There was an immediate outpouring of love from comics and others mourning the death of Norm Macdonald on Tuesday, but one note from one celebrity would have certainly made Norm smile.
That message came from, you guessed it: Frank Stallone.
The musician brother of Sylvester was often used as a non-sequitur punchline, delivered in that exact way, by Macdonald while he sat behind the desk of Saturday Night Live‘s Weekend Update. Now the man himself took to Instagram to send Macdonald off in the most appropriate way.
“I was saddened to hear that Norm Macdonald passed away…” he said, adding, “He had a lot of fun with me on weekend update, with You Guessed It Frank Stallone.”
Stallone posted a photo of Norm at the anchor desk, with Stallone’s face displayed the screen next to the comedian, as it had been for numerous punchlines. Stallone said the frequent send-ups were “funny,” noting, “My only regret is that I never got the chance to do the show with him.”
The musician called Macdonald “an original,” and passed along condolences to his family.
Incidentally, in 2018, Macdonald recalled that when Sylvester Stallone hosted SNL in the 1990s, he kindly asked Norm to lay off his brother, and Macdonald obliged.
Macdonald died Tuesday at age 61 after fighting a private battle with cancer. Or, as he used to say, it was a draw.
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