Don Novello (born January 1, 1943) is an American comedian, actor, writer, singer, film director and producer.
Novello appeared on NBC's Saturday Night Live as the character Father Guido Sarducci from 1978 to 1980 and 1985 to 1986. He appeared as Sarducci in television shows Married... with Children, Blossom, It's Garry Shandling's Show, Unhappily Ever After, Square Pegs, The Colbert Report and most recently on The Late Show in 2025, as well as in the 1980 film Gilda Live and the 1995 film Casper. He also portrayed Dominic Abbandando in the 1990 film The Godfather Part III and provided the voice of Vincenzo "Vinny" Santorini in the 2001 animated film Atlantis: The Lost Empire.
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Early life
Novello was born on January 1, 1943, in Ashtabula, Ohio, the son of Eleanor Eileen Novello (née Finnerty), a nurse, and Augustine Joseph Novello, a physician. He is of Italian and Irish descent.
Novello's family moved to Lorain, Ohio, when he was a child. In 1961, he graduated from Lorain High School. He subsequently enrolled into the University of Dayton, graduating in 1964. In 1965, he graduated with a Bachelor of Foreign Trade degree from the American Graduate School of International Management (today the Thunderbird School of Global Management of Arizona State University).
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 him, too. Novello appeared as Sarducci on the Smothers Brothers Show in 1975. He also was with Pat Paulsen during Paulsen's "Presidential Campaign Tour" in the mid-1970s as his "campaign manager."
In the 1970s, Novello started to write letters to famous people under the pen name 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 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 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, remained through the fifth season, and returned as a writer in the eleventh season. He also appeared as Sarducci numerous times on the show.
In 1980, under the name Father Guido Sarducci, he sang lead vocals on the Warner Bros. Records release "I Won't Be Twisting This Christmas"/"Parco MacArthur" (WBS49627). Novello co-wrote the first tune with M. Davich, and the second is an Italian-language cover of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park", 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 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 saved the film from confiscation.
Personal life
Novello resides in San Anselmo, California. His former sister-in-law, Antonia Novello, was Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. His niece is film producer Holly Wiersma (Wonderland, Billionaire Boys Club).
Selected filmography
Writing credits
The Smothers Brothers Show (1975) (TV)
Van Dyke and Company (1976) (TV)
Things We Did Last Summer (1978) (TV)
SCTV (1982) (TV)
Noble Rot (with John Belushi) (1982) (unproduced)
A Man Called Sporacaione (1982) (unproduced)
Blondes vs. Brunettes (with Lisa Medway) (1984) (TV)
Our Planet Tonight (1987) (TV)
