Norm MacDonald, Canadian comedian has passed away at the age of 61.
According to his family and representatives, the comedian died after a a nine-year private battle with cancer.
Lori Jo Hoekstra, a longtime producing partner of Norm MacDonald in a statement, described the late comedian as a pure comic.
He said “He was most proud of his comedy. He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him. Norm was a pure comic. He once wrote that ‘a joke should catch someone by surprise, it should never pander.’ He certainly never pandered. Norm will be missed terribly.”
Born in 1959, The Canadian comic started his career as a comedian in Canadian clubs before moving to the US to pursue TV comedy writing.
He worked for the Roseanne programme before joining Saturday Night Live to host the news parody skit Weekend Update. Known for his dry delivery, MacDonald had fans in the US and worldwide.
MacDonald became popular for his roles in comedy films such as Dirty Work, Billy Madison and Dr Doolittle.
Also, MacDonald was popular for his deadpan delivery style, and impressions of Hollywood stars such as Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood and Quentin Tarantino.
After leaving Saturday Night Live, he starred in his own comedy series, Norm, from 1999-2001. He also hosted a Netflix programme called Norm Macdonald Has a Show in 2018.