I am on my honeymoon this week, but wanted to acknowledge, however briefly, the passing of Don Pardo, who was announcer for “Saturday Night Live” from the show’s 1975 birth until its star-studded Samberg-hosted season finale last May (excepting SNL’s seventh, 1982-1983, season when Lorne Michaels was on hiatus from SNL and halfwit NBC executive-turned-producer Dick Ebersol decided SNL was better off without Pardo).
Pardo was 96.
SNL launches its 40th season next month.
Pardo began his career at NBC during World War II and never left. His second-most-famous gig was announcer for “Jeopardy!” but he also served as the original voice of “The Price Is Right” and announced for NBC’s nightly newscast and a variety of NBC game shows. As the network’s on-duty booth announcer, Pardo was first to tell NBC audiences that President Kennedy had been shot in Dallas.
