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Norm Macdonald

Just in case you hadn't heard: Norm Macdonald really, really wants to be a host on late-night television.

The Canadian comic and ex-Saturday Night Live regular is making full use of Twitter these days to restate his interest in taking over The Late Late Show post currently occupied by Craig Ferguson, who will leave the show at the end of the year.

Ferguson's departure from late night follows a raft of late-night TV changes that saw Jimmy Fallon take over NBC's The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in February and Stephen Colbert being named new host for CBS's Late Show to replace David Letterman, who will leave some time next year.

In recent weeks, Macdonald (@normmacdonald) has been on Twitter retweeting messages stating that he's the best candidate to succeed Ferguson under the hashtag #latelatenorm.

"Somebody told me there's been about 30,000 tweets about it," Macdonald told The New York Times this week.

As per his offbeat nature, Macdonald is making no apologies for using Twitter to lobby for the Ferguson position.

"You don't want to campaign for it," he mused in the same interview. "On the other hand, you want to be part of the conversation. If it takes walking up to the table where the conversation is taking place, I don't think that's so terrible."

And make no mistake: Macdonald really wants the gig.

"I know you're supposed to be coy and say, 'If nominated I will not run'," he said. "But it would be so cool to get that job."

Macdonald reaffirmed his interest in the Late Late Show job last week on the syndicated talk show Conan – with a one-minute audition.

To the delight of host Conan O'Brien and the studio audience, Macdonald raced through a one-joke monologue, bantered briefly with Conan sidekick Andy Richter and then introduced first guest Fred Willard (who brought along a one-word clip).

And Macdonald isn't deterred by CBS CEO Les Moonves' statement that "it would be great" to hire a woman to replace Ferguson.

"I think some of the women's names are almost too big," he told The New York Times, referencing Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. "So maybe I have a chance because the females are too successful."

As for his resume particulars, Macdonald was a cast regular on SNL from 1993 to 1998 and has also appeared in several films, including Dirty Work and Billy Madison. He was the main attraction on the short-lived sitcoms The Norm Show and A Minute with Stan Hooper and most recently hosted Sports Show with Norm Macdonald on Comedy Central.

All of which may have prepped the 50-year-old comedy veteran (he's seven months older than Stephen Colbert) to host a late-night talk show.

"I'm obviously not flavour of the month," Macdonald told The New York Times. "But I feel I could beat out anyone else. I feel like I'm at my prime fighting age. I feel like a boxer sitting in my hotel room watching some flabby white guys on TV."

Over to you, Mr. Moonves.

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