33 Facts About Darrell Hammond

Darrell Clayton Hammond was born on October 8,1955 and is an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and announcer.

Darrell 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.

Darrell Hammond 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, Darrell Hammond was announced as the new announcer of SNL, replacing Don Pardo, who had died the month before.

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

Darrell Hammond was severely abused by his mother, contributing to his lifelong struggles with depression and substance abuse.

Darrell Hammond's father, dealing with his own psychological problems resulting from his military service during World War II, often drank heavily and acted out violently.

Darrell Hammond found as a child that doing impressions was the only thing he did his mother liked.

Darrell Hammond played baseball in high school and at Brevard Community College.

Darrell Hammond went on to attend the University of Florida, where he graduated in 1978 with a degree in advertising and a 2.1 GPA.

Darrell Hammond then returned to Florida where he was a radio DJ at BJ 105 FM, telling Howard Stern in 2002, "First I tried to be a jock, which I really sucked at," followed by being a voiceover artist in the Orlando area.

At 32 years old, Darrell Hammond moved back to New York to make one last attempt at being a stand-up comedian.

Darrell Hammond impersonated SNL announcer Don Pardo, filling in for Pardo on occasions when the announcer was unavailable.

Darrell Hammond initially planned to leave Saturday Night Live, after the conclusion of season 31, after 11 years, but many people at SNL, including his then-manager Bernie Brillstein, advised him to stay on.

Darrell Hammond describes his last three seasons as a difficult period, as all the writers who knew how to write for him had left by the start of his 12th season.

Darrell Hammond was the last SNL cast member from the 1990s to leave the show.

One of the ways Darrell Hammond figured out it was time to leave was after he wasn't assigned the role of any Obama administration figures.

In 2014, Darrell Hammond took over the announcer role on SNL starting with the 40th-season premiere, replacing Pardo, who had died a month prior.

Darrell Hammond was told by executive producer Lorne Michaels not to directly impersonate Pardo, so Hammond ended up using his own voice for the announcement gig.

Darrell Hammond moved back to New York in 2016 after Trump won the nomination, expecting to be appearing on a weekly basis during the election.

Darrell Hammond is a frequent guest on The Howard Stern Show.

Darrell Hammond had his own stand-up comedy special on Comedy Central: Comedy Central Presents Darrell Hammond.

In 2009, Darrell Hammond had a guest starring role on the FX drama Damages.

Since returning to Los Angeles in 2017, Darrell 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.

Darrell Hammond has admitted to struggling with alcoholism and cocaine addiction.

Darrell Hammond regularly wears all black when not performing as an homage to another friend who died by suicide in 1992.

Monteleone, who was driving Darrell Hammond's vehicle at the time of the accident, is a Manhattan real estate agent.

Darrell Hammond says that he was medicated throughout his tenure on Saturday Night Live, and that he cut himself backstage and was once taken from the studio to a psychiatric ward.

The director has expressed plans for a Broadway residency, although Darrell 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, Darrell Hammond revived his Trump impression on SNL, after Taran Killam's attempt didn't sufficiently capture public interest.

One evening, while the ship was docked in the Bahamas, Darrell Hammond says he visited a restaurant, where he consumed the equivalent of 16 shots of rum.

Darrell Hammond claimed that a man repeatedly asked him throughout the evening to take a dollar bill with trace amounts of cocaine on it.

Darrell Hammond was released after his father traveled to the Bahamas and paid $3,000 for his son's release.