Don Novello

Novello is best known for his work on NBC's Saturday Night Live, in the 1977 until 1987, as the character "Father Guido Sarducci".

Novello has appeared as "Sarducci" on many television shows since then, inclduing Married with Children, Blossom, It's Garry Shandling's Show[?], and Square Pegs[?].

Novello made newspapers around the world, when he visited the Vatican wearing the full "Father Guido Sarducci" costume and was arrested by the Swiss Guards[?] for "impersonating a priest". The charges were later dropped.

Novello started his career as a performer on the The Smothers Brothers Show in 1975.

In the early 1980s, Novello produced SCTV[?], a Toronto based comedy show, which starred Martin Short[?], Joe Flaherty[?], John Hemphill[?], Eugene Levy[?], Andrea Martin[?], and Mary Charlotte Wilcox[?].

In the 1970s Novello started to write letters to famous people under the pen name of Lazlo Toth (name taken from that of a deranged man who vandalized Michelangelo's Pieta in Rome). The letters were full of deliberate mistatements of fact and inside jokes. Many of these letters received serious responses; Novello sometimes continued the charade correspondence at length, with humorous results. The letters and responses were published in the book The Lazlo Letters.

Novello co-wrote the unfilmed script for "Noble Rot[?]", with John Belushi.

In 1990, Novello portrayed "Dominic Abbandando" in the film, "Godfather: Part III[?]".