Norm Macdonald, stand-up comic, actor, and one of the most influential and well-remembered anchors on Saturday Night Live‘s “Weekend Update” news desk has died. He was 61.
Macdonald’s management team, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, confirmed Macdonald’s death to ABC News. Macdonald reportedly had been privately battling cancer for nearly 10 years and kept it hidden from fans, friends, and even family.
“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,” said Macdonald’s producing partner and friend, Lori Jo Hoekstra, who was with the comedian when he passed away, in a statement. “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.”
-ABC News
