Why Norm Macdonald Was Left Out of the Emmys’ ‘In Memoriam’ Segment

Norm Macdonald was not part of the traditional “In Memoriam” segment Monday for the Emmys, although he was featured just before it, as his posthumous comedy special, Norm Macdonald: Nothing specialwas recognized as nominated in the variety special category.

And people on social media quickly took notice.

To which others correctly pointed out that Macdonald was indeed in on it last show of the year. A picture of Macdonald sitting at Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update” desk played right before the end of the set as Jon Batiste and Leon Bridges performed Bridges’ song “River.”

Macdonald died on 14 September 2021 after battling cancer for almost a decade. He had chosen to keep his diagnosis private. The Emmy Awards were held five days later, on September 19.

But Macdonald’s special, which was up for three awards in total this year, was released in May 2022, making it eligible for the competition. It was Macdonald who did a review of a set that he planned to record later in front of a live audience, but never had the opportunity to do so.

At this year’s show, John Legend gave a moving rendition of his song “Pieces” as images of Betty White, Nichelle Nichols, Bob Saget, Sidney Poitier, Anne Heche and many others flashed on a screen.

But there were some notable names that were not included, as is often the case. Among them were Friends actor James Michael Tyler, Goliath actor William Hurt and Meat Loaf, who was primarily known as a musician, but appeared in many shows over the years, including Glee and Elementary.

The Television Academy maintains a database of “the men and women who were included in the televised ‘In Memoriam’ segment, as well as many others who were not” on its website.