I would nominate ‘Without further ado’, for inclusion in the list of most useless phrases in the English language. It essentially says, “I am done talking, am about to introduce the speaker you are actually here for, and have no imagination.”
Of those three clauses, the audience is likely grateful for the first, well aware of the second, and (depending upon how long the introduction has taken) may already share a consensus on the third.
It would be as useful, and less trite, to simply pause for the two seconds otherwise wasted on that phrase, scan the audience as it collects itself, then move on to the introduction.
