Norm MacDonald

Norman Gene "Norm" Macdonald (born October 17, 1963) is a Canadian stand-up comedian, writer, producer and actor. He is best known for his five seasons as a cast member on Saturday Night Live, which included anchoring Weekend Update for three years. Early in his career, he wrote for the sitcom Roseanne and made appearances on shows including The Drew Carey Show and NewsRadio. He also starred in The Norm Show from 1999 to 2001. Comedy Central named him #83 on the five-part miniseries 100 Greatest Stand-ups of All Time. He is noted as one of Conan O'Brien's favorite and most frequent guests on his various talk shows. His brother is Canadian journalist Neil Macdonald, of CBC News' Washington, D.C. bureau. On February 26, 2011, Macdonald became the new host of High Stakes Poker on Game Show Network. He also hosted Sports Show with Norm Macdonald on Comedy Central, which began airing on April 12, 2011. It was announced on June 7, 2011, that the Sports Show would not be renewed for a second season, reportedly due to low ratings, even though Sports Show steadily averaged one-million viewers per episode. --- Macdonald was raised in Ottawa, Ontario. His father was a Scottish-Canadian who served with the Canadian Army during World War II and helped liberate the Netherlands. Macdonald has two brothers, Leslie and Neil, who are both journalists with the CBC. Macdonald began performing stand-up at clubs in Ottawa. His first big break was at the 1987 Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal. Macdonald joined the cast of NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL) television program in 1993, where he performed impressions of Larry King, Burt Reynolds, David Letterman, Charles Kuralt and Bob Dole, among others. Following Kevin Nealon's departure from SNL, Macdonald anchored the segment Weekend Update. Chevy Chase, the first anchor of Weekend Update, has opined that Macdonald was the "best Weekend Update anchor since – well – Chevy Chase".