Actor and comedian Norm Macdonald died at the age of 61.

According to Deadline, Macdonald had been dealing with cancer for the past nine years and chose to keep the matter private. His death was confirmed by Brillstein Entertainment.

"He was most proud of his comedy," Macdonald's producing partner Lori Jo Hoekstra said. "He never wanted the diagnosis to affect the way the audience or any of his loved ones saw him. Norm was a pure comic. He once wrote that ‘a joke should catch someone by surprise, it should never pander.’ He certainly never pandered. Norm will be missed terribly."

Macdonald was born in 1959 and grew to fame during his run on Saturday Night Live in the 1990s, where he anchored the "Weekend Update" segment. In 1995, he appeared in Billy Madison as one of the drunken friends of Adam Sandler's eponymous character, and in '98, he voiced Lucky the Dog in the Eddie Murphy-starring Doctor Dolittle.

Following SNL, Macdonald's résumé grew to include The Drew Carey Show (he did one episode in '96 and then another in 2000), The AnimalThe Fairly OddParentsMy Name Is EarlSunnysideFamily GuyThe MiddleThe OrvilleThe Ridiculous 6 and more. He also headlined his own series -- Norm -- from 1999-2001, co-starred in Mike Tyson Mysteries as Pigeon from 2014-2020 and hosted Netflix's Norm Macdonald Has a Show in 2018.

Source: Deadline