I’m pretty sure every Celebrity Jeopardy sketch SNL ever did ended with Will Ferrell’s Alex Trebek being in an unpleasant mood. The comedic objective was basically to watch him get more and more worked up, but apparently, during one particular sketch, he got so worked up that fellow cast member Norm Macdonald was convinced Ferrell was legitimately mad in real life.
The sketch in question is the one where Macdonald, playing Burt Reynolds, shows up wearing a giant cowboy hat. At the very end, when Ferrell’s Trebek can’t take it anymore and signs off, Macdonald’s Reynolds takes the cowboy hat and roughly puts it on the host’s head. Seemingly incensed, Trebek turns around and starts yelling at Reynolds before it cuts away.
Macdonald was apparently so taken aback by how mad Ferrell got that he approached him backstage to ask if there was an issue. Here’s a portion of the story Ferrell recounted to Vanity Fair…
There was one of the ones, I think it’s one where Norm just shows up wearing a big foam Cowboy hat for no reason. Trebek loses his shit on (him), and the sketch kinda ended with me screaming at him. Then we walked off. We’re changing for the next thing and Norm’s like, ‘Hey, are you mad at me?’ I go, ‘What do you mean?’ He’s like, ‘Well, you really got upset.’ I’m like, ‘Norm, I’m just playing a character.’ That’s how good of an actor I am.
When most people look back on Celebrity Jeopardy, they remember Darrell Hammond’s Sean Connery as the main antagonist. That’s understandable given he was in thirteen of the fifteen total sketches, but when the franchise first launched, it was Macdonald that was a big creative force and his Reynolds that served as the primary antagonist. He was in the first three sketches and made several additional appearances after he was famously let go from SNL by Lorne Michaels’ bosses at NBC who were allegedly unhappy with how mean-spirited they felt his Weekend Update tenure was, especially about OJ Simpson.
You can check out the Celebrity Jeopardy sketch in question below…
Macdonald passed away following a battle with cancer in 2021, but he’s still referenced all the time by stand-up comedians and those who worked on SNL. His quick wit, eccentric stories and unique subject matter inspired a ton of famous people, which is why it should surprise no one that Ferrell brought him up during his career retrospective. He’s missed but thankfully left behind thousands of hours of comedy and an army of celebrities who were influenced by his work.
