To replace a legend that began with the start of “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, Lorne Michaels has reached back to a different era in the show’s history: Darrell Hammond will be the announcer this season of “SNL,” stepping in for the late Don Pardo.
NBC will make the appointment official in an announcement Thursday.
Hammond served longer than any other performer in the history of the NBC broadcast, working in the cast from 1995 until 2009. He also had the distinction of quietly subbing for Pardo on several occasions when the announcer could not do the show for health reasons. Hammond, who was among the best impressionists in the history of “SNL,” read in the introductions in the famous Pardo voice.
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Most memorably, in a show from 1999, when Pardo found at dress rehearsal that he was developing an incapacitating case of laryngitis, Hammond not only performed the introduction (“Live from New York…”) but played Pardo (in voice only) in the opening monologue with host James Vanderbeek. (In a later interview, Pardo said he heard from his sister-in-law the next day, praising him for his comic repartee with the host.)
Michaels, the show’s creator and executive producer, said replacing Pardo was a task he had never looked forward to, having continued to employ Pardo’s legendary voice well into the announcer’s advancing years. Pardo died in August at 96.
“There were a lot of sweet ideas about carrying on with Don somehow,” Michaels said in an interview. “Because everyone has a Pardo impression. But he had the greatest run and he’s a completely beloved figure. So I thought: Don’t turn this into something else. That period ended.”
At the time of Pardo’s death, Hammond spoke warmly of his work replacing him on the four or five occasions Pardo could not perform. He said then that he would be “honored and thrilled” to be chosen as the second regular announcer in the 40-year history of the show.
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Michaels said of his decision to select Hammond: “I’m really happy about it. I think it will be good to have Darrell doing his own separate thing.”