# 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:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**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, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/21 "2014-08-19T17:42:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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. Yes, but in 2006, at the request of SNL producers, he began flying from his home in Tucson to New York every weekend to announce the show live. He did that for four seasons, than resumed taping his lines from his home. He appeared on the show on February 23, 2008, to blow out the candles on his cake on his 90th birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/22 "2014-08-19T18:09:27Z")
> [@GrandWino](#): > > “You don’t get to come back tomorrow!” “You don’t even get a copy of our home game!” “You’re a complete loser!” RIP Don. (My golf partner’s name is Don. Often times when he pars a hole I call him Don Pardo.) ---
**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, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/23 "2014-08-19T19:16:54Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > Yes, but in 2006, at the request of SNL producers, he began flying from his home in Tucson to New York every weekend to announce the show live. He did that for four seasons, than resumed taping his lines from his home. He appeared on the show on February 23, 2008, to blow out the candles on his cake on his 90th birthday. Yep - But also there have been times when Darrel Hammond has filled in with an impression when Pardo was unavailable (due to illness, maybe?). ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/24 "2014-08-19T19:32:57Z")
I used to come home at lunchtime every day during the Sixties and Seventies, to watch _ **Jeopardy!** _ RIP, DOn. I’ll salute him with his greatest musical performance: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWA-TXJmeQo) ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/25 "2014-08-19T20:23:37Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > RIP > > I could have sworn he voiced a couple of the Space Quest Games but IMDB doesn’t show it. You are thinking of Garry Owens, who was also famous for being the announcer on _Laugh in_ and he was the voice of Roger Ramjet. He is still alive!. > **[Gary Owens](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Owens)** > > Gary Owens (born Gary Bernard Altman; May 10, 1934 – February 12, 2015) was an American disc jockey, voice actor, announcer and radio personality. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offered deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the announcer on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In. Owens was equally proficient in straight or silly assignments and was frequently heard on television and radio as well as in commercials. > He was best known, aside from being the a... ---
**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, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/26 "2014-08-19T21:09:20Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > You are thinking of Garry Owens, who was also famous for being the announcer on _Laugh in_ and he was the voice of Roger Ramjet. > > He is still alive!. > > [Gary Owens - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Owens) Garry Owens also did some audio books. His voice is great, but when he read Shenkman’s **Legends, Lies, and Cherished Myths of American History** he frequently sounded as if he’d never seen the text he was reading before. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2014, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/27 "2014-08-19T22:19:51Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > You are thinking of Garry Owens, who was also famous for being the announcer on _Laugh in_ and he was the voice of Roger Ramjet. And Space Ghost, in the pre-Coast-to-Coast years. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/28 "2014-08-20T01:18:49Z")
> [@GIGObuster](#): > > You are thinking of Garry Owens, who was also famous for being the announcer on _Laugh in_ and he was the voice of Roger Ramjet. > > He is still alive!. > > [Gary Owens - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Owens) Indeed I am! Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/29 "2014-08-20T01:27:00Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I used to come home at lunchtime every day during the Sixties and Seventies, to watch _ **Jeopardy!** _ RIP, DOn. > > I’ll salute him with his greatest musical performance: > > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWA-TXJmeQo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWA-TXJmeQo) Superb! I assumed is was going to be “I Lost on Jeopardy.” ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/30 "2014-08-20T02:01:38Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > 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! [Here’s that scene.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0SK1ZUXyg) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/31 "2014-08-20T02:51:51Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Superb! I assumed is was going to be “I Lost on Jeopardy.” For those who don’t know, my link was to Pardo providing guest vocalist on Frank Zappa’s “I’m the Slime” on SNL. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/32 "2014-08-20T03:09:26Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > For those who don’t know, my link was to Pardo providing guest vocalist on Frank Zappa’s “I’m the Slime” on SNL. And in all due respect **Marley** posted the same link in post 11, which I missed. I’ve always liked that song from Overnight Sensation, my favourite Zappa album by hundreds of miles. I learned about [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VuiBBX6aZA) Zappa video a few weeks on here: Genius in France. Amazingly great style parody. ETA: [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/33 "2014-08-20T14:05:25Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > And in all due respect **Marley** posted the same link in post 11, which I missed. So he did. Sorry, Marley. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/34 "2014-08-20T14:38:11Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I remember him from his Jeopardy days, with Art Fleming the host. One of the great announcer voices of all time. Not just any announcer voice, **Bob!** ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2014, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/35 "2014-08-20T14:40:28Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > So he did. Sorry, Marley. Eh, I didn’t identify the song clearly. > [@Leaffan](#): > > I learned about [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VuiBBX6aZA) Zappa video a few weeks on here: Genius in France. Amazingly great style parody. You can tell that Weird Al knows Zappa’s stuff very, very well. That not only sounds like a Zappa song, it sounds like a particular type of Zappa song. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/36 "2014-08-21T22:23:07Z")
This was a “he was still alive?” moment for me. Maybe if SNL had been worth watching over the last 25 years, I would have known. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2014, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/37 "2014-08-21T23:16:12Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I remember him from his Jeopardy days, with Art Fleming the host. One of the great announcer voices of all time. Having been on Jeopardy in 1975, I have the distinction of having been announced by Don Pardo. > [@california\_jobcase](#): > > This was a “he was still alive?” moment for me. Maybe if SNL had been worth watching over the last 25 years, I would have known. Odd how you know it wasn’t worth watching without having watched it.😃 ---
**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 22, 2014, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/38 "2014-08-22T03:42:22Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > [Here’s that scene.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt0SK1ZUXyg) Hey, **lawoot** , thanks for finding that clip. Much obliged. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2014, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880/39 "2014-08-22T09:27:49Z")
Is he the oldest person (at 96) ever to be a regular on a television show?: > **[Don Pardo](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Pardo)** > > Dominick George "Don" Pardo (February 22, 1918 – August 18, 2014) was an American radio and television announcer whose career spanned more than seven decades. > A member of the Television Hall of Fame, Pardo was noted for his 70-year tenure with NBC, working as the announcer for early incarnations of such notable shows as The Price Is Right, Jackpot, Jeopardy!, Three on a Match, Winning Streak and NBC Nightly News. His longest, and best-known, announcing job was for NBC's Saturday Night Live, a jo... [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rip-don-pardo/695880.md?page=1)