KFC replaces Darrell Hammond’s Colonel Sanders with Norm Macdonald

He barely had time to lick his fingers as Col. Sanders, but Melbourne, Fla.-born actor Darrell Hammond apparently has been replaced after only a few months as the goateed face of the chicken chain.

When Darrell Hammond was picked to play Colonel Sanders in a new string of TV spots for KFC, his portrayal was… not very well received? Ulf Johansson of Smith & Jones Films directed the latest ads.

Kevin Hochamn, KFC US chief marketing officer, says that Norm was “the ideal choice to play the Real Colonel”.

Now I don’t know if this is KFC switching horses mid-stream, or some sort of weird meta-verse they’re building, but Norm Macdonald is not only playing the Colonel in a new spot, but he’s specifically calling out Hammond’s performance.

“The new set of ads are more of that same homage to the things that made Kentucky Fried Chicken such an important part of American families”. “That’s a whole lot of legend to fit into a couple decades, and it takes a strong work ethic, the kind you don’t see every day, to do it like he did”, MacDonald said upon the release of the first ad.

Along with the fall advertising campaign, KFC is honoring its would-be 125-year old founder’s invention of the “home meal replacement” with the introduction of a family-sized version of the immensely popular $5 Fill Up® – the $20 Family Fill Up™.

If people dislike the new ads with Macdonald, that could actually be great news for the fast food chain, “because at least now they have an opinion”, said Creed. “That’s better than 100 percent being indifferent”, he said in a report by Food Business News.

Along with the chicken nuggets, social media planted tongue in cheek.