Pardos was the catepan of Italy briefly in 1042 following the short term of George Maniakes.

In July 1042, Maniakes was disgraced and recalled by Constantine IX Monomachos at the behest of Romanus Sclerus, brother of the emperor's mistress. According to Johannes Skylitzes, Romanus had even raped Maniakes' wife. In September 1042,^[1] Pardo arrived with an army at Otranto to take over command from Maniakes. According to Lupus Protospatharius, he brought a chrysobull, but the meaning of this is uncertain.^[2] Pardos was accompanied by Nicholas, Archbishop of Bari, who, though under the jurisdiction of the Roman see, was apparently a Byzantine loyal, and by Tubaki, a protospatharius. It is probable that the archbishop had joined the catepan in a prior landing, during which the Greeks had negotiated with the Lombard rebel leader Argyrus. Subsequently, Argyrus abandoned the Lombard cause for the Greek. Pardos and Tubaki were arrested at Otranto, however, and executed by Maniakes, who was acclaimed emperor by his troops.

References[link]

1. ^ The year is given as 1043 by Lupus Protospatharius, but he begins his year in September.
2. ^ Chalandon, p. 103 (n8).

Source[link]

• Chalandon, Ferdinand. Histoire de la domination normande en Italie et en Sicile. Paris, 1907.

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Jimmy Pardo
Jimmy Pardo performing at MaxFunCon 2009 in Lake Arrowhead, CA.
Born	July 28, 1966 Chicago, Illinois, USA
Medium	Stand-up Comedy, Television, Film, Podcast
Nationality	American
Genres	Observational comedy, Crowd based material Insult
Subject(s)	Pop culture, American culture
Influences	Don Rickles, Johnny Carson
Spouse	Danielle Koenig
Notable works and roles	Never Not Funny The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien Conan
Website	JimmyPardo.com

Jimmy Pardo (born James Ronald Pardo, Jr., July 28, 1966) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and host of the popular comedy podcast Never Not Funny. He is married to fellow comedian Danielle Koenig. They live in Los Angeles with their son Oliver. He is not related to the famed TV announcer Don Pardo.^[1]

Early life[link]

Pardo was born in Chicago, Illinois and spent his first 8 years living on the south side, eventually moving to the south suburbs of Chicago. He spent his grade school years living in Hometown, Illinois. In 1980, his family moved to Oak Forest, Illinois where he attended Oak Forest High School. In 1986, he moved to Pasadena, California to attend the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He attended for one year, then returned to Chicago to pursue a career in stand-up comedy.

Comedy career[link]

In late 1988, Pardo started performing at open microphones at various venues around Chicago, including "The Roxy", "The Last Laugh" and "The Comedy Cottage". The plethora of successful comedy clubs in the area at that time meant Pardo started earning money almost immediately, allowing him to quit his day job as a sales rep for MCA Records.^[2] In addition to his comedy CDs Uno and Pompous Clown, in 2007 Pardo appeared on the comedy compilation CD Comedy Death-Ray. Pardo is also featured on The Bob and Tom Show's comedy collection As Big As a Hat.

Pardo hosted GSN's National Lampoon's Funny Money from June to October 2003, and later co-hosted AMC's Movies At Our House with Rachel Quaintance for 5 seasons.

Pardo was the warm-up comedian for The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. He has returned as the opening act for Conan,^[3] and appeared in a recurring on-air sketch throughout the week of April 11, 2011.^[4] In May 2011 he began conducting backstage interviews with celebrity guests for a web series called "The Pardo Patrol."^[5]

Jimmy Pardo hosts the award-winning podcast Never Not Funny with producer Matt Belknap, now in its tenth season.^[6]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jimmy Pardo at the Internet Movie Database
• Jimmy Pardo's Website
• Interview from June 2008
• Jimmy Pardo's "Never Not Funny" Podcast
• Meet Jimmy Pardo: Never Not Having Fun on LAist

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Marc Maron
Born	(1963-09-27) September 27, 1963 (age 48) Jersey City, New Jersey
Medium	Stand-up, radio, television, webcast
Nationality	United States
Years active	1980s–present
Genres	Alternative comedy, Cringe humor, Black comedy, Satire, Observational comedy
Notable works and roles	Morning Sedition WTF with Marc Maron The Marc Maron Show
Website	MarcMaron.com wtfpod.com

Marc Maron ( /ˈmærən/ MAR-ən; born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian and radio and podcast host.

He has been host of The Marc Maron Show, and co-host of both Morning Sedition, and Breakroom Live, all politically oriented shows, produced by Air America Media. He was also the host of Comedy Central's Short Attention Span Theater for a year, replacing Jon Stewart. Maron has been a frequent guest on the Late Show with David Letterman and made over 44 appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, more than any other stand-up performer.^[1][2] He was also a regular guest on Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn and hosted the short-lived American version of the British game show Never Mind the Buzzcocks on VH1.^[3]

In September 2009, Maron began hosting a twice-weekly podcast titled WTF with Marc Maron, in which he interviews comedians and celebrities.^[1]

Early life[link]

Maron was born into a Jewish family in Jersey City, New Jersey, but lived in Wayne, New Jersey and Pompton Lakes, New Jersey until he was six. Maron's father then joined the US Air Force for two years, and Maron and his family lived in Alaska. When his father left the Air Force, he moved his family to Albuquerque, New Mexico and started a medical practice.^[1]

Maron attended Boston University, graduating in the mid-1980s.

Career[link]

Maron started his comedy career at The Comedy Store in Los Angeles and became an associate of Sam Kinison.^[4] He later moved to New York City and became part of the New York alternative comedy scene. He auditioned for the 1995 Saturday Night Live cast overhaul, but attributes being passed over to an awkward personal meeting with show creator and producer Lorne Michaels.^[5][1]

Maron continued to be a stand-up performer, and also began to appear on television; his voice was used in episodes of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, and he hosted Short Attention Span Theater for a time. He also recorded half-hour specials for HBO and Comedy Central Presents, as well as comedy showcases like the Cam Neely Foundation fundraiser, which also featured performers like Jon Stewart, Denis Leary and Steven Wright.

Maron frequently appeared in the live alternative stand up series he'd organized with Janeane Garofalo called "Eating It," which used the rock bar Luna Lounge in New York's Lower East Side as its venue from the 1990s until the building was razed in 2005.

His only major film credit to date is a small part–credited as "angry promoter"–in the 2000 Cameron Crowe film Almost Famous wherein he is seen first fighting with Noah Taylor's character, then yelling at and chasing after the main characters as they drive away on a bus.^[6]

His first one-man show, Jerusalem Syndrome, had an extended off-Broadway run in 2000 and was released in book form in 2001. In 2009 he began workshopping another one-man show, Scorching The Earth. According to Maron (in Scorching The Earth) these two shows "bookend" his relationship with his second wife, comic Mishna Wolff, which ended in a bitter divorce. Moment Magazine produced a piece on Maron, where he was interviewed about his experience with Jerusalem Syndrome. When asked if he really came down with it, Maron responded, "The premise of my book is that not only did it happen during a short trip I took to Israel, but it’s been happening to me all my life."

In May 2008, he toured with Eugene Mirman and Andy Kindler in Stand Uppity: "Comedy That Makes You Feel Better About Yourself and Superior to Others."

In January 2009, a collaboration with Sam Seder which had begun in September 2007 as a weekly hour-long video webcast became Breakroom Live with Maron & Seder, produced by Air America.^[7] Until its cancellation in July 2009 the show was webcast live, weekdays at 3 pm Eastern, with episodes archived for later viewing as well. In its final incarnation, the show was quite informal, taking place in the (actual) break room of Air America Media, with the cafeteria vending machines just off-camera. This meant occasional distractions when Air America staff and management alike would occasionally come in for food and drink. Maron and Seder also held court in an online "post-show chat" with viewers, in an even less formal continuation of each webcast, after the credits had rolled.

Maron's stand up comedy act is marked by his commitment to self-revelation and cultural analysis. He is particularly known for relentless on-stage exploration of his own relationships, with family, girlfriends, and other stand-up comedians that he has known and befriended over his many years in the business.

In March 2012, IFC announced that it would be picking up a series created by and starring Maron for a 10 episode run to begin sometime in 2013. The show will be autobiographical, and will revolve around Maron's life as a twice-divorced sober comedian running a comedy podcast out of his garage.^[8] The pilot shoot for this show was discussed in Episode 183 of WTF with guest Amy Poehler.^[9]

Radio[link]

From almost the first day of the progressive talk radio network Air America's broadcasts in 2004, Maron co-hosted Morning Sedition, a three-hour early-morning radio show with Mark Riley, which aired weekdays from 6am-9am Eastern time. The show was unique in the Air America lineup, in its heavy reliance on both live and pre-produced sketch comedy, utilizing the talents of staff writers, as well as the on-air hosts. The format was a left-leaning near-satire of typical morning "Buddy" radio programs, including recurring characters, interviews and listener call-in segments, and it attracted a loyal fan base.

As 2005 waned, it became known that Maron's contract would not be renewed on its December 1, 2005 end date due to problems with then Air America executive Danny Goldberg.^{[citation needed]} Goldberg reportedly did not "get" the comedy or agree with the satiric and often angry tone set by Maron and other writers (Jim Earl and Kent Jones) for a morning-drive time show.

On November 28, 2005 it was officially announced that Maron's contract had not been renewed. His last Morning Sedition broadcast was on December 16, 2005, and the show was discontinued shortly thereafter.

On February 28, 2006, Maron began hosting a nighttime radio program with Jim Earl as sidekick for KTLK Progressive Talk 1150AM in Los Angeles called The Marc Maron Show from 10:00 pm PST until midnight PST. The program was frequently delayed (sometimes for over an hour) due to KTLK's contractual agreement to broadcast local sports events–which would often go into overtime. The Marc Maron Show was never nationally syndicated by Air America despite reported contractual clauses promising so.^{[citation needed]} The show was streamed online live, but the show was not publicized, and the existence of the stream was not well promoted.^{[citation needed]}

On July 5, it was announced that The Marc Maron Show's final episode would be July 14. A few days before that date, Maron bluntly discussed his long struggle with Air America Radio's executives on-air.

In 2008, Marc and Sam Seder expanded their prior collaboration on a weekly hour-long video webcast (streamed at The Sam Seder Show website) into a daily show (and "post-show chat") produced by Air America Media called Maron v. Seder. The show became Breakroom Live with Maron & Seder starting in 2009, and could be viewed on Air America Media's website. On July 15, 2009, after less than one year, Air America Media canceled Breakroom Live.

According to the show's hosts, the cancellation was for financial reasons. Ironically, the day before the cancellation, the show got some of the first real publicity it had received when MaximumFun.org posted its podcast of an interview with Maron on The Sound of Young America.

On the final Breakroom Live webcast, Maron said that this marked the third time since 2005 he'd been told by an executive at the network that his services would not be required in the immediate future. Co-host Sam Seder pointed out that this would be the end of his fourth show at Air America since the troubled network's inception.

Podcast[link]

On September 1, 2009 Maron began a twice-a-week podcast called WTF with Marc Maron. Released Mondays and Thursdays, the show features interviews with fellow comedians, both old friends and acquaintances. In a free-form discussion, Maron and his guests touch on topics like the arc of the interviewees' careers, shared past experiences, and stories from the road. The show was originally produced after hours in the Air America offices, to which Maron and his producer still had keys. Around the 20th episode Maron temporarily moved to Los Angeles, before announcing the move would be permanent in the 22nd. WTF is currently recorded in his garage, with the bulk of the guests meeting him there, though he does have a mobile set up to take to guests. WTF has reached No. 1 on iTunes comedy section numerous times. Though it is a free podcast, it has a number of rotating sponsors and accepts donations.

On May 17, 2011, it was announced that a version of WTF with Marc Maron is now available for non-commercial broadcast via Public Radio Exchange. The initial offering is ten episodes edited from previous podcasts, designed, according to co-producer of the broadcast package Jesse Thorn, "to capture what makes WTF special and communicate it to folks who aren't comedy nerds–or even necessarily comedy fans." Initial station pickups include WBEZ Chicago and the Public Radio Remix service on SiriusXM.^[10]

On May 6, 2012, 'WTF with Marc Maron' won the award for "Best Comedy Podcast" at the 2012 Comedy Central Comedy awards.

Personal life[link]

Maron lived in Astoria, Queens through the 1990s and most of the 2000s, but moved back to Los Angeles in the fall of 2009. He has been married twice, to Kimberly Reiss and Mishna Wolff (a former stand-up comedian). Both relationships have been a large part of his act at various times. During numerous appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe festival in 2007, Maron riffed on his then-recent separation and divorce from his second wife, Mishna Wolff.

Maron has also spoken openly, both in his act and on his podcast, about his alcohol and drug use during the 1990s. He also speaks openly of his caring for numerous stray cats, which he takes into his home. This has led to him to refer to his home, on the WTF Podcast, as the "Cat Ranch." In a February 2012 episode of WTF with Bill Maher, Maron confirmed that he was an atheist.^[11]

Published works[link]

• The Jerusalem Syndrome (2001) ISBN 978-0-7679-0810-8

Media releases[link]

CDs[link]

• Not Sold Out (2002)
• Tickets Still Available (2006)
• Final Engagement (2009)
• This Has to Be Funny (2011)

[edit] WTF with Marc Maron podcast

See also[link]

• The Marc Maron Show
• Morning Sedition
• Marc Maron and the Temple of Doom

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (July 2011)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Marc Maron

• Marc Maron at the Internet Movie Database
• WTF with Marc Maron – Podcast
• Sam Seder and Marc Maron video webcast
• Break Room Live website – Archived Episodes
• November 2004 interview with Marc Maron
• Review of Marc's 2000 one-man-show, "Jerusalem Syndrome"
• Youtube:Marc Maron in Cameron Crowe's [Almost Famous]-(5 min 48 sec)
• Review of Marc's 2009 one-man-show, "Scorching The Earth"
• Review and Interview from 2009 Montreal "Just For Laughs" Festival run of "Scorching The Earth"
• Interview with Maron on The Sound of Young America from maximumfun.org
• Interview with Marc Maron on Music Life Radio
• Sedition Radio, a SHOUTcast stream of comedy and interviews from fan-archived episodes of Morning Sedition and The Marc Maron Show.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (January 2012)

Dominick George "Don" Pardo (born February 22, 1918) is an American radio and television announcer. He is best known as the voice of the long-running late night sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live.

Pardo is noted for his long association with NBC, working as the announcer for early incarnations of such notable shows as The Price is Right^[1], Jeopardy!,^[2] and NBC Nightly News.^[3] He has acted as the announcer of Saturday Night Live for all but one of its seasons. He continues his voiceover duties during the program's opening montage, several years after his official retirement from NBC.

Radio career[link]

Pardo was born in Westfield, Massachusetts, and spent his childhood in Norwich, Connecticut, and Providence, Rhode Island. He was hired for his first radio position at WJAR-AM in Providence in 1938. Pardo joined NBC as an in-house announcer in 1944, remaining on the network staff for the next 60 years. During World War II, he worked as a war reporter for NBC radio.^[4][5]

NBC television[link]

In the early 1950s, he served as announcer for many of RCA's and NBC's closed-circuit color television demonstrations, but eventually became one of the top game-show announcers for the network.

Pardo made his mark on game shows for NBC as the booming voice of the original The Price Is Right from 1956 until it moved to ABC in 1963, then Call My Bluff. The next year, he moved to Jeopardy!, which he announced from 1964 until the original version of the series ended in 1975. Pardo reprised that role with a cameo voiceover in "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1984 song "I Lost on Jeopardy" (a parody of the Greg Kihn Band's 1983 hit song "Jeopardy").^[6] He also announced numerous other New York–based NBC game shows, such as Three on a Match, Winning Streak, and Jackpot!, all three of which were Bob Stewart productions.

Pardo squeezed in many other assignments at NBC, including the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (until 1999)^[7], WNBC-TV's Live at Five news program, NBC Nightly News, and Wheel of Fortune (during two special on-location weeks in 1988, when the show originated from New York and was using substitute announcers after Jack Clark's death).

Pardo was the on-duty live booth announcer for WNBC-TV in New York and the NBC network on November 22, 1963, and he was first to announce to NBC viewers that President John F. Kennedy had been shot in Dallas, Texas. (His first bulletin interrupted a local WNBC-TV broadcast of Bachelor Father before the NBC network went live with the story.)^[8] Because NBC waited eleven minutes to begin videotaping the coverage, it was believed for decades that Pardo's historic bulletins were lost; but, almost 40 years later, an audio tape of the bulletins was discovered in a private collection.

In January 1986, Don Pardo replaced Hal Simms as announcer on the NBC soap opera Search for Tomorrow. He was the announcer until the final episode, on December 26, 1986.^[9]

[edit] Saturday Night Live

His best-known announcing work is for the television series Saturday Night Live. His was the first voice heard on the show's premiere episode in 1975.

He has remained the program's announcer except for one season (1981–1982), when it was announced by Mel Brandt (except for the episodes performed on December 5 and December 12, 1981, when veteran announcer Bill Hanrahan briefly substituted for Brandt). After "Live, from New York...", which is cried out at the end of the opening sketch, Don Pardo announces the show's title, then names the cast members and musical guest(s) in a voice-over during the opening montage. According to Pardo, his announcing booth in Studio 8-H, from which Saturday Night Live is telecast, is almost exactly where Arturo Toscanini stood when conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Rockefeller Center from 1937 to 1950. (Toscanini's broadcasts later moved to Carnegie Hall.)

In December 1976, on one SNL episode, Pardo participated in a musical performance by Frank Zappa, reciting a verse of the song "I'm the Slime". Pardo subsequently reprised this role on the live-recorded version of the song for the Zappa in New York album (it was not featured on the first release in 1978, but it appears on the 1993 CD re-release). He also provided narration for the songs "The Illinois Enema Bandit" and "Punky's Whips" (a business dispute between Zappa and his then record company led to "Punky's Whips" being removed from the 1978 album, but the song was reinstated on the 1993 CD).

Retirement[link]

Although Pardo officially retired from NBC in 2004^[10] and moved from Demarest, New Jersey to Tucson, Arizona, the producers of Saturday Night Live persuaded him to continue providing the introductions for their show. In 2006, he announced he would be prerecording his announcements from a home studio in Arizona. That arrangement lasted only a few episodes however, before producers insisted that they needed him in Studio 8H, and he resumed weekly flights to New York to do the show.^[11] On Saturday, February 23, 2008, Pardo appeared at the closing of SNL to blow out the candles of his 90th birthday cake. Upon his induction into the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame on May 14, 2009, Pardo indicated that the May 16, 2009, episode of Saturday Night Live could be his last.^[12][13] However, his voice was heard once again announcing the show's 35th season premiere, and he continued providing the voice-overs through the season.

He announced that for the 36th season, he would pre-record his parts from his home in Arizona rather than performing live in New York City.^[11]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Don Pardo at the Internet Movie Database
• The recovery of Pardo's "lost" JFK bulletins
• The Illinois Enema Bandit lyrics inc. Don Pardo's contribution
• Punky's Whips lyrics inc. Don Pardo's contribution
• I'm The Slime lyrics inc. Don Pardo's contribution
• Video clip from 1980 featuring last moments of pre-sign off WNBC-TV news update by Don Pardo
• Video interview on WJAR Providence
• Don Pardo Archive of American Television Interview

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (June 2011)

Rob Pardo
Pardo speaking at Game Developers Conference 2010
Born	(1970-06-09) June 9, 1970 (age 42)
Occupation	Game designer
Employer	Blizzard Entertainment
Title	Executive vice president of game design

Rob Pardo (born June 9, 1970) is Executive Vice President of Game Design at Blizzard Entertainment. Previously he was the lead designer of World of Warcraft. In 2006, he was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.^[1]

Games[link]

Rob Pardo has been credited on the following games:^[2]

Lead Designer

• World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King
• World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
• World of Warcraft
• Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
• Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos
• StarCraft: Brood War

Designer

• Diablo II
• Warcraft II: Battle.net Edition
• StarCraft
• Diablo III

Producer

• Mortal Kombat Trilogy
• Tempest X3
• Whiplash

Executive producer

• Diablo III

In pop culture[link]

Pardo appears in animated form in the South Park episode Make Love, Not Warcraft, which deals with World of Warcraft.

EverQuest[link]

He was Guild Master of the EverQuest guild Legacy of Steel, which accomplished many world-firsts. He met friend and now coworker Tigole (Jeffrey Kaplan) during his time in Legacy of Steel. Tigole would go on to replace him as guild leader and was eventually offered a position as designer alongside Rob.

References[link]

1. ^ Rob Pardo - Architect of Virtual Worlds, Time Magazine, April 30, 2006
2. ^ Rob Pardo at MobyGames

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Rob Pardo

• GameSpy interview

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