Large Ham Announcer



What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome? Looks like your audience needs some convincing, and that's where the announcers come in. Adding a classic sports play-by-play or color-commentary announcer, or a movie trailer-type announcer is an easy way to make anything more dramatic, more exciting, more thrilling. Large Ham announcers are particularly effective. For a variant, rather than one of the loud announcer styles, you can go with the whispering golf-announcer style instead.

See also In a World. For being applied to works of fiction, see Lemony Narrator. May overlap with Cuckoolander Commentator. Compare Large Ham Radio.

Announcers in Particular

 * Don LaFontaine is probably the Trope Maker.
 * YTMND actually got him to read one of their memes out loud.
 * Peter Cullen does some Toonami promos, even including the Hamtaro promo. Despite it being about cute hamsters, Cullen managed to make it sound badass.
 * Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Promo
 * The Big O Promo
 * Outlaw Star Promo
 * Rurouni Kenshin Promo
 * Transformers Armada Promo
 * Batman the Animated Series Promo
 * Superman: The Animated Series Promo
 * Batman Beyond Promo
 * Mark Elliot for Disney trailers.

Advertising

 * Don LaFontaine apparently enjoyed lampooning himself:
 * For Geico
 * For Birdseye frozen vegetables
 * For Geico: Can futbol announcer, Andres Cantor, make any sport exciting?

Anime and Manga

 * Many 70s-80s Mecha shows.
 * Akagi
 * Kaiji
 * Dragon Ball
 * Pokémon
 * Hajime no Ippo: Justified since it's a boxing anime and, well, boxing matches have announcers.
 * In Lucky Star, the announcers on the bridge take Yui's race to pass some random vehicle who passed her and make it more awesome.
 * Future GPX Cyber Formula, being a racing anime, has announcers that often shouted "goal" whenever racers cross the finish line.
 * GUNDAM FIGHT ALL SET! READY? GOOOO!
 * The Inazuma Eleven anime has Ascended Extra Kakuma Keita in this role, and later his father, who's a professional soccer announcer. It later turns out It Runs in The Family.

Films -- Live-Action

 * Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace: That two-headed announcer for the podraces wouldn't shut up about how awesome everything was. And, funnily enough, the podrace announcer speaking Basic was voiced by Greg Proops, who was also Howard "Buckshot" Holmes.
 * Dodgeball notably does something to this trope — possibly Not a Subversion — by having announcers make everything funnier. Jason Bateman's character in particular is an absolute riot.
 * Similarly, the announcers in Best in Show make the dog show even funnier, especially as they're an Odd Couple - one a genteel English dog-breeding expert and the other a desperately misplaced American Football commentator.

Live-Action TV

 * Sports announcers.
 * Marc Summers, the host of Double Dare 1986. He had to talk about things like giant PB&J sandwiches, human tacos, balloons filled with jelly, and banana split cars and make it all sound like an extreme sport. All while being obsessive/compulsive. Man's got balls.
 * Peter Schickele's sportscast version of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.
 * Peter Dickson from The X Factor is so much like this it is a borderline parody.
 * Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide does this.
 * Pretty much any Game Show that offers a large array of prizes has to have a dynamic announcer who can make even a waffle iron or digital clock-radio sound exciting. The Price Is Right is a prime example.
 * "But naaaiii on the UTV..." - what viewers in Northern Ireland usually get before Coronation Street.
 * Power Rangers Jungle Fury has Flit, a fly that resides in Camille, who goes around being like this during the Zord battles. This became less frequent as the series progressed.

Professional Wrestling

 * Professional Wrestling makes particular use of this trope, alternating between flat-out amazement at things they see every week and patter about the ongoing storylines.

Videogames
"Howard: Well, it looks like there are no more people left for Jack to kill.
 * Gauntlet (1985 video game) is, of course, one of the earliest and well-known examples.
 * Any multiplayer oriented First-Person Shooter whose backstory revolves around the Tournament Arc falls into this, such as Quake III Arena and the Unreal (Tournament/Championship) series.
 * M-M-M-MONSTER KILL!
 * Skulltag announcer
 * Capcom vs. Whatever
 * Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Battle Revolution try for it. Your Mileage May Vary as to how awesome they are.
 * The Super Smash Bros announcers. The announcer changes with each game, and each of them are always hammy. GAME!
 * DJ Atomika, your eye in the sky on EA Radio BIG in SSX 3 doesn't actually commentate on events as they occur, but gives listeners the lowdown on the throwdowns after the fact while taking song requests and reporting local news. Looks like the dreaded snow snakes are back...
 * MadWorld features Kreese Kreeley and Howard "Buckshot" Holmes giving the audience slay-by-slay coverage of the brutal Deathwatch bloodsport. Frankly, their interactions are some of the best parts of the game.

Kreese: Yeah, but Jack could still defile the bodies.

Howard: How so?

Kreese: You know, take trophies and stuff; check out my necklace of human ears!

Howard: Check out my stream of projectile vomit! * vomiting noises *

Kreese: Ah, dude, did you have potatoes and corn?

Howard: Yes, I did."

"Eggman: We here at Eggman's Incredible Interstellar Amusement Park consider ourselves the universe's first fully Green amusement park! Although the green is from all the nausea and vomiting, but still, green is green!"
 * Video games based on Professional Wrestling seem to have far more storage space dedicated to announcer patter than any other audio in the game. And yet they still manage to repeat lines multiple times in the same match.
 * The Blood Bowl video game that was released in 2010 would probably be a lot less amusing without the color commentary provided by two offscreen announcers, which include a former-player ogre and a nebbishy-sounding vampire. "Ooh! Bob, I haven't seen a hit like that since the time I walked in on an argument between you and your wife!" "What can I say, Jim, that little lady sure packs a punch!"
 * The dev's previous game Chaos League also uses two announcers - the professional Straight Man and his heavy-drinking counterpart who bears more than a passing resemblance to Rik Mayall.
 * Eggman, of all people, in Sonic Colors. Snarky announcements from Sonic's nemesis will often play over a PA system in each level (coinciding with the theme that all the stages are part of Eggman's "amusement park"). Since the game's script was written by the guys behind MadWorld, these, too, are some of the best parts of the game.

""In the next test, you will utilize the laws of momentum to allow movement through portals. If the laws of physics no longer apply in the future, God help you.""
 * Additionally, whenever Sonic  uses wisps and the trick ramps, an actual announcer calls them out.
 * The Halo multiplayer announcer.
 * The Administrator from Team Fortress 2, who started out just as The Voice. Then Makani, a Big Name Fan, designed the actual character...then Valve adopted the design offically. What really makes her character is the poisonous contempt she displays for the teams.
 * Speaking of which, some people have taken voice clips and effectively used them to make hilarious commercials: Scout Advertised Slap Chop, Heavy Sells Kaboom
 * Portal has its own hilarious announcer. And an actual automated Announcer in the sequel.

""Perhaps the worst throw in Frog-dogs history, RRREAALLY RREAALLLY TERRRIBLE!""
 * Star Wars: The Old Republic has Baron Deathmark, the Huttball announcer.

""Harley tells me the Batman's car is still parked right outside Intensive Treatment. We can't have him up and leave us! Every thug, villain, murderer and kindergarten teacher that isn't carrying out party orders should head there now and smash it to pieces!""
 * The Joker takes up the role of announcer in Batman: Arkham Asylum. Hilarity Ensues.

""Today's special offer: half-price hair replacement!""
 * S4 Leagues announcer. CRITICAL! CRITICAL! TOUCHDOWN! STRRRRRIIIIIKE!!'
 * F-Zero: "You've got boost power! ALL RIGHT, FIRST PLACE!"
 * The Announcer from Theme Hospital, providing both vital announcements and Announcer Chatter in a chirpy Esturine accent.

""FATALITY!""
 * "Finish Him!!" Mortal Kombat's very own Shao Kahn even announces when he's the one fighting.

""ULTIMATE CHARGE!""
 * Killer Instinct: "C-C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!"
 * Fossil Fighters has P.A. Leon and Slate Johnson, giving you their professional, totally unbiased commentary... as they cheer you on.
 * Dance Dance Revolution, though YMMV on the "awesome" part. Even if the announcer is turned off, he will still ham it up at the results screen. His ham overrides the setting.
 * Modnation Racers has two commmentators, Biff Tradwell and Gary Reasons. Biff is a hammy, arrogant jerk (who never wears pants behind the desk for some reason) while Gary is rather timid and constantly having to fend off Biff's insults. The dialogue is quite funny.
 * The announcer from Unreal Tournament was so memorable, the voice clip was stolen for Warcraft 3 genre-changing mod Defense of the Ancients.
 * OWNING!!!
 * The menu announcer of the arcade boat racing game Hydro Thunder is commonly known for yelling absolutely everything you do, including naming any track or boat you choose.
 * Mickey Cantor in Monday Night Combat, who is a direct descendant of Andres Cantor, the soccer announcer pictured at the top of the page. Not only is he an extremely energetic play-by-play announcer ("It's kill city out there, fans! The mortality rate is at an all time HI-OOOH!"), he's also an expert corporate mouthpiece ("Aptilube! Patience, practice and persistence now come in bottle form!"). He seems to especially enjoy encouraging the pros -- and any fans who happen to have brought their sniper rifles from home -- to kill MNC mascot Bullseye.
 * The DJ's of Ridge Racer series are this in general, Ridge Racer 6 and 3D take the cake, though.


 * The Taris Duel Arena announcer in Knights of the Old Republic.
 * X Men Legends has one. "COMBO!"
 * Rock And Roll Racing. "LET THE CARNAGE BEGIN!"
 * With a name like Super Meat Boy, it's only fitting that the game has a ham-tastic announcer. See the title screen? SUUUPER MEAT BOOOY! Use a cheat code to play as a secret character? POOSH DA BUTTONS! Enter a warp-zone? WARP ZOOOOOONE!

Web Originals

 * The introductory episode 0 of International Competition Miss Mars, a fetish fiction centering on two announcers that later appear to cover recaps of the following episodes. The competition? Extreme Pregnancy that makes Octomom look like an everyday case.
 * The Announcer from Homestar Runner, who appeared in the early toons and made a return in 2006.
 * Let's Play videos features someone narrating their playing of a videogame.
 *  Improv Everywhere made a major improvement when they gave a major league set up, which included sports announcers, to a kids' baseball game.

Western Animation
"Computer: PRRRRROCESSING!"
 * Dynomutt Dog Wonder has Ron Feinberg, a gloriously spastic announcer.
 * The narrator from The Powerpuff Girls.
 * While the show itself didn't have one, Invader Zim's crew gave Zim's computer the voice of a monster truck show announcer.


 * Futurama, mostly in their...TALES! OF! INTEREST!
 * My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic has Spike, who through the course of the first season discovers his enjoyment of announcing things like footraces  and fashion shows. He takes great pride and hamminess in this.

Real Life

 * In the early days of radio and television, all newscasters were hammy. Today this behavior is restricted to sports commentators. And newscasters who used to be sports commentators.
 * Gary Owen was another hammy announcer.
 * In Atlanta, GA, the actor who is most commonly known as the voice of Space Ghost is not only hammy, but uses the Space Ghost voice when announcing for other products or events for the recognition factor.