Jeff Richards (comedian)
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Jeffrey Hanson Richards (born October 21, 1974) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, and
impressionist Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...
. Richards was the first person to be a cast member on both
FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
's ''
MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentiet ...
'' and its rival sketch show,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''
Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
'', appearing on the former in 2000, and the latter from 2001 to 2004. He is perhaps best known for his frequent ''SNL'' character "Drunk Girl". As a standup comedian, Richards has opened for
Chris Kattan Christopher Lee Kattan () (born October 19, 1970) is an American actor and comedian. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 1996 to 2003. He played Doug Butabi in '' A Night at the Roxbury'', Bob on the first four seasons of '' The ...
,
Andrew Dice Clay Andrew Dice Clay (born Andrew Clay Silverstein; September 29, 1957) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He rose to prominence in the late 1980s with a brash, deliberately offensive persona known as "The Diceman". In 1990, he became the fi ...
,
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,
David Spade David Wayne Spade (born July 22, 1964) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, television host, and writer. He was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the 1990s, and he later began an acting career in both film and television. He also s ...
,
Louie Anderson Louis Perry Anderson (March 24, 1953 – January 21, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, author and game show host. Anderson created the cartoon series ''Life with Louie'' and the television sitcom ''The Louie Show'', and wrote four ...
, and
Andy Dick Andrew Roane Dick (born Andrew Thomlinson; December 21, 1965) is an American comedian, actor, musician, and television and film producer. Known professionally as a comic, his first regular television role was on the short-lived but influential ...
. He has appeared as a guest on
Marc Maron Marcus David Maron (born September 27, 1963) is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, writer, actor, and musician. In the 1990s and 2000s, Maron was a frequent guest on the '' Late Show with David Letterman'' and has appeared more than forty ...
's ''WTF'' podcast, and Kill Tony, as well as on
Aqua Teen Hunger Force ''Aqua Teen Hunger Force'' (also known by various alternative titles), sometimes abbreviated as ''ATHF'' or ''Aqua Teen'', is an American adult animated television series created by Dave Willis and Matt Maiellaro for Cartoon Network's late ni ...
and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''Late Night''. In October 2020, Richards launched "The Jeff Richards Show", a new podcast - guests have included
Alec Baldwin Alexander Rae Baldwin III (born April 3, 1958) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. In his early career, Baldwin played both leading and supporting roles in a variety of films such as Tim Burton's ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), Mike Nichol ...
,
Bob Saget Robert Lane Saget (May 17, 1956 – January 9, 2022) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and television host. Saget played Danny Tanner on the ABC sitcom ''Full House'' (1987-1995), and reprised the role for its Netflix sequel '' Fuller ...
,
Brad Garrett Bradley Henry Gerstenfeld (born April 14, 1960), known professionally as Brad Garrett, is an American actor and stand-up comedian. Possessing a distinctive deep voice, he has appeared in numerous television and film roles in both live-action and ...
,
Tommy Chong Thomas B. Kin Chong (born May 24, 1938) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, musician, activist. He is known for his marijuana-themed Cheech & Chong comedy albums and movies with Cheech Marin, as well as playing the character Leo on Fox's ' ...
and more.


Early years

Richards was born in
Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
and attended
Las Lomas High School Las Lomas High School (LLHS) is a public high school in Walnut Creek, California, United States. It was founded in 1951 by the Acalanes Union High School District, and opened its doors in the fall of 1952 to its first graduating class. Las Loma ...
. At age 17, he created and hosted a public access sketch comedy show called ''Hanson Live''. He later worked for
KVHS KVHS (90.5 FM, "90.5 The Edge") is a non-profit high school radio station playing an active rock music format. It is licensed to Clayton Valley High School under the jurisdiction of the Mount Diablo Unified School District and broadcasts from th ...
, a student-run radio station which broadcasts from Clayton Valley High School. He then attended the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
(UNC) and, in his senior year, he joined the
improvisational comedy Improvisational theatre, often called improvisation or improv, is the form of theatre, often comedy, in which most or all of what is performed is unplanned or unscripted: created spontaneously by the performers. In its purest form, the dialogue, a ...
team CHiPs Improv. Fellow CHiPs member Zach Ward brought Richards to the comedy club Charlie Goodnights in
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
, where he performed at an
open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether the ...
show; Richards would eventually go on to host at the club. After graduating from UNC, Richards moved to
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
to further develop his comedy career.


Career

After moving to LA, Richards worked the door at
The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...
and eventually started to perform stand-up. In 2000, Richards became a featured player in the cast of ''
MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series originally inspired by '' Mad'' magazine. In its initial run, it aired on Fox from 1995 to 2009. After a one-off reunion show in 2015 to celebrate the twentiet ...
'', appearing in 3 episodes of the show's 6th season. The following year Richards joined the cast of ''Saturday Night Live'' during its 27th season, making him the first person to be a cast-member of both
sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...
shows (
Taran Killam Taran Hourie Killam (born April 1, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. He is known for his television work on ''The Amanda Show'', ''How I Met Your Mother'', ''MADtv'', ''New Girl'', ''Saturday Night Live'', and ''Single Parents''. ...
would later become the only other performer to do so). Richards was promoted to repertory status for ''SNLs 29th season although he left the show after the 10th episode, which aired on January 17, 2004. In interviews, Richards has stated that he left the show on his own terms. Perhaps Richards' most popular character on ''SNL'' was "Drunk Girl", who appeared on the ''
Weekend Update ''Weekend Update'' is a ''Saturday Night Live'' sketch and satirical news program that comments on and parodies current events. It is the show's longest-running recurring sketch, having been on since the show's first broadcast, and is typic ...
'' segment nine times. He based the character on an audience member he encountered while performing stand-up at
The Comedy Store The Comedy Store is an American comedy club opened in April 1972. It is located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. An associated club is located in La Jolla, San Diego, California. History The Comedy ...
in
La Jolla La Jolla ( , ) is a hilly, seaside neighborhood within the city of San Diego, California, United States, occupying of curving coastline along the Pacific Ocean. The population reported in the 2010 census was 46,781. La Jolla is surrounded on ...
,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
. In 2004 Richards appeared in the
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
year-end retrospective special ''Last Laugh '04'' as
Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...
commentator Bill O'Reilly. In 2006 he again portrayed O'Reilly in episode of ''
Mind of Mencia ''Mind of Mencia'' is an American comedy television series on the cable channel Comedy Central. Hosted by comedian Carlos Mencia, it aired from July 6, 2005 to July 23, 2008. History The first season of ''Mind of Mencia'' ran from July 6, 2005 ...
'' titled "Carlos Smoov". In 2007 he appeared on episode 22 of ''
Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen ''Comics Unleashed'' is a half-hour comedic talk show produced by the Entertainment Studios production company (formerly CF Entertainment) and hosted by Byron Allen, with John Cramer as announcer and DJ Cobra or sometimes DJ A1 providing music s ...
'' along with comics Jeff Jena,
Natasha Leggero Natasha Leggero () (born March 26, 1974) is an American comedian, actress and writer. She rose to fame after appearing as the host of the MTV reality television series '' The 70s House'' in 2005, and as a regular roundtable panelist on Chelsea Ha ...
, and
Mike Epps Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in ''Next Friday'' and its sequel, ''Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and ''The Hangover Part III'' as "Bla ...
. Richards has also done voice work which includes characters in the 2004 video game
EverQuest II ''EverQuest II'' is a 3D fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) originally developed and published by Sony Online Entertainment for Microsoft Windows PCs and released in November 2004. It is the sequel to the original ...
, a character in the 2006
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
animated series ''
Where My Dogs At? ''Where My Dogs At?'' is an American adult animated television series created by Aaron Matthew Lee and Jeff Ross that aired on MTV2 as part of its Sic'emation lineup. The series aired from June 10 to July 29, 2006. Plot The show revolves around B ...
'' and in 2010 he played the voice of
Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. He is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. ...
in an episode titled "The Wedding" of the
FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...
sitcom ''
'Til Death ''Til Death'' is an American sitcom which aired on the Fox network from September 7, 2006, to June 20, 2010. The series was created by husband and wife team Josh Goldsmith and Cathy Yuspa, who were also the writers and executive producers. The ...
''. Richards produced a comedic album titled ''A$$WAX'' which was released on iTunes on March 3, 2009; a portion of the proceeds from the album's sales was used to fight world hunger. Richard also performed in a series of comedy benefit shows called "Asswax 4 Hunger" in 2009; the shows were hosted by friend
Kato Kaelin Brian Gerard Kaelin (born March 9, 1959), known as Kato Kaelin, is an American actor and radio and television personality, who was a witness in the O. J. Simpson murder case. Early life and education Kaelin was born on March 9, 1959, in Milwauk ...
. Richards and Kaelin also hosted a podcast calle
In Pod We Trust
in 2011. In 2009 Richards played the character of Jerome Murphy in episode 3 of the
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...
science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...
series ''
FlashForward A flashforward (also spelled flash-forward, and more formally known as prolepsis) is a scene that temporarily takes the narrative forward in time from the current point of the story in literature, film, television and other media. Flashforwards a ...
''. That same year Richards appeared in the pilot episode of a sitcom created by comedian
Bill Burr William Frederick Burr (born June 10, 1968) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, filmmaker, and podcaster. He has released multiple stand-up comedy specials, most notably ''Why Do I Do This?'' (2008), ''Let It Go'' (2010), '' You People Are ...
called ''The Burr Effect'' which appeared on
Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programming ...
; the series did not get picked up by the network. In an episode of The Big 3 Podcast which was released on June 8, 2012, Jeff Richards made an appearance where he played Dr Tommy Morris, a psychiatrist with a bachelors degree from The University of Idaho (28:00) This episode became one of the most viewed episodes of the podcast. As reported in
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
, Richards recently launched his own podcast, featuring one of his impressions interviewing celebrity guests. Moviemaker magazine described it as a "very funny, mindbending show where ichardsuses deepfakes to mimic celebrities interviewing other celebrities." Over his career Jeff has also appeared on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien. NBC aired 2,725 episodes from September 13, 1993, to February 20, 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and music ...
'', ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live! ''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'' is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The nightly hour-long show debuted on January 26, 2003, at Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywood, Los ...
'' and ''
The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn ''The Late Late Show'' is an American late-night television talk and variety comedy show on CBS. It first aired in January 1995, with host Tom Snyder, who was followed by Craig Kilborn, Craig Ferguson, and current host James Corden. The show o ...
''.


Celebrity impersonations featured on ''Saturday Night Live''


Filmography

*''The Hand Job'' (2005) *''Projectorhead'' (short film) (2006) * ''Sheep Man'' (short film) (2006) * ''Bad Mofos'' (short film) (2011)


References


External links

*
tastyjeff.com
Jeff Richard's official website
Jeff Richards
at MySpace
The Jeff Richards Show
A podcast hosted by Jeff, impersonating a guest host, interviewing other celebrities {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Jeff 1974 births Living people American male comedians American impressionists (entertainers) American male television actors People from Walnut Creek, California University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni American sketch comedians Comedians from California 21st-century American comedians