O.J. Simpson was on everyone’s mind today after his death, and Conan O’Brien took the opportunity to salute his late friend, comic Norm Macdonald, who continued doing Simpson jokes even after being warned by NBC higher-ups to knock it off.
Sitting Thursday with CNN’s Jake Tapper to promote his new show, Conan O’Brien Must Go, the former Late Night host remembered Macdonald for doing “some of the most brilliant comedy of anybody during that whole period.”
It eventually led to his firing by NBC head Don Ohlmeyer in 1998. O’Brien explained that “The head of the network at the time was tight with O.J.”
O’Brien praised Macdonald as “one of my best guests of all-time,” and “one of the great comedians of all-time.”
Macdonald anchored SNL’s “Weekend Update” segment for the 20th season, which ran during the Simpson trial. He insisted Simpson was guilty, and once introduced a book about another famous figure, Prince Charles, claiming the title was “Of Course O.J. Did It, Come On.”
Macdonald later tweeted a suggestion to Simpson when the Juice joined Twitter in 2019.
“Hey, OJ, it’s Norm. Listen, be careful about the videos you put out there. I recognize the golf course behind your house I know that exact street and could easily print your address,” he wrote.
“Of course I never would, but others would. Be careful, Juice.”