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 with their love of
Baywatch star
David Hasselhoff. He also commonly and inexplicably used
Frank Stallone as a
non sequitur punchline. Macdonald would repeatedly noodle
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. 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.
After the announcement that Michael Jackson and
Lisa Marie Presley planned to divorce, Macdonald joked about their irreconcilable differences on
Weekend Update: "She's more of a stay-at-home type, and he's more of a homosexual pedophile." He followed this up a few episodes later with a report about the singer's recent collapse and
hospitalization. Referring to a report of how Jackson had decorated his hospital room with giant
photographs of
Shirley Temple, Macdonald remarked that viewers should not get the wrong idea, adding, "We'd like to remind you that Michael Jackson is, in fact, a
homosexual pedophile." The joke elicited audible gasps from some audience members. He responded to this by saying, "What? He is a homosexual pedophile."
Macdonald made another controversial joke during the
February 24 1996, show when he commented on the sentencing of
John Lotter, who was convicted of brutally slaying
transgender male
Brandon Teena: "In Nebraska, a man was sentenced for killing a female crossdresser [sic] who had accused him of rape and two of her friends. Excuse me if this sounds harsh, but in my mind, they all deserved to die."
Another uncomfortable moment occurred during the
April 12 1997 show when, during a
Weekend Update story about
Tabitha Soren, he caught a frog in his throat in the middle of a sentence and, live on the air, muttered, "What the fuck was that?" The audience applauded, and Macdonald laughed the error away. At one point, he called it his "farewell performance" and, in closing, said, "Maybe I'll see you next week." NBC only received three complaints about the gaffe, and Macdonald was not punished.
A
Rolling Stone magazine article about the show at the time suggested Macdonald had trouble getting along with some fellow cast members, whom he taunted frequently. In the article,
Chris Kattan said, "If Norm says I'm gay then put in that I say he's an asshole."
Macdonald's time with
Saturday Night Live effectively ended in late 1997 when he was fired from the
Weekend Update segment upon the insistence of NBC West Coast Executive
Don Ohlmeyer, who pressured the producers to remove him, explaining that Macdonald was "not funny." Some believe that Don Ohlmeyer's friendship with O.J. Simpson — a celebrity whom Macdonald often antagonized on the show — may have fueled Ohlmeyer's decision. Ohlmeyer denied the rumor, arguing that other NBC late-night comedians (
e.g.,
Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and other
SNL players) also constantly lampooned Simpson with little to no sanction, and that his decision was based solely on audience reaction through tapes he had personally reviewed.
Despite the incident, Macdonald left the show the following year under decent terms with Ohlmeyer , who originally pushed for producer
Lorne Michaels to give Macdonald a shot at the
Weekend Update desk in 1994. On
February 28 1998, one of his last appearances on
SNL occurred as host of a fictitious TV show called
Who's More Grizzled?, who asked questions of "
mountain men" played by that night's host
Garth Brooks and special guest
Robert Duvall. In the sketch, Brooks' character said to Macdonald's character, "I don't much care for you," to which Macdonald replied, "A lot of people don't."
After Macdonald left
SNL, his successor,
Colin Quinn, gave a short prologue in his first day anchoring
Weekend Update, during which Quinn mentioned that Macdonald had shown him "the ropes" of the segment. Quinn then asked the audience if they ever went to their favorite pub seeking their favorite bartender -- and found him to be replaced by a less qualified man named "Steve". After a brief pause, Quinn deadpanned, "Well I'm Steve." Castmember
Will Ferrell then appeared as Chicago Cubs announcer
Harry Caray, who repeatedly referred to Quinn as "Norm", adding, "Norm, have you gained some weight?"
In a
Late Show with David Letterman interview, Macdonald said that after being fired, he could not "do anything else on any competing show."
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