Editing Rich Hall

{{Short description|American comedian, writer and musician}}
{{Other uses|Richard Hall (disambiguation){{!}}Richard Hall}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2019}}
{{Infobox comedian
| name              = Rich Hall
| image             = Rich Hall Comedian 15.4.2016 by Tina Downham.jpg
| caption           = Hall in 2016
| pseudonym         = Otis Lee Crenshaw
| birth_name        = Richard Travis Hall
| birth_date        = {{Birth date and age|1954|6|10}}
| birth_place       = [[Alexandria, Virginia]], U.S.
| death_date        =
| death_place       =
| education         = [[Western Carolina University]]
| medium            = [[Stand-up comedy|Stand-up]], [[television]]
| active            = 1979–present
| genre             = [[Observational comedy]], [[deadpan]], [[political satire]]
| subject           = [[Culture of the United States|American culture]], [[Culture of the United Kingdom|British culture]], [[Politics of the United States|United States politics]], [[Politics of the United Kingdom|British politics]]
| spouse            = {{marriage|Karen Hall|2005}}
| children          = 2
| notable_work      = ''[[QI]]'', ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', ''[[Fridays (TV series)|Fridays]]'', ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]''
| signature         =
| website           =
| module = {{Listen |embed=yes |filename=Rich Hall BBC Radio4 Front Row 22 Jun 2009 b00l39kr.flac |title=Hall's voice |type=speech |description=from the BBC programme [[Front Row (radio programme)|Front Row]], 22 June 2009<ref name="BBC-b00l39kr">{{Cite episode |title=Rich Hall |series=Front Row |series-link=Front Row (radio programme) |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00l39kr |access-date=2014-01-18 |station=BBC Radio 4 |date=22 June 2009 }}</ref> }}
}}

'''Richard Travis Hall''' (born June 10, 1954) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor and musician, first coming to prominence as a [[Sketch comedy|sketch comedian]] in the 1980s. He wrote and performed for a range of [[Television in the United States|American networks]], in series such as ''[[Fridays (TV series)|Fridays]]'', ''[[Not Necessarily the News]]'' (popularising the "[[sniglet]]" neologism), and ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''.<ref name=nytimes2019-12-14/>

After winning a [[Edinburgh Comedy Awards|Perrier Comedy Award]] in 2000, using the [[Character (arts)|character]] of [[Tennessee]] [[country music]]ian '''Otis Lee Crenshaw''', Hall became popular in the [[United Kingdom]], regularly appearing on ''[[QI]]'' and similar [[panel show]]s. He has created and starred in several series for the [[BBC]], including [[Television comedy|comedies]] with [[Mike Wilmot]] and [[Documentary film|documentaries]] often concerning [[cinema of the United States]]. Hall has also maintained a successful [[stand-up comedy]] career, as both Crenshaw and himself.

==Early life==
Richard Hall was born in [[Alexandria, Virginia]], and grew up in [[Charlotte, North Carolina]]. He says he is of partial [[Cherokee descent]].<ref>{{Cite episode |title=Birth|series=[[QI]] |network=BBC Four |date=December 17, 2004 |season= |series-no=2 |number=12 |minutes=30|language=English}}</ref> 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]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://magazine.wcu.edu/2013/08/the-bare-facts/ |title=The Bare Facts |first=Randall |last=Holcolmbe |work=Western Carolina University |access-date=January 20, 2017}}</ref>

==Career==
===United States===
[[File:richhall1a.jpg|thumb|right|alt=Rich Hall at the Tower Theatre 1986|Hall performing at the Tower Theatre in [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania]] in 1986.]]
Hall's first professional work was as a writer and performer on the original daytime ''[[David Letterman Show]]'', for which he won the 1981 
[[Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Class Writing|Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Writing]],<ref>{{cite web
|url=https://m.imdb.com/event/ev0000206/1981/1
|title=Daytime Emmy Awards (1981)
|last=
|first= 
|date=
|website=[[IMDb]]
|publisher=
|access-date=28 Dec 2023 }}</ref> and the [[sketch comedy]] TV series ''[[Fridays (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 "[[sniglet]]" to describe newly created words and collected and published several volumes of books of them.

He was also a regular on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' 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 (TV network)|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]]'', ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]'' and ''[[Late Night with Conan O'Brien]]''.

Hall made a special guest appearance as himself in the [[Cartoon Network]] talk show ''[[Space Ghost Coast to Coast]]''.

In 2011, Hall voiced an [[Idaho]] man in [[Sony Pictures Animation]]'s ''[[Arthur Christmas]]''.

===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]].  The rest of the time is spent in [[London]], where he owns a flat.

Hall is a guest on popular [[BBC]] panel quiz shows, most notably as a regular guest on ''[[QI]]'',<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0356025/filmoseries#tt0380136 |title=Filmography by TV series for Rich Hall (I): 'QI' (16 episodes) |work=IMDb |access-date=2007-08-04}}</ref> and also with appearances in ''[[8 Out of 10 Cats]]'', ''[[Have I Got News for You]]'' and  ''[[Never Mind the Buzzcocks]]''.<ref name="buzzcocks-ep">{{cite episode |title=Rich Hall, Amy Winehouse, Mike Peters, Fearne Cotton |series=Never Mind the Buzzcocks |series-link=Never Mind the Buzzcocks |network=BBC |airdate=2004-03-08 |season=14 |number=10}}</ref><ref name="tvcom-buzzcocks">{{cite web |url=http://www.tv.com/never-mind-the-buzzcocks/rich-hall-amy-winehouse-mike-peters-fearne-cotton/episode/315782/summary.html |title=Rich Hall, Amy Winehouse, Mike Peters, Fearne Cotton |work=[[TV.com]] |access-date=2007-08-04}}</ref> He has also appeared on the British stand-up comedy series [[Jack Dee]]'s ''[[Live at the Apollo (TV series)|Live at the Apollo]]''. In 2006, Hall also wrote and acted in the play ''Levelland'' at the [[Edinburgh Festival]].

Hall has had four BBC TV series of his own: ''Rich Hall's Badly Funded Think Tank'', ''[[Rich Hall's Fishing Show]]'' in 2003, ''[[Rich Hall's Cattle Drive]]'' in 2006, as well as a one-off programme about the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 American Presidential Elections]], ''Rich Hall's Election Special''. He also appeared on the [[BBC Two]] programme ''[[Top Gear (2002 TV series)|Top Gear]]'', where he successfully managed to make a song about a [[Rover 25]] car, much to the enjoyment of host [[Jeremy Clarkson]] and the audience. After the [[September 11 attacks]], 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]], culture and history, broadcast on [[BBC Four]]. Initially these documentaries focused on film genres: ''Rich Hall's How the West Was Lost'' (first broadcast June 2008)<ref name="hallwesterns">{{cite web |title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's 'How the West Was Lost' |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00c4zvh |website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> discusses [[Western (genre)|Westerns]], ''Rich Hall's The Dirty South'' (October 2010) challenges stereotypical Hollywood presentations of the Southern United States,<ref name="halldirtysouth">{{cite web |title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's 'The Dirty South' |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t26zf |website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/7882231/Rich-Hall-on-the-Dirty-South.html |date=July 9, 2012 |title=Rich Hall on the Dirty South |author=Rampton, James |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]] |access-date=April 9, 2012}}</ref> ''Rich Hall's Continental Drifters'' (November 2011) examines the American [[road movie]],<ref name="halldrifters">{{cite web |title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's Continental Drifters|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017grqt |website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> ''Rich Hall's [[Inventing the Indian]]'' (October 2012) discusses portrayals of Native Americans.<ref name="hallindians">{{cite web |title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's Inventing the Indian |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nqbqk |website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> 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,<ref name="halltexas">{{cite web |title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's You Can Go To Hell, I'm Going To Texas |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b036lqsz |website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref><ref name="hallcalifornia">{{cite web |title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's California Stars |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04bbfzw |website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> ''Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match'' (broadcast 7 November 2016, the day before the [[2016 United States presidential election]]) is a history of [[President of the United States|US Presidents]] and their election campaigns,<ref name="hallpresident">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0828lpl|title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match|website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> ''Rich Hall's Countrier Than You'' (March 2017) discusses [[country music]],<ref name="hallcountrier">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08j8lqb|title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's Countrier Than You|website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref> ''Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream'' (July 2018) questions the attainability of the [[American Dream]],<ref name="halldream">{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b8rc45 |title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream |website=BBC}}</ref> and ''Rich Hall's Red Menace'' (November 2019) is about the [[Cold War]].<ref name="hallredmenace">{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000b1gw|title=BBC Four - Rich Hall's Red Menace|website=[[BBC Online]]|access-date=5 December 2019}}</ref>

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]], which was recorded and released in November 2009 as a live DVD.

In 2009, he performed at the [[Edinburgh Festival Fringe]] in two shows, his solo stand up and also with longtime collaborator Mike Wilmot and [[Montana]]-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]] to raise money for [[Great Ormond Street Hospital|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.<ref>{{cite news |title=Channel 4 lines up topical standup show hosted by Patrick Kielty |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2010/jun/14/channel-4-standup-show-patrick-kielty |work=[[The Guardian]] |first=Mark |last=Sweney |date=June 14, 2010 |access-date=July 3, 2010}}</ref>

In January 2015, Hall started a comedy tour of the UK called ''3:10 to Humour''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/news/a615836/rich-hall-announces-310-to-humour-tour-dates.html#~pdvfwx0t4Nqngc |title=Rich Hall announces '3:10 to Humour' tour dates |publisher=Digital Spy |date=December 10, 2014 |access-date=January 20, 2017}}</ref>

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]]'s topical news comedy programme, ''[[Don't Feed the Gondolas]]'', and has appeared at the [[Cat Laughs|Kilkenny Cat Laughs]] comedy festival on 15 occasions. He has also performed at the West [[Belfast]] 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]] 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]] and the [[Adelaide Fringe]], and on Australian comedy panel shows such as ''[[The Glass House (2001 TV series)|The Glass House]]'' and ''[[Spicks and Specks (TV series)|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 (TV 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==
[[File:Rich Hall at York Theatre Royal 2014.jpg|right|thumb|Hall performing at [[York Theatre Royal]], in 2014]]
In 2000, he won the [[Perrier Comedy Award]] at the [[Edinburgh Fringe]], 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]].<ref name="visitor">{{cite news |url=http://www.thevisitor.co.uk/entertainment/Acclaimed-standup-comedian-Rich-Hall.2085832.jp |title=Acclaimed Stand-up Comedian Rich Hall Makes Light of Life |date=February 28, 2007 |access-date=2008-07-17}}</ref>

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]] Fringe festival, the [[Sydney Opera House]], and the 2009 [[Melbourne]] 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]] – in 2004. The couple have two children and reside in [[London]].<ref>{{cite web |date=November 26, 2016 |title=Interview: Rich Hall talks to Janet Christie |url=https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/interview-rich-hall-talks-to-janet-christie-1-4301455 |work=The Scotsman}}</ref>

==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
* ''[[Arthur Christmas]]'' (2011) – Idaho Man (voice)

====TV====
* ''Vanishing America'' (1986)
* ''Monsters'', episode 15, "Their Divided Self" (1989)
* ''Rich Hall's TV Dinner Party'' (1990)
* ''[[Rich Hall's Fishing Show]]'' (2003)
* ''[[Rich Hall's Cattle Drive]]'' (2006)
* ''Rich Hall's How the West Was Lost'' (first broadcast June 2008)<ref name="hallwesterns"/>
* ''Rich Hall's The Dirty South'' (October 2010)<ref name="halldirtysouth"/>
* ''Rich Hall's Continental Drifters'' (November 2011)<ref name="halldrifters"/>
* ''Rich Hall's [[Inventing the Indian]]'' (October 2012)<ref name="hallindians"/>
* ''Rich Hall's You Can Go To Hell, I'm Going To Texas'' (June 2013)<ref name="halltexas"/>
* ''Rich Hall's California Stars'' (July 2014)<ref name="hallcalifornia"/>
* ''Rich Hall's Presidential Grudge Match'' (November 2016)<ref name="hallpresident"/>
* ''Rich Hall's Countrier Than You'' (March 2017)<ref name="hallcountrier"/>
* ''Rich Hall's Working for the American Dream'' (July 2018)<ref name="halldream"/>
* ''Rich Hall's Red Menace'' (November 2019)<ref name="hallredmenace"/>
* ''[[Elliott from Earth]]'' (2021) – Kane (voice)

====Radio====
* ''In Search of Southern Hospitality''<!--A BBC Radio 4 documentary. Rich Hall explores the idea of the famed hospitality in America's Southern states, and tries to find out if a stranger can still be sure of receiving a warm welcome.-->

===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)'', {{ISBN|0-02-012530-5}}
* 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'', {{ISBN|0-02-547480-4}}
* 1987: ''Angry Young Sniglets'' (1987)
* 1989: ''When Sniglets Ruled the Earth'' (1989)
* 1994: ''Self Help for the Bleak: Attaboy Therapy'', {{ISBN|0-8431-3669-3}}
* 2002: ''Things Snowball'', {{ISBN|0-349-11576-1}}
* 2003: ''Top Gear'' (2003)
* 2004: ''Otis Lee Crenshaw: I Blame Society'', {{ISBN|0-349-11818-3}}
* 2009: ''Magnificent Bastards'', {{ISBN|0-349-11965-1}}
* 2022: ''Nailing It! Tales From The Comedy Frontier'', {{ISBN|978-1-52942-243-6|978-1-52942-244-3|978-1-52942-246-7}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2|refs=
<ref name=nytimes2019-12-14>{{cite news |first=Gus |last=Wezerek |title=The 'S.N.L.' Stars Who Lasted, and the Ones Who Flamed Out |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=2019-12-14 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/14/arts/television/SNL-history.html |url-access=subscription |access-date=2019-12-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191214233933/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/14/arts/television/SNL-history.html |archive-date=2019-12-14 |url-status=live
|quote=Some of the names here will be familiar only to die-hard fans; others, like Murphy, defined what was funny for generations of viewers.}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
* {{IMDb name|0356025}}
* [http://www.bbk.ac.uk/writloud/Writers.htm#H Rich Hall reading from "Magnificent Bastards" at writLOUD, London]

{{Authority control}}

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