Father Guido Sarducci is a fictional character made famous by American comedian Don Novello.
On Married... with Children, the character appears in the Season 10 episode, "Requiem for a Dead Briard".
Background[]
Sarducci, a chain-smoking priest with tinted eyeglasses, works in the United States as gossip columnist and rock critic for the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano (sometimes mentioned as The Vatican Enquirer, a take-off of the The National Enquirer tabloid).
He is typically dressed in a monsignor's outfit, consisting of a big floppy black hat, white clerical collar, and a long, red-trimmed black coat with cape. In more recent years, he modified his outfit by wearing a zebra vest/jacket and black beret, as well as growing out chinstrap beard along with his moustache. He speaks with a thick Italian accent.
History[]
The character was created in 1973, after Novello bought the outfit from a St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store. The character originally appeared on The Smothers Brothers Show in 1975, but became well known from his frequent appearances on Saturday Night Live (where Novello worked as a writer from 1977 to 1980 and then again from 1985 to 1986).
During the 1980s and 1990s Sarducci appeared on other television shows, including Fridays, Married... with Children, Unhappily Ever After, Blossom, It's Garry Shandling's Show, and Square Pegs.
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 fellow SNL alumnus Dan Aykroyd as Ghostbuster Ray Stantz.
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 Papal 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.
Appearance on Married... with Children[]
In the Season 10 episode, "Requiem for a Dead Briard", following the death of Buck Bundy, Kelly Bundy struggles with adjusting to life without him. After losing a replacement pet named "Tweety" (due to Peg's Mom eating it after thinking it was a chicken), Marcy D'Arcy suggest to Al Bundy that they call someone to help bring some closure to Kelly and allow her to move on from Buck.
Sometime later, Father Sarducci arrives and leads the family in a séance. He is first shown coming down the stairs and tells the group that he had blessed the house, except for "that big, fat she-demon up there" (referring to Peg's mom). He has the group hold hands while he blows on his dead dog whistle to summon Buck's spirit. After seeing that it did not work, he then tries call out to him and offer his body as a vessel. He proceeds to inform Kelly that he thinks that Buck is in danger, as Buck's spirit was currently in the afterlife being judged by a cat.
Later that night, as Father Sarducci continues to invoke Buck's spirit to come to them, Al pulls him aside and tells him to just lie as it has gotten them no closer to Buck. He then proceeds to pretend that Buck has taken his body over and tells Kelly that she needs to move on and find new dog, while also sharing herself with others. Just as they are about to end the séance, a light beam appears in front of the group, revealing that Buck has now been reincarnated as Lucky Bundy. Although the father does not believe it is possible, Al quickly slaps him upside his head to make him change his tune. He then seen looking down with the rest of the family upon Lucky, who screams out in horror for being sent back to the Bundys.