There was nothing inherently humorous concerning the late O.J. Simpson‘s almost year-long trial on two homicide costs. His ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her good friend, Ron Goldman, had been brutally stabbed to loss of life, and the prosecution was arguing that Simpson’s historical past of home abuse in his marriage had culminated on this act of lethal violence.
However Simpson’s superstar as a soccer and film star, his high-powered “Dream Workforce” of attorneys, the weird Ford Bronco chase earlier than his arrest, and the sense that Los Angeles might as soon as extra explode because it did in the course of the Rodney King riots all mixed to make the case probably the most topical topic within the nation — if not the one one. And, by design, a sketch comedy present like Saturday Evening Dwell has no actual alternative however to handle such an occasion in its “Weekend Replace” information section. How on earth might they make gentle of this tragedy?
It so occurred that weeks earlier than the “Trial of the Century” received underway, SNL had welcomed a substitute anchor for “Weekend Replace” who would show terribly well-equipped for the duty: Norm Macdonald. The comic took the chair for Season 20 and, very quickly in any respect, turned one of the essential Simpson commentators of the day exactly as a result of the principles of journalism didn’t confine him. He didn’t must say “allegedly,” and he didn’t have to attend for a verdict, as an alternative working as if Simpson’s guilt was axiomatic, bluntly stating it as a settled reality whereas he stared into the digital camera, daring you to disagree.
Macdonald was relentless in his insistence that Simpson dedicated the grisly crime, however he additionally managed to satirize the media frenzy across the story. His obvious disinterest in anything served as a joke in itself. “Effectively, that covers the primary developments within the O.J. Simpson case this week, and in any case, different vital issues are occurring on the planet,” Macdonald mentioned in a single episode. “Now, extra O.J. Simpson.” One recurring bit noticed Norm saying a brand new ebook by some unrelated public determine — Prince Charles, or Pope John Paul II — then revealing a faux title like Of Course O.J. Did It, I Imply, C’mon.
If the studio audiences generally feared to snicker as a lot as they could, it appeared to play to Macdonald’s benefit, or at the very least his amusement: he’d smile at an particularly divisive punchline and even comment on the combined reactions, understanding the gang was caught with him. Maybe he retained the higher hand due to an unsettling reality, troublesome for anybody watching to disclaim: extraordinary individuals throughout America had been making their very own tasteless jokes about O.J. day by day, they usually weren’t humorous in any respect. Macdonald’s mordant quips paved proper over that hack water-cooler materials, to not point out the monologues of lesser late-night hosts, making an unimaginable job look easy.
Legend has it that the Simpson materials ultimately value Macdonald the “Weekend Replace” desk, with NBC’s west coast president Don Ohlmeyer — a good friend of Simpson’s — firing him in 1998 after he continued to take jabs at Simpson following the stunning acquittal. In an interview with David Letterman that confirmed his departure, Macdonald solely mentioned Ohlmeyer had advised him he wasn’t humorous, and in later years, he would speculate that he was canned for common insubordination. Both approach, the Simpson principle enshrined Norm’s trial protection within the SNL pantheon, and his deadpan abstract of the decision, “It’s lastly official: homicide is authorized within the state of California,” stays a one-liner for the ages.
Macdonald appeared to know, too, {that a} joke pushed previous its pure lifespan turns into hilarious once more, and when he wound up the host of the 1998 ESPY Awards, he seized an opportunity to make issues awkward. In a radical opening roast of the athletes assembled for the present, he shouted out Charles Woodson, who on the College of Michigan had change into the one defensive participant in school soccer historical past to win the Heisman Trophy. “That’s one thing that nobody can ever take away from you,” Macdonald mentioned. “Except you kill your spouse and a waiter, during which case… ” The room, as ever, was break up between groans of disbelief and wild cackling. “All bets are off,” Norm added.
Because the many years handed, Macdonald’s Simpson dunks became a touchstone for social media, and he continued to entertain questions right here and there about “The Juice” — whether or not he would play golf with him, for instance. (Macdonald appeared sport however acknowledged that Simpson is not any fan of his.) In 2019, a few years after Simpson accomplished a jail sentence for a 2007 theft and kidnapping in Las Vegas, he joined Twitter, importing a video during which he mentioned he’d be sharing his ideas on the platform and had “a little bit getting even to do.” Macdonald, a longtime Twitter person himself, was there to greet him, sardonically proclaiming that Simpson’s account can be the “coolest thing ever.” He additionally casually threatened to dox Simpson in what gave the impression to be an allusion to Nicole Brown’s claims that Simpson stalked her after their divorce.
We’ll by no means know what Norm would have mentioned on the event of Simpson’s loss of life at 76 from prostate most cancers, with the comic having died of leukemia in 2021. Little doubt he might have landed a direct hit a few infamous accused assassin residing to previous age and dying peacefully, surrounded by his household. Nevertheless it was greater than becoming that Macdonald’s identify trended alongside O.J.’s because the web reacted to the information, a heckler who adopted Simpson all the best way to the grave, unwilling to let go of the ugly previous even when others had come to treat him as a grandpa with goofy catchphrases and worthwhile takes on the NFL.
Trying again on the O.J. Simpson trial, it will probably really feel that the tradition was remarkably merciless in the way it turned the slaying of two human beings right into a farce, a circus, an leisure. That is additionally what, looking back, provides Macdonald’s jokes a stunning ethical heft. When a lot humor of the period centered on petty and lurid particulars, Norm virtually by no means strayed from the horrific crime itself, confronting us time and again with sharp actuality. It was so absurd that you simply needed to snicker in self-defense.
