Comedian Norm MacDonald dies

Comedian Norm MacDonald, a former screenwriter and actor on “Saturday Night Live” who hosted the “Weekend Update” program in the 1990s, has died. He was 61 years old.

MacDonald died Tuesday after spending nine years fighting privately with cancer, according to Brillstein Entertainment Partners, his Los Angeles representation firm.

The son of schoolteachers raised in the Canadian city of Quebec, he was a standup comedian and worked briefly as the screenwriter of the “Roseanne” series when he was chosen to join the cast of “Saturday Night Live.” in 1993.

After leaving the show in 1998, he created and starred in the comedy “The Norm Show” for ABC, in which he played a former NHL player expelled from the league for tax evasion and gambling. and obliged to provide community service as a social worker.

He became famous for his esoteric imitations of personalities that included Burt Reynolds, in the “SNL” segment “Celebrity Jeopardy” with Will Ferrell as Alex Trebek. He also imitated Bob Dole, Larry King and David Letterman.

MacDonald led the “Weekend Update” program at a time of great influx for news-based jokes. Bill Clinton, Michael Jackson and OJ Simpson were some of his frequent targets.