Norm Macdonald was a cast member on Saturday Night Live for almost 4 years. His time there came to a halt unexpectedly after having "a disagreement with the management," as he put it in his opening monologue when he was asked to come back and host the show, a year and a half after he was fired.

Norm was known for hosting the Weekend Update segment of the show where he did jokes on news stories. Here's a clip of Norm Macdonald, Dennis Miller, and Kevin Nealon on Lights Out with David Spade, all former Weekend Update hosts.

Related: 20 Confusing Facts About David Spade

What Norm did at the desk was unique and paved the way for future hosts of the desk. Like Dennis Miller says about Norm, "that was the first time this country has ever heard here's the fake news... Norm invented the phrase 'fake news.'"

Related: 15 Things Tina Fey Has Said About Saturday Night Live And Its Cast

How He Got Fired

On The Daily Beast, Matt Wilstein explained simply how Norm got fired: "As the story goes, NBC executive and longtime Simpson friend Don Ohlmeyer canned both Macdonald and writer Jim Downey for their relentlessly brutal treatment of the acquitted football star. “Don, being good friends with O.J., had just had enough,” Downey, who would later return to the show, told Splitsider in a 2014 interview. “We weren’t holding back.”

Here are some examples of the jokes from The Daily Beast article:

“After grisly photos of the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson were shown in court, O.J. turned his head away and wept. It was at that moment that he realized he would never be able to kill her again.”

“Well, it’s official: Murder is now legal in the state of California.”

In the extended version of the interview, Norm is asked, "What about all those O.J. jokes you made on “Weekend Update?” Do you feel OK about how that played out?" he answers, "Well, I’m not completely sure he’s guilty anymore... I’m almost completely sure, but I’m not completely sure."

When he's asked, "What changed your mind?" Norm answers the way he would by saying, "The fact that his son may have done it, I guess. [This theory has been widely debunked.] They had the same DNA. I don’t know much about DNA. You know how O.J. was the greatest rusher in the history of the NFL? I guess I was the greatest rusher-to-judgment. Wait, one second, hold on. [The phone cuts out for a few seconds.] Sorry about that, I had to hit a tree."

Related: 72-Year Old O.J. Simpson Is Spotted Partying With The Ladies!

The Monologue

What is so interesting is that Norm Macdonald was asked to come back to host the show merely a year and a half after he was fired. Being a comic having gone through that, he of course, addressed the situation in his opening monologue.

In his monologue, he says, "They fired me because they said that I wasn't funny. Now with most jobs, I could've had a hell of a lawsuit in my hands with that but this is a comedy show, so they got me. Here's the funny part, it's only a year and a half later and they asked me to host the show. So I wondered I go hey, wait a second here, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. How did I go in a year and a half from being not funny enough to even be allowed in the building, to being so funny that I'm now hosting the show? How did I suddenly get so god damn funny? It was inexplicable to me, because a year and a half, let's face it, is not enough time for a dude to learn how to be funny. Then it occurred to me, I haven't gotten funnier, the show has gotten really bad."

When he says that last line, you can hear the people in the audience booing him. In an interview later with HuffPost, he says "You can hear it if you listen to it but the writers boo during that, after not writing anything for the entire show."

But the booing doesn't stop him. He goes on with his monologue, "So yeah, I'm funny compared to you know, what you'll see later. So let's recap. The bad news is I'm still not funny. The good news is, the show blows! Alright, folks, we got a bad show for you tonight..."

In his HuffPost interview, Macdonald adds that he initially wanted to do something else but he was talked out of it. He was going to do the monologue and leave, then let the cast do the rest of the show without a host but alas, he stayed for the whole night and finished the show.

Considering the way and reason he was fired, the way Norm came back was absolutely incredible. Not only did he deliver a killer set, but he also took a few jabs at the show itself. What a great way to get back at your old boss, in your old office.

NEXT: 15 Saturday Night Live Cast Members Who Were Fired (And Why)