Don Pardo voiced the introductions of Saturday Night Live for 38 seasons. He began calling out the names of the S.N.L. cast members during the first episode in October, 1975, and (except for the 1981-82 season) he kept calling out those names straight through last May. Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Tina Fey — he called them all. Thanks to an impersonator, you can hear a compilation of Pardo’s call for every cast member.
Don Pardo died yesterday at 96 years of age. Earlier in his career, he was the announcer for a number of American TV shows, including The Price Is Right, Jackpot, and Jeopardy!. But his voice became part of the fabric of America’s greatest comedy show, Saturday Night Live. And he continued voicing the intro long after his formal retirement from NBC in 2004. Not lacking energy (watch him blow out his candles on his 90th birthday), Pardo flew from Tucson to New York weekly to get S.N.L. started. Above, we have a short video that features Pardo, then 88, showing off, his sheer linguistic awesomeness.
Somehow, I’m now hoping that whenever my day comes, Don Pardo’s voice will introduce me on the other side.
Related Content:
The Stunt That Got Elvis Costello Banned From Saturday Night Live
William S. Burroughs on Saturday Night Live, 1981
Lorne Michaels Introduces Saturday Night Live and Its Brilliant First Cast for the Very First Time (1975)
Don Pardo (1918-2014), Voice of Saturday Night Live, Suggests Using Short Words is a post from: Open Culture. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus, or get our Daily Email. And don’t miss our big collections of Free Online Courses, Free Online Movies, Free eBooks, Free Audio Books, Free Foreign Language Lessons, and MOOCs.
The post Don Pardo (1918-2014), Voice of Saturday Night Live, Suggests Using Short Words appeared first on Open Culture.
Don Pardo (1918-2014), Voice of Saturday Night Live, Suggests Using Short Words
No comments:
Post a Comment