Norm Macdonald Net Worth: How Rich Is Stand-Up Comedian And Actor Norm?

Norm Macdonald Net Worth

Actor, writer, and stand-up comedian Norm Macdonald was born in Canada. He also worked in the entertainment industry. Norm Macdonald’s net worth was estimated to be $2.5 million at the time of his passing away. After a lonely struggle with cancer, Norm lost his fight with the disease and passed away on September 14, 2021 at the age of 61.

Norm became arguably most well-known for his time spent on “Saturday Night Live,” where he served as a cast member on a weekly basis and as the host of the Weekend Update segment.

Many people believe that Norm Macdonald was one of the best stand-up comedians in the history of the comedy genre. Norm was noted for his deadpan humorous approach, which, over the course of his career, gradually evolved into a more minimalistic form.

Norm Macdonald Early Life

The 17th of October, 1959 found Norman Gene Macdonald being born in the Canadian city of Quebec City. Norm went to secondary institutions in both Quebec and Ottawa while growing up with his two brothers and his parents, who both worked as educators. After he graduated from journalism school, his brother Neil went to work for CBC News. During World War II, Norm’s father, Percy, was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and contributed to the Allied effort to liberate the Netherlands.

Norm Macdonald Career

In the beginning of his career, Macdonald started out in Ottawa by doing stand-up comedy at Yuk Yuks. By the middle of the 1980s, Norm had established himself as one of the most promising young comics in Canada. In 1990, he was a competitor on the show “Star Search,” which aired on television. Around the beginning of the 1990s, he landed a position as a writer for the television sitcom “Roseanne.”

When he was offered a spot on “Saturday Night Live” in 1993, it marked the beginning of Macdonald’s meteoric rise to fame. He stopped writing for “Roseanne” and started doing impressions of celebrities on “Saturday Night Live,” including Larry King, David Letterman, Quentin Tarantino, and a great many more. It was during Norm’s second season on the show that he rose to prominence as the host of the “Weekend Update” segment of “Saturday Night Live.”

The performances that Norm gave on “Weekend Update” were very well received, but they also generated a lot of controversy. He frequently made jokes about controversial topics and disparaged high-profile personalities, such as Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, and Marion Barry.

His quips were offensive. During the infamous murder trial of O.J. Simpson, Macdonald repeatedly suggested that Simpson was guilty of the crime, which resulted in Macdonald giving Simpson a large amount of lashing. In addition to this, he criticised Michael Jackson’s sexuality as well as the allegations of pedophilic behaviour.

Norm quit “Saturday Night Live” in 1998 after five years on the show. NBC president Don Ohlmeyer claimed that Norm Macdonald was fired because of his jokes about O.J. Simpson (who was a close friend of Ohlmeyer’s). However, Norm countered that he was fired because of his low ratings. That individual who wrote those jokes was dismissed from “SNL” at the same time, and Ohlmeyer had hosted a party for the jurors who found O.J. not guilty.

There is no such thing as bad press, but the rupture between Ohlmeyer and Macdonald hindered his ability to promote his new film, “Dirty Work.” But, on his network, Ohlmeyer refused to show any commercials promoting the film! In the end, the ruling was overturned, but the film advertisements were never displayed on “SNL.” Not because of the O.J. jokes, but because of his propensity of defying Ohlmeyer’s directives on “SNL,” which led to his dismissal from the show.

In 1998, “Dirty Work” came out. Macdonald co-wrote and co-starred in the picture. Negative reviews from reviewers and poor ticket sales meant that the picture didn’t even make a profit. In Eddie Murphy’s “Dr. Dolittle,” he played Lucky the Dog, a role he also voiced. In both sequels, he resumed this voice acting role.

For his first show in 1999, the name was changed to “Norm,” and the show was called after him. ABC aired three seasons of the show. As a follow-up to that role, he appeared in “Man on the Moon.” In the comedy “Screwed,” he co-starred with Dave Chappelle. His next appearance came when he appeared on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and took home $500,000. “The Fairly OddParents” cast him as a voice actor in 2005.

Towards the mid-2000s, Macdonald started filling in for Dennis Miller for the “Miller Time” segment on the “O’Reilly Factor.” “Match Game,” “Celebrity Jeopardy,” “Million Dollar Password” were among the other series he appeared on in this time period. The Norm Macdonald Reality Show on FX premiered in 2009, with him playing a fictionalised version of himself. He started a podcast called “Norm Macdonald Live” in 2013. On “Last Comic Standing” in 2015, he served as a judge. Norm Macdonald Has a Show, his new talk show, premiered on Netflix in 2018.

Norm Macdonald Brand Endorsement

As a voice actor for advertisements produced by Bell Mobility, a Canadian telecommunications corporation, in 2006, Norm Macdonald was employed by the company.

During the years 2007 and 2008, Norm worked as a voice actor for a series of advertisements that were produced by AT&T. In the year 2012, he was hired on as a spokesperson for the Safe Auto Insurance Company. In 2015, he appeared in a number of advertisements for KFC as the character Colonel Sanders.

Norm Macdonald Relationship

Connie Macdonald and Norm Macdonald tied the knot in the year 1990. In 1993, the couple welcomed a kid into the world, and by 1999, they had finalised the dissolution of their marriage.

Norm Macdonald Gambling Addiction

Norm used to have a terrible gambling problem, and it’s been made into a sort of folklore. Norm’s use on drugs and alcohol reached a boiling point while he was working on “Saturday Night Live,” as he would later recall in interviews.

According to reports, he would travel to Atlantic City right after taping his “Weekend Update” piece each night and gambling until the wee hours of the morning. When he moved into a building with a casino in the lobby, things got even worse.

Norm said that despite earning millions on “Saturday Night Live,” he was only able to save about $200,000 of his paycheck. He also claimed that he became addicted to gambling after winning a six-figure sum at an Atlantic City craps table. Once he had the “rush” of a victory, he was hooked and kept coming back for more.

During three consecutive gaming sessions, it appears that Macdonald lost nearly all of his money in the world. He once lost $400, 000 in a single session. All things considered, Norm was a competent poker player, finishing in 20th place out of 827 players in the 2007 World Series of Poker in the No-Limit Texas Hold ’em event.

Norm Macdonald Property

Norm Macdonald placed the condo he owned in Santa Monica, which was located on the market for sale in 2015 with an asking price of $2.2 million. The apartment has a living space that is around 1,630 square feet and views of the ocean.

In addition, the famous Santa Monica beach is only two blocks away from the property, making this an extremely convenient location. Back in 2008, he paid 1.75 million dollars for the property when he made the initial purchase. In the vicinity of 2015, there were rumours that Macdonald had acquired an additional property in Playa Vista for the price of $750,000.