Novello created the character in 1973, after he purchased the outfit 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 Smothers Brothers TV show. 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 skit 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 upPaul McCartney at 4:30 in the morning by throwing coins, obnoxiously singing The Beatles and Wings songs, and finally, throwing a rock at the window — he says it works every time.
1980 SNL
Sarducci has appeared in four cold opens in the 1979–1980 season, two commercial parodies, and two monologues on the 1985–86 season.
SNL host
Sarducci also hosted two SNL episodes during the 1983–1984 season 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 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.
Other media appearances
During the 1980s and 1990s Sarducci appeared on other television shows, including Fridays, Late Night with David Letterman, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Married... with Children, Unhappily Ever After, Blossom, It's Garry Shandling's Show, the Tales of the City miniseries, and Square Pegs. In 1980, Sarducci appeared in Gilda Live, a film and an album recording based on Gilda Radner's successful one-woman show which had been playing on Broadway. In 1983, he appeared in a music video for the Rodney Dangerfield song "Rappin' Rodney", where he gave Rodney his last rites on death row, and helped himself to Rodney's french fries from his last meal. In 1984, he appeared in a music video for the Jefferson Starship song "No Way Out". In 1995, he appeared as a priest trying to perform an exorcism in the movie Casper. The same movie featured a cameo by his fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd as the Ghostbuster Ray Stantz.
Albums
He appeared on the 2002 album A Classic Rock Christmas performing the song "Santa's Lament" featuring Joe Walsh and Joe Vitale. The character also appeared on the Handsome Boy Modeling School albums So... How's Your Girl? and White People, telling biographical stories of the life of a professional male model in the latter. Novello also released two comedy albums as Sarducci: Breakfast in Heaven and Live at St. Douglas Convent.
Additional appearances
He also appeared on the MSNBC show Countdown with Keith Olbermann on March 19, 2005, discussing The Da Vinci Code and his DaVinci Code Decoder Ring. In Disney Studios' animated film released in 2001, Don Novello uses the voice and speech style of Father Sarducci to portray the character of demolitions expert Vinny Santorini. Sarducci was present at the First Annual "Geno Roast" at the Aqua Turf in Southington, Connecticut. He gave the prayer of invocation and roasted the UConn Huskies women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma. He also made a guest appearance on the April 30, 2005, broadcast of NPR and Chicago Public Radio's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! news quiz show, commenting on the ascension of Pope Benedict XVI. He appeared on The Colbert Report on June 23, 2010, claiming to have conducted an interview with Glenn Beck while visiting the Vatican.
Benediction
He delivered the benediction at the Stewart/Colbert Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear from the Mall in 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.
