Don Novello

Don Novello is an American comedian, actor, writer, singer, film director, and producer born on January 1, 1943, in Ashtabula, Ohio. His father, Augustine Joseph Novello, was a physician, and his mother, Eleanor Eileen Novello (née Finnerty), was a nurse. Novello is of Italian and Irish descent. The family relocated to Lorain, Ohio, during his childhood, where he graduated from Lorain High School in 1961. He earned a degree from the University of Dayton in 1964, followed by a Bachelor of Foreign Trade degree from the American Graduate School of International Management — now the Thunderbird School of Global Management of Arizona State University — in 1965. In the late 1960s, he worked as an advertising copywriter for Leo Burnett in Chicago.

Novello created the character Father Guido Sarducci in 1973 after purchasing a monsignor's outfit for $7.50 at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift shop. He completed the character with sunglasses, a broom mustache, a cigarette, and a thick Italian accent, debuting Sarducci at a San Francisco nightclub. The character appeared on San Francisco Channel 20's Chicken Little Comedy Show, where comedian David Steinberg took notice and hired Novello as a writer. Steinberg also introduced him to Tommy and Dick Smothers, who brought Novello on to perform as Sarducci on The Smothers Brothers Show in 1975. He also served as campaign manager for Pat Paulsen's "Presidential Campaign Tour" in the mid-1970s.

During the same period, Novello began writing letters to celebrities and corporations under the pen name Lazlo Toth, crafting correspondence designed to appear earnest but misinformed. The letters and the serious replies they generated were collected in three books: The Lazlo Letters (1977), Citizen Lazlo! (1992), and From Bush to Bush: The Lazlo Toth Letters (2003). The first volume caught the attention of Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels, who hired Novello as a writer for the show's third season in 1977–1978. He continued through the fifth season and returned as a writer in the eleventh season. As a performer, Novello appeared on SNL as Father Guido Sarducci from 1978 to 1980 and again from 1985 to 1986.

Novello's Broadway credit came in 1979, when he appeared in Gilda Radner - Live From New York. His work on that production earned him a Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical in 1980. The show was also adapted into the 1980 film Gilda Live. In 1980, performing under the name Father Guido Sarducci, Novello sang lead vocals on the Warner Bros. Records single "I Won't Be Twisting This Christmas" backed with "Parco MacArthur," an Italian-language cover of the Jimmy Webb song "MacArthur Park." He co-wrote the A-side with M. Davich.

In 1981, Novello traveled to the Vatican in the Father Guido Sarducci costume to photograph a magazine article in a restricted area. He and his photographer, Paul Solomon, were arrested by the Swiss Guards and charged with impersonating a priest; the charges were later dropped, and Solomon preserved the film from confiscation. For a brief period in 1982, Novello served as a producer on SCTV, the Toronto-based comedy series, producing nine episodes during the show's fourth season. In 1984, he wrote The Blade, a high school yearbook parody in which students are represented by sheep, and narrated an episode of Faerie Tale Theatre featuring Paul Reubens as Pinocchio.

Novello's film work includes a role in the Francis Ford Coppola-directed segment of the 1989 anthology film New York Stories. In 1990, he portrayed Dominic Abbandando, public relations and media coordinator for Don Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III, appearing in multiple scenes including the climactic sequence at the Teatro Massimo opera house in Palermo. In 1995, he appeared as Father Guido Sarducci in the film Casper. In the early 2000s, he provided the voice of Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini in the Disney animated feature Atlantis: The Lost Empire and its direct-to-video sequel, Atlantis: Milo's Return.

Television appearances as Father Guido Sarducci span several decades and include Married... with Children, Blossom, It's Garry Shandling's Show, Square Pegs, Unhappily Ever After, and The Colbert Report. On October 30, 2010, Novello delivered the benediction at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, hosted by Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. He reprised his role as Father Guido Sarducci in an interview with Stephen Colbert on The Late Show in May 2025, discussing the upcoming papal conclave. In 2003, Novello filed papers to enter the California gubernatorial recall election but did not collect enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot. He resides in San Anselmo, California. His former sister-in-law, Antonia Novello, served as Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993.