Richard Travis Hall (born June 10, 1954) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician, first coming to prominence as a sketch comedian in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of American networks, in series such as '' Fridays'', '' Not Necessarily the News'' (popularising the "

sniglet A sniglet () is an often humorous word made up to describe something for which no dictionary word exists. Introduced in the 1980s TV comedy series '' Not Necessarily the News'', sniglets were generated and published in significant numbers, along wi ...

" neologism), and ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''. After winning a Perrier Comedy Award in 2000, using the character of

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

ian Otis Lee Crenshaw, Hall became popular in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, regularly appearing on '' QI'' and similar

panel show A panel show or panel game is a radio or television game show in which a panel of celebrities participate. Celebrity panelists may compete with each other, such as on '' The News Quiz''; facilitate play by non-celebrity contestants, such as on ' ...

s. He has created and starred in several series for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, including comedies with Mike Wilmot and

documentaries A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill ...

often concerning

cinema of the United States The cinema of the United States, primarily associated with major film studios collectively referred to as Hollywood, has significantly influenced the global film industry since the early 20th century. Classical Hollywood cinema, a filmma ...

. Hall has also maintained a successful

stand-up comedy Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage (theatre), stage and delivers humour, humorous and satire, satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical comedy, physical acts. These ...

career, as both Crenshaw and himself.

Early life

Richard Hall was born in

Alexandria, Virginia Alexandria is an independent city (United States), independent city in Northern Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of Washington, D.C., D.C. The city's population of 159,467 at the 2020 ...

, and grew up in

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

. He says he is of partial Cherokee descent. Early in his career, he performed as a street comedian with a suitcase and stand, traveling the college circuit and performing impromptu skits for gathering crowds. He attended

Western Carolina University Western Carolina University (WCU) is a public university in Cullowhee, North Carolina, United States. It is part of the University of North Carolina system. The fifth oldest institution of the sixteen four-year universities in the UNC system, WCU ...

Career

United States

Hall's first professional work was as a writer and performer on the original daytime '' David Letterman Show'', for which he won the 1981 Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Writing, and the

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches" or, "skits", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. While the form developed and became popular in ...

TV series '' Fridays'', becoming a cast member on that show during its third and final season. After the end of ''Fridays'', Hall co-wrote and starred in the satirical comedy series '' Not Necessarily the News'' from 1983 until 1990 where he coined the term "

" to describe newly created words and collected and published several volumes of books of them. He was also a regular on ''

'' for the show's tenth season (1984–1985), becoming the only ''Fridays'' cast member to be an ''SNL'' cast member. In 1986, Hall 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 1990–91 season, titled ''Rich Hall's Onion World''. In the United States, he has appeared several times on American talk shows such as ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...

'', ''

Late Show with David Letterman ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by Letterman's production com ...

'', and ''

Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the second installment of the ''Late Night (franchise), Late Night'' franchise originally established by David Letterman. Hosted by Conan O'Brie ...

''. Hall made a special guest appearance as himself in the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

talk show ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American live-action/ adult animated hybrid television series created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and first broadcast in 1994. It takes the form of a surreal parody of talk shows, hosted by a reimagi ...

''. In 2011, Hall voiced an

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

man in

Sony Pictures Animation Sony Pictures Animation Inc. (also referred to as Sony Animation Studios and abbreviated to SPA) is an American animation studio owned by Sony Entertainment's Sony Pictures Entertainment through their Motion Picture Group division and found ...

's ''

Arthur Christmas ''Arthur Christmas'' is a 2011 animated Christmas comedy film directed by Sarah Smith who co-wrote the screenplay with Peter Baynham, and starring the voices of James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Bill Nighy, Jim Broadbent, Imelda Staunton, and Ashley ...

''.

United Kingdom

Outside the US, Hall has also achieved popularity in the United Kingdom. He spends part of his time writing plays in the United States, where he has a small ranch just outside

Livingston, Montana Livingston is a city and the county seat of Park County, Montana, United States. It is in southwestern Montana, on the Yellowstone River, north of Yellowstone National Park. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 8,040. Hist ...

. The rest of the time is spent in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, where he owns a flat. Hall is a guest on popular

panel quiz shows, most notably as a regular guest on '' QI'', and also with appearances in ''

8 Out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (stylised as ''8 out of 10 CATS'') is a British comedy panel show that aired from 3 June 2005 to 17 January 2021. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 from 2005 to 2015, then More4 from 2016 to 2017, and finally E4 from ...

'', '' Have I Got News for You'' and ''

Never Mind the Buzzcocks ''Never Mind the Buzzcocks'' is a British comedy panel game show with a pop music theme. It has aired on Sky Max since September 2021, having originally aired between November 1996 and January 2015 on BBC Two. The original series was first host ...

''. He has also appeared on the British stand-up comedy series Jack Dee's '' Live at the Apollo''. In 2006, Hall also wrote and acted in the play ''Levelland'' at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the ...

. Hall has had four BBC TV series of his own: ''Rich Hall's Badly Funded Think Tank'', ''

Rich Hall's Fishing Show ''Rich Hall's Fishing Show'' is a comedy programme written by and starring Rich Hall and Mike Wilmot. It was first broadcast on 11 November 2003 in the United Kingdom on BBC Four. It was repeated in the UK on Dave in 2008. The Fishing with the ...

'' in 2003, '' 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 also appeared on the

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

programme '' Top Gear'', where he successfully managed to make a song about a

Rover 25 The Rover 200 Series, and later the Rover 25, are a series of small family cars that were produced by former British manufacturer Rover (marque), Rover from 1984 until 2005. There have been three distinct generations of the Rover 200. The firs ...

car, much to the enjoyment of host

Jeremy Clarkson Jeremy Charles Robert Clarkson (born 11 April 1960) is an English television presenter, journalist, farmer, and author who specialises in Driving, motoring. He is best known for hosting the television programmes ''Top Gear (2002 TV series), T ...

and the audience. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

, Hall was entrusted with the task of responding to the tragedy on the first subsequent edition of '' Have I Got News for You''. Hall has written and presented 90-minute documentaries about American

film genres A film genre is a Genre, stylistic or thematic category for Film, motion pictures based on similarities either in the narrative , narrative elements, aesthetic approach, or the emotional response to the film. Drawing heavily from the theories ...

, culture and history, broadcast on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

. Initially these documentaries focused on film genres: ''Rich Hall's How the West Was Lost'' (first broadcast June 2008) discusses Westerns, ''Rich Hall's The Dirty South'' (October 2010) challenges stereotypical Hollywood presentations of the Southern United States, ''Rich Hall's Continental Drifters'' (November 2011) examines the American

road movie A road movie is a film genre, genre of film in which the main characters leave home on a road trip, typically altering the perspective from their everyday lives. Road movies often depict travel in the hinterlands, with the films exploring the the ...

, ''Rich Hall's Inventing the Indian'' (October 2012) discusses portrayals of Native Americans. His subsequent documentaries cover broader aspects of American culture and politics: ''Rich Hall's You Can Go to Hell, I'm Going to Texas'' (June 2013) and ''Rich Hall's California Stars'' (July 2014) focus on Texas and California respectively, ''Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match'' (broadcast 7 November 2016, the day before the

2016 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 8, 2016. The Republican Party (United States), Republican ticket of businessman Donald Trump and Indiana Governor, Indiana governor Mike P ...

) is a history of

US Presidents The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. Under the U.S. Constitution, the officeholder leads the executive bra ...

and their election campaigns, ''Rich Hall's Countrier Than You'' (March 2017) discusses

, ''Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream'' (July 2018) questions the attainability of the

American Dream The "American Dream" is a phrase referring to a purported national ethos of the United States: that every person has the freedom and opportunity to succeed and attain a better life. The phrase was popularized by James Truslow Adams during the ...

, and ''Rich Hall's Red Menace'' (November 2019) is about the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

. In 2007, he returned to the Fringe with his second play, ''Best Western'', which he wrote and directed. His autumn 2009 tour included a performance at London's

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly and still commonly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Pa ...

, which was recorded and released in November 2009 as a live DVD. In 2009, he performed at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

in two shows, his solo stand up and also with longtime collaborator Mike Wilmot and

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

-based actor Tim Williams in a new play entitled ''Campfire Stories''. On April 5, 2010, Hall appeared as one of the stand-up acts on '' Channel 4's Comedy Gala'', a benefit show organized by

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

to raise money for Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital. Hall was a regular performer on Channel 4's '' Stand Up for the Week'', which began in June 2010. In January 2015, Hall started a comedy tour of the UK called ''3:10 to Humour''. Hall also frequently appears in episodes of '' Very British Problems''.

Other appearances

Hall made an Irish TV appearance as a guest on the fifth series of

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

's topical news comedy programme, '' Don't Feed the Gondolas'', and has appeared at the Kilkenny Cat Laughs comedy festival on 15 occasions. He has also performed at the West

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Festival/ Feile an Phobail, one of the largest community festivals in Ireland, to a sell-out audience where he received widespread critical acclaim. He appeared in several

Pizza Hut Pizza Hut, LLC is an American multinational pizza restaurant chain and international franchise founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, by brothers Dan and Frank Carney. The chain, headquartered in Plano, Texas, operates 19,866 restaurants worldw ...

commercials in the 1980s, mainly promoting Pizza Hut's guarantee of serving each customer within five minutes. Hall has achieved some popularity in Australia, regularly appearing at the

Melbourne International Comedy Festival The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starti ...

and the

Adelaide Fringe Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is Australia’s biggest arts festival and is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between ...

, and on Australian comedy panel shows such as '' The Glass House'' and '' Spicks and Specks''. Hall appeared at the Garvey 1989 Celebrity Ski Classic and at the Altitude Comedy Festival 2008 in the ski resort of Meribel in France. He also appeared – albeit briefly – in the 2006 ''Cheap Seats'' episode titled " Steve Garvey Celebrity Skiing". From 2015 onwards, Hall has lent his voice as Captain Taylor in the ITV series '' Thunderbirds Are Go'', with the character first appearing in the episode "Relic". The character made further appearances in show's second and third season. Hall is a frequent guest panelist on the British panel show '' QI'', having appeared 25 times on the show. He has also won more episodes (10) than any other guest panelist.

Otis Lee Crenshaw

In 2000, he won the Perrier Comedy Award at the

Edinburgh Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, under the guise of his own grizzled uncle, Otis Lee Crenshaw, the much-convicted country music singer. He has released several albums, including ''How Do We Do It? Volume!'' in 2003, and a concert video, as this character. The first album, ''London Not Tennessee'', in 2001, was recorded on the first comedy tour, and includes two duets on stage with US singer Catherine Porter. In 2004, he published a book of the man's memoirs, entitled ''Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society'', and in 2007 he finished a screenplay for a film based on the book, written for the director Mel Smith. In 2008, Hall toured two stand-up shows around the UK: ''Rich Hall Autumn Tour 2008'' played around 45 dates and headlined as his alter-ego in a show entitled ''Otis Lee Crenshaw and Band'', with Rich Hall listed as a "special guest". He subsequently toured a version of this show throughout the UK and Ireland in 2009, with longtime sidekick Myron T. Buttram (guitarist and pedal steel player, Rob Childs) and Lonesome Dave (banjoist and guitarist, David Lindsay) appearing at the 2009

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

Fringe festival, the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

, and the 2009

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Comedy festival. The band was originally credited as ''The Black Liars'' and was renamed ''The Honky Tonk A**holes'' when joined by Horst Furst II (bassist Nigel Portman Smith) and drummer Mark Hewitt.

Personal life

Hall married his wife Karen – a filmmaker from

Liverpool, England Liverpool is a port city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population of (in ), Liverpool is the administrative, c ...

– in 2004. The couple have two children and reside in

Musical and literary career

Filmography

* '' Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment'' (1985) – Street Punk #1 (uncredited) * '' One Crazy Summer'' (1986) – Wilbur * '' Million Dollar Mystery'' (1987) – Slaughter Buzzard * '' C.H.U.D. II: Bud the C.H.U.D.'' (1989) – Stan * ''The Lives of the Saints'' (2006) – Club Performer * ''

'' (2011) – Idaho Man (voice)

TV

* ''Vanishing America'' (1986) * ''Monsters'', episode 15, "Their Divided Self" (1989) * ''Rich Hall's TV Dinner Party'' (1990) * ''

'' (2003) * '' Rich Hall's Cattle Drive'' (2006) * ''Rich Hall's How the West Was Lost'' (first broadcast June 2008) * ''Rich Hall's The Dirty South'' (October 2010) * ''Rich Hall's Continental Drifters'' (November 2011) * ''Rich Hall's Inventing the Indian'' (October 2012) * ''Rich Hall's You Can Go To Hell, I'm Going To Texas'' (June 2013) * ''Rich Hall's California Stars'' (July 2014) * ''Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match'' (November 2016) * ''Rich Hall's Countrier Than You'' (March 2017) * ''Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream'' (July 2018) * ''Rich Hall's Red Menace'' (November 2019) * '' Elliott from Earth'' (2021) – Kane (voice)

Radio

* ''In Search of Southern Hospitality''

Discography

* ''London Not Tennessee'' (with The Black Liars) (2001) * ''How Do We Do It? Volume!'' (2003) * ''Waitin' On A Grammy'' (2016)

Bibliography

* 1984: ''Sniglets (Snig'Lit: Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should)'', * 1985: ''More Sniglets: Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should'' * 1986: ''Unexplained Sniglets of the Universe'' * 1986: ''Rich Hall's Vanishing America'', * 1987: ''Angry Young Sniglets'' (1987) * 1989: ''When Sniglets Ruled the Earth'' (1989) * 1994: ''Self Help for the Bleak: Attaboy Therapy'', * 2002: ''Things Snowball'', * 2003: ''Top Gear'' (2003) * 2004: ''Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society'', * 2009: ''Magnificent Bastards'', * 2022: ''Nailing It! Tales From The Comedy Frontier'',

References

External links

*
Rich Hall reading from "Magnificent Bastards" at writLOUD, London
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Rich 1954 births Living people American expatriate male actors American expatriates in England American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American stand-up comedians American television writers American male television writers American people who self-identify as being of Cherokee descent Writers from Alexandria, Virginia People from Livingston, Montana People from Union County, North Carolina Western Carolina University alumni Television personalities from London American sketch comedians American comedy musicians People from Mecklenburg County, North Carolina 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Male actors from Alexandria, Virginia Male actors from Montana Comedians from Virginia Comedians from Montana 21st-century American male actors 20th-century American writers 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American writers Writers from Montana Screenwriters from Virginia Screenwriters from North Carolina Screenwriters from Montana