Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Sep 15, 2021

Passing: Sad to report that comedian and "Saturday Night Live" vet NORM MACDONALD passed away yesterday. He was 61. Norm, who made his career as anchor of SNL's "Weekend Update," had reportedly been battling cancer for several years but kept his diagnosis private. He was on "Saturday Night Live" from 1994 to 1998 as the "Weekend Update" anchor, then --after NBC dropped him, went on to star in his own comedy series, "The Norm Show," which ran from 1999-2001.

Politically correct: California's 72-year-old Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows --the largest ski resort in California-- has changed its name to Palisades Tahoe, because of possible offensiveness to local Native American groups, who believe the word "squaw" is misogynistic and racist toward their women. The new name will reportedly be emblazoned by the beginning of this year's ski season.

Possibly getting married --again: PRINCE ANDREW and his ex-wife SARAH FERGUSON-- but first he'll have to get through a sexual assault lawsuit from VIRGINIA GIUFFRE, who claims she was forced to have sex with the prince three times, beginning when she was 17. Vanity Fair magazine reports the Prince and Sarah have been living together during the COVID-19 pandemic, and Fergie told one newspaper that she still lives by her vows from her 1986 marriage, even though the couple divorced in 1996.

The folks at Deloitte Touche, which keep an eye on business around the world, say that there'll be more holiday shopping this year than we saw last year --around 9-percent, to be specific. That amounts to more than $1.3 trillion dollars. And while many Americans bought stuff for their homes last year, this year the company says they expect other categories like apparel will be bigger.

Add comedian JIM BREUER to the list of anti-vaxxers. He announced on his Facebook Live account yesterday that he will cancel any shows at locations which require proof of COVID vaccinations. “I know I’m going to sacrifice a lot of money," he said, "but I’m not going to be enslaved to the system or money.” He claims that his venues are holding his audiences “hostage” by pro-vax lawmakers and corporate ticketing vendors.

More COVID: Somebody --or maybe more than one person in Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN's entourage has contracted COVID-19, Which Reuters says has made him announce that he'll be self-isolating and not traveling this week for planned regional security meetings. Instead, he'll be doing all his meetings with video links --although it may be hard to picture Putin using Zoom to speak with other nation's bigwigs.

Last COVID: You may want to know that as of Monday morning, more than 96-thousand hospital beds across the country are filled with COVID-19 patients. CNN reports about 80% of intensive care unit beds are in use, and people who need to go to the hospital --not because of COVID-- are having a tough time finding a bed. In addition, hospitals are also having staffing problems and many are scrambling for incentives to retain nurses amid shortage

Superheros --and villains: HBO Max is reportedly putting together a series about The Penguin which will be a spinoff of “The Batman.” Variety reports COLIN FARRELL will be playing the Penguin in “The Batman,” and has reportedly been approached to star in the spinoff series but so far --nothing has been finalized.

More tube talk: Look for IDRIS ELBA to return as detective John Luther for a “Luther” movie at Netflix, with co-stars CYNTHIA ERIVO and ANDY SERKIS. No word about the plot except it's supposedly going to continue the series which ran for five seasons on the BBC.

And... if you're a fan of the paparazzi show "TMZ," the folks at FOX have purchased the show, along with TMZ founder and managing editor HARVEY LEVIN, for around $50-million dollars. That means FOX will get “TMZ” and “TMZ Live,” both of which already are on 18 FOX affiliates, in addition to “TMZ Sports,” and the website TMZ.com.