Live From New York - James H. Miller [231]
NORM MACDONALD:
I was in L.A. over Christmas. It was the Christmas that Chris Farley died. I think it was right after Christmas. And they told me that Chris had died and then like three hours later, they told me about “Update,” but by that point who cared about “Update”? Because Chris had just died.
Somebody told me Ohlmeyer had said, “I want two things: I want Macdonald fired and I want a ‘Best of Chris Farley’ ready to go.” So then we went to the funeral in Wisconsin. That was really sad. They said, “Ohlmeyer wants you out.” I still didn’t think it would happen in the middle of the season. And no one would come right out and say it. The first week back from Christmas, no one would come right out and tell me what was going on. Lorne has a hard time telling you bad stuff. I had to do “Update” that Saturday, so I’m like, “Am I doing it or not?” And they’re like, “Uh, we don’t think you are.” So I said, “Somebody’s got to tell me I’m fired,” but nobody wanted to do it, so they said, “You can phone Ohlmeyer.” So I had to phone Ohlmeyer myself. And Ohlmeyer was kind of surprised that I was calling him. He just thought it would be taken care of.
It was kind of weird, you know. I just said, “Well, ha ha ha.” He was just kind of good cheer, you know. He said, “Oh, change has got to be made, you understand.” And I go, “Well, what’s the problem?” And he goes, “It’s just not as funny as it should be,” and so then I’m like, “You don’t think I’m funny?” I said, “People around here are saying it’s all you, that they all want me and it’s just you that doesn’t want me.” And then he was kind of surprised. He goes, “Is that what they’re saying? They want me to be the bad guy.”
DON OHLMEYER:
Lorne’s point at the time was, just let it go for the rest of the season and we’ll make a change in the summer. And he probably was right. Sometimes I get too wrapped up in something — something that needs to be fixed and it won’t be fixed unless we address it. But the Norm thing had been an issue for me for over a year.
NORM MACDONALD:
I was never bitter. I always understood that Ohlmeyer could fire me, because he was the guy that owned the cameras, so that didn’t bother me. Ohlmeyer seemed honest to me about it, you know, straightforward. I was always happy that SNL gave me a chance. Other comics, when they were young, wanted to be on Johnny Carson. To me it was like that, you get to be on Saturday Night Live, it’s a dream come true, and then everything after that is not going to be as good. To me, just getting there was the thing.
WARREN LITTLEFIELD:
Of course myself and others said to Don, “Why are you doing this? What is the agenda? We finish out the year and make the change.” I think Don felt he had to send a message, and there are times where Don just felt he had to exert executive power because he could. That public firing was probably the greatest perception ever that it wasn’t Lorne’s call. That was probably the toughest thing Lorne ever had to endure. Really unfortunate.
NORM MACDONALD:
So then I thought it would be funny to go on Letterman and talk about it, because I knew that Letterman had been fired from NBC and stuff like that. I got fired on a Monday, so I called up the people at Letterman and said, “Hey, you should have me on, because I got fired. It would be funny if I just said on the show that I got fired, you know?” And so they booked me and I went on. I told Lorne that I’d already been booked on Letterman and could I still do it, and maybe I shouldn’t do it, and he said, “Go ahead, do it.” I didn’t tell him that I had done it on purpose.
And I remember Letterman during a break goes, “This is like some Andy Kaufman thing with fake wrestling, right?” And I