Which of the following moments from Norm Macdonald’s career highlight reel makes him the ideal candidate to host a new Comedy Central series about the world of sports?

Is it the bit from his recent stand-up special about his plan to get away with murdering a woman in cold blood? The fact that he already has two unheralded network sitcoms on his résumé? Or that in his most prominent role as a comedy news anchor, at the “Weekend Update” desk of “Saturday Night Live,” he was pulled from the job?

These elements all contribute to the mystique of Mr. Macdonald, a performer with a cheerful, mumbly delivery, a cult following and his first full-time onscreen job in seven years.

He is the host of “Sports Show With Norm Macdonald,” which makes its debut on Tuesday, and which Comedy Central excitedly hopes will do for professional athletics what “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” did for politics.