Saturday Night Live's Darrell Hammond to Join Spelling Bee

Saturday Night Live star Darrell Hammond will make his Broadway debut this summer when he joins the cast of the Broadway musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for a limited engagement as Vice Principal Douglas Panch. Hammond will appear in the show for six weeks, June 12-July 19, at Circle in the Square, replacing comedian Mo Rocca.

Hammond has been a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live for a record-setting 12 seasons, impersonating everyone from Regis Philbin to Jesse Jackson to great acclaim. After playing President Bill Clinton throughout most of his time in office, Hammond has taken over playing practically the entire Bush Administration from Vice President Dick Cheney to former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Hammond impersonated Vice President Al Gore in a performance so telling that it was used as a reference in preparation for the 2000 Presidential debates. In April 1997, Hammond was applauded in the media for his dead-on impersonation of President Clinton during a surprise appearance with the President himself at an event before thousands of government officials and members of the Washington Press Corps. He returned to D.C. to perform as himself for newly elected President George W. Bush at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2001.

Hammond starred opposite Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin in The Devil and Daniel Webster, and in the films Scary Movie 3, Agent Cody Banks, Blues Brothers 2000, Celtic Pride and New York Minute. He also supplied the voice of Master Little in Disney's animated film The King and I. He received critical acclaim for his guest starring role as a deranged criminal defense lawyer on Law & Order: SVU and can be seen in the upcoming films Netherbeast Incorporated, Wieners and Epic Movie.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee features six young people in the throes of puberty, overseen by grown-ups who barely managed to escape childhood themselves, learning that winning isn't everything and that losing doesn't necessarily make you a loser.