'Saturday Night Live' Alum Darrell Hammond New Announcer Replacing the Late Don Pardo for Upcoming 40th Season

 

'Saturday Night Live' Alum Darrell Hammond New Announcer Replacing the Late Don Pardo for Upcoming 40th Season  

The long-time voice of "Saturday Night Live", announcer Don Pardo, passed away last month at age 96. He was hired for  "SNL" in 1975. Pardo's signature vocal delivery was a staple on the series for 38 seasons. NBC has decided to bring in "SNL" alum Darrell Hammond to take over for Pardo as new announcer of the live-comedy show. 

"I just knew it wouldn't be anybody who sounded like Don or replicated him," producer Lorne Michaels told USA Today. "It can't be what it was, but it could sort of be in the same tradition. And it will be nice to have Darrell around. He understands the show and will probably be helpful in ways we haven't yet figured out."

Hammond was a cast member on "Saturday Night Live" from 1995-2009 and was best known for his impressions on the show including Bill Clinton, Sean Connery, Donald Trump and several others. 

"SNL" has been going through a lot of changes they have announced more today for the upcoming 40th season. Comedian/writer Michael Che is set to replace Cecily Strong as the anchor for the weekly segment "Weekend Update". Che will co-anchor the segment with Colin Jost, who began to co-anchor with Strong midway through last season. 

Strong will stay on as a full-time member of the "SNL" this season. "SNL" Exec producer Lorne Michaels told the New York Times that he just wanted a fresh mix on "Update."

"This is about a new era, what feels appropriate for now," Michaels shared with the Times. "That's why we did a lot of combinations and tests, and this is kind of where we came out."

NBC's long-running live comedy show "Saturday Night Live" has a low season last year in ratings and entertainment value. With the underwhelming seasons, the cast has also seen many key members leave the past few seasons including Kristen Wiig and Nasim Pedrad. 

So with the 40th seasons premiere of "SNL" coming up in a few weeks, they want to start off on the right foot. They have announced that Guardians of the Galaxy movie star Chris Pratt has been announced to host and the musical guest will be Ariana Grande for the premiere on September 27th on NBC. 

For "SNL" second episode on October 4th, they have tapped comedian-actress (and former SNL cast member) Sarah Silverman to make her hosting debut, with Maroon 5 making their fifth overall appearance as musical guest. Silverman's latest comedy album, We Are Miracles (taken from her Emmy-winning HBO stand-up special) will hit shelves on September 23rd; Maroon 5 released their fifth LP, V, earlier this month. 

Popular "Saturday Night Live" alum Bill Hader will be returning to the NBC live comedy show on October 11th to host. The musical guest during Hader's return will be Hozier. 

 

 

Tags : saturday night live SNL Saturday night live NBC Saturday Night Live 40th season Saturday Night Live darrell hammond Saturday Night Live season 40 Saturday Night Live new announcer Saturday night live ariana grande Saturday Night Live premiere Fall 2014 darrell hammond don pardo chris pratt Guardians of the Galaxy sarah silverman