# RIP Don Pardo **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 19, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880 "2014-08-19T06:23:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/1 "2014-08-19T06:23:54Z")
Don Pardo [died.](http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/08/19/don-pardo-voice-of-saturday-night-live-dead-at-96/) ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/2 "2014-08-19T07:48:22Z")
I remember him from his days as the announcer on “Jeopardy”. He lived a good full life. He lived here in Tucson, where he “retired,” yet he continued to announce for SNL, sometimes recording his lines in a studio in his home, but for a time he also regularly commuted to New York to do the show live. Another famous voice disappears from the airwaves. So long, Don. Enjoy the 20 volume set of the Encyclopedia International, the case of Turtle Wax, and the year’s supply of Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat, in the afterlife, along with this copy of our home game. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/3 "2014-08-19T08:09:41Z")
[Use Shorter Words](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkyqoiciL-k). ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/4 "2014-08-19T12:47:28Z")
I took a tour of NBC studios, eons ago, and saw him from behind, sitting in a red shirt on the other side of the glass, announcing something or other. The man announced damned near everything in the 1960s and 1970s, especially game shows. He’s probably best known these days for his SNL announcements. I think he’s the only one who was there the whole time, through all the regime sand staff changes. In the early years they actually gave him some lines – he interacted with Dan Ayckroyd and Jane Curtin on Weekend Update, and he used to do what sounded like ad-libbing at the end of the show (even though they reportedly hated ad-libbing). I’ve heard that, in later years, he sent in announcement from his retirement residence, or that sometimes other people imitated his voice for the announcements. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/5 "2014-08-19T12:52:18Z")
I remember him from his Jeopardy days, with Art Fleming the host. One of the great announcer voices of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/6 "2014-08-19T13:00:47Z")
In many ways, the man was the voice of TV. He was so familiar to everyone that when you heard him, you immediately recognized him but were completely unsurprised. Like, who ELSE would it be in the voiceover? ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/7 "2014-08-19T13:13:20Z")
According to the NPR news story this morning, Pardo began his career at NBC in 1944. How many others could say they worked for the same company for 70 years? I too remember him from the original Jeopardy! and other NBC game shows of the 60s. Great pipes, but also a “twinkle” in his voice, as it were. R.I.P. Don. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/8 "2014-08-19T13:16:02Z")
And now it’s time for another episode of… Samurai Mortician! Man, it’s been a rough couple of weeks for celebrity deaths. RIP, Don. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/9 "2014-08-19T14:05:19Z")
he is best known as a tv game show announcer. before that he was an announcer for some old time radio drama and science fiction. to me it always is a cultural shift to hear voices of those you know as tv actors or announcers in their earlier radio work. ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/10 "2014-08-19T14:25:32Z")
On The Bob and Tom Show today they played a clip of him announcing the shooting of JFK and said he was one of the first on the air to announce it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/11 "2014-08-19T14:49:37Z")
RIP, [Slime](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWA-TXJmeQo&feature=player_detailpage#t=71). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/12 "2014-08-19T14:50:28Z")
One of the best gags in the movies, EVER: Woody Allen’s “Radio Days”–a team of crooks is emptying out a family’s house when the phone rings and one of them answers it. It’s DON PARDO hosting “Guess That Tune” (with full orchestra). They play the tune, the crook correctly IDs it, Pardo tells him he’s won a full house of furniture and sundries. So the crooks completely clean out the house; they take everything! The next day, the family is sitting on the front porch, heads in hands, despondent over having been cleaned out, when a HUGE truck pulls up in front and unloads everything they need! There was no mistaking that voice! Ever! Chicago 60609. ---
**Author:** ![JerrySTL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e274bd/32.png) [@JerrySTL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JerrySTL)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/13 "2014-08-19T15:01:20Z")
He did a great parody of himself in Weird Al Yankovic’s “I Lost On Jeopardy” music video. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/14 "2014-08-19T15:03:11Z")
Ddamn; Don Pardo was one of my two favorite Dons. Now I’ve just got the one left. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/15 "2014-08-19T15:32:00Z")
> [@JerrySTL](#): > > He did a great parody of himself in Weird Al Yankovic’s “I Lost On Jeopardy” music video. “You don’t get to come back tomorrow!” ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/16 "2014-08-19T15:32:39Z")
I’ll have to listen to KFOG this morning for Ten at Ten. I’m sure they’ll do a tribute. We’re losing the great announcers. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/17 "2014-08-19T16:49:55Z")
RIP I could have sworn he voiced a couple of the Space Quest Games but IMDB doesn’t show it. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/18 "2014-08-19T16:50:34Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > On The Bob and Tom Show today they played a clip of him announcing the shooting of JFK and said he was one of the first on the air to announce it. For those of you who’ve never heard Don Pardo as anything but a hyped up parody of himself, here he is announcing[NBC’s first bulletins about the Kennedy shooting](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgvwA8UUaC0). ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/19 "2014-08-19T16:57:59Z")
His continuing to work so long into a long life was inspirational. ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/20 "2014-08-19T17:29:20Z")
The first time I saw SNL as a kid, hearing Pardo’s voice sounded so weird to me. I thought he was from the “clean” world, and that he had ventured into forbidden territory somehow. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880.md?page=2)