IN FORTUITOUS 2011 COMEDY ROUTINE, NORM MACDONALD SAID IT'S WRONG TO SAY A PERSON LOST THEIR BATTLE WITH CANCER

Sep 15, 2021

By Jane Brown

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Canadian comedian Norm Macdonald joked during a 2011 comedy special that it would be wrong to say a person “lost” their battle with cancer if they died.

He reasoned that while he wasn’t a doctor, he was “pretty sure that if you die, the cancer also dies at exactly the same time.”

Macdonald added, “That, to me, is not a loss. That’s a draw.”

Quebec-raised Macdonald has died at age 61.

He had been living with cancer for nine years, but kept it private.

He’s best known for his work on Saturday Night Live, where he was a writer, sketch player, and anchor for the Weekend Update segment.

Many of his fellow comedians are praising Macdonald’s ability to make them, and their audiences, laugh.

Sarah Silverman tweets Macdonald “was in a comedy genre of his own,” and urged those unfamiliar with his work to “do yourself a favour and watch his stuff.”

Fellow Canadian, Saturday Night Live executive producer Lorne Michaels calls Macdonald “one of the most impactful comedic voices of his or any other generation.”

Though most people figured his career nosedived after being fired from S-N-L, Macdonald once said he saw himself as “just a stand-up” comedian who also did S-N-L, instead of the other way around.

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