Norm Macdonald Filmed One Last Standup Special for Netflix Before Death

Actor and comedian Norm Macdonald filmed one final standup special for Netflix before his sudden death in September 2021. Macdonald passed away at the age of 61 from leukemia, which he had kept a private matter and out of the Hollywood spotlight for nine years. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Norm Macdonald was filming an hour-long standup special that he was recording himself in the event that he passed away. He was still working on the Netflix special when he had to be admitted into the hospital. Season 3 of The Orville was another project that Macdonald had finished production on before his death.

“His test results were not good, so during the heart of COVID-19 pandemic and literally the night before going in for a procedure, he wanted to get this on tape just in case – as he put it – things went south,” Lori Jo Hoekstra, Macdonald’s long-time producing partner, said. “It was his intention to have a special to share if something happened.”

According to Hoekstra, Macdonald was able to film the entire hour-long special in his living room, all in one take. “He looks great and it’s fantastic,” Hoekstra added. The day after he filmed the special, Macdonald went in for a successful medical procedure, and the footage was placed in a closet and forgotten for a year. After this year Macdonald’s status worsened, and he was unable to shoot his special in front of a live audience. “He ended up getting sicker in August and September and he remembered he had shot this and asked me to find it so he could watch it — so he ended up watching it before he passed away,” Hoekstra said. Nothing Special was a name Macdonald came up with for his comedy hour.

Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special will receive a May 30th release date on Netflix. “From the various conversations I’ve had within our circle of friends in comedy and producing, no one has heard of any comparison to this [situation] — not even close,” said Hoekstra, who also produced Macdonald’s ABC sitcom Norm and his Netflix talk show Norm Macdonald Has a Show.

Footage from the Netflix Is a Joke fest will also be included with Norm Macdonald: Nothing Special, featuring Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Dave Chappelle, David Letterman, David Spade, and Molly Shannon discussing their friend and colleague. 

“It makes me so happy that I can share it, but also so sad that we can’t share it with him,” Hoekstra concluded. “He didn’t do this for the shock that it exists. He shot it because he loved his material and was so proud of his material. He worked so hard and it really would’ve bothered him to have done all that work and not been able to show everybody. He did it for the stand-up. I just hope people appreciate that he did this.”

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