Don Novello - wikipedia Don Novello Don Novello Donald Andrew Novello ( 1943 - 01 - 01 ) January 1, 1943 ( age 74 ) Ashtabula, Ohio, U.S. Occupation Writer, film director, producer, actor, singer, comedian Years active 1963 -- present Donald Andrew `` Don '' Novello ( born January 1, 1943 ) is an American writer, film director, producer, actor, singer and comedian. He is best known for his work on NBC 's Saturday Night Live from 1977 until 1980, and again in 1985 -- 86, often as the character Father Guido Sarducci. He appeared as Sarducci in the video of Rodney Dangerfield 's `` Rappin ' Rodney '', and on many subsequent television shows, including Married... with Children, Blossom, It 's Garry Shandling 's Show, Unhappily Ever After, Square Pegs and The Colbert Report. Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Personal life 4 Writing credits 5 Selected acting credits 6 Bibliography 7 Albums 8 References 9 External links Early Life Novello was born in Ashtabula, Ohio, the son of Eleanor Eileen ( Finnerty ), a nurse, and Augustine Joseph Novello, a physician. He is of Italian and Irish descent. In 1961, he graduated from Lorain High School in Lorain, Ohio. He graduated from the University of Dayton. In 1965, he graduated from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Glendale, Arizona. Career In the late 1960s, Novello worked as an advertising copywriter for Leo Burnett in Chicago. Novello created the Father Guido Sarducci character in 1973 after finding a monsignor 's outfit for $7.50 at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop. Adding sunglasses, a broom mustache, cigarette and a thick Italian accent, Sarducci became popular in a San Francisco nightclub. Sarducci appeared on San Francisco Channel 20 's Chicken Little Comedy Show, and comic David Steinberg was watching. Steinberg hired Novello as a writer for a TV show that never aired, but he also introduced Novello to Tommy and Dick Smothers, and they hired Novello, too. Novello performed on The Smothers Brothers Show in 1975, appearing as Sarducci. In the 1970s, Novello started to write letters to famous people under the pen name of Lazlo Toth ( after Laszlo Toth, a deranged man who vandalized Michelangelo 's Pietà in Rome ). The letters, written to suggest a serious but misinformed and obtuse correspondent, were designed to tweak the noses of politicians and corporations. Many of them received serious responses ; Novello sometimes continued the charade correspondence at length, with humorous results. The letters and responses were published in the books The Lazlo Letters, Citizen Lazlo !, and From Bush to Bush : The Lazlo Toth Letters. The Lazlo Letters, Novello 's first book of stilted letters to celebrities, caught the attention of Lorne Michaels, producer of Saturday Night Live. Novello was hired as a writer for the show 's third season in 1977 - 1978 where he remained through the fifth season, and returned as a writer in the eleventh season. He also appeared numerous times on the show in the Father Guido Sarducci character. In 1980, under the name of Father Guido Sarducci, he sang lead vocals on the Warner Bros. Records release, `` I Wo n't Be Twisting This Christmas '' / `` Parco MacArthur '' ( WBS49627 ). Novello co-wrote the first tune with M. Davich, and the second tune is an Italian language cover of `` MacArthur Park '', the Jimmy Webb song, in an arrangement similar to that recorded by Richard Harris. Novello made newspapers around the world when he visited the Vatican in 1981 wearing the Father Guido Sarducci costume and, while taking photographs for a magazine article in an area where photography was prohibited, was arrested by the Swiss Guards along with his photographer ( Paul Solomon ), and eventually charged with `` impersonating a priest ''. The charges were later dropped, and Solomon managed to protect the film from confiscation. In his stage show in Las Vegas and Reno with the Smothers Brothers, Father Guido Sarducci rolled a wheelchair with a dummy in the robes of a cardinal. In the act, Sarducci explained he was the assistant of 108 - year - old `` Cardinal Dario Fungi. '' For a brief period in 1982, Novello was a producer on SCTV, a Toronto - based comedy show starring Martin Short, Joe Flaherty, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, Rick Moranis, Andrea Martin and Catherine O'Hara. He was installed by NBC as one of a series of producers for the show 's fourth season, and produced a total of 9 episodes. In 1984 Novello wrote The Blade, a high school yearbook parody in which the students are represented by sheep. Novello co-wrote the unfilmed script for Noble Rot, with John Belushi. He also narrated Faerie Tale Theatre 's third - season episode Pinocchio with Paul Reubens as the titular puppet. Also in 1984, Novello appeared in the music video for the Jefferson Starship song `` No Way Out ''. In 1989, Novello co-starred in the anthology film New York Stories in the Francis Ford Coppola - directed segment, Life Without Zoe. In his 2 1 / 2 star review of the movie, Roger Ebert cited Novello for giving `` the most engaging performance in the movie. '' In 1990, Novello portrayed `` Dominic Abbandando '' in the film The Godfather Part III. Abbandando appears with speaking lines in the first scene as public relations and media coordinator for Don Michael Corleone. Most notable is when he slaps down a news reporter with the challenge : `` You think you know better than the Pope ? '' Novello appears in many other scenes as well, shadowing George Hamilton, and in the climactic scene on the steps of the Palermo opera house, Teatro Massimo. In 2001, he lent his voice to the character Vincenzo `` Vinny '' Santorini in the Disney animated film Atlantis : The Lost Empire, and subsequently in the direct - to - video sequel Atlantis : Milo 's Return. In 2003, he filed papers to enter the 2003 California recall election, but failed to collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. In 2005, after the death of Pope John Paul II, Novello, as Father Guido Sarducci, reprised his former SNL role as `` Special Vatican Reporter '' for Air America Radio host ( and fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus ) Al Franken. He continued this role until the election of Pope Benedict XVI. In 2006, he portrayed the role of Galileo on the podcast `` The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd ''. He portrayed Pope Pius XII in the 2009 short film All in the Bunker. On June 23, 2010, he appeared on The Colbert Report as Father Guido Sarducci. On October 30, 2010, he gave the benediction at the Rally to Restore Sanity and / or Fear hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. American recording artist Guthrie Thomas credited Don Novello as `` the best performer in the room '' when Novello appeared as Father Guido Sarducci on one of Thomas ' albums in a recording studio full of famous performers. Personal Life Novello resides in San Anselmo, California. He has one brother, Joseph `` Joe '' Novello. His former sister - in - law Dr. Antonia Novello M.D. was Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. Writing credits The Smothers Brothers Show ( 1975 ) ( TV ) Van Dyke and Company ( 1976 ) ( TV ) Saturday Night Live ( 1978 - 1986 ) ( TV ) Things We Did Last Summer ( 1978 ) ( TV ) Gilda Live ( with Gilda Radner, Anne Beatts, Lorne Michaels, Michael O'Donoghue, Rosie Shuster, Marilyn Suzanne Miller, Paul Shaffer and Alan Zweibel ) ( 1980 ) SCTV ( 1982 ) ( TV ) Noble Rot ( with John Belushi ) ( 1982 ) ( unproduced ) Blondes vs. Brunettes ( with Lisa Medway ) ( 1984 ) ( TV ) Father Guido Sarducci Goes To College ( 1985 ) ( VHS ) Our Planet Tonight ( 1987 ) ( TV ) Selected acting credits Saturday Night Live ( 1978 - 1980 ) ( TV ) - Father Guido Sarducci Gilda Live ( 1980 ) - Father Guido Sarducci Square Pegs ( 1982 ) ( TV ) - Father Guido Sarducci Mr. Mike 's Mondo Video ( 1979 ) - Men in Film Room ( voice, uncredited ) Become an Artist ( 1982 ) - Father Guido Sarducci Head Office ( 1985 ) - Sal Father Guido Sarducci Goes to College ( 1985 ) - Father Guido Sarducci It 's Garry Shandling 's Show ( 1986 ) ( TV ) - Father Guido Sarducci Tucker : The Man and His Dream ( 1988 ) - Stan New York Stories ( 1989 ) - Hector ( segment `` Life without Zoe '' ) The Spirit of ' 76 ( 1990 ) - Translator The Godfather Part III ( 1990 ) - Dominic Abbandando Teenage Bonnie and Klepto Clyde ( 1993 ) - Sanchez Blossom ( 1993 ) - Father Guido Sarducci One Night Stand ( 1995 ) - Warren Miller Casper ( 1995 ) - Father Guido Sarducci Married... with Children ( 1995 ) ( TV ) - Father Guido Sarducci Jack ( 1996 ) - Bartender Touch ( 1997 ) - Father Navaroli Just the Ticket ( 1999 ) - Tony The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle ( 2000 ) - Fruit Vendor Twins Just One Night ( 2000 ) - Italian Drifter Nothing Sacred ( 2000 ) - Caterer Atlantis : The Lost Empire ( 2001 ) - Vincenzo ' Vinny ' Santorini ( voice ) Atlantis : Milo 's Return ( 2003 ) - Vincenzo ' Vinny ' Santorini ( voice ) Factory Girl ( 2006 ) - Mort Silvers The Colbert Report ( 2010 ) ( TV ) - Father Guido Sarducci Twixt ( 2011 ) - Melvin Palo Alto ( 2013 ) - Mr. Wilson Bibliography The Lazlo Letters ( 1977 ) The Blade : Shellville High School Yearbook ( 1984 ) Citizen Lazlo ! : The Lazlo Letters Vol. 2 ( 1992 ) From Bush to Bush : The Lazlo Toth Letters ( 2003 ) Albums Father Guido Sarducci Live at St. Douglas Convent ( 1980 ) Breakfast in Heaven ( 1986 ) Everybody 's Free to Wear Camouflage ( 2000 ) ( CD Single ) written by ; Cat McLean, Don Novello and Narada Michael Walden, which was a top 20 hit in the UK. One Hundred Bulbs on the Christmas Tree Party ( 2006 ) Appeared on the compilations `` Holidays in Dementia '' ( 1995 ) and `` A Classic Rock Christmas '' ( 2002 ). He made guest appearances on the Handsome Boy Modeling School albums So... How 's Your Girl ? ( 1999 ) and White People ( 2004 ). References Jump up ^ Lebzelter, Robert ( September 15, 2007 ). `` What You Need to Know about Your Home State ''. Star Beacon. Retrieved April 9, 2013. Jump up ^ http://birth-records.mooseroots.com/l/6598422/Donald-Andrew-Novello Jump up ^ http://www.gluvna.net/Gobitdetail.asp?letter=N&RecNo=1359 Jump up ^ `` Don Novello Biography ( 1943 - ) ''. Filmreference.com. January 1, 1943. Retrieved November 3, 2010. Jump up ^ `` TV priest joins movie Mafia ''. Ellensburg Daily Record. Retrieved November 3, 2010. Jump up ^ Live from New York : an uncensored... - Google Books. Retrieved November 3, 2010. Jump up ^ `` Don Novello Tries To Save His Sheep / One - shot musical detailed in TV special ''. Sfgate.com. September 2, 1997. Retrieved November 3, 2010. Jump up ^ ISBN 1 - 56305 - 285 - 7 Jump up ^ ISBN 1 - 56305 - 182 - 6 Jump up ^ ISBN 0 - 7432 - 5108 - 3 Jump up ^ Video on YouTube Jump up ^ Liberatore, Paul ( November 30, 2006 ). `` Paul Liberatore : Holiday songs ? Bah humbug ! - Marin Independent Journal ''. Marinij.com. Retrieved November 3, 2010. External links Don Novello on IMDb VIAF : 11248432 LCCN : n84105854 MusicBrainz : 66358bbf - 43b0 - 422b - 8e53 - e067e386125f Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Don_Novello&oldid=799967796 '' Categories : 1943 births American male comedians American male film actors American male television actors American television writers Male television writers American people of Irish descent American people of Italian descent Living people People from Ashtabula, Ohio People from San Anselmo, California Thunderbird School of Global Management alumni American sketch comedians Male actors of Italian descent Comedians from California Comedians from Ohio Hidden categories : Use mdy dates from June 2013 Articles with hCards All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November 2011 Wikipedia articles with VIAF identifiers Wikipedia articles with LCCN identifiers Wikipedia articles with MusicBrainz identifiers Talk Contents About Wikipedia Čeština Deutsch فارسی Français Italiano 日本 語 Português Suomi Edit links This page was last edited on 10 September 2017, at 22 : 01. 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Question: who played father guido sarducci on saturday night live
Answer: Donald Andrew "Don" Novello