Father Sarducci Gets Serious Role

If you don’t recognize Don Novello’s face, try this: Imagine him with a black hat, tinted glasses and a priest’s robes, giving us the dirt on the goings-on in the Vatican.

That’s right, Novello’s alter ego is the wacky Father Guido Sarducci, who rose to fame on “Saturday Night Live” in the 1970s as the gossip columnist for the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. But Novello, sans mustache and religious garb, may soon become recognized in his own right via a role in “The Godfather Part III.”

“It is very hard for a comedian to get dramatic roles,” says Novello. “But (as Father Guido) I’m more disguised than the average comedian, you know? So with me, I thought it might be easier.”

So far, Novello has had roles in “Tucker” and “New York Stories” (he met Francis Ford Coppola in 1985 on the set of “Saturday Night Live”), as well as in the Judge Reinhold comedy “Head Office.” He’ll pop up again on “Midnight Caller” Jan. 4 as a mobster’s kidnaped chef. And in “Godfather III,” he plays Dominick Abbondondo, the Corleone family’s publicist.

“It isn’t a comedian’s role, I guess,” he says of his part. “It’s pretty straight. But I like that. I wanted to do more acting, and I guess that’s acting.”

Novello’s serious turn will not be the death knell for Father Guido, who still turns up on shows like “The Tonight Show.” Father Guido will also host, aptly enough, Showtime’s upcoming “Seven Deadly Sins Festival”--”Movies with some connection to some sin, I guess, you know, like lust, gluttony . . . um, what are the other ones? All the seven deadly sins have one-word hooks. Sloth, how’s that? Want me to get my list?”

Wait--shouldn’t Father Guido know stuff like this by heart?

“See, I’m not a good student,” says Novello. “Hold on a minute. Let me get my list.”