With the sad news that comedian Norm Macdonald has died, fans have been sharing some of their favorite jokes and characters from his storied career. But one of the most hilarious things he made happen didn’t even even need Macdonald in the room to work perfectly, just a really clever “Jeopardy!” contestant.
So as you know, during his time as a regular “SNL” cast member, Macdonald sometimes portrayed Burt Reynolds during the show’s frequent “Celebrity Jeopardy” parodies. Macdonald always played Reynolds as an arrogant jerk who enjoyed trolling Alex Trebek (always played by Will Ferrell) by, among other things, forcing the “SNL” version of Trebek to call him “Turd Ferguson.” Ferrell in response played Trebek as super professional, but increasingly exasperated with Burt Reynolds’ nonsense.
The “Celebrity Jeopardy” sketches were always a popular “SNL” mainstay but of course they didn’t reflect the actual show itself. But in 2015 writer Talia Lavin made Macdonald fans’ dreams come true during her appearance as a contestant on “Jeopardy!”.
The episode’s Final Jeopardy answer was: “This song from a 1999 animated film about censorship had a word censored from its Oscar performance.” Alas, Lavin didn’t know the answer so instead, she went out with an epic bang by offering up this question: “What is the Love Ballad of Turd Ferguson. P.S. hi mom.”
Yes, Trebek read the answer aloud, but it sounds like he was wholly unfamiliar with the joke. But everyone else loved it. Good job Talia Lavin, and R.I.P. Norm Macdonald. Watch a supercut of Turd Ferguson moments, including Lavin’s Jeopardy appearance, at the top of the page.
Meanwhile, we’re just sad that “Therapists” has never been a real category.
OH, the answer to that Final Jeopardy, by the way, is “Blame Canada” from “South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut.”