For a country with roughly the population of California, Canada has historically punched absurdly above its weight class in comedy.
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Canada → punch → comedy
Now, two new Netflix documentaries are honouring some of the nation’s most iconic comedians while reintroducing their genius to a new generation.
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documentaries → honour → generation
Director Judd Apatow’s “Norm: The Tale of Norm Macdonald,” which debuted on Friday, uses archival footage and rare home videos to offer an intimate look at the late “Saturday Night Live” alum.
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which → debut → alum
on Oct. 30, Jason Hehir’s “SCTV: The Greatest Show You’ve Never Heard Of” — yes, the title is meant to be tongue-in-cheek — takes a deep dive into Second City Television, chronicling how a ragtag group of improvisers transformed sketch comedy forever in the 1970s and ’80s.
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group → hear → 1970s
(Apatow also executive produced a documentary about the 1972 Toronto stage production of “Godspell,” currently playing in select theatres.
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Apatow → produce → theatres
Far from the Norm
A couple of years ago, Apatow approached Macdonald’s producing partner, Lori Jo Hoekstra, about making a film centred on the comic, whom he first met in the early ’90s when both were doing standup at the Hollywood Improv.
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both → approach → Improv
Rather than conducting new interviews with people who may have known some version of the notoriously enigmatic comedian, Apatow wanted to create a “collage” built entirely from Macdonald’s past performances and media appearances.
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Apatow → conduct → performances
It’s a format, he told the Star, he felt was “the best way to reveal Norm: through all the ways that he presented himself to the world.
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he → ’ → world
In February 2025, Apatow posted an open call on Instagram asking fans for their personal photos and videos of Macdonald.
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Apatow → post → Macdonald
Sifting through this material helped him shape the film’s overall direction.
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Sifting → sift → direction
Instead of following a strictly linear narrative, Apatow’s creative team crafted a series of “mini-docs” focused on different aspects of Macdonald’s life — including his love of Russian literature, his spirituality, his gambling and his turbulent tenure on “Saturday Night Live” —
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team → follow → Live
Apatow said Macdonald would often vacillate between being “hysterical, filthy and outrageous” in one setting and completely “dead serious” in another.
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Macdonald → say → another
“He was a very brilliant, complicated person, and none of it tracks completely,” Apatow said.
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Apatow → track → it
“But what we realized primarily is that he was a guy who loved comedy, loved the art of the joke and making people laugh, and loved his family.
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people → realize → family
The footage we found of him with his mom and his son was the footage where he looked happiest and most at peace.”
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he → find → peace
Macdonald notably kept his nine-year battle with cancer private — with the exception of a few people in his personal life — before his death in 2021.
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Macdonald → keep → 2021
“When you look at the footage from the last nine years through the lens of (his illness), he thinks you don’t know he’s sick, but he’s also expressing some of his feelings about it in code,” Apatow said.
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Apatow → look → code
For instance, Macdonald would sometimes joke about an uncle with cancer.
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Macdonald → joke → cancer
During the research process, Apatow found a YouTube clip of Macdonald talking about how much he admired the actor Richard Farnsworth for not sharing his terminally ill diagnosis while filming his Oscar-nominated role in “The Straight Story.”
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he → find → Story
“Through that interview, he does tell you his philosophy for why he didn’t share it.
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he → tell → it
It’s very moving, but it’s also sad because we all wish we could have been supportive of him during that time,” Apatow added.
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Apatow → ’ → time
While not even Macdonald’s inner circle really knows why he chose to keep his diagnosis a secret, Apatow believes that his friend, in addition to being a very private person, “didn’t want to lose his ability to be funny.”
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friend → know → ability
In his final years — and especially following his death — Macdonald achieved a level of social media virality unmatched by almost any other comedian, Apatow said.
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Apatow → follow → comedian
As a result, the film is structured like a “Norm hole” (a spin on an internet rabbit hole), inviting viewers to spend two hours diving through a curated collection of his greatest hits.
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film → structure → hits
“It’s really a wonderful coda to his comedy career,” Apatow said.
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Apatow → ’ → career
Welcome to the Second City
In 2018, Netflix announced a Martin Scorsese-directed “SCTV” reunion special, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and shot at Toronto’s Elgin Theatre.
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Netflix → welcome → Theatre
But after filming wrapped that May, the project was inexplicably shelved during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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project → wrap → pandemic
In summer 2024, Kimmel approached documentarian Jason Hehir — a lifelong “SCTV” fan best known for directing the Michael Jordan docuseries “The Last Dance” — to revive and overhaul the film.
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Kimmel → approach → film
For Hehir, the central challenge of taking on the 90-minute documentary was structural.
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challenge → take → documentary
“How do you get an audience to actually care about these people making this show when you really don’t have time to dive into any one of their individual stories that deeply?” he said.
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he → get → stories
The filmmaker quickly realized that he needed to treat the ensemble itself as the main character, rather than focusing on each performer.
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he → realize → performer
Though Hehir inherited some footage — including 30-to-40-minute one-on-one sit-downs — he wanted new material.
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he → inherit → material
The crew initially planned to host the cast at Martin Short’s Muskoka cottage, but pivoted after realizing that location had already been used for “Marty, Life Is Short,” the comic actor’s own documentary.
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Life → plan → documentary
Instead, they rented a Toronto home for a single evening in July 2025, reuniting all surviving cast members with the exception of famously private Rick Moranis.
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they → rent → Moranis
(Moranis, however, was still interviewed for the film.)
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Moranis → interview → film
Leading up to the reunion, Hehir asked each cast member to give him a list of their favourite sketches, which he then cut together in a long reel for them to watch on the day.
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them → lead → day
“I said, ‘I’m just trying to jog your memory so that you guys can dig out some old anecdotes and stories and take me through how you were feeling back during the show and your reflections on the show now,’” Hehir recalled, “and they responded beautifully to that.
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they → say → that
Time and tragedy, unfortunately, limited how much new footage Hehir could capture.
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Hehir → limit → footage
He was unable to film a one-on-one with O’Hara before she died six months after the reunion, and because original cast member Joe Flaherty died in 2024 prior to Hehir coming aboard, the director had to rely on previously recorded sit-downs with both actors.
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director → film → actors
Navigating these absences transformed the documentary into both a celebration of “SCTV”‘s legacy and a bittersweet farewell to two of its brightest stars.
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Navigating → navigate → stars
…and 17 more, not listed.
The Aporia
