Comedians the world over dreamed of hearing their names introduced by Don Pardo on Saturday Night Live the way Little League baseball players want Joe Buck to call their World Series winning homers. Pardo called the names of generations of influential not-ready-for-prime-time players–from John Belushi to Kristen Wiig. (Though the players no longer went by that memorable moniker after season five.) Pardo died at age 96 after a long career in TV and, before that, radio.
On SNL Pardo seemed somehow to take particular delight in saying Will Ferrell, Ana Gasteyer and Horatio Sans, whose first name he walloped with affection and energy until it came tumbling down from the rafters like a waterfall. And that’s not even to mention the exhilaration Pardo clearly felt introducing the rhyming Cheri Oteri. He will be greatly missed by legions of fans. Pardo is the only announcer inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. The Academy runs the Emmy Awards.
