Norm Macdonald Pranked Rival Canadian Comic Up Until The Day He Died
It’s time to play Canadian Comic Blind Item, a game I didn’t realize existed until I heard a clip from the 30 Minutes on High podcast featuring comedian Che Durena. It’s yet another Norm Macdonald story from the vault, featuring a second unknown comedian who’s bound to get called out sooner rather than later.
According to Durena, one Canadian comic was not celebrating the success of Macdonald as he began to blow up on Saturday Night Live and elsewhere. The mystery comedian “was super bitter and would talk shit about Norm everywhere,” said Durena.
“We say (bleep)’s name all the time,” laughed 30 Minutes on High co-host Peter White. “It’s fine, don’t even worry about it.” (Somebody else on the podcast crew was wary, however — the comedian’s identity is bleeped throughout the clip, with a Canadian flag superimposed over mouths to thwart any enterprising lip readers.)
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The reason the aggrieved comedian was talking so much smack? Apparently, Macdonald owed him gas money.
“What I heard was, Norm would forward (bleeped out comedian) emails from Nigerian scams and stuff. Like, ‘Hey, I’ll give you money. I’m a prince,’” Durena said. Macdonald would attach a message to the forwarded spam along the lines of, “Hey, maybe you can get your gas money back.”
Macdonald kept up the prank for “years and years and years,” Durena said. “And apparently, he did it on the day he died. Even on the day he fucking died.”
“He was the best until the end,” cackled co-host Peter Otter.
Because 30 Minutes on High was so coy about the disgruntled Canadian’s identity, Macdonald fans over on r/NormMacdonald put on their detective hats to solve the mystery. While Canada has produced several prominent comedians, only a few make sense given the timeline of driving Macdonald to comedy gigs while both were up-and-comers. Here are the most popular guesses for the target of Macdonald’s tormenting emails…
Harland Williams
“Even though people don’t think it’s Harland Williams… I do,” posted user ScotterMan83. “Watch this, and it kinda makes sense.”
Colin Mochrie
“After review, I’m convinced it’s Colin Mochrie,” offered MezzoFortePianissimo. “Both were on the Toronto and Canadian-touring circuit around 1986-87, Colin more with Second City.”
Every Other Canadian Comic of a Certain Age
“Who else?” wondered ScotterMan83 “Howie Mandel? Tom Green? Jim Carrey? Mike Myers?”
No definitive answers here, even though the identity of the mystery comic appears to be an open secret in Canadian comedy circles. Come on, Canada, spill the beans!
