Norm Macdonald, popular comedian and former member of the
cast of “Saturday Night Live”  has died at the age of 61 on Tuesday after a
private battle with cancer, US media reported quoting his manager Marc Gurvitz.

“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,” Macdonald’s friend and producing partner Lori Jo Hoekstra was quoted
by Deadline as saying.  

Hoekstra added
that she was with Macdonald at the time of his death. She also confirmed that Macdonald
was battling cancer for the last nine years but chose to keep it private.

Macdonald was a member of the cast of SNL from 1993-98 and
is best remembered for that role. He was also the anchor of the show’s popular
“Weekend Update” segment for three seasons.

Born on October 17, 1959, in Quebec City in Canada, Macdonald
worked as a writer on ABC’s “Roseanne” from 1992-93 before taking up
the job at “Saturday Night Live.”

“He is eccentric, but he has always had his own voice, and I respect that. He likes the part of the curmudgeon, but he is truly funny,” “Saturday Night Live” producer Lorne Michaels had said about Mcdonald in 2018, USA Today reported.

Soon after leaving SNL, he featured in the 1998 film Dirty Work and later in The Norm Show, from 1999 to 2001.

2013 saw Macdonald launch a video podcast, Norm Macdonald Live, in which celebrities and comedians would make an entry to be interviewed by him. In 2018, a Netflix talk show called “Norm Macdonald Has a Show” was released on a similar premise to his podcast.

Macdonald made appearances in various movies throughout his career. He also played the guest on talk shows such as Conan, Late Night with David Letterman, and The Howard Stern Show.