Darrell Hammond

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Darrell Hammond
Darrell Hammond on stage, 2005
Darrell Hammond on stage, 2005
Born October 8, 1955 (1955-10-08) (age 52)
Melbourne, Florida, U.S.
Medium Television
Nationality American
Spouse Elizabeth

Darrell Hammond (born October 8, 1955) is an American comedian who has been a cast member of Saturday Night Live (SNL) since 1995. He has made more SNL appearances, by far, than any other cast member in its entire history.

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[edit] Biography

[edit] Personal life

Hammond was born in Tampa, Florida. Darrell graduated from Melbourne High School in Melbourne, Florida in 1973 and then attended Brevard Community College and University of Florida at Gainesville where he majored in broadcasting. After completing college, Hammond moved to New York City where he lived for several years before joining the cast of SNL. He married his wife, Elizabeth, in 1986 but the death of a close personal friend of his in 1991 led to a relapse of drug and alcohol abuse.[1] They divorced in the early 1990s and remarried in 1997. They now have a daughter named Mia who was born in 1998.

When he isn't busy working Darrell is involved with numerous charitable causes and enjoys spending time working for causes important to him.

[edit] Career

Midway between the 2004–2005 season, Hammond set the record for the longest consecutive tenure of any SNL cast member in the show's history. He also holds SNL records for most impressions by a single cast-member, and most times for saying the legendary catch-phrase "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!" to start the show (beating out Dana Carvey).

Principally an impressionist, he became famous for his impressions of Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ted Koppel, Bill O'Reilly, Regis Philbin, Jack Perkins, Dick Cheney, Colin Powell, Donald Rumsfeld, Dr. Phil, Jesse Jackson, Phil Donahue, Don Imus, Jay Leno, Bob Costas, Tim Russert, Dan Rather, Geraldo Rivera, Richard Dreyfuss, Tony Soprano, Rudy Giuliani, Al Gore, and George W. Bush. Although he does many impressions, he is best known for his segments impersonating Sean Connery, Bill Clinton, Chris Matthews from Hardball, and more recently Donald Trump and John McCain. When veteran announcer Don Pardo is unavailable, Hammond fills in to introduce the cast, with a spot-on Pardo impersonation. In the film Epic Movie, he parodies Johnny Depp's role as Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Caribbean. On several occasions his fake moustaches seem to fall off, examples of this can be seen in the Ludacris episode as well as the Ian McKellen/Kylie Minogue episode (both of which were covered up by ad-libs referring to Hammond's mustache coming undone).

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 so popular with Dr. Demento listeners, it was 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.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Mo Rocca
Portraying Vice Principal Douglas Panch in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
June 2007-present
Succeeded by
imcumbent, currently performing as Vice Principal Douglas Panch
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