Richard Karn (born Richard Karn Wilson; February 17, 1956) is an American actor, author and former

game show host A game show host is an individual who manages a game show, introduces contestants, and asks quiz questions to test the knowledge of said contestants. They may also have other duties pertinent to production. History In 1938, Freddie Grisewood w ...

. He starred as Al Borland in the ABC series ''

Home Improvement The concept of home improvement, home renovation or remodeling is the process of renovating, making improvements or making additions to one's home. Home improvement can consist of projects that upgrade an existing home interior (such as electr ...

'' and as Fred Peters in the

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

series ''

Pen15 ''Pen15'' is an American comedy television series, created by Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and Sam Zvibleman, that premiered on February 8, 2019, on Hulu. The series stars Erskine and Konkle, who also serve as executive producers alongside Zvibl ...

''. Karn was also the fourth host of ''

Family Feud ''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. Two families compete on each episode to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. The show has had three separate runs, the ...

'' from 2002 to 2006.

Early life

Richard Karn Wilson was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, on February 17, 1956. His father, Gene, was a

Seabee United States Naval Construction Battalions, better known as the Navy Seabees, form the U.S. Naval Construction Forces (NCF). The Seabee nickname is a heterograph of the initial letters "CB" from the words "Construction Battalion". Dependi ...

who served in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Richard graduated from Roosevelt High School and the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

Professional Actor Training Program,Marmor, Jon (September 1995)
"Richard Karn"
''UW Alumni Magazine''. where he was a member of

Beta Theta Pi Beta Theta Pi (), commonly known as Beta, is a North American social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. One of North America's oldest fraternities, , it consist ...

. Karn also gained drama experience in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

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 ...

. After earning his drama degree in 1979, Karn moved to New York City, where in less than a week he was hired to do a commercial for

Michelob Anheuser-Busch, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV, is the largest brewing company in the United States, with a market share of 45 percent in 2016. The company operates 12 breweries in the United States and nearly 20 in othe ...

beer that was featured during

Super Bowl XIV Super Bowl XIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion 1979 Los Angeles Rams season, Los Angeles Rams and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers season, Pittsburgh S ...

. When Karn joined the

Screen Actors Guild The Screen Actors Guild (SAG) was an American labor union which represented over 100,000 film and television principal and background performers worldwide. On March 30, 2012, the union leadership announced that the SAG membership voted to m ...

, he was informed there was already a Richard Wilson, prompting him to drop his surname.

Career

In 1989, Karn's wife, Tudi, convinced him to move to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. Karn found a place for them to live by managing an apartment complex, catering events at a Jewish synagogue on the side. After receiving a traffic citation, Karn attended a traffic school and sat beside an agent who told him about casting for the new television show ''

''. The role of Al Borland had already been given to

Stephen Tobolowsky Stephen Harold Tobolowsky (born May 30, 1951) is an American character actor and writer. He is known for film roles such as insurance agent Ned Ryerson in ''Groundhog Day'' and amnesiac Sammy Jankis in '' Memento'', as well as such television ch ...

, but when taping was scheduled, Tobolowsky was busy with another movie and the role had to be recast. Karn was a guest star in the

pilot episode A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

but became a regular cast member when the show was picked up by the network.Lipton, Michael A. (June 12, 1995)
"No Mere Putterer"
''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

''.Schwed, Mark (December 19, 1994)
"This Handyman's Special"
''

TV Guide TV Guide is an American digital media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, vi ...

''. In 2002, Karn replaced

Louie Anderson Louis Perry Anderson (March 24, 1953 – January 21, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and game show host. He created the cartoon series ''Life with Louie'' and the television sitcom ''The Louie Show'', and wrote four books ...

as the fourth individual to host the

game show A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...

''. He left ''Family Feud'' in 2006 and was replaced by

John O'Hurley John George O'Hurley Jr. (born October 9, 1954) is an American actor and game show host. He played Jacopo Peterman, J. Peterman on the NBC sitcom ''Seinfeld'', provided the voice for King Neptune on ''SpongeBob SquarePants'', and hosted the game s ...

. In 2002, Karn made an appearance in

The Strokes The Strokes are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1998. The band is composed of lead singer and primary songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr., Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikola ...

' music video for "

Someday Someday or Some Day may refer to: Film and television * ''Someday'' (1935 film), a British film directed by Michael Powell * ''Someday'' (2011 film), a Japanese film directed by Junji Sakamoto * ''Someday'' (2021 film), an Indian Hindi-lang ...

", which featured segments of the band on a fictional showing of ''Family Feud'' against the band

Guided by Voices Guided by Voices is an American indie rock band formed in 1983 in Dayton, Ohio. It has made frequent personnel changes but always maintained the presence of principal songwriter Robert Pollard. The most well-known lineup of the band consisted o ...

. On October 6, 2008, Karn replaced

Patrick Duffy Patrick Duffy (born March 17, 1949) is an American television actor and director widely known for his role as Bobby Ewing on the CBS primetime soap opera ''Dallas (TV series), Dallas'' (1978–1991). Duffy returned to reprise his role as Bobby ...

as host of

Game Show Network Game Show Network (GSN) is an American basic cable channel owned by the television network division of Sony Pictures Television. The channel's programming is primarily dedicated to game shows, including reruns of acquired game shows, along wit ...

's '' Bingo America''. He also served as a substitute host on

GSN Radio ''Game Show Network Radio'' is an American interactive internet radio game show that originally aired live on GSN.com from August 18, 2008, to November 13, 2009, hosted by husband and wife team Bob Goen and Marianne Curan. Other co-hosts fille ...

. Karn did commercials for

Orchard Supply Hardware Orchard Supply Hardware (OSH) was an American retailer of home improvement and gardening products. Headquartered in San Jose, California, Orchard Supply Hardware had dozens of locations throughout California, with expansions into Oregon and Flori ...

in the 1990s.

Personal life

Karn has been married to actress Tudi Roche since 1985. They have a son named Cooper, who was born on March 4, 1992. From 1994 to 1999, Karn hosted an annual celebrity golf tournament in Seattle. In July 2002, the Karn Invitational celebrity golf event was held at Echo Falls Golf Club in

Snohomish, Washington Snohomish () is a city in Snohomish County, Washington, Snohomish County, Washington (state), Washington, United States. The population was 10,126 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. It is located on the Snohomish River, southeast of E ...

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

Books

*''House Broken: How I Remodeled My Home for Just Under Three Times the Original Bid'' (1999) – (with George Mair) *''Handy at Home: Tips on Improving Your Home from America's Favorite Handyman'' (2002) – (with George Mair)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Karn, Richard 1956 births 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American actors 21st-century American male actors American male film actors American game show hosts American male television actors Living people Male actors from Seattle University of Washington School of Drama alumni