Conan O’Brien says NBC tried to ban Norm Macdonald from his late night show

Firing from “Weekend Update” wasn’t the only consequence of Norm Macdonald’s relentless fixation on making jokes about OJ Simpson, longtime friend of late comedian Conan O’Brien said in an episode special from his podcast this week.

O’Brien, in conversation with Andy Richter and “Late Night” and “Conan” producer Frank Smiley, said NBC previously tried to bar Macdonald from appearing on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” . The host said the directive came from former NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer, whose friendship with Simpson was believed to have been the reason for Macdonald’s earlier withdrawal as a “Weekend Update” presenter.

“The word has fallen. “You can’t book Norm Macdonald,” O’Brien said. “It came from above, from Don Ohlmeyer.”

(Ohlmeyer, who died in 2017, denied having anything to do with Macdonald’s “SNL” fate at the time.)

“I wrote a letter to Don that said, you know, I got this directive. You hired me to do the best show I could do, and he’s my best guest, “recalls O’Brien, citing a sense of” loyalty “to Ohlmeyer, who hired him to host” Late Night. ” For the network. “I have to do my job which is the best show I can do,” he said in the letter.

O’Brien received the letter in return with a response from Ohlmeyer written in the margin, saying something akin to “I expected better from you.”

“It was basically that I was being told… I’m really disappointed with your lack of loyalty or something,” O’Brien said. “And I felt at the time that it wasn’t a lack of loyalty. It’s loyalty. I’ve always wanted more of Norm.

Macdonald died earlier this week after a private battle with cancer. O’Brien, who said he was not aware of Macdonald’s illness until the news of his death was announced, hosted the last-minute episode of his podcast, “Conan O’Brien Needs a friend ”, to pay tribute to the actor.

“We’re unfortunately used to wasting funny, talented people all the time,” O’Brien said in the episode. “I think Norm’s impact will only grow. And I think his prominence in comedy will only grow over time. Because he was such an amazing talent and trying to describe what makes Norm different is so difficult. … He was an original, and there was no one like Norm.