CONAN O’Brien claimed the NBC network had allegedly tried to ban Norm Macdonald from his late-night show as the TV star remembered the late comedian.
Conan, 58, paid tribute to Norm, who recently passed away from his nine-year private battle with cancer, on his podcast.
During the installment, the late-night comic mentioned Norm’s alleged refusal to stop making jokes about the O.J. Simpson trial supposedly “cost him his job.”
Conan claimed: “The word came down. You can’t book Norm Macdonald anymore. And it came from the top, from Don Ohlmeyer.”
Andy Richter, 54, claimed that Don – thee president of NBC’s West Coast division – “was friends with a murderer.”
Conan added: “Alleged! I’ve seen no proof, Andy.”
The Conan host reportedly sent Don a letter, which allegedly stated: “I got this directive. You’ve hired me to do the best show I can and this is my best guest.
“So I need to do my job, which is the best show I can do.”
Due to his “loyalty” to Norm, Conan claimed Don responded with: “I expected better from you.”
‘ALL BETS ARE OFF
Back in 1998, Norm was Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update anchor for about three seasons.
Don ordered the Weekend Update anchor of NBC’s West Coast division to be removed from his show.
The president of NBC’s West Coast division cited his reasons for Macdonald’s removal were due to the “decline in ratings and a drop-off in quality.”
Macdonald believed that he was fired after he made jokes about O.J. Simpson and the Nicole Brown Simpson case.
Even during 1998 ESPY’s, when Norm congratulated Charles Woodson on his Heisman Trophy, he said: “That is something that no one can ever take away from you.
“Unless you kill your wife and a waiter, in which case, all bets are off.”
In later years, Dirty Work actor went beyond his O.J. Simpson joke theory: Don thought Simpson had fired him because he was considered insubordinate.
Norm said: “I think that the entire show was tired of me not taking marching instructions. Lorne would suggest things ….I’d make Michael Jackson jokes.
“And Lorne would say, ‘do you really want a lawsuit from Michael Jackson?’ And I’d say, ‘Cool! That’d be f****** cool, Michael Jackson suing me!'”
IN MEMORIUM
Norm had been married and wed Connie Vaillancourt Macdonald back in 1988.
Connie and Screwed actor divorced in 1999.
Norm is survived by his son Dylan, whom he shared with his ex-wife Connie.
‘TO SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH’
Recently, footage from the March 2020 improv performance in Los Angeles revealed that the Norm Show comic made a series of pointed references to mortality before his death.
While reflecting on the pandemic, he said: “It’s funny that we all now know how we’re going to die.
“It’s just a matter of what order at this point.”
He concluded: “To survive long enough where they find a cure. You know some people will have to die but finally, they’ll find a cure for me.”