Lord, I just realized a lot of you are too young to have lived through Norm Macdonald's run on Weekend Update, and that's a tragedy. One of the greatest eras in SNL history.
Looking back it was such a clash of generations: "Hip" Boomers, who adored Dennis Miller, absolutely hated Norm Macdonald. But as the weeks went by he dug in his heels and intensified all the things they hated. It was performance art.
It was widely reported at the time that NBC President Don Ohlmeyer, a personal friend of OJ Simpson, had commanded Norm to stop calling OJ a murderer... so of course Norm just dug in, and delivered the line with more relish. And that culminated in his firing.
I think the years since have brought us a lot of media figures who "just don't give a fuck," who find comedy in defying authority figures... but in the mid-1990s? On NBC? That wasn't done. Norm was an icon.
I'm realizing Norm on SNL might have been the first bit of media I loved that my parents absolutely hated. I didn't get into grunge, I listened to Billy Joel and Phil Collins.
OMG and I'm *just* realizing... I remembered this bit for years as Jon Stewart opening his first Daily Show episode... but it was Colin Quinn on his first Weekend Update after Norm got fired. Wild. 
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