John Oliver Pays Tribute to Norm Macdonald During Emmys Win: “No One Was Funnier”

Top late night icons like John Oliver and Lorne Michaels took to the Emmys stage to accept awards tonight, with speeches commemorating late comedian Norm Macdonald. Macdonald, who passed away last Tuesday (Sept. 14) after a private battle with cancer, was known for his time with Saturday Night Live as an anchor of the Weekend Update.

Oliver was the first to shoutout the late comedian. After securing the award for Outstanding Variety Series for his Last Week Tonight with John Oliver on HBO, the talk show host took to the stage with some kind words about two fellow TV personalities. While paying tribute to Macdonald, Oliver also had some kind words for a comedian he was up against in the Variety Series category.

“No one was funnier, in the last 20 years, than Norm Macdonald on late night comedy,” Oliver said. “So if you have any time in the next week, do what I did and just spend time YouTubing clips of Norm and Conan, because it just doesn’t get better than that.”

O’Brien, who was nominated against Oliver in the category for his Conan, recently ended his talk show after nearly three decades on TBS. O’Brien has earned one Primetime Emmy for Conan — back in 2011, the show earned the prize for Outstanding Interactive Program.

Next up was the award for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, which went to Michaels’ Saturday Night Live. Macdonald, an alum of the storied NBC series, was recognized by Michaels as he accepted the award.

“Weekend Update has been part of SNL for 46 seasons, and here I’d like to pay tribute to one of the best we ever had: Norm Macdonald,” Michaels said.

SNL has won a whopping 85 Emmy’s while airing for over four decades on NBC, with Macdonald as a member of the cast from 1993 to 1998. At the moment, Colin Jost and Michael Che have taken the anchor positions on the variety show.