Rich Hall

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See also: Richard Hall
Richard Hall

Photo By Sam Cali - Tower Theatre
Upper Darby, PA - May 3rd, 1986
Born June 10, 1954 (1954-06-10) (age 54)
Alexandria, Virginia,
Flag of the United States U.S.
Occupation Stand-up comedian
Partner Karen Eva

Rich Hall (born 10 June 1954 in Alexandria, Virginia)[1] is an American comedian and writer. He was a writer and performer on the sketch comedy TV series Fridays, Not Necessarily the News, and Saturday Night Live. He has appeared several times on the Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and on the comedy panel show QI.

In 1986, he had his own Showtime channel special, Vanishing America, which was turned into a book with the same title.

He hosted a talk show during The Comedy Channel's 1990-1991 season, entitled Rich Hall's Onion World.

(Photo of Rich Hall is from May 3rd, 1986 - 94 WYSP-FM Philadelphia, PA - All Day Live Radio Broadcast promoting the then upcoming "Hands Across America" Event on May 26th, 1986 - Photo By Sam Cali)

Rich Hall invented the term "sniglet" (if not the concept) and collected and published several volumes of them:

  • Sniglets (Snig'Lit : Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should) (1984)
  • More Sniglets: Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should (1985)
  • Unexplained Sniglets of the Universe (1986)
  • Angry Young Sniglets (1987)
  • When Sniglets Ruled the Earth (1989)


He is widely considered to be the inspiration for Moe Szyslak from The Simpsons. Matt Groening has stated as much in interviews.[2]

Contents

[edit] United Kingdom

Outside of his homeland, Hall has also achieved popularity in the United Kingdom, where he once lived. Despite relocating there on filming purposes, he has since relocated to Montana, United States. Hall is a regular guest on popular BBC panel quiz shows. In 2000, he won the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, in the guise of his own grizzled uncle, Otis Lee Crenshaw, the much-convicted country music singer. He has released several albums and a concert movie as this character. In 2004, he published a book of the man's memoirs, entitled Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society, and has recently finished a screenplay for a film based on the book, written for the director Mel Smith.[3]

In 2004, he appeared as part of Jack Dee's Jack Dee Live at the Apollo series to perform a stand-up routine. The appearance achieved some cult status due to his line of jokes about Tom Cruise, and the perceivable similarities between many of his roles.

In 2006, Rich wrote and acted in a play called Levelland at the Edinburgh Festival.

He has had three BBC TV series of his own: Rich Hall's Badly Funded Think Tank, Rich Hall's Fishing Show in 2003, and Rich Hall's Cattle Drive in 2006, as well as a one off programme about the 2004 American Presidential Elections, Rich Hall's Election Special.

He regularly appears as a guest on comedy panel game programmes, such as Have I Got News for You, QI[4], 8 out of 10 Cats and Never Mind the Buzzcocks[5][6] to major critical acclaim. He also appeared on the BBC Two programme Top Gear, where he successfully managed to make a song about a Rover 25 car, much to the enjoyment of the audience and the host, Jeremy Clarkson. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Hall was entrusted with the task of responding to the tragedy on the first subsequent edition of Have I Got News for You.

In 2007, he returned to the Fringe with his second play, Best Western, which he wrote and directed.

[edit] Appearances

He also made an Irish TV appearance as a guest on the fifth series of RTÉ's topical news comedy program, Don't Feed The Gondolas, and appears at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival every year as well as the Galway comedy festival the last number of years

He has also achieved some popularity in Australia, regularly appearing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and also on Australian comedy panel shows, like The Glass House and Spicks and Specks.

Rich appeared, albeit briefly, in the 2006 Cheap Seats (ESPNCL) episode titled "Steve Garvey Celebrity Skiing". He was also at the Garvey 1989 Celebrity Ski Classic.

[edit] Celebrities impersonated on SNL

[edit] Discography

  1. 2001 London Not Tennessee, with the Black Liars
  2. 2003 How Do We Do It? Volume!

[edit] Books

  1. 1984 Sniglets (Snig'Lit: Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should), ISBN 0-02-012530-5
  2. 1985 More Sniglets: Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should
  3. 1986 Unexplained Sniglets of the Universe
  4. 1986 Rich Hall's Vanishing America, ISBN 0-02-547480-4
  5. 1987 Angry Young Sniglets (1987)
  6. 1989 When Sniglets Ruled the Earth (1989)
  7. 1994 Self Help for the Bleak: Attaboy Therapy, ISBN 0-8431-3669-3
  8. 2002 Things Snowball, ISBN 0-349-11576-1
  9. 2004 Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society, ISBN 0-349-11818-3

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Biography for Rich Hall (I)". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  2. ^ "Hall of Fame". QI.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  3. ^ "Acclaimed stand-up comedian Rich Hall makes light of life", Visitor.co.uk, 28 February 2007. Retrieved on 2007-08-04. 
  4. ^ "Filmography by TV series for Rich Hall (I): 'QI' (14 episodes)". IMDb. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.
  5. ^ "Rich Hall, Amy Winehouse, Mike Peters, Fearne Cotton". Never Mind the Buzzcocks. BBC. 2004-03-08. No. 10, season 14.
  6. ^ "Rich Hall, Amy Winehouse, Mike Peters, Fearne Cotton". TV.com. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.

[edit] External links

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