Seth Meyers Remembers Norm Macdonald: ‘He Was the Gold Standard’

Seth Meyers gave a candid remembrance of the late Norm Macdonald on Tuesday’s Late Night, explaining that Macdonald wouldn’t have wanted to hear “anything sentimental” said about him in the wake of his death. Instead, Meyers shared his favorite and funniest memories of the comic, including the first time he met Macdonald in 2001 backstage at Saturday Night Live. When the comic, who had recently become a father, was asked how parenthood was treating him, Macdonald replied, “It’s going great. Still no abductions.” Meyers also shared his favorite “Weekend Update” joke of all time, calling it “a perfect Norm joke.” “‘The richest girl in the world, billionaire Athina Onassis, celebrated her 10th birthday this week. What’s it like to be the richest girl in the world? Well, to give you some idea, at the party, they had two cakes.’”

Meyers shared that Macdonald’s influence on him could not be overstated, particularly in his performance as a “Weekend Update” anchor. “I said to him, one of the hardest parts of doing ‘Update’ for me, was not telling every joke the way I thought Norm would tell it,” Meyers admitted. “I had to beat Norm’s delivery out of me.” The Late Night host finished his tribute to Macdonald by dubbing him “the gold standard,” and urging viewers to “watch him tell the moth story on Conan, go watch any number of Norm Macdonald things tonight, because they are really, truly timeless.” Macdonald died at the age of 61 on Tuesday after a nine-year battle with cancer.