John Michael Hardwick (born September 21, 1958) is an American voice actor, comedian, writer, producer and YouTuber. He is best known as the voice of

Dale Gribble Dale Alvin Gribble (born July 12, 1953) is a fictional character in the Fox animated series ''King of the Hill'', voiced by Johnny Hardwick. He is an exterminator, bounty hunter, owner of Daletech, chain smoker, gun fanatic, and paranoid belie ...

in the animated American television show ''

King of the Hill ''King of the Hill'' is an American animated sitcom created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It aired its original non-syndicated run from January 12, 1997, to September 13, 2009, and centers on the Hills, an Am ...

''. He served as

staff writer In journalism, a staff writer byline indicates that the author of the article is an employee of the periodical, as opposed to being an independent freelance writer. In Britain, staff writers may work in the office instead of traveling to cover a b ...

story editor Story editor is a job title in motion picture and television production, also sometimes called "supervising producer". In live action television, a story editor is a member of the screenwriting staff who edits scripts, pitches stories, and reports ...

, and producer for the show as well. He has four Prime Time Emmy nominations and in 1999 he won an Emmy Award for his work as a producer on ''King of the Hill''.

Biography and career

A native of

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, John Hardwick attended

Texas Tech University Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

Lubbock, Texas Lubbock ( ) is the 10th-most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of government of Lubbock County. With a population of 260,993 in 2021, the city is also the 85th-most populous in the United States. The city is in the northw ...

. After graduation with a BS degree in Journalism, he worked for a decade as a bartender in live blues bars in Dallas and Austin, Texas including Nick's Uptown, Sixth Street Live, and The Greenville Bar & Grill. Starting in 1990 he then performed stand-up comedy for a number of years, appearing at such venues as the Dallas Improv and the Velveeta Room in Austin, Texas and appearing on shows like '' Evening at the Improv'' and Caroline's Comedy Hour. He was the first stand-up comedian to appear on ''

The Jon Stewart Show ''The Jon Stewart Show'' is a late night talk show that was hosted by comedian Jon Stewart. The program premiered on MTV in 1993 as a 30-minute daily offering and became one of the network’s more popular shows. Through a series of events t ...

''. In 1995, Hardwick appeared at the Montreal Comedy Festival, where

Brandon Tartikoff Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was an American television executive who was the president of NBC from 1981 to 1991. He was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as ''Hill Stre ...

saw him and offered him a sitcom for

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. However, after Hardwick proposed a comedy along the lines of ''

Green Acres ''Green Acres'' is an American television sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to ''Petticoat Junction'', the series was first broadcast on ...

'' and '' Get a Life'' the network showed little interest in seriously pursuing the idea.Over Hill and Dale
/ref> After Hardwick signed with the Strauss-McGarr agency, he was continually booked doing stand-up comedy in both Austin and all over the United States. He was originally planned to be a regular in

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 ...

's ''

Austin Stories ''Austin Stories'' is an American sitcom that aired on MTV from September 10, 1997 until January 7, 1998. It aired Wednesday nights at 10:30 pm. The show aired twelve episodes filmed on location in Austin, Texas. An MTV search brought executives ...

''— but left to help create ''King of the Hill''. While at the

Laugh Factory Laugh Factory is a chain of comedy clubs in the United States. The chain is owned by Laugh Factory Inc., and the founder and current chief executive is Jamie Masada. Endurance record The Laugh Factory keeps track of an endurance record fo ...

in Los Angeles, Hardwick performed a comedy set about his father in Texas. After the show, he was approached by television writer and producer

Greg Daniels Gregory Martin Daniels (born June 13, 1963) is an American screenwriter, television producer, and director. He has worked on several television series, including writing for ''Saturday Night Live'' and ''The Simpsons'', adapting ''The Office'' f ...

and

Beavis and Butt-Head ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' is an American adult animated series created by Mike Judge. The series follows Beavis and Butt-Head, both voiced by Judge, a pair of teenage slackers characterized by their apathy, lack of intelligence, lowbrow humor, ...

's Mike Judge, who were helping to put together ''King of the Hill'' at the time. Daniels and Judge felt Hardwick's Texan humor was just what the show needed and offered him a job writing for the fledgling program. Hardwick moved from Austin to

Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California Silver Lake is a residential and commercial neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Originally home to a small community called Ivanhoe in honor of Sir Walter Scott. In 1907, the Los Angeles Water Department built the ...

to work for the show. Hardwick's first day working for ''King of the Hill'' was one day after NBC's option on his sitcom development deal expired (thus making it legal for Hardwick to pursue a sitcom with another network). The role of Dale Gribble was originally offered to Daniel Stern, but producers were unable to agree with Stern on a salary. Instead, Hardwick won the voice role, having no interest whatsoever in how much money was involved. Hardwick performed the role for the entire 13-year run of the successful show and appeared in 257 of 258 episodes. On September 12, 2012, Hardwick created his own YouTube channel, though it did not see any upload activity until 2015. In December 2018, Hardwick started regularly uploading new content. As of April 2020, his channel had 11,100 subscribers and had received 426,000 views, with videos primarily consisting of song parodies and monologues in the voice of Dale Gribble.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Production credits

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hardwick, Johnny Living people 1963 births American male comedians American humorists Male actors from Austin, Texas Male actors from Houston American male voice actors Texas Tech University alumni 20th-century American comedians 21st-century American comedians Comedians from Texas Screenwriters from Texas Television producers from Texas