{"id":180823,"date":"2018-09-10T04:25:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-10T08:25:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=180823"},"modified":"2018-09-10T04:25:50","modified_gmt":"2018-09-10T08:25:50","slug":"norm-macdonald-remembers-late-burt-reynolds-great-storyteller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/09\/10\/norm-macdonald-remembers-late-burt-reynolds-great-storyteller\/","title":{"rendered":"Norm Macdonald remembers the late Burt Reynolds as a great storyteller"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“He was on the same sound stage so I’d go and see his show every week because he’d talk to the audience before the show,” Macdonald recalled in a phone interview Friday. (Photo By ABC Television – eBay itemphoto frontphoto back, Public Domain<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Canadian comic Norm Macdonald remembers the late Burt Reynolds as a great storyteller and “hilarious” entertainer.<\/p>\n

Well before Macdonald impersonated the movie star on “Saturday Night Live,” Macdonald says he revelled as a fan in the Hollywood tales the mustachioed movie star spun as a guest on the “Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.”<\/p>\n

When Macdonald scored a job as a writer on “Roseanne” in the early ’90s, he would pop over to the set of Reynolds’ network sitcom “Evening Shade.”<\/p>\n

“He was on the same sound stage so I’d go and see his show every week because he’d talk to the audience before the show,” Macdonald recalled in a phone interview Friday.<\/p>\n

“And he was just hysterically funny, he was so good. Then I saw him in Las Vegas where he did a one-man show \u2014 he was like a stand up comedian, just a brilliant storyteller.”<\/p>\n

Reynolds would later inspire one of Macdonald’s most beloved impressions during his stint on “Saturday Night Live” \u2014 as a recurring, infuriating contestant on “Celebrity Jeopardy” who insisted he be referred to as “Turd Ferguson.”<\/p>\n

Macdonald says they almost appeared together on the show, but Macdonald notes he was fired in 1998 before that could happen.<\/p>\n

“He phoned me one time and he wanted to come on the show while I was doing ‘Celebrity Jeopardy’ as him, he wanted to show up … dressed as the old Burt, you know,” recalls Macdonald.<\/p>\n

“And then he wanted to punch me in the face and then he wanted to replace me and then he was going to be more stupid than me. So I was so excited for that, I couldn’t believe I was talking to him. I was like, ‘Yeah, we’ll definitely do that!’ And then I got fired from the show.”<\/p>\n

They crossed paths again when Macdonald’s pal Adam Sandler tackled a remake of Reynolds’ 1974 sports comedy “The Longest Yard,” and cast the legend in a cameo for the 2005 version.<\/p>\n

“I hung out with him in his trailer for a couple of days and he would tell me all these hilarious stories. He was a super funny guy. That’s all I knew him from. I loved his stupid movies, you know, I don’t like the serious movies he does. I like that he used to do movies with his friends.”<\/p>\n

Reynolds died Sept. 6 at age 82.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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