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The thing that really strikes you about Mike MacDonald’s comedic routines is their gentleness. His standup sketches from the 1980s and beyond, now immortalized on YouTube, show a genuine talent in command of his material, with a flair for physical comedy.
“I enjoy being a comedian; I want to die laughing,” he told an appreciative Vancouver audience in 2010, the year before he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
“It would be very embarrassing to die doing a stupid thing,” he continued before moving into a routine about dumb ways to end your life.
He died on Saturday at the Ottawa Heart Institute after suffering heart complications — this, according to a CBC report citing MacDonald’s brother, JP.
MacDonald was 63.
The world of comedy has been tweeting expressions of sorrow ever since. MacDonald was genuinely well liked, for a reason he touched upon last month during a phone interview with journalist Luke Edwards:
“It’s not a burden to be considerate,” MacDonald said in describing his brand of humour. More to the point, he added, “Don’t be a dick.”
Rather than skewer politicians, business people or other prominent personalities, MacDonald coaxed humour from everyday life. When television remotes first became popular, for instance, he made fun of men’s propensity to control them, of how silly they appeared.
Another of his older routines focused on lottery winners who returned to work “just rubbing peoples’ noses into the fact they don’t have to be there anymore.” There followed his brilliant physical comedy.
“Hey, Mike! The boss wants to see you!” MacDonald gestured before his audience, giving an impression of a lottery winner completely unimpressed by the boss’s power. “Oooh,” MacDonald exclaimed to great laughter.
Long known as one of Canada’s top standup comics, MacDonald had battled drug addiction and bipolar disorder in his adult life. In recent years he worked these afflictions into some of his sketches, true to his conviction there is humour in most everything.
“In my act, I tell the audience that I’m bipolar manic depressive,” he told this newspaper four years ago. “There’s one line about there’s only two kinds of comedians: undiagnosed and diagnosed.”
Born in 1954, MacDonald grew up on military bases around the world, but his family settled in Ottawa after his air force father retired. MacDonald attended Brookfield High School.
After working at an assortment of jobs, MacDonald began to frequent comedy clubs at the age of 24, developing his standup skills.
He went on to comedy fame, giving live performances all over North America. He was a regular at Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and Yuk Yuk’s. MacDonald was also a frequent guest on TV, including the David Letterman Show.
MacDonald filled out his résumé by writing and starring in many movies. He was also an accomplished drummer.
In 2011, MacDonald returned to Ottawa from Los Angeles, where he’d been based for two decades. He had a liver transplant in March 2013.
This led to what he called his “Jimmy Stewart” moment, a reference to everyone’s favourite Christmas move, the 1946 classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, in which the protagonist sees the world as though he had never been born.
“People would tell me how nice I’d been to them,” MacDonald told Breakfast Television in seeming disbelief following the surgery, marvelling that so many of his friends contributed to his recovery, with time and money.
MacDonald over the past few years gave back plenty, performing for a wide variety of charities — from those that support abused women to others involved with combating mental illness.
In February of 2013, MacDonald was honoured with a Canadian Comic Legend Award from his peers at Cracking Up The Capital, a comedy festival that is raising awareness and money for mental health issues. He’d also been awarded with a special tribute at the Just For Laughs 30th anniversary in Montreal.
“Sad to hear of the passing of Mike MacDonald,” tweeted Ottawa’s Tom Green. “One of the greats of standup comedy, a Canadian from my hometown of Ottawa, and a friend. Rest in Peace, Mike. Say hello to (George) Carlin and (Richard) Pryor for us. I’m sure you are already making them laugh up there.”
Certainly he has plenty of material with which to work.
“Saddened to hear of the passing of our dear friend and Canadian comedy legend Mike MacDonald,” Just For Laughs tweeted. “Over the years he has graced our stages more than any other comic and will be greatly missed.”
Brendan Mertens, who calls MacDonald his “friend/mentor and comedy Dad,” sent in the trailer for a movie that tells the story of the comedian’s ups and downs over the past years.
The Mike Stand (2018) — Official Trailer from Brendan Mertens on Vimeo.
With files from Liisa Tuominen
More tributes from the outpouring on Twitter over the past hours:
I am pained to inform you that my friend and comedy mentor Mike MacDonald has passed away. Mike was a ferociously funny man. We shared so many good times. Thanks for taking me under your wing way back in the day. You were a great comic. You did your country proud. ???? pic.twitter.com/G4LGUHD126
— Jeremy Hotz (@JeremyHotz) March 18, 2018
All though it hurts that we have lost #MikeMacDonald it is a powerful and beautiful thing to see all the Canadian comics from open Mic to national headliners posting about how much Mike meant to us and how much he gave back to us all. That’s what makes a legend #ThanksMike
— SeanQ (@ExcursionsQ17) March 18, 2018
Thank you for the laughs #MikeMacDonald ???? https://t.co/y4wNAVnH7B
— tryantime (@tryantime) March 18, 2018
The great Mike MacDonald has passed away. We thank Mike for his many contributions to comedy around the world and in Canada. Rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/Ix7AD4Ff4y
— Canada Laughs (@canadalaughs) March 17, 2018
#MikeMacDonald has passed away. A true giant of comedy & pioneer of Canadian stand-up success. Worked with him just once, found him classy, friendly & generous with his time. More stand-ups should follow his example. RIP Mike.
— Ed the Sock (@EdtheSock) March 18, 2018
RIP. Respect must be paid. Thank you for the laughs, Mike. Thank you for the work ethic and being a real deal comic influencer. https://t.co/gX3EOcPOYp
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) March 18, 2018
Canaidan Comedy Legend Mike MacDonald Dead at 63..This is the very personal Article that I wrote about Mike after his Liver Transplant: #RIP #MikeMacDonald #CanadianComedyLegend #sadday https://t.co/Z6pYKTfPEc pic.twitter.com/1Ld9NrRmFX pic.twitter.com/sduaUQZN7m
— Comedygreenroom (@CGR_News) March 18, 2018
1987, me bartending at #Winnipeg #YukYuks & #MikeMacDonald starts his headline set at 10 p.m. (?). He kills for THREE HOURS. All funny, all fresh. The audience is exhausted, euphoric, stunned. Standing O, of course. Epic, legendary night in Cdn comedy. #RIPMike pic.twitter.com/3vBtOJzusl
— Blair Cosgrove (@BlairCosgrove) March 18, 2018
The fact that my timeline is FULL of @MikeMTPEM tributes shows the impact this man had on our industry. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Mike for an evening and walked away with a pretty killer interview. Amazing guy and devastating loss to everyone #MikeMacDonald pic.twitter.com/YMofY1FBPE
— Jake Hirsch (@JakeHirschEG) March 18, 2018
Mike MacDonald probably did more to popularize stand-up in Canada than anyone else of his generation. He inspired many comics in the 1980s & 90s to enter comedy. For most of us, sharing the stage with him for the first time was a really big deal. pic.twitter.com/b4J4plyPT5
— Kliph Nesteroff (@ClassicShowbiz) March 18, 2018
Mike MacDonald has passed away. I can't wrap my head around it. Part of me wants to yell IT'S NOT TRUE!!! The rest of me is numb. Spent so many nights (late80s/early90s) into the morning, playing cards & laughing ourselves sick. And fighting. Then laughing more.
Goddammit.
— Brent Butt (@BrentButt) March 17, 2018
Saddened to hear of the passing of our dear friend and Canadian comedy legend Mike MacDonald. Over the years he has graced our stages more than any other comic and will be greatly missed. #RIPMike pic.twitter.com/YES7PayNSp
— Just For Laughs (@justforlaughs) March 18, 2018
you thought you were funny UNTILL he walked on stage. God speed my hero of the lonely pursuit, perhaps the best stand up who ever was….. https://t.co/xozHVdfTWo
— Bruce McCulloch (@BrucioMcCulloch) March 18, 2018
The Extraordinary & Much Beloved Canadian Comedian #MikeMacDonald Passed Away. His comedy transcended the mainstream. Mike made it OK to laugh about the ups & downs of living w/#MentalIllness. He sold out comedy clubs across NAmerica. Am sure Mike'll keep The Angels laughing too pic.twitter.com/9OHfMh529Z
— Miss Myrtle (@MissMyrtle2) March 18, 2018
It was a complicated time and I wasn’t old enough to really be friends, but my TV dad from 1988’s Mosquito Lake passed tonight. I hope Bonnie and his family find peace and to all of my TV family: I love you and miss you. ?? #RIP #MikeMacDonald pic.twitter.com/cgPNGMIT1p
— Brad Machry (@BradMachry) March 18, 2018
My farewell post to #MikeMacDonald ????
https://t.co/SGRYG7aSVt pic.twitter.com/cCuWbNE1OZ
— tara strong (@tarastrong) March 18, 2018
Mike Macdonald standup legend https://t.co/NeHT99m8yl via @youtube
— Tom Green (@tomgreenlive) March 18, 2018
查看原文...
“I enjoy being a comedian; I want to die laughing,” he told an appreciative Vancouver audience in 2010, the year before he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C.
“It would be very embarrassing to die doing a stupid thing,” he continued before moving into a routine about dumb ways to end your life.
He died on Saturday at the Ottawa Heart Institute after suffering heart complications — this, according to a CBC report citing MacDonald’s brother, JP.
MacDonald was 63.
The world of comedy has been tweeting expressions of sorrow ever since. MacDonald was genuinely well liked, for a reason he touched upon last month during a phone interview with journalist Luke Edwards:
“It’s not a burden to be considerate,” MacDonald said in describing his brand of humour. More to the point, he added, “Don’t be a dick.”
Rather than skewer politicians, business people or other prominent personalities, MacDonald coaxed humour from everyday life. When television remotes first became popular, for instance, he made fun of men’s propensity to control them, of how silly they appeared.
Another of his older routines focused on lottery winners who returned to work “just rubbing peoples’ noses into the fact they don’t have to be there anymore.” There followed his brilliant physical comedy.
“Hey, Mike! The boss wants to see you!” MacDonald gestured before his audience, giving an impression of a lottery winner completely unimpressed by the boss’s power. “Oooh,” MacDonald exclaimed to great laughter.
Long known as one of Canada’s top standup comics, MacDonald had battled drug addiction and bipolar disorder in his adult life. In recent years he worked these afflictions into some of his sketches, true to his conviction there is humour in most everything.
“In my act, I tell the audience that I’m bipolar manic depressive,” he told this newspaper four years ago. “There’s one line about there’s only two kinds of comedians: undiagnosed and diagnosed.”
Born in 1954, MacDonald grew up on military bases around the world, but his family settled in Ottawa after his air force father retired. MacDonald attended Brookfield High School.
After working at an assortment of jobs, MacDonald began to frequent comedy clubs at the age of 24, developing his standup skills.
He went on to comedy fame, giving live performances all over North America. He was a regular at Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and Yuk Yuk’s. MacDonald was also a frequent guest on TV, including the David Letterman Show.
MacDonald filled out his résumé by writing and starring in many movies. He was also an accomplished drummer.
In 2011, MacDonald returned to Ottawa from Los Angeles, where he’d been based for two decades. He had a liver transplant in March 2013.
This led to what he called his “Jimmy Stewart” moment, a reference to everyone’s favourite Christmas move, the 1946 classic, It’s a Wonderful Life, in which the protagonist sees the world as though he had never been born.
“People would tell me how nice I’d been to them,” MacDonald told Breakfast Television in seeming disbelief following the surgery, marvelling that so many of his friends contributed to his recovery, with time and money.
MacDonald over the past few years gave back plenty, performing for a wide variety of charities — from those that support abused women to others involved with combating mental illness.
In February of 2013, MacDonald was honoured with a Canadian Comic Legend Award from his peers at Cracking Up The Capital, a comedy festival that is raising awareness and money for mental health issues. He’d also been awarded with a special tribute at the Just For Laughs 30th anniversary in Montreal.
“Sad to hear of the passing of Mike MacDonald,” tweeted Ottawa’s Tom Green. “One of the greats of standup comedy, a Canadian from my hometown of Ottawa, and a friend. Rest in Peace, Mike. Say hello to (George) Carlin and (Richard) Pryor for us. I’m sure you are already making them laugh up there.”
Certainly he has plenty of material with which to work.
“Saddened to hear of the passing of our dear friend and Canadian comedy legend Mike MacDonald,” Just For Laughs tweeted. “Over the years he has graced our stages more than any other comic and will be greatly missed.”
Brendan Mertens, who calls MacDonald his “friend/mentor and comedy Dad,” sent in the trailer for a movie that tells the story of the comedian’s ups and downs over the past years.
The Mike Stand (2018) — Official Trailer from Brendan Mertens on Vimeo.
With files from Liisa Tuominen
More tributes from the outpouring on Twitter over the past hours:
I am pained to inform you that my friend and comedy mentor Mike MacDonald has passed away. Mike was a ferociously funny man. We shared so many good times. Thanks for taking me under your wing way back in the day. You were a great comic. You did your country proud. ???? pic.twitter.com/G4LGUHD126
— Jeremy Hotz (@JeremyHotz) March 18, 2018
All though it hurts that we have lost #MikeMacDonald it is a powerful and beautiful thing to see all the Canadian comics from open Mic to national headliners posting about how much Mike meant to us and how much he gave back to us all. That’s what makes a legend #ThanksMike
— SeanQ (@ExcursionsQ17) March 18, 2018
Thank you for the laughs #MikeMacDonald ???? https://t.co/y4wNAVnH7B
— tryantime (@tryantime) March 18, 2018
The great Mike MacDonald has passed away. We thank Mike for his many contributions to comedy around the world and in Canada. Rest in peace. pic.twitter.com/Ix7AD4Ff4y
— Canada Laughs (@canadalaughs) March 17, 2018
#MikeMacDonald has passed away. A true giant of comedy & pioneer of Canadian stand-up success. Worked with him just once, found him classy, friendly & generous with his time. More stand-ups should follow his example. RIP Mike.
— Ed the Sock (@EdtheSock) March 18, 2018
RIP. Respect must be paid. Thank you for the laughs, Mike. Thank you for the work ethic and being a real deal comic influencer. https://t.co/gX3EOcPOYp
— Kathy Griffin (@kathygriffin) March 18, 2018
Canaidan Comedy Legend Mike MacDonald Dead at 63..This is the very personal Article that I wrote about Mike after his Liver Transplant: #RIP #MikeMacDonald #CanadianComedyLegend #sadday https://t.co/Z6pYKTfPEc pic.twitter.com/1Ld9NrRmFX pic.twitter.com/sduaUQZN7m
— Comedygreenroom (@CGR_News) March 18, 2018
1987, me bartending at #Winnipeg #YukYuks & #MikeMacDonald starts his headline set at 10 p.m. (?). He kills for THREE HOURS. All funny, all fresh. The audience is exhausted, euphoric, stunned. Standing O, of course. Epic, legendary night in Cdn comedy. #RIPMike pic.twitter.com/3vBtOJzusl
— Blair Cosgrove (@BlairCosgrove) March 18, 2018
The fact that my timeline is FULL of @MikeMTPEM tributes shows the impact this man had on our industry. I had the pleasure of hanging out with Mike for an evening and walked away with a pretty killer interview. Amazing guy and devastating loss to everyone #MikeMacDonald pic.twitter.com/YMofY1FBPE
— Jake Hirsch (@JakeHirschEG) March 18, 2018
Mike MacDonald probably did more to popularize stand-up in Canada than anyone else of his generation. He inspired many comics in the 1980s & 90s to enter comedy. For most of us, sharing the stage with him for the first time was a really big deal. pic.twitter.com/b4J4plyPT5
— Kliph Nesteroff (@ClassicShowbiz) March 18, 2018
Mike MacDonald has passed away. I can't wrap my head around it. Part of me wants to yell IT'S NOT TRUE!!! The rest of me is numb. Spent so many nights (late80s/early90s) into the morning, playing cards & laughing ourselves sick. And fighting. Then laughing more.
Goddammit.
— Brent Butt (@BrentButt) March 17, 2018
Saddened to hear of the passing of our dear friend and Canadian comedy legend Mike MacDonald. Over the years he has graced our stages more than any other comic and will be greatly missed. #RIPMike pic.twitter.com/YES7PayNSp
— Just For Laughs (@justforlaughs) March 18, 2018
you thought you were funny UNTILL he walked on stage. God speed my hero of the lonely pursuit, perhaps the best stand up who ever was….. https://t.co/xozHVdfTWo
— Bruce McCulloch (@BrucioMcCulloch) March 18, 2018
The Extraordinary & Much Beloved Canadian Comedian #MikeMacDonald Passed Away. His comedy transcended the mainstream. Mike made it OK to laugh about the ups & downs of living w/#MentalIllness. He sold out comedy clubs across NAmerica. Am sure Mike'll keep The Angels laughing too pic.twitter.com/9OHfMh529Z
— Miss Myrtle (@MissMyrtle2) March 18, 2018
It was a complicated time and I wasn’t old enough to really be friends, but my TV dad from 1988’s Mosquito Lake passed tonight. I hope Bonnie and his family find peace and to all of my TV family: I love you and miss you. ?? #RIP #MikeMacDonald pic.twitter.com/cgPNGMIT1p
— Brad Machry (@BradMachry) March 18, 2018
My farewell post to #MikeMacDonald ????
https://t.co/SGRYG7aSVt pic.twitter.com/cCuWbNE1OZ
— tara strong (@tarastrong) March 18, 2018
Mike Macdonald standup legend https://t.co/NeHT99m8yl via @youtube
— Tom Green (@tomgreenlive) March 18, 2018
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