Topic: Darrell Hammond

Darrell Hammond (born October 8, 1955) is an American actor, stand-up comedian and impressionist. He was a regular on Saturday Night Live (SNL) from 1995 until 2009, the longest tenure of any cast member. Upon his departure, Hammond, at age 53, was the oldest cast member in the show's history. Hammond has made more SNL appearances than any other cast member and has impersonated more than 107 celebrities (with former President Bill Clinton as his most frequent impression). As of January 16, 2010, he has appeared on the show six times since leaving the cast.

Hammond was born in Melbourne, Florida. He graduated from Melbourne High School in 1973 where he was a star athlete who lettered in both football and baseball. Darrell was a high school baseball teammate of Bruce Bochy, manager and recent World Series winner for the San Francisco Giants. He then attended Brevard Community College and the University of Florida where he majored in broadcasting. After completing college, Hammond moved to New York City where he lived for several years before joining the cast of SNL.

In the late 1980s, Hammond worked briefly as a stand-up comedian on Premier Cruise Line ships. One evening while the boat was docked in the Bahamas, Hammond visited a restaurant, where he consumed the equivalent of 16 shots of rum. He claimed that a man repeatedly pestered him throughout the evening to take a dollar bill with trace amounts of cocaine on it. When the comedian left the bar to use the restroom, the man followed him into the stall and told him, "I think you should take this with you." Believing he was about to be mugged, he relented, and the man placed the bill inside Hammond's pocket. Local police were waiting outside the restroom and quickly arrested him. The US Drug Enforcement Administration later told Hammond that the episode had been a setup, and that local authorities regularly entrapped American tourists; he spent a weekend in a crude jail cell, and was assigned a "barefoot" attorney. Hammond was released after his father traveled to the Bahamas and paid $5000 for his son's release.