegrown comedy industry, Macdonald reflected that he would have liked there to have been more opportunity for him to stay in

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1694-403: A reporter summoned to Flynt's mansion regarding secret tapes involving automaker John DeLorean . In 2000, Macdonald played the starring role for the second time in a motion picture alongside Dave Chappelle , Screwed , which fared poorly at the box office. He continued to make appearances on television shows and in films. Also, in 2000, Macdonald made his first appearance on Family Guy , as

1771-406: A sketch comedy show in the vein of Back to Norm . In June 2012, he became the spokesman for Safe Auto Insurance Company . Along with television and radio commercials, web banners, and outdoor boards, the effort included a series of made-for-web videos. As part of the campaign, the state minimum auto insurance company introduced a new tagline, "Drive Safe, Spend Less." In 2013, Macdonald premiered

1848-454: A springboard to something else that they're generally not as good at. Reflecting on the state of modern comedy, he bemoaned the influx of dramatic actors into comedy and comedians into dramatic acting. Deadpan The term deadpan first emerged early in the 20th century, as a compound word (sometimes spelled as two words) combining "dead" and "pan" (a slang term for the face). It appeared in print as early as 1915, in an article about

1925-407: A trick." George M. Cohan , in a 1908 interview, had alluded to dead pans without using the actual term "deadpan". Cohan, after returning from a trip to London, told an interviewer that "the time is ripe for a manager to take over about a dozen American chorus girls and wake up the musical comedy game. The English chorus girls are dead–their pans are cold.” The Oxford English Dictionary cites

2002-563: A voice actor, this time in a series of commercials for the Canadian mobile-services provider Bell Mobility , as the voice of Frank the Beaver . The campaign was extended through 2008 to promote offerings from other Bell Canada divisions such as the Internet provider Bell Sympatico and the satellite service Bell Satellite TV . In September 2006, Macdonald's sketch comedy album Ridiculous

2079-401: A weekly contributor. Macdonald was a guest character on My Name Is Earl in the episode " Two Balls, Two Strikes " (2007) as Lil Chubby, the son of "Chubby" (played by Burt Reynolds ), similar to Macdonald's portrayals of Reynolds on SNL . On June 19, 2008, Macdonald was a celebrity panellist on two episodes of a revived version of the game show Match Game . On August 17, 2008, Macdonald

2156-520: Is Basem Boshra and the associate managing editor is Jeff Blond. On April 30, 2013, Postmedia Network announced that it would be eliminating the role of publisher at each of its newspapers, including The Gazette . Instead, the company's 10 newspapers were overseen by regional publishers, one each for the Pacific, the Prairies and eastern Canada. Alan Allnutt, who was the publisher of The Gazette at

2233-461: Is one of the three dailies published in Montreal, the other two being French-language newspapers: Le Journal de Montréal and Le Devoir . ( La Presse is only published digitally since 2018.) In recent years, The Gazette has stepped up efforts to reach bilingual francophone professionals and adjusted its coverage accordingly. The current editor-in-chief is Lucinda Chodan. The deputy editor

2310-607: Is owned by Postmedia Network . It is published in Montreal , Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspaper currently published in its eponymous city. Three other daily English-language newspapers shuttered at various times during the second half of the 20th century. It is one of the French-speaking province's last two English-language dailies; the other is the Sherbrooke Record , which serves

2387-635: The KFC chain of fast food restaurants. Macdonald was replaced by Jim Gaffigan in the role by February 2016. In September 2016, Macdonald's semi-fictional memoir Based on a True Story was published by Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau . It debuted at number 15 on the New York Times Best Sellers list for hardcover nonfiction, and made number 6 on the Best Sellers list for humour. From May 2017, Macdonald moved his comedy to

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2464-656: The Montreal Daily News closed in 1989, after less than two years in operation, The Gazette kept its Sunday edition going until August 2010. In 1996, the Southam papers were bought by Conrad Black 's Hollinger Inc. Then in August 2000, Hollinger sold the Southam newspapers, including The Gazette , to Canwest Global Communications Corp. , controlled by the Winnipeg-based Asper family. In 2010,

2541-480: The podcast Norm Macdonald Live , with sidekick Adam Eget, streaming live weekly on Video Podcast Network and posted later on YouTube . It received positive notices from USA Today , Entertainment Weekly , and the "America's Comedy" website, while the Independent Film Channel stated that while Macdonald remained "a comedy force to be reckoned with" and "did not quite disappoint," the show

2618-675: The "revenge comedy" Dirty Work (1998), directed by Bob Saget , co-starring Artie Lange , and featuring Chris Farley in his last film; the film was dedicated to his memory. Later that year, Macdonald voiced Lucky in the Eddie Murphy adaptation of Dr. Dolittle . He reprised the role in both Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001) and Dr. Dolittle 3 (2006). In 1999, Macdonald starred in The Norm Show (later renamed Norm ), co-starring Laurie Metcalf , Artie Lange, and Ian Gomez . It ran for three seasons on ABC . Earlier in 1999, he made

2695-765: The 1928 article in the Times . The usage of deadpan as a verb ("to speak, act, or utter in a deadpan manner; to maintain a dead pan") is recorded at least as far back as 1942. The English music hall comedian T. W. Barrett , working in the 1880s and 1890s, is credited with being the first to perform in a deadpan manner, standing completely still and without a smile. Early in his vaudeville days, Buster Keaton developed his deadpan expression. Keaton realised that audiences responded better to his stony expression than when he smiled, and he carried this style into his silent film career. The 1928 Vitaphone short film The Beau Brummels , with vaudeville comics Al Shaw and Sam Lee,

2772-427: The Canadian talk show 90 Minutes Live , where a 13-year-old Macdonald had been in the studio audience. Also in 2015, Macdonald was a judge for the ninth season of NBC's Last Comic Standing , joining the previous season's judges, Roseanne Barr and Keenan Ivory Wayans and replacing fellow Canadian Russell Peters from 2014. In August 2015, he succeeded Darrell Hammond as Colonel Sanders in TV commercials for

2849-627: The FP Publications chain (which owned the Winnipeg Free Press and, at the time, The Globe and Mail ), endured a long strike and ceased publication in 1979, less than a year after the strike was settled. In 1988, a competing English-language daily, the Montreal Daily News , was launched. The Montreal Daily News adopted a tabloid format and introduced a Sunday edition, forcing The Gazette to respond. After

2926-459: The Internet talk show Tom Green's House Tonight , and on May 20, 2010, was guest host. In September 2010, Macdonald was developing a series for Comedy Central that he described as a sports version of The Daily Show . Sports Show with Norm Macdonald premiered April 12, 2011. Nine ordered episodes were broadcast. Macdonald's first stand-up special, Me Doing Stand-Up , aired on Comedy Central on March 26, 2011. On February 26, 2011, he became

3003-557: The States. Like, I think the standups are generally much better in Canada. Because, like, when I was in Canada, none of us had any ambition to do movies or TV because there were no movies or television. So it was all standup and we just assumed we'd be standups for our whole lives and that was what was fun. And then when I came to the States, I realized, whoa, they don't take their standup very seriously here because they're just trying to do something other than standup and using standup as, like,

3080-958: The TV show Brooklyn Nine-Nine , Matthew Perry as Chandler Bing in Friends , Nick Offerman as Ron Swanson and Aubrey Plaza as April Ludgate in Parks and Recreation , Jennette McCurdy as Sam Puckett in iCarly , and Louis C.K. in Louie . Another example is the comedy of Steven Wright . Deadpan delivery runs throughout British humour . In television sitcoms, John Cleese as Basil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers and Rowan Atkinson as Edmund Blackadder in Blackadder are both frustrated figures who display little facial expression in their put-downs. Atkinson also plays authority figures (especially priests) while speaking absurd lines with

3157-635: The anglophone community in Sherbrooke and the Eastern Townships southeast of Montreal. Founded in 1778 by Fleury Mesplet , The Gazette is Quebec's oldest daily newspaper and the oldest continuously published newspaper in Canada. The oldest newspaper overall is the English-language Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph , which was established in 1764 and is published weekly. Fleury Mesplet founded

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3234-486: The audience?" Macdonald returned to Saturday Night Live to host the October 23, 1999, show. In his opening monologue , he expressed resentment at being fired from Weekend Update , and then he concluded that the only reason he was asked to host was because "the show has gotten really bad" since he left, echoing a perennial criticism of the show. Soon after leaving Saturday Night Live , Macdonald co-wrote and starred in

3311-515: The ban on playing it during SNL . Macdonald continued to insist that he did not personally dislike Ohlmeyer but that Ohlmeyer hated him. Macdonald complained to the New York Daily News about NBC's removal of advertising for his film, calling Ohlmeyer a "liar and a thug." He claimed to have never badmouthed SNL or Michaels, who he felt had always supported him. Macdonald pointed out that he had only taken issue with Ohlmeyer, whereas

3388-546: The club had gone, and he bolted out, saying he would never do it again. The club's owner, Howard Wagman, had to persuade him to come back for more. Eventually his confidence grew. Six months later he performed at the 1986 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal, and he was heralded by the Montreal Gazette as "one of this country's hottest comics". By 1990, he would perform as a contestant on Star Search . He also appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, and

3465-399: The comedian Sacha Baron Cohen interacts with unsuspecting subjects not realising they have been set up for self-revealing ridicule; on this The Observer states, "his career has been built on winding people up, while keeping a deadpan face." Dry humour is often confused with highbrow or egghead humour, because the humour in dry humour does not exist in the words or delivery. Instead,

3542-428: The country early in his career, stating: Now I know there's more of, like, an industry there. Like I was happy that Brent Butt got Corner Gas . Because he's a really funny guy. But there wasn't that opportunity when I was there. I remember Mike MacDonald had one short-lived series , but that was about it. Otherwise, there was nothing to do. But it was great with standup. It was way, way better with standup than in

3619-739: The host became a huge fan, saying: "If we could have, we would have had Norm on every week". In 1992, Macdonald served as a writer for the only season of The Dennis Miller Show . He was hired as a writer for television sitcom Roseanne for the 1992–93 season before quitting to join Saturday Night Live . Macdonald joined the cast of NBC 's Saturday Night Live ( SNL ) television program in 1993, where he performed impressions of Larry King , Burt Reynolds , David Letterman , Quentin Tarantino , Clint Eastwood , Charles Kuralt , and Bob Dole , among others. The following year, during

3696-592: The left-hand column and English columns in the right-hand column. The columns were originally written in French and translated to English by Valentin Jautard, who served as editor until his death in 1787. The columns were mostly on education, religion, and literature, and after 1788 on politics. Foreign and local news made up the rest of the paper. The paper took a Voltairian and anticlerical stance, wanted Quebec to have its own legislative assembly and sought to import

3773-452: The listener must look for humour in the contradiction between words, delivery and context . Failure to include the context or to identify the contradiction results in the listener finding the dry humour unfunny. However, the term "deadpan" itself actually refers only to the method of delivery. Montreal Gazette The Gazette , also known as the Montreal Gazette , is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which

3850-422: The man. It was unclear if Macdonald's comments were meant to be taken as a joke, but Macdonald's close friend Lori Jo Hoekstra claimed Simpson himself reached out to Macdonald to thank him for the gentler commentary and offered to play golf. In February 2020, Macdonald launched Loko, a dating app he co-created that relies heavily on video to make first impressions. That summer, he had a stand-up set prepared for

3927-573: The murders of Brandon Teena and two others: "And finally, in Falls City, Nebraska, John Lotter has been sentenced to death for attempting to kill three people in what prosecutors called a plot to silence a cross-dressing female who had accused him of rape. Now, this might strike some viewers as harsh, but I believe everyone involved in this story should die." The comments were met with sharp criticism from activist groups, including The Transexual Menace , who threatened to picket SNL . Upon reviewing

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4004-474: The new host of The Late Late Show after then-host Craig Ferguson announced he would be leaving. On May 15, 2015, Macdonald was the final stand-up act on the Late Show with David Letterman . During his set, which ended with him breaking into tears as he told Letterman that he truly loved him, Macdonald included a joke Letterman had told the first time Macdonald had ever seen him during a 1970s appearance on

4081-400: The newspaper for several issues, but the paper ceased publication soon after. Two rivals, Louis Roy and Edward Edwards fought over the right to publish the newspaper over the course of two years. Edwards eventually won the printing press and newspaper and continued operations until his assets were seized in 1808. The newspaper was then the property of James Brown for fourteen years. In 1822, it

4158-754: The newspaper to persuade Canadians to join the American Revolution . A secret resolution of Congress dispatched Mesplat and his printing equipment to Canada in February 1776 "to establish a free press...for the frequent publication of such pieces as may be of service to the cause of the United Colonies." Mesplet, an immigrant from France, had previously lived in Philadelphia and supported the Americans when they occupied Montreal during

4235-594: The people taking shots at NBC and SNL were Letterman, who wanted Macdonald to come to CBS, and Stern, who wanted him to join his show opposite SNL . Macdonald also asserted that Ohlmeyer's influence resulted in cancellation of promotional appearances for his film on WNBC 's Today in New York , NBC's Late Night with Conan O'Brien , and the syndicated Access Hollywood (a joint venture between 20th Century Television and NBC). The shows that Macdonald named denied being influenced by Ohlmeyer. Macdonald said Ohlmeyer

4312-467: The principles of the French Revolution to Quebec. The newspaper also introduced advertising and announcements, taking up half of four pages. It is the direct ancestor of the current newspaper. The newspaper did well, and Mesplet's operation moved to Notre-Dame Street in 1787. Mesplet continued to operate the newspaper until his death in 1794. Following Mesplet's death, his widow published

4389-436: The proceedings. After being removed from the role, Macdonald went on CBS 's Late Show with David Letterman and Howard Stern 's syndicated radio show . In both appearances, the hosts accused Ohlmeyer of firing him for making jokes about Simpson. The jokes were written primarily by Macdonald and longtime SNL writer Jim Downey , who was fired from SNL at the same time. Downey pointed out in an interview that Ohlmeyer threw

4466-453: The publication of an interview in which he appeared to criticize aspects of the #MeToo movement and defend friends and fellow comedians Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr . Macdonald's scheduled appearance on NBC 's Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon was subsequently cancelled. In 2019, Macdonald appeared on Lights Out with David Spade and claimed to have changed his mind on O. J. Simpson's guilt, alleging that he could have rushed to judge

4543-554: The show's twentieth season , Macdonald began anchoring the news satire segment Weekend Update . His version of Weekend Update often included running jokes about prison rape , " crack whores ", and the success of American actor-singer David Hasselhoff in Germany. Macdonald would occasionally deliver a piece of news before taking out his personal compact tape recorder and leaving a "note to self" relevant to what he just discussed. He commonly used actor-singer Frank Stallone as

4620-431: The show, NBC agreed the line was inappropriate and should not have aired, and said it would ensure that similar incidents would not happen in the future. After the announcement that Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley planned to divorce, Macdonald joked about their irreconcilable differences on Weekend Update . "According to friends, the two were never a good match. She's more of a stay-at-home type, and he's more of

4697-682: The talk shows Norm Macdonald Live (a video podcast ) and Norm Macdonald Has a Show (a Netflix series), on which he interviewed comedians and other celebrities. In 2016, he authored Based on a True Story , a novel that presented a heavily fictionalized account of his life. Macdonald died of leukemia in September 2021, a condition he had not publicly disclosed. Norm Macdonald was born in Quebec City , Quebec . His parents, Ferne (née Mains) and Percy Lloyd Macdonald (1916–1990), were both Anglophone teachers. They worked at CFB Valcartier ,

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4774-644: The time, became the regional publisher of Postmedia's Alberta and Saskatchewan papers. Gerry Nott, publisher of the Ottawa Citizen , now also oversees The Gazette , the Windsor Star and Postmedia's flagship title, the National Post . On May 5, 2014, it was announced that printing of The Gazette would be contracted out to Transcontinental Media in August 2014 and that the existing Notre-Dame-de-Grâce facility would be closed, resulting in

4851-561: The voice of Death . That role was later recast to Adam Carolla . On November 12, 2000, he appeared on the Celebrity Edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? , winning $ 500,000 for Paul Newman 's Hole in the Wall Charity Camp , but could have won the million if he had ignored the advice of host Regis Philbin . In 2003, Macdonald played the title character in the Fox sitcom A Minute with Stan Hooper , which

4928-533: The war. The newspaper was shut down in 1779 when Mesplet and the editor, Valentin Jautard , were arrested for sedition and imprisoned for three years. Mesplet began a second weekly, The Montreal Gazette / La Gazette de Montréal , on August 25, 1785, which had a dual French-English bilingual format similar to that used by the Quebec Gazette . Its offices were located in the house of Joseph Lemoyne de Longueuil on rue de la Capitale. French columns were in

5005-431: Was "a bit rough around the edges." The second season of Norm Macdonald Live began in May 2014, and the third began in September 2016. Macdonald played the role of Rusty Heck, Mike Heck's hapless-yet-crafty brother on the sitcom The Middle, which ran from 2009 to 2018. Macdonald also joined Grantland as a contributor in the first two months of 2013. In 2014, Macdonald unsuccessfully campaigned on Twitter to be named

5082-439: Was "about a thousand times more powerful than I am. It's difficult for anybody to take my side in this. This guy should get a life, man." Members of the media found irony in the situation, as Dirty Work was promoted as a "revenge comedy." When an interviewer pointed this out, Macdonald said: "It would be good revenge if everybody went and saw this movie if they want to get revenge against Don Ohlmeyer for trying to ban my ads." In

5159-457: Was a close friend of Simpson. After being fired from SNL , he wrote and starred in the 1998 film Dirty Work and headlined his own sitcom, The Norm Show , from 1999 to 2001. Macdonald was also a voice actor, and provided voice acting roles for Family Guy , The Fairly OddParents , Mike Tyson Mysteries , The Orville , and the Dr. Dolittle films. Between 2013 and 2018, Macdonald hosted

5236-542: Was a participant in the Comedy Central Roast of Bob Saget , performing intentionally cheesy and G-rated material that contrasted greatly with the raunchy performances of the other roasters. In AT&T commercials around Christmas 2007 and 2008, Macdonald voiced a gingerbread boy in a commercial for AT&T's GoPhone . In 2009, Macdonald and Sam Simon pitched a fake reality show to FX called The Norm Macdonald Reality Show , where Macdonald would play

5313-521: Was cancelled after six episodes. In 2005, Macdonald signed a deal with Comedy Central to create the sketch comedy Back to Norm , which debuted that May. The pilot, whose cold opening parodied the suicide of R. Budd Dwyer , featured as a cast member Rob Schneider and never turned into a series. Later in 2005, Macdonald voiced a genie named Norm on the Nickelodeon cartoon series The Fairly OddParents . In 2006, Macdonald again performed as

5390-555: Was caught in a three-way fight for the English newspaper audience in Montreal with the tabloid Montreal Herald and the broadsheet Montreal Star . The Gazette was second in circulation to the Montreal Star , which sold more newspapers in the city and had a significant national reputation in the first half of the 20th century. The Montreal Herald closed in 1957, after publishing for 146 years. The Montreal Star , part of

5467-416: Was dismissed shortly thereafter. The situation re-ignited in early June 1998 when Ohlmeyer prevented NBC from airing advertisements from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for Macdonald's new film Dirty Work out of retaliation for what he saw as disparaging SNL and NBC with Letterman and Stern. Robert Wright , Ohlmeyer's boss, later overturned the decision not to show ads for the movie on NBC, but did leave in place

5544-401: Was hired as a writer and cast member on Saturday Night Live ( SNL ), spending a total of five seasons on the series, which included anchoring the show's Weekend Update segment for three and a half seasons. He was removed as host of SNL 's Weekend Update in 1998, allegedly for relentlessly mocking O. J. Simpson during his murder trial , offending producer Don Ohlmeyer , who

5621-638: Was later also briefly enrolled in Algonquin College 's programs for journalism and broadcasting-television, following his elder brother Neil Macdonald 's footsteps. In between periods of school and before starting in comedy, he worked a variety of manual labour jobs, including as a chokerman for a logging company. Macdonald's first performances in comedy were at stand-up clubs in Ottawa , regularly appearing on amateur nights at Yuk Yuk's in 1985. He did not appreciate how well his first performance at

5698-617: Was performed entirely in deadpan. The 1980 film Airplane! was performed almost entirely in deadpan; it helped relaunch the career of one of its supporting actors, Leslie Nielsen , who transformed into a prolific deadpan comic after the film. Actor and comedian Bill Murray is known for his deadpan delivery. Many popular American sitcoms use deadpan expressions to deliver dry humour, including Curb Your Enthusiasm , Arrested Development , and My Name Is Earl . More recent examples are Andre Braugher as Captain Raymond Holt from

5775-406: Was released by Comedy Central Records . It features appearances by Will Ferrell , Jon Lovitz , Tim Meadows , Molly Shannon , and Artie Lange . On the comedy website Super Deluxe , he created an animated series entitled The Fake News . Macdonald filled in during Dennis Miller 's weekly "Miller Time" segment on O'Reilly Factor , and guest-hosted Miller's radio show , on which he was briefly

5852-467: Was sold to businessman Thomas Andrew Turner who converted into an English-only paper in 1822. Under Turner, The Gazette identified with the interests of anglophone business leaders in their fight with the Patriote movement . On April 25, 1849, The Gazette published a special edition in which its editor-in-chief, James Moir Ferres , called the " Anglo-Saxon " residents to arms after Royal Assent of

5929-522: Was tired of me not taking marching orders. Lorne would hint at things... I'd do Michael Jackson jokes. And Lorne would say, 'do you really want a lawsuit from Michael Jackson?' And I'd say, 'Cool! That'd be fuckin' cool, Michael Jackson suing me!'" Elsewhere, Macdonald would concede, "In all fairness to him, my Update was not an audience[-]pleasing, warm kind of thing. I did jokes that I knew weren't going to get bigger reactions. So I saw [Ohlmeyer's] point. Why would you want some dude who's not trying to please

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