Ritch Shydner
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Ritch Shydner is an American stand-up comedian, comic writer, and actor.
[edit] Early Life
Rich was born the small town of Pennsville, New Jersey. He studied business and sociology at Gettysburg College. After graduation, he did some substitute teaching in Pennsville, and managed a band. Shydner began to work for a congressman, which sparked his interest in law school. He attended George Mason University in Fairfax, VA, and it was there that he decided to become a stand-up comedian. He began writing a lot, and sent material to Mad Magazine, and National Lampoon but found little success. Shortly after, Shydner started stand-up comedy.
In the mid 1970's, Shydner went to open mike nights at local coffeehouses, and began opening for bands in D.C. and New York City. In 1982, Shydner brought his act to Los Angeles. Slowly he started getting called in to audition for casting directors. Shydner studied acting for about 4 years, and landed a regular role on Married... with Children.
[edit] Career
As for stand-up comedy, Ritch appeared on the Johnny Carson, David Letterman and Jay Leno shows numerous times. He did an HBO half-hour special, One Night Stand.[1]. Aside from performing stand-up, Ritch, along with comedian Mark Schiff, compiled stories of comedians on the road in a book called I Killed, which was released in 2006.
As far as acting is concerned, Shydner played Al Bundy’s co-worker on Married... with Children, and made guest appearances on many other TV shows, such as Designing Women and Roseanne. Ritch has been in films such as Roxanne and Beverly Hills Cop II.
In the field of writing, Ritch was a staff writer on such sitcoms as Roseanne, The Jeff Foxworthy Show, and Titus. He also wrote scripts for Becker and other shows. Ritch wrote for singers Kenny Rogers and Pam Tillis, as well as internationally acclaimed ventriloquist, David Strassman.
Shydner's influences are Art Carney, Lenny Bruce, Red Skelton, and George Carlin.[2]
