don ohlmeyer

On the Howard Stern show today, Artie Lange was talking about his buddy Norm MacDonald, who was supposed to be on the show this morning, but bailed (he was on Letterman last night, though). Lange mentioned a few items that were interesting: Firstly, he thought a specific "Weekend Update" joke about O.J. Simpson -- after O.J. was found not guilty, Norm said something along the lines of "Murder is now legal in Southern California." -- is what got him fired from SNL. Then-NBC exec Don Ohlmeyer was friends with Simpson, and rumors had always floated around that he was always pissed at Norm's O.J. jokes (even though Leno was doing plenty at the time, too). This is the first time, though, that I've heard that a specific joke got him fired.

The second item Artie let slip was that Norm loved doing "WU" so much, that he'd love to just do fake news until he retires. Because of this, Norm may be looking to do a show like that. Not a bad idea; I always liked him on "WU", even if his weridness didn't go over well with the audience, I always admired his "I don't give a shit what people think" attitude. Would you watch Norm do a fake news show? Let me know in the comments.