Norman Gene Macdonald was born on October 17, 1959. He is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, and actor by profession. His sense of humor and wit has managed to take him places and his hard work and determination have helped him in managing his stardom and fame.
During the beginning of his career, he worked as a writer for several popular television sitcoms like Roseanne. When his popularity Rose he was invited to make special appearances on shows like The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio.
For 5 years straight he worked for the very popular talk show ‘Saturday Night Live’ as its team member. He was also involved in anchoring. He hosted the weekend update segment of the show for three seasons. A few years later he left SNL and started working on a film. His movie ‘Dirty work’ was released in 1998, after which he worked on his sitcom which was named The Norm Show and it ran from 1999 to 2001.
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About Norm Macdonald:
Norman Gene Macdonald was born on October 17, 1959, in Quebec City, Canada. His father, Percy Lloyd Macdonald was a teacher by profession and had also served in the second World war with the Canadian army to free the Netherlands from the rule of Nazi Germany. His mother, Ferne Macdonald was also a teacher by profession.
He was brought up in the same city along with his older brother, Neil Macdonald, and his younger brother Leslie. As a young child, he was sent to Quebec High School and for his further studies, he went to the Gloucester High School in Ottawa.
Both his parents were teachers and therefore the environment at home was quite strict. His parents made sure that he performed well at academics, if not excellent. They also made sure he participated in extracurricular activities and did not keep himself limited to his study and books.
Norm had an excellent sense of humor since his childhood and used it to get through the hardest situations in life. His friends also liked him primarily for his sense of humor and friendly nature.
How Much Is Norm MacDonald’s Net Worth?
Norm Macdonald has a net worth of $2.5 million. His wealth is accounted for by the super hit shows he has done for television over the years and his stand-up specials.
Norm MacDonald Career:
Norm MacDonald started his stand-up comedy career during the early 1980s. He performed at several clubs around him and in his city of Ottawa. Some of his performances were at Yuk Yuk’s on their amateur nights. In 1986 McDonald was performing at the Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, where the Montreal Gazette titled him as “One of this country’s hottest comics.”
In the nineties, he became a contestant on Star Search and started performing for them. Soon he was hired as a writer on a popular television sitcom named ‘Roseanne’ which he quit as soon as he was offered the show Saturday Night Live. In 1993, McDonald joined the show Saturday Night Live and started performing for them. He managed to do a very resembling imitation of several artists like Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, Charles Kuralt, and Bob Dole, etc.
During his performances, McDonald did not pertain from not just making fun of but also passing some nasty comments on celebrities like Marion Barry, Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson, and O.J. Simpson. He remained in the news for a long time during the murder trial of O J Simpson.
After Michael Jackson divorced his wife Lisa Marie Presley, MacDonald had said during one of his performances, that Lisa was more of a stay-at-home person while Michael Jackson was a homosexual pedophile. To support his comment, he later pulled out a report on Michael Jackson’s hospitalization which had said that his room was decorated with pictures of Shirley temple.
Norm MacDonald Awards:
In 2017, Norm MacDonald was awarded with the ‘Canadian Screen Award for Best Host in a Program or Series. In 1993, he was nominated for CableACE Awards. In 1997, he was nominated for the OFTA Television Award. In 2005, he won The Stinkers Bad Movie Awards.
Norm MacDonald’s Personal Life, Is Norm MacDonald Married?
While riding on to the success of his career Macdonald had come across Connie Vaillancourt, whom he really liked. He happened to fall for her and the couple got married in 1988. They were blessed with a son named Dylan in 1993. However, just six years after the birth of their son, they decided to separate. Finally, in April 1999 they called it a split.
MacDonald tried gambling for fun but if one of his interviews were to be believed, he had shared that in one of the games he played at Atlantic City, he won a six-figure amount, after which he experienced a strong addiction to gambling and it became very hard for him to get rid of it.
He participated in the Marc Maron podcast in 2011 and talked about his addiction to gambling. He surprised everyone by sharing that not once but three times he lost all his money to gambling and couldn’t recover from it. His interviews even shared that he had once lost a sum of $400,000 in a gambling match. He participated in the world series of poker in 2007 and scored 20th place out of 827 participants by winning $14,608.
Norm MacDonald Movies and Television:
Norm MacDonald is known for his comedy. He has been a part of several super hit comedy shows. In 2006, he did a sketch album called Ridiculous. In 2011, he did a stand-up special which was called Me Doing Standup. In 2017, he did another stand-up special named Hitler’s Dog, Gossip & Trickery.
MacDonald has also worked on television for a long time. He has been a part of several popular sitcoms and comedy shows like ‘The Norm Show’ which ran from 1999 to 2001 and had 3 seasons, and 54 episodes. In 2003, he did a show called ‘A Minute with Stan Hooper’ which had 1 season, and 7 episodes.
MacDonald is also an author and in 2016 he launched a book called ‘Based on a True Story: Not a Memoir’ which was non-fiction.
Talk shows have been like a photo for McDonald. In 2011, he did a show named ‘Sports Show with Norm Macdonald’, along with Mike Gibbons, Lori Jo Hoekstra, and Daniel Kellison. It had 9 episodes. From 2013 to 2017, he did a show named Norm Macdonald Live with 3 seasons. In 2018, he did ‘Norm Macdonald Has a Show’ with 10 episodes, and in 2020, he did ‘Quarantined’ with 5 episodes.
Some Norm Macdonald Quotes:
Norm MacDonald has been a straightforward man who used his wit to wrap his comments with and yet presented his opinions in their purest forms. Talking about politics, he once said, “I don’t really like politics that much. And I like the order and simplicity of sports. They have an ending. You can argue with your friends about it, but in the end, you still like sports. I almost love the fantasy world of sports more than the real world.”
He also does not refrain from commenting on the work politics prevailing in the industry and does not fear expressing his disappointment on it. He asserted, “I don’t have any ego about it, but I find there’s not a great work ethic in show business. A lot of people are in it to make money, and coming from stand-up, you have to work so hard because almost nothing works, and if you lose the audience for three minutes, you’re dead.”
He is a man with a liking for simplicity. Complexities do challenge him but he does agree that they take the peace away. Talking about his liking for sports and a reason for it, he shared, “I like the order and simplicity of sports. They have an ending. You can argue with your friends about it, but in the end, you still like sports. I almost love the fantasy world of sports more than the real world.”
There is a significant influence on MacDonald of sports. It is evident from his statement, “You can’t love your team without hating another team.”
Conclusion:
Norm MacDonald was born on October 17, 1959, in Quebec City, Canada. Both his parents were teachers and brought him up in Quebec along with his older brother and younger brother. At the start of his career, Norm performed at several clubs in the city and later was approached by a popular sitcom ‘Roseanne’ to write for them.
A few years later, when he got an offer from SNL, he left the show and grabbed the opportunity. Later in life, he went on to do several hit comedy shows and stand-up specials all by himself. McDonald is one of the most successful comedians of the world with a fan base expanding over different continents.