Conan O’Brien Reveals NBC Tried to Ban Norm Macdonald from His Show After SNL Fired Him
Conan O’Brien has revealed that NBC attempted to ban Norm Macdonald from his show after the late comedian was fired from Saturday Night Live.
O’Brien made the revelation during an emergency episode of his podcast Thursday night, saying that Don Ohlmeyer, a longtime NBC executive who passed away in 2017, had tried to bar Macdonald from network’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
O’Brien was joined by Andy Richter, and longtime show producer Frank Smiley, on Thursday to pay tribute to the late comedian — a legendary late-night guest who appeared on O’Brien’s various shows close to 30 times.
One of Macdonald’s most beloved bits, often referred to as the “moth joke,” was told while on O’Brien’s show, but according to the former late-night host, the moment almost never happened at all.
Ohlmeyer allegedly made the request to bar Macdonald from late-night after he had already fired him from Saturday Night Live in 1998.
Ohlmeyer was reportedly unhappy with Macdonald’s penchant for cracking jokes about O.J. Simpson, and fired him after the former Weekend Update anchor failed to stop poking fun at Simpson throughout his murder trial.
“One of his bosses was friends with a murderer,” Richter said Thursday, referring to a rumor that Ohlmeyer was friends with Simpson.
“Alleged! I’ve seen no proof, Andy!” O’Brien cracked in response.
O’Brien revealed that after Macdonald’s O.J. Simpson jokes “cost him his job,” Ohlmeyer told him, “You can’t book Norm Macdonald anymore.”
While O’Brien had some loyalty to Ohlmeyer, as the producer scored him his hosting gig on Late Night, he ultimately refused to comply.
“I got this directive. You’ve hired me to do the best show I can and this is my best guest,” O’Brien wrote back. “So I need to do my job, which is the best show I can do.”
Ohlmeyer allegedly responded by saying, “I expected better from you,” yet O’Brien stood his ground and was able to invite Macdonald to his shows several more times.
