by As a kid, I watched a lot of TV, ate a lot of fast food and wondered who was playing Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders on all of those commercials.
Today, not much has changed. Except now the bemusement centers on McDonald’s casting of a new human Hamburglar for reasons unknown, and how KFC could resurrect the very real, very dead Col. Sanders from the grave. Thankfully, the latter has a happy explanation, as the role of Kentucky Fried Chicken founder Colonel Harland David Sanders is now played and impersonated by Saturday Night Live legend Darrell Hammond.
Yes, your eyes and ears did not deceive you Memorial Day when the new KFC ad campaign launched on your TV screens.
That’s Hammond, 59, pitching you fried chicken, old-school.
Hammond, who served as a regular cast member on SNL from 1995-2009 and replaced the late Don Pardo as SNL’s announcer in 2014, is now filling the shoes of another memorable real-life character.
“In my line of work I’ve been able to do impressions of a lot of interesting people,” Hammond said. “But Colonel Sanders? He was a really fascinating guy. His lifelong entrepreneurial spirit and integrity are two things that drew me to him. He never gave up. It’s an honor to bring to life such an iconic figure…and it doesn’t hurt that KFC is paying me in chicken (which, at the time sounded like a good idea, because I was very hungry that day).”
Sanders died in 1980 at the age of 90, and was not only KFC’s founder but also the face, suit, symbol and goodwill ambassador of the company.
Here are all of the videos with Hammond as Sanders. Roll ’em!
Hammond’s SNL impersonations have included Bill Clinton — which he brought back as recently as this 40th season’s finale — as well as Al Gore, Donald Trump, John McCain, Regis Philbin, Dick Cheney, Chris Matthews, Phil Donahue, Phil McGraw, Ted Koppel, John Travolta, Jesse Jackson, Geraldo Rivera, and Sean Connery.
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