Norm MacDonald’s Colleagues Address Comedian’s Death, Legacy In New Netflix Special: We Didn’t Get to ‘Tell Him What He Meant to Us’

thewrap.com:

David Letterman, Dave Chappelle, Adam Sandler, Conan O’Brien, Molly Shannon and David Spade shared memories and reflected on the death of their friend Norm MacDonald at the end of the late comedian’s new Netflix special, “Norm MacDonald: Nothing Special.”After watching a screening of MacDonald’s performance, which was recorded in his home, friends of the late “Saturday Night Live” star, discussed his impact on the comedy world.

During their conversation, several of them admitted they didn’t know the star, who died in September 2021 after a nine-year battle with cancer, was sick.“I don’t know how everyone else felt here, but Norm was sick for quite a while, and he got sicker and I didn’t know and I talked to so many people who I was sure knew,” O’Brien said. “I thought, ‘Maybe I’m the only one that doesn’t know.’ … He didn’t want anybody to know and so, being the self-absorbed person I am, I think a lot of us, we thought, ‘Is he mad at me?

Is there something I did?’ because we kept trying to get him to come back on and we couldn’t. He couldn’t do it because I don’t think he was up for it.

He didn’t want to answer questions about maybe, you know, his appearance or anything, but I remembered when he went, everybody in the community was — we all thought we were the only one that didn’t know, and we were so upset that we didn’t get a chance to tell him what he meant to us.”Chappelle also said he didn’t know that MacDonald was sick.“The last time I saw him was at the Comedy Store, and he was uncharacteristically emotional.