Novello created the character in 1973, after he purchased the outfit (consisting of big floppy black hat, white clerical collar, and a long, red-trimmed black coat with cape) for $7.50 at a St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store. The character was featured in 1970s cartoons by the underground cartoonistsDave Sheridan and Fred Schrier, appearing in person in the early 1970s on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In and later in the 1975 The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. His most prominent appearances were on Saturday Night Live in the late 1970s, during which time Novello was also a writer for the show. In the late 1970s, Father Guido Sarducci was featured on radio commercials for High Times magazine, where he offered to perform blessings for a fee.
Broadcast history
On his first appearance on Saturday Night Live, a sketch called "How to Pay for Your Sins" on a 1978 episode hosted by Richard Dreyfuss, he was on crutches from an injury suffered during a dress rehearsal sketch about hockey players. Most of his appearances on SNL have been on Weekend Update, including one where he reported that "The take at the shrines in Italy has gone down", which he suggested correcting by creating "Shrinemobiles" and thus taking the shrines to where the people were, and another where he is sent to London to try to wake up Paul McCartney at 4:30 in the morning (11:30 in New York) by throwing coins, obnoxiously singing The Beatles and Wings songs, and finally, throwing a rock at the window—he says it works every time.
Saturday Night Live
Sarducci appeared in four cold opens in the 1979–1980 season (on episodes hosted by Steve Martin, Teri Garr, Elliott Gould, and Rodney Dangerfield), two commercial parodies ("MX-5 Tampons" on the 1981–1982 Christmas episode hosted by Bill Murray and "Bocce Ball My Way" on the last episode of the 1985–1986 season hosted by Anjelica Huston and Billy Martin), and two monologues on the 1985–86 season (the first hosted by Madonna in a pretaped sketch showing Madonna's wedding to Sean Penn (played by Robert Downey, Jr.) and the second on the Christmas episode of the 1985–86 season hosted by Garr as Sarducci's alter ego, Pope Maurice).
Sarducci also hosted two SNL episodes during the 1983–1984 season (when Dick Ebersol was executive producer) and cameoed during two 1990s episodes, most notably on a Weekend Update segment where he reports on Pope John Paul II's missing wallet. Father Guido Sarducci has 31 appearances on SNL, the most of any of the recurring characters.
Vatican visit
In 1981 Novello made newspaper headlines when he visited Vatican City wearing the Father Guido Sarducci costume to do a photo shoot for Time magazine. After taking pictures in an area where photography was prohibited, he and his photographer, Paul Solomon, were arrested by the Papal Swiss Guards and Novello was charged with "impersonating a priest". Although the guards attempted to confiscate the film from the shoot, Solomon managed to hand them the wrong film. The charges were later dropped. In the early 1980s, Novello was featured in advertisements promoting candidates for the priesthood. He listed one advantage of being a priest as getting first pick at the annual parish garage sale.
In the 2001 Disney animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Novello uses the voice and speech style of Father Sarducci to portray the character of demolitions expert Vinny Santorini.
He delivered the benediction at the Stewart/Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear from the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on October 30, 2010. He was wearing his classic white clerical collar, a long red-trimmed black coat with cape, zebra vest/jacket and black beret.[2]
