• Late-night TV hosts paid tribute Tuesday to fellow comedian Norm Macdonald, who died that morning at age 61 after a long, private battle with cancer. "We have lost an absolute comedy legend," James Corden said on "The Late Late Show." "Norm Macdonald passed away today, far too soon, far too young, after a nine-year battle with cancer -- a battle that Norm never told anybody about because all Norm ever wanted to do was to make us laugh." Corden said Macdonald "leaves us as one of the all-time great comics -- perhaps the single greatest guest in the history of late-night television." Macdonald was best known for his work as a writer, performer and host of Weekend Update on "Saturday Night Live" in the 1990s. On "Late Night," Seth Meyers remembered the influence Macdonald had on his approach to anchoring the segment, which Meyers helmed about a decade after Macdonald completed his three-season tenure in 1997. "One of the hardest parts about doing Update for me was not telling every joke the way I thought Norm would tell it -- like I had to beat Norm's delivery out of me," Meyers said. "Tonight Show" host Jimmy Fallon recalled meeting Macdonald for the first time at a hotel in Los Angeles, where the entertainer was having breakfast with fellow comedy legend Bob Newhart. "I go, 'Hi, my name is Jimmy Fallon. I love you so much. You're the best,'" Fallon said. "He looked at me. He goes, 'The best? This is Bob Newhart.' ... He was a comic's comic, and everyone absolutely loved him, top to bottom, and he will be missed."
• As busy as Cedric the Entertainer is with his sitcom "The Neighborhood" and other projects, he quickly said yes when asked to host his first major awards show. Then he sought advice on how to handle the Emmy ceremony, which airs Sunday on CBS. "Steve Harvey, my good friend who's hosted a lot of these 'big nights,' he had some great tidbits for me," said the actor-comedian. Others on his call list were Billy Crystal, Anthony Anderson and Chris Rock, all veterans at emceeing Hollywood bashes. He was already aware of one modern pitfall of hosting: Offensive old jokes, like the ones on Twitter that cost Kevin Hart the Oscar emcee gig in 2018. "Just try not to get canceled beforehand, that's the biggest thing," Cedric joked. Covid-19 precautions have forced Sunday's ceremony from a theater into a glammed-up tent and limited the number of stars in attendance. That's still a step up from last year's event, which was nearly all virtual and sans audience. Cedric said his goal is a show that avoids stuffiness and takes the TV audience "behind the velvet rope."
