Perhaps the best example of over-explaining the thing that doesn’t need to be explained is “First Citywide Change Bank,” which you star in.
Yeah. [Laughs.] It’s also not a service that needs a whole organizational arrangement. People can generally handle it by themselves.
You and Norm MacDonald famously did Weekend Update together. What was your first impression of Norm?
Adam Sandler knocks on my door and goes, “I want you to see this guy. He’s so funny, he scares the shit out of me. He’s, like, the funniest person I’ve seen in years.” I instantly agreed. At the time, he was writing for Roseanne. And I don’t think Roseanne [Barr] wanted to lose him. But when he said it was a chance for him to perform, she gave him her blessing.
Within a month, he came on as a writer and featured player. He did a couple things that were on Update in the 1993-1994 season. He did an Andy Rooney piece that was one of the bravest pieces of comedy, where he’s going, “This is a letter that comes from Toledo, Ohio. This is a letter that comes from Denver, Colorado.” He didn’t care about the fact that half the audience was going to be completely bewildered.
During this time, Don Ohlmeyer had joined the network and was very aggressive about giving notes. And one of his edicts was that Kevin Nealon had to go as Update anchor. Kevin was a great favorite of mine and all the writers, and we felt it was the writing of the segment that was the issue. It wasn’t Kevin’s fault. I went out to one of my first and only meetings where I had to listen to network notes, in ’94, and Ohlmeyer said, “Nealon’s gone. Who’s going to replace him?” So there was a discussion. I thought Norm would be the best to do it. I remember at the meeting a network executive went out of his way to talk about his objections to the show that year. He said, “I don’t know if any of you saw this guy Norm MacDonald doing Andy Rooney, and he’s just reading addresses off envelopes.“ It was like, “Please don’t tell me you’re bringing that guy back.” And I said, “Well, funnily enough, we were on the subject of who should do Update, and I think Norm MacDonald.” And the executive did a cartoon-like take, pretending that’s the strangest thing he ever heard.
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