Darrell Hammond is back at Saturday Night Live


Live from New York, it's Darrell Hammond: The former Saturday Night Live cast member is taking over announcing duties for the show, following the August death of Don Pardo.
Hammond, 58, had the longest tenure on the show — 14 years, from 1995 to 2009. Known for his impressions of Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, and Regis Philbin (among dozens of others), he also had to impersonate longtime announcer Pardo on occasion. "I sat in for Don when he had laryngitis several times over the years," Hammond told USA Today. "He was a lovely person. When he passed, they wanted me; it felt right for me to be the one to replace him. It's been a very improbable life; I didn't expect something like this, but it feels real good."
In his new role as announcer, don't expect Hammond to mimic Pardo. "I just knew it wouldn't be anybody who sounded like Don or replicated him," says Lorne Michaels, SNL's executive producer. "It can't be what it was, but it could sort of be in the same tradition."
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The 40th season of Saturday Night Live starts Sept. 27.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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