Well remembered by friends and colleagues since his passing, Norm Macdonald was part of the entertainment industry for over 35 years and has an endless list of credits to his name from Saturday Night Live, to Dirty Work, to The Norm Show, but one of his last roles was providing a voice to Yaphit, the gloopy shapeshifting blob who works as an engineer on The Orville in the Seth MacFarlane series of the same name. The actor who worked on the first two seasons of the show returned to the role for its upcoming third season, which wrapped filming in August. While creator MacFarlane posted a personal message on Twitter to mark Macdonald’s death, it was confirmed that his voice will be heard in the new season as he completed his recordings before he passed away.
The sci-fi series will see its third season premiering on Hulu exclusively, and will provide Macdonald’s fans with just one more burst of his comic timing, even if he isn’t seen on screen. The 61 year old was remembered by MacFarlane who said, “To so many people in comedy, me included, there was nobody funnier than Norm MacDonald. You always hoped he would hang around after the work was done, just so you could hear his stories and get a laugh. So hilarious and so generous with his personality. I’m gonna miss him.”
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To so many people in comedy, me included, there was nobody funnier than Norm MacDonald. You always hoped he would hang around after the work was done, just so you could hear his stories and get a laugh. So hilarious and so generous with his personality. I’m gonna miss him.
— Seth MacFarlane (@SethMacFarlane) September 14, 2021
Norm Macdonald also worked with MacFarlane on Family Guy, which he guest starred in. While it has been confirmed that Yaphit will appear in the new season, and Macdonald will be providing his voice again, it is not yet known how many episodes will feature the gelatinous blob. Macdonald is credited with appearing in 17 of the 20 episodes that made up seasons one and two, so it is expected that we will be hearing his voice quite a bit in what will be his final outing.
Since Norm Macdonald’s death, the comedy world has been flooding social media with anecdotal stories, condolences and posts brimming with the loss that comes from someone who really stood as a legend in their field. The Canadian may still be best known for his appearances on SLN between 1993 and 1998, but his reach was much further than that. His longtime producer and friend Lori Jo Hoekstra, who was with the actor when he finally passed away after a long battle with cancer, said, “He was most proud of his comedy. He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him. Norm was a pure comic. He once wrote that ‘a joke should catch someone by surprise, it should never pander.’ He certainly never pandered. Norm will be missed terribly.”
Following his work on Saturday Night Live, Macdonald had his own show, The Norm Show,and along with many other roles and his own Netflix talkshow, he wound up working with Seth MacFarlane on The Orville. As his final role, many fans will be happy to hear his voice just one more time when the series comes to Hulu for its new season.
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