Darrell Hammond facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Darrell Hammond
Hammond in 2016
Born	Darrell Clayton Hammond (1955-10-08) October 8, 1955 (age 69) Melbourne, Florida, U.S.
Occupation	Actor comedian impressionist announcer
Years active	1980–present
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Hammond ​ ​ (m. 1990; div. 1994)​ ​ ​ (m. 1997; div. 2012)​
Children	1

Darrell Clayton Hammond (born October 8, 1955) is an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and announcer. Hammond was a regular cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2009, and has been its announcer since 2014.

Upon his departure from the cast in 2009, Hammond, at age 53, was the oldest cast member in the show's history. He has made more SNL appearances than any other cast member besides Kenan Thompson, and impersonated more than 107 celebrities, with Bill Clinton as his most frequent impression. On September 19, 2014, Hammond was announced as the new announcer of SNL, replacing Don Pardo, who had died the month before.

Early life

Hammond was born in Melbourne, Florida, the son of Margaret and Max Hammond.

He played baseball in high school and at Brevard Community College. In high school, he was a teammate of future San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy. He went on to attend the University of Florida, where he graduated in 1978 with a degree in advertising and a 2.1 GPA. He credits UF theater professor David Shelton for encouraging his work. After completing college, Hammond moved to New York City where he worked as a waiter, studied at HB Studio, played roles in theater productions, and performed one set at a comedy club at age 26. Hammond then returned to Florida where he was a radio DJ at BJ 105 FM, followed by being a voiceover artist in the Orlando area.

Career

Saturday Night Live

At 32 years old, Hammond moved back to New York to make one last attempt at being a stand-up comedian. After seven years and two failed Saturday Night Live auditions, he was spotted in 1995 by an SNL producer while doing a Bill Clinton impression - shortly after Phil Hartman, who had portrayed Clinton, left the show. After an exclusive audition for creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels, Hammond was brought on board as a cast member and performed for 14 seasons. He previously held the record for the longest consecutive tenure of any SNL cast member in the show's history, until he was surpassed by Kenan Thompson in 2017.

He also holds SNL records for the second most impressions by a single cast member (107, as of the Zac Efron/Yeah Yeah Yeahs episode), beat only by Thompson, and also for the most times saying the show's catchphrase "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" to start the show (76 times, beating out Dana Carvey).

He is best known on the show for not only his impersonations of Bill Clinton, but also Al Gore, Donald Trump, John McCain, Regis Philbin, Dick Cheney, Chris Matthews, Phil Donahue, Phil McGraw, Ted Koppel, John Travolta, Jesse Jackson, Geraldo Rivera, Dan Rather, and Sean Connery, in the recurring "Celebrity Jeopardy!" skits. His impression of Clinton is currently the most frequent SNL impression of all time, appearing in 87 sketches over 14 years in the cast and numerous cameos. Hammond also impersonated SNL announcer Don Pardo, filling in for Pardo on occasions when the announcer was unavailable.

After the end of the 34th season, Hammond retired from the show after a record-breaking 14 years as a repertory player. Hammond was the last SNL cast member from the 1990s to leave the show. After leaving the show, he has made multiple cameo appearances.

In 2014 Hammond took over the announcer role on SNL starting with the 40th-season premiere, replacing Pardo, who had died that August. Since he began as announcer, he has also appeared in skits numerous times reprising his Clinton and Trump impersonations.

The following season Hammond reappeared on the show, doing his impression of Trump just as the real Trump began performing well in the Republican primaries. Hammond moved back to New York in 2016 after Trump won the nomination, expecting to be appearing on a weekly basis during the election. However, SNL producer Lorne Michaels decided instead to go with Alec Baldwin's impression, believing that it more effectively captured the contemporary Trump.

Other work

In the late 1980s, Hammond gained fame for his impersonations of Elmer Fudd and other Looney Tunes characters in the comedy single "Wappin'." The song was popular enough with Dr. Demento listeners to be included on the show's 20th-anniversary compilation.

Hammond is a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show. He has also guest-starred in episodes of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent;. He had his own stand-up comedy special on Comedy Central: Comedy Central Presents Darrell Hammond. Hammond can frequently be seen at The Comedy Cellar in New York City.

In the summer of 2007, Hammond made his Broadway theatre debut, playing the role of Vice Principal Douglas Panch in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In 2009, Hammond had a guest starring role on the FX drama Damages. The same summer, Hammond appeared with Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, and Donald Trump in an Oreo commercial, where he does an impression of Trump.

Beginning in May 2015, Hammond began playing the role of fast-food mascot Colonel Sanders in an ad campaign for KFC, until Norm Macdonald replaced him on August 17, 2015.

Since returning to Los Angeles in 2017, Hammond has appeared in episodes of Criminal Minds, At Home with Amy Sedaris, and a Friday Night Lights spoof series on sports website The Kicker.

Personal life

Hammond married his wife, Elizabeth, on May 9, 1990. The couple divorced in the early 1990s, then remarried in 1997. They have a daughter together, Mia (born 1998). During a 2012 appearance on the Imus in the Morning radio program, Hammond revealed that the couple was in the process of divorcing, and later that same year the divorce became final.

HarperCollins published Hammond's memoir, God, If You're Not Up There, I'm ..., in 2011. In 2015 he adapted it into a one-man play starring himself, directed by Christopher Ashley, which debuted in San Diego, California, at La Jolla Playhouse to positive reviews. The director has expressed plans for a Broadway residency, although Hammond stated he would prefer an actor to play him instead, as he found the tour so stressful he had to be hospitalized twice during the Los Angeles run.

In 2015 Hammond revived his Trump impression on SNL, after Taran Killam's attempt failed to gain public interest. The following year he returned to New York after five years, expecting that with Trump having received the Republican presidential nomination that year, he would be appearing on the show more in the fall. When Alec Baldwin replaced him, Hammond and his girlfriend eventually moved back to Los Angeles, where reminders of Baldwin's Trump impression were less advertised.

Filmography

Film

Television

See also

In Spanish: Darrell Hammond para niños