--- description: Darrell Hammond, the longest-serving cast member in Saturday Night Live history, is returning to be the voice of the show. title: Darrell Hammond Will Be New Voice of Saturday Night Live image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ceb46a4999fd7a7/6986a3f106f2c14fda330c82/darrell-hammond.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Darrell Hammond Is Headed Back to _SNL_ As the Voice of the Show  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 18, 2014 12:42 PM CUT  Actor Darrell Hammond visits the SiriusXM studios on January 23, 2013 in New York City. Actor Darrell Hammond visits the SiriusXM studios on January 23, 2013 in New York City.Ilya S. Savenok—Getty Images  by [Noah Rayman](/author/noah-rayman/)  ## Noah Rayman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 18, 2014 12:42 PM CUT Darrell Hammond, the longest-serving cast member in _Saturday Night Live_ history, [is returning](http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/business/media/darrell-hammond-to-replace-don-pardo-as-the-announcer-for-saturday-night-live.html?%5Fr=0 "undefined") to be the voice of the show. Hammond will take over as the show’s announcer after Don Pardo, the host for all 39 seasons of SNL, [died](http://time.com/3141928/saturday-night-live-don-pardo-dead-at-96/ "undefined") in August at age 96\. The show’s 40th season begins Sept. 27. SNL’s Weekend Update segment confirmed the move—first reported by the New York _Times_ and USA Today—in a tweet: > [](https://twitter.com/SNLUpdate/status/512606197229563904) Hammond, the master of impressions, was a cast member from 1995 until 2009\. As host, he won’t be expected to replicate Pardo’s announcer voice, Executive Producer Lorne Michaels told the _Times_. “He had the greatest run and he’s a completely beloved figure. So I thought: Don’t turn this into something else. That period ended,” he said. “I think it will be good to have Darrell doing his own separate thing.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3397780/darrell-hammond-snl-host-don-pardo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3397780/darrell-hammond-snl-host-don-pardo/"},"headline":"Darrell Hammond Is Headed Back to SNL As the Voice of the Show","datePublished":"2014-09-18T12:42:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:16:12.163Z","description":"Live from New York, it's Darrell Hammond","url":"https://time.com/3397780/darrell-hammond-snl-host-don-pardo/","keywords":["Television","celebrities","NBC","SNL","Saturday Night Live"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ceb46a4999fd7a7/6986a3f106f2c14fda330c82/darrell-hammond.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Noah Rayman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/noah-rayman/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4ceb46a4999fd7a7/6986a3f106f2c14fda330c82/darrell-hammond.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Celebrities Visit SiriusXM Studios - January 23, 2013","caption":"Celebrities Visit SiriusXM Studios - January 23, 2013","creditText":"Ilya S. Savenok—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3397780/darrell-hammond-snl-host-don-pardo/","name":"Darrell Hammond Is Headed Back to SNL As the Voice of the Show"}}]}] ```