As a longtime Howard Stern fan, John Melendez will always be known as Stuttering John to me. Over the many years he was on the show, Melendez somehow managed to get control of his stammer, but not his annoying Long Island accent. So when Jay Leno decided to add a little bit of "hipness" on The Tonight Show by plucking Melendez from Stern's clutches and making him the announcer of the show five years ago, you had to wonder about the wisdom of that decision.

Of course, the move didn't work: Melendez may not have stuttered while he was introducing the show, but hearing him butcher celebrity names -- did he call Pamela Anderson "Pamaler Andason" once? -- on a daily basis was brutal. And Leno quickly realized that without Stern and his writers to support him, Melendez wasn't all that funny.

So it's not a surprise to learn that, with the clean slate provided by a move in timeslot, Melendez won't be the announcer on The Jay Leno Show.

Fox may have lost Mad TV last Saturday, but Saturday Night Live lost something worth much, much more to the world of television than Mad TV. And no, I don't mean that the SNL writing staff lost their snack machine.

Announcer Don Pardo, 91, announced in his induction speech to the Rhode Island Radio Hall of Fame that last Saturday's show will be his last.

Pardo has been the voice of the show since it hit the airwaves in 1975, minus the 7th season in '81 and '82. He has also been an announcer in a number of game shows, movies, commercials and news shows, and holds the distinction of being the first person on television to announce the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

Here's some good news for people who have missed Andy Richter since he stopped being Conan O'Brien's sidekick nine years ago: NBC just announced that he's signed on to be the announcer of The Tonight Show when Conan takes it over in June.

Now, this doesn't mean that we'll see Andy on the couch next to Conan, as he was in Late Night's early years. He's the announcer; think of what John Melendez does for Leno and add the fact that, you know, Andy actually has comedic talent. Richter will announce the show and participate in both live and pre-taped comedy bits.

For fans of Andy Richter the actor, though, this isn't good news. After starring in two very funny failed sitcoms, Andy Richter Controls the Universe and Andy Barker, P.I., it seems like his returning to the daily Conan fold would preclude him from starring in another one anytime soon. But that also means he won't star in another Quintuplets, either, so maybe this is a good idea.