Norm Macdonald

**Norm Macdonald** was a Canadian stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer. He voiced the crew member Yaphit on *The Orville*, and appeared on screen as Yaphit's simulated-human avatar in the episode *A Happy Refrain*.

Macdonald passed away on September 14, 2021 after a nine-year private battle with cancer.

Outside of his work on *The Orville*, Macdonald was an actor of both television and film, as well as a stand-up comic and writer. He was known for a regular role on the comedy series *Saturday Night Live* and his other voice work included roles on the Seth MacFarlane created *Family Guy* as well as the *Dr. Dolittle* films starring Eddie Murphy.

## The Orville

From the outset of the show, creator Seth MacFarlane wanted "utterly non-human" aliens for the show to more realistically portray futuristic, sentient life. "It's a sci-fi show," he explained in July 2017. "And budgetary constraints mandate that sci-fi characters be humanoid. But if you talk to physicists they'll tell you, 'It's most likely nothing will look like a human if we find life in space.'" MacFarlane sketched the character of Yaphit on paper, which was fleshed out by Howard Berger. The sketch became "a CGI character that is essentially a gelatinous blob with a sloppy mouth hole," and they needed a voice actor for the role.

Casting Norm Macdonald as Yaphit was remarkably easy and, it appears, without auditions. MacFarlane called Macdonald and asked, "Norm, you want to be a blob?" To which Macdonald replied, "Hell yeah, I'll be a blob." MacFarlane called the casting process a "ten-second phone call" with Macdonald.

During shoots, propmaster Bryan Rodgers placed a model of Yaphit with a microphone on stage while MacDonald spoke his lines from a corner of the studio to the actors.

Macdonald died on September 14, 2021 of cancer, after filming of Season 3 had concluded but in the middle of its post-production, leaving Yaphit's status uncertain. Macdonald had been able to record all of his lines prior to passing. Seth MacFarlane had been unaware of how sick Macdonald was during recording, and he felt "gratitude" that Macdonald had worked through his illness to help the show. The third season premiere, "Electric Sheep," was dedicated to Norm Macdonald. The character of Yaphit, whether voiced by Macdonald or silent, appeared in a minor role throughout the season, with the season finale, "Future Unknown" featuring what is assumed to be Macdonald's final vocal performance as Yaphit, though it is not yet known whether this is also the final appearance of the character.

## Trivia

* He spells his name with a lowercase 'd'
* Seth had Norm appear in the studio to voice his lines rather than record them remotely because he believed the acting performance improves when the actor is immersed in the show's environment.
* He attended the same college as director Jon Cassar separated by one year.

## References

1. ↑ By playerx from laguna hills,ca, US - @darkdiscord with @norm\_mac after the Irvine Improv Show, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8247429
2. ↑ https://deadline.com/2021/09/norm-macdonald-dead-obituary-comedian-saturday-night-live-weekend-update-anchor-was-61-1234833212/
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "How Seth MacFarlane Got Charlize Theron To Be On 'The Orville' | SDCC 2017 | Entertainment Weekly". *Entertainment Weekly*. July 26, 2017.
4. ↑ Bond, Jeff. *The World of the Orville*. Titan Books. 2018. Pg. 67.
5. ↑ "Seth Meyers Explains to Seth MacFarlane Why People Resent Him". Late Night with Seth Meyers. Sept. 8, 2017.
6. ↑ "How Seth MacFarlane Got Charlize Theron To Be On 'The Orville' | SDCC 2017 | Entertainment Weekly". *Entertainment Weekly*. July 26, 2017.
7. ↑ Bryan Rodgers self-identifies in this interview. Owen, Rob. "Tuned In: Seth MacFarlane readies his own ‘Star Trek’". *Pittsburgh Post-Gazette*. Aug. 7, 2017. The item is identified by Penny Johnson Jerald as a microphone in a separate interview. See Jordan DesJardines, "NYCC 2017: What’s Up Doc? Penny Johnson Jerald Talks ‘The Orville’", *ScienceFiction.com* (Oct. 13, 2017).
8. ↑ "The Orville Fan Podcast w/ Bryan Rodgers (23)". Planetary Union Network. Dec. 6, 2018.
9. ↑ DesJardines, Jordan. "NYCC 2017: What’s Up Doc? Penny Johnson Jerald Talks ‘The Orville’". *ScienceFiction.com*. Oct. 13, 2017.
10. ↑ France, Lisa Respers. "Norm Macdonald, comedian and 'Saturday Night Live' alum, dies at 61". *CNN*. Sept. 14, 2021.
11. ↑ Pascale, Anthony. "Interview: ‘The Orville’ Producers Talk Epic Scale And Big Cameos In ‘New Horizons’ Season". *TrekMovie.com*. May 27, 2022.
12. ↑ Video embedded in Ethan Alter, "Seth MacFarlane and 'The Orville: New Horizons' cast defend 'woke' sci-fi against Fox News attacks", *Yahoo! Entertainment* (June 2, 2022).
13. ↑ "MID LEVEL SPACE EXPLORATION feat. SETH MACFARLANE!!!". Harley Morenstein. Aug. 31, 2017.
14. ↑ "PLANETARY UNION NETWORK: EPISODE 26". Planetary Union Network. Jan. 13, 2019.