{"id":30714,"date":"2022-05-31T16:45:46","date_gmt":"2022-05-31T16:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/norm-macdonalds-final-netflix-special-recorded-during-cancer-battle\/"},"modified":"2022-05-31T16:45:46","modified_gmt":"2022-05-31T16:45:46","slug":"norm-macdonalds-final-netflix-special-recorded-during-cancer-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/norm-macdonalds-final-netflix-special-recorded-during-cancer-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Norm Macdonald&#8217;s final Netflix special recorded during cancer battle"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el\" aria-label=\"Video - 'Saturday Night Live' star and comedian Norm Macdonald dies of cancer at 61\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Norm Macdonald&#8217;s final comedy special makes it clear that he contemplated his mortality as he secretly battled cancer for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The late standup recorded Netflix&#8217;s low-key &#8220;Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special&#8221; (now streaming), at his home in front of his computer in the summer of 2020. He wears a navy plaid blazer, baseball cap and headphones that he likes because they cover his white hair that he no longer wants to color.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cI don&#8217;t want anybody painting my hair black on account I don&#8217;t want to die and then be surprised,&#8221; when God says, &#8220;&#8216;Well, I made your hair white.  What do you think that was all about?  I was telling ya to get your affairs in order for God&#8217;s sake. &#8216;&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Nothing Special&#8221; offers about 50 minutes of the late comedian&#8217;s last jokes, followed by about 30 minutes of David Letterman, Molly Shannon, Dave Chappelle, Conan O&#8217;Brien, Adam Sandler and David Spade telling stories about their friend.  The Quebec City-native, known best for his time as an &#8220;SNL&#8221; cast member (1993-98), died in September 2021 at 61. His producing partner, Lori Jo Hoekstra told Deadline that her friend kept his nine-year cancer fight to himself because, &#8220;He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">Norm Macdonald, <\/strong>&#8216;SNL&#8217; veteran and comedian, dies of cancer at 61<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">&#8216;He left this gift&#8217;:<\/strong>Netflix to release posthumous Norm Macdonald comedy special<\/p>\n<figure class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_img\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Hoekstra is an executive producer for &#8220;Nothing Special.&#8221;  She says in a statement this stripped-down show recorded in Macdonald&#8217;s living room &#8220;was not originally meant to be the final product,&#8221; but &#8220;COVID restrictions prevented him from filming in front of an audience.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Nothing Special&#8221; opens with this message: &#8220;In the summer of 2020, he was scheduled to undergo a procedure and as he put it, &#8216;didn&#8217;t want to leave anything on the table in case things went south.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;At home, the night before going in, he shot this &#8211; in one take.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The special is filled with home-made charm.  It&#8217;s interrupted by a dog barking in the background, and Macdonald&#8217;s ringing phone, which he answers.  \u201cI gotta phone you back on account I&#8217;m doing a special on the TV, comedy special,\u201d he tells the caller.<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Though there is no audience (and therefore no laughter), one can feel pretty confident a joke about roulette would elicit hollers: \u201cI put $ 100 dollars on black, and the little silver ball spun around the wheel and everything,&#8221; says Macdonald. &#8221; And then, it landed on red.  And this is what I said, &#8216;(Expletive) I almost picked that!&#8217; \u201dOr when he cracks that his father di lui was progressive because they had a&#8221; gender neutral bathroom. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">Norm Macdonald&#8217;s best lines <\/strong>from &#8216;SNL&#8217; as Burt Reynolds and anchor on &#8216;Weekend Update&#8217;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">&#8216;A bittersweet night&#8217;:<\/strong>&#8216;SNL&#8217; pays tribute to former cast member Norm Macdonald<\/p>\n<figure class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_img\"><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:441px\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/28\/USAT\/f13171b2-2d5a-4912-b389-06937fe1728e-NMCS_Unit_01288R.jpg?ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/28\/USAT\/f13171b2-2d5a-4912-b389-06937fe1728e-NMCS_Unit_01288R.jpg?width=1320&amp;height=882&amp;fit=crop&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"In &quot;Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special,&quot; the comedian tells jokes in front of his computer due to COVID-19 restrictions, a contrast to previous performances.\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">The set is not perfect.  It needed finessing.  Macdonald loses his train of thought at times (whether that&#8217;s part of his routine di lui is hard to say).  There are bits that might make some viewers cringe, like Macdonald&#8217;s use of the R-word before launching into an uncomfortable bit about people with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">In light of Macdonald&#8217;s death, some of his other remarks seem eerie.  He encourages the audience to having a living will and warns viewers, \u201cYou&#8217;ve got to be ready for anything life throws at you, in this here world.  That&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve learned, as I&#8217;ve aged. &#8221;  He says of making the most of your life: \u201cYou only got so much time.  You&#8217;ve got to choose. &#8220;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_anc\" id=\"gnt_atomsnc\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-method=\"loadAnc\" aria-label=\"Newsletter signup form\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Macdonald talks about religion, revealing, &#8220;one of my biggest fears is that I picked the wrong religion (Christianity). That I believe, but then I die, and I go, &#8216;Ah! It&#8217;s you! I thought it was the other fella . &#8216;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">&#8216;We lost a comedy giant&#8217;:<\/strong>Conan O&#8217;Brien, Bob Saget, Adam Sandler mourn Norm Macdonald<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">Can America take a joke? <\/strong>Yes. Dave Chappelle, Chris Rock incidents are part of a continuum, experts say<\/p>\n<figure class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_img\"><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:441px\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/28\/USAT\/b7e5f579-0ad9-4039-af60-07c0dd7e2ae0-NMTBB_2666R2.jpg?ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/28\/USAT\/b7e5f579-0ad9-4039-af60-07c0dd7e2ae0-NMTBB_2666R2.jpg?width=1320&amp;height=882&amp;fit=crop&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"After Norm Macdonald's routine in &quot;Nothing Special,&quot; David Letterman, Molly Shannon, Dave Chappelle, Conan O'Brien, Adam Sandler and David Spade share stories about their friend.\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cThis guy was, in a weird way, reconciling his mortality hilariously in front of us,\u201d Chappelle says, after viewing the special.  Letterman agreed.  \u201cHis circumstance di lui, he nudged into it several times, but didn&#8217;t linger.  And to us, from this perspective, powerfully meaningful. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Macdonald&#8217;s fellow comics say they had no idea about his terminal illness.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cNever let ya know anything,&#8221; Sandler tells the group, but noted Macdonald &#8220;did get emotional&#8221; on a tour they did together. &#8220;He would just all of a sudden get really teary-eyed and stuff, and he&#8217;d be like this is wonderful, just the tour itself.  And hanging out, and we have dinners and breakfasts and (expletive).  He&#8217;d just be so much fun to see.  He had so much energy to hang. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">O&#8217;Brien worried he&#8217;d offended Macdonald because the comic had declined offers to appear on O&#8217;Brien&#8217;s late night program.  &#8220;When he went, everybody in the (comedy) community was, we all thought we were the only one that didn&#8217;t know and we were so upset that we didn&#8217;t get a chance to tell him what he meant to us,&#8221; O&#8217;Brien says. &#8220;I very quickly realized he would not have tolerated that.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">Will Smith&#8217;s David Letterman interview <\/strong>is more than just cringe-y moments following The Slap<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">&#8216;What he said was triggering&#8217;:<\/strong>Dave Chappelle&#8217;s alleged attacker speaks out on incident<\/p>\n<figure class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_img\"><img class=\"gnt_em_img_i\" style=\"height:439px\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/28\/USAT\/6a161611-c87b-4ba5-8551-2976b9359826-XXX_NUP_167415_0141.JPG?ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/28\/USAT\/6a161611-c87b-4ba5-8551-2976b9359826-XXX_NUP_167415_0141.JPG?width=1320&amp;height=878&amp;fit=crop&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Former &quot;SNL&quot; cast members Kevin Nealon, far left, Norm Macdonald, Seth Meyers and Colin Quinn gather on February 15, 2015 for the sketch show's 40th anniversary.\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/figure>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Shannon remembers Macdonald &#8220;really wanting to understand God&#8221; in his later years and making the most of his time with her when they saw each other for the 40th anniversary of &#8220;SNL&#8221; in 2015. <\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">\u201cAs soon as he saw me he was like, &#8216;I love you, Molly,'&#8221; the &#8220;Superstar&#8221; actress recalls. &#8220;He blurted it out, right away.  I could feel that he had this urgency to say exactly what was on his mind di lui in the moment because maybe he&#8217;ll never have that moment again.  I was like, &#8216;Oh, something&#8217;s different with Norm.&#8217; &#8220;<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Chappelle describes Macdonald as &#8220;uncharacteristically emotional when we parted company&#8221; the last time they saw each other at The Comedy Store.  A picture from that night concludes Chappelle&#8217;s &#8220;The Closer&#8221; special, dedicated to Macdonald.  Chappelle says Macdonald picked his head up for the photo.  &#8220;And I realized he was posing for the picture, in hindsight, like a gift. It was a very fitting goodbye.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><strong class=\"gnt_ar_b_al\">&#8216;It changed our lives forever&#8217;:<\/strong>Molly Shannon opens new memoir with accident that killed mother, sister<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"gnt_em_gl_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/09\/14\/USAT\/1154b369-40bf-4e18-b69f-f3916496e80b-001_XXX__086.JPG.JPG?resize=660%2C372&#038;ssl=1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2021\/09\/14\/USAT\/1154b369-40bf-4e18-b69f-f3916496e80b-001_XXX__086.JPG.JPG?crop=7359,4140,x0,y0&amp;width=1320&amp;height=744&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Norm Macdonald&#8217;s final comedy special makes it clear that he contemplated his mortality as he secretly battled cancer for nearly a decade. The late standup recorded Netflix&#8217;s low-key &#8220;Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special&#8221; (now streaming), at his home in front of his computer in the summer of 2020. He wears a navy plaid blazer, baseball cap &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/norm-macdonalds-final-netflix-special-recorded-during-cancer-battle\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Norm Macdonald&#8217;s final Netflix special recorded during cancer battle<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30715,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/28\/USAT\/723b7e50-6a3c-49a3-89cc-d8c5a4fda2ba-NormMacdonaldRbeach.jpg?ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/28\/USAT\/723b7e50-6a3c-49a3-89cc-d8c5a4fda2ba-NormMacdonaldRbeach.jpg?width=660&height=372&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30714"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}