Norm Macdonald Slams Nanette, Defends Roseanne, Louis C.K.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Norm Macdonald said that although he had never seen out comedian Hannah Gadsby's breakout set Nanette, it "doesn't sound like stand-up to me."

"I have never seen the Nanette thing because I never wanted to comment on it. But from what I have read about it, [Gadsby] is saying that comedy is now not about laughter," said Macdonald, who was fired from Saturday Night Live in the late 1990s after calling Michael Jackson a "homosexual pedophile" and saying trans murder victim Brandon Teena deserved to die.

"And of course that's a slap in the face of a traditional stand-up comedian who thinks that comedy by dictionary definition is about laughter. And that that's your job. You actually do have a job onstage."

Gadsby was quick to clap back at Macdonald's dismissal.

Macdonald, who is promoting his upcoming Netflix talk show Norm Macdonald Has a Show, also campaigned for the redemption of his friends Louis C.K. and Roseanne Barr; the former accused of repeated sexual harassment and the latter fired from her show for a racist tweet. Barr gave Macdonald his first Hollywood gig and once again employed him to write on her show's recent reboot.

"Roseanne was so broken up [after her show's reboot was canceled] that I got Louis to call her, even though Roseanne was very hard on Louis before that. But she was just so broken and just crying constantly," he told THR. "There are very few people that have gone through what they have, losing everything in a day. Of course, people will go, 'What about the victims?' But you know what? The victims didn't have to go through that."

After undermining the immense trauma victims of sexual misconduct and racism face, Macdonald went on to say, "I'm happy the #MeToo movement has slowed down a little bit ... that Chris Hardwick guy I really thought got the blunt end of the stick there."

In response to a speedy backlash to his remarks, Macdonald tweeted out an apology.

He's yet to apologize to Gadsby -- or Brandon Teena's family.