Jack Perkins

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Australian racing driver, see Jack Perkins (racing driver).

Jack Perkins (born December 28, 1933, in Cleveland, Ohio) is an American reporter, commentator, war correspondent, and anchorman. He has been dubbed "America's most literate correspondent" by the Associated Press.

Jack Perkins has appeared on NBC Nightly News and The Today Show, and on A&E as host of Biography. He currently hosts A Gulf Coast Journal, a weekly magazine show which airs on Tampa, Florida PBS affiliate WEDU-TV. He also hosts and narrates special programs on Chattanooga, Tennessee PBS affiliate WTCI-TV.

Currently, Perkins devotes a great deal of his time to creating original photography and poetry which he brings together in books, the most recent being Island Prayers: Photographs and Poems of Praise.

Perkins' son, Eric Perkins, has followed his father into journalism, serving as a sports anchor in Minneapolis, Minnesota, at its NBC affiliate, KARE-TV.

[edit] Parodies

Perkins is also a fan of Mystery Science Theater 3000, on which his Biography introductions have been parodied several times. MST3K series host and head writer Michael J. Nelson played the part of Perkins, depicting him as a somewhat scatter-minded man prone to long, meandering, name-dropping rambles about nothing in particular.

He was similarly spoofed by Darrell Hammond on Saturday Night Live, who played Perkins as a sarcastic alcoholic while hosting Biography.