Fallon was among the comics who praised Macdonald after his death was announced, calling him “one of the greatest comedians ever.”

“God, we’re going to miss him,” Fallon continued. “He was a friend of the show — family, really, to us.” Most other hosts felt the same. Here are some of Macdonald’s greatest late-night moments.

Macdonald made his network television debut on Letterman’s NBC show, “Late Night,” in 1990 and went on to be one of Letterman’s favorite comics. As Letterman was wrapping up his long late-night run in 2015, Macdonald was the last stand-up to perform during Letterman’s tenure. (“In every important way, in the world of stand-up, Norm was the best,” Letterman tweeted on Tuesday.)

But perhaps his most memorable appearance came on “The Late Show,” on CBS, in 1998, right after Macdonald got fired from the Weekend Update desk on “Saturday Night Live.” Macdonald had risen to fame anchoring the segment for three seasons but was abruptly removed, reportedly because the NBC executive Don Ohlmeyer had become exasperated with Macdonald’s biting jokes about Ohlmeyer’s friend O.J. Simpson.

Not long after his dismissal was announced, Macdonald appeared on “The Late Show,” where Letterman lambasted Ohlmeyer, calling Macdonald “one of the funniest men working in television today.”