Conan says NBC tried to ban Norm Macdonald from his show

The world of comedy continues to to come to terms this week with the death by Norm Macdonald, died Tuesday at the age of 61. Beyond his good faith as an elder Saturday Night Live star (to say nothing of the cult status of projects like Dirty work), Macdonald had a reputation as a “comedian-comedian,” the kind of guy who could step onto the set of a talk show and casually make professional storytellers cry. and begging for requests to “Please don’t make me laugh at this.” As we noted in our roundup of the many Macdonald clips that have circulated online this week, he was one of the best “bad” talk show guests of all time, injecting irreverence and energy into a sometimes very routine formula. But he was almost banned from one of his most prolific venues for this impassive nonsense, according to that show’s host: Conan O’Brien.

It is by The daily beast, reporting on a podcast that O’Brien posted this week to discuss Macdonald’s influence on his career. While chatting with Andy Richter and longtime producer Frank Smiley, O’Brien spoke effusively about Macdonald, including his desire for the comedian to have seen all the praise from fans who have spilled over online since his death. “He’s taken so much flak in his career, he’s taken so much shit, ”O’Brien noted. “And yes, he knew he had fans, but I wish he could have read the stuff that is written about him. I would like him to know how much he is loved.

The most famous of this bullshit, of course, was Macdonald’s dismissal from Saturday Night Live, which has generally been attributed to his refusal to stop telling jokes about OJ Simpson, a personal friend of NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer. Per O’Brien, this aversion on Ohlmeyer’s part didn’t stop at the doors of Studio 8H either:, also.

“The word came, “You can’t book Norm Macdonald anymore”, “O’Brien revealed on the podcast. “And it came from above, from Don Ohlmeyer. O’Brien, then five years later Late at night which Ohlmeyer had helped to assemble and sign, replied: “I received this directive. You hired me to put on the best show possible and he’s my best guest. So I have to do my job, which is the best show I can do. Ohlmeyer reportedly said he was “disappointed” with the decision, but apparently gave in; Macdonald will appear more than two dozen times on O’Brien’s various NBC shows, creating some of the most memorable moments in these series’ history.