The Don Pardo Centennial

Today we celebrate the centennial of the birth of NBC announcer Don Pardo (1918-2014).

People my age and younger know Don Pardo almost exclusively as the voice of Saturday Night Live, a job he performed from the show’s inception in 1975 until his death in 2014, almost 40 years. What many didn’t (and don’t) realize was that the hiring of Pardo in that job was something of an eye-winking joke which tied in with SNL‘s many television parodies. Prior to SNL, Pardo was the familiar announcer on many popular game shows. Just prior to SNL he was on Jeopardy! (1964-1975), and just before that, The Price is Right (1956-63). He was also the announcer on such now forgotten game shows as Winner Take All, Three on a Match, Winning Streak, and Jackpot! as well as the NBC Nightly News.

As a native Rhode Islander, I can report with pride that Pardo got his start at WJAR radio in Providence in 1938, and was inducted into the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame in 2009. He became a nationwide staff announcer at NBC in 1944. 40 years later you could hear him on the Weird Al song “I Lost on Jeopardy”! A man whose appeal truly bridged generations.

For more about show business historyconsult No Applause, Just Throw Money: The Book That Made Vaudeville Famous, And please stay tuned for my upcomingElectric Vaudeville: A Century of Radio and TV Variety.