Norm Macdonald, Comedian and ‘Saturday Night Live’ Star, Dies From Cancer

Article

Norm Macdonald, known for his work on “Saturday Night Live,” has died from cancer that was kept private for nine years.

Norm Macdonald

Norm Macdonald. Photo by Michael S. Schwartz/WireImage/Getty Images.

Comedian Norm Macdonald died at age 61, after nine years with cancer that he kept private from the public.

Macdonald was known for his work on “Saturday Night Live,” as a comedian, actor and writer for five years, from 1993 to 1998. He is especially remembered for his time as an anchor on the “Weekend Update” segment, which he hosted for three seasons.

Before “Saturday Night Live,” he wrote for the sitcom “Roseanne.” After, he starred in the film “Dirty Work” and his own sitcom, “The Norm Show.” He was often known for his impressions of Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Larry King and Quentin Tarantino.

Tributes from the entertainment community who worked with Macdonald have begun to pour out on social media.

“My dear friend Norm Macdonald passed after a brave 10-year battle. He was one of our most precious gems. An honest and courageous comedy genius. I love him,” wrote comedian and actor Jim Carrey via Twitter.

“No one could make you break like Norm Macdonald. Hilarious and unique. F--- cancer,” tweeted comedian and former “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart.

“We loved Norm Macdonald. One of a kind,” wrote comedian and actor Steve Martin, also via Twitter.

For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.

Related Videos
For patients with cancer, the ongoing chemotherapy shortage may cause some anxiety as they wonder how they will receive their drugs. However, measuring drugs “down to the minutiae of the milligrams” helped patients receive the drugs they needed, said Alison Tray. Tray is an advanced oncology certified nurse practitioner and current vice president of ambulatory operations at Rutgers Cancer Institute in New Jersey. If patients are concerned about getting their cancer drugs, Tray noted that having “an open conversation” between patients and providers is key. “As a provider and a nurse myself, having that conversation, that reassurance and sharing the information is a two-way conversation,” she said. “So just knowing that we're taking care of you, we're going to make sure that you receive the care that you need is the key takeaway.” In June 2023, many patients were unable to receive certain chemotherapy drugs, such as carboplatin and cisplatin because of an ongoing shortage. By October 2023, experts saw an improvement, although the “ongoing crisis” remained. READ MORE: Patients With Lung Cancer Face Unmet Needs During Drug Shortages “We’re really proud of the work that we could do and achieve that through a critical drug shortage,” Tray said. “None of our patients missed a dose of chemotherapy and we were able to provide that for them.” Tray sat down with CURE® during the 49th Annual Oncology Nursing Society Annual Congress to discuss the ongoing chemo shortage and how patients and care teams approached these challenges. Transcript: Particularly at Hartford HealthCare, when we established this infrastructure, our goal was to make sure that every patient would get the treatment that they need and require, utilizing the data that we have from ASCO guidelines to ensure that we're getting the optimal high-quality standard of care in a timely fashion that we didn't have to delay therapies. So, we were able to do that by going down to the minutiae of the milligrams on hand, particularly when we had a lot of critical drug shortages. So it was really creating that process to really ensure that every patient would get the treatment that they needed. For more news on cancer updates, research and education, don’t forget to subscribe to CURE®’s newsletters here.
Yuliya P.L Linhares, MD, an expert on CLL
Yuliya P.L Linhares, MD, and Josie Montegaard, MSN, AGPCNP-BC, experts on CLL
Image of a man with a beard.
Image of a man with gray facial hair and a navy blue suit with a light orange tie.
Image of a woman with black hair.
Related Content
Image of red blood cells.

Early Transfusions, Treatments May Improve Outcomes in Low-Risk MDS

April 25th 2024
Article

Receiving early transfusions and treatment to reduce transfusion dependency significantly improves survival and quality of life in low-risk MDS.

Read More

cancer horizons logo: a white microphone on a navy blue background

Oncology Approvals, Psychological Outcomes for Survivors and an Ovarian Cancer Vaccine

March 11th 2024
Podcast

Last week we saw some FDA approvals come through, as well as research that explored the psychosocial outcomes of individuals who survived pediatric rhabdosarcoma.

Listen

Image of aspirin pills.

Aspirin Linked to Lower Metastasis in Esophageal, Colorectal Cancers

April 25th 2024
Article

Research has shown aspirin use to be associated with lower rates of metastasis for some patients.

Read More

cancer horizons podcast logo: a white microphone on a blue background

Cannabis Talks During Cancer, Cardiometabolic Comorbidities and Current Research

March 4th 2024
Podcast

In addition to a breakthrough therapy designation for a lung cancer drug, this week we’ll be talking a lot about additional side effects and health conditions that may come with a cancer diagnosis, and how to manage them.

Listen

Image of pills and a vial with a syringe on a paper that says "Multiple Myeloma."

Carvykti Provides Good Long-Term Quality of Life in Pretreated Myeloma

April 24th 2024
Article

Patients with heavily pretreated myeloma tended to have “really amazing results” with the CAR-T cell therapy, Carvykti.

Read More

Illustration of a woman with long light brown hair and light brown eyes.

Receiving Chemotherapy for Colon Cancer on My Birthday

April 24th 2024
Article

At first, I wanted to avoid receiving chemotherapy at all costs, but I realized taking it would be the beginning of staying cancer-free.

Read More