Rick Moranis
Encyclopedia
Frederick Allan "Rick" Moranis (born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian comedian
, actor, musician
, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television
, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew
; Ghostbusters
; Spaceballs
; Little Shop of Horrors
; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
; Little Giants
; Parenthood; The Flintstones
; and My Blue Heaven.
, Ontario
, and went to high school
at the Sir Sandford Fleming Secondary School. He went to elementary school
with Geddy Lee
, frontman of the rock band
Rush
. His career as an entertainer began as a radio disc jockey
in the mid-1970s, using the on-air name of "Rick Alan" at three Toronto radio stations. He also did the voice over for a short lived cartoon
series
on NBC
called Gravedale High
.
. He later explained that he "pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. "I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it".
, Moranis was on the Advisory Committee for the comedy program
at Humber College
.
In 2005, Moranis released an album
titled The Agoraphobic Cowboy, featuring country songs with lyrics
which Moranis says follow in the comic tradition
of songwriters/singers such as Roger Miller
, Kinky Friedman
, and Jim Stafford
. The album was produced by Tony Scherr
, and is distributed through ArtistShare
, as well as Moranis' official web site. Commenting on the origins of the songs, he said that in 2003, "out of the blue, I just wrote a bunch of songs. For lack of a better explanation, they’re more country than anything. And I actually demoed four or five of them, and I'm not sure at this point what I’m going to do with them—whether I’m going to fold them into a full-length video or a movie. But, boy, I had a good time doing that".
On December 8, 2005, The Agoraphobic Cowboy was announced as a nominee for the 2006 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. (A previous album by Moranis was entitled You, Me, The Music, and Me (1989)). On February 3, 2006, Moranis performed Press Pound on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
and discussed the development of his music career.
In November 2007, Moranis reunited with Dave Thomas
for a 24th anniversary special of Bob and Doug McKenzie, titled Bob and Doug McKenzie's 2-4 Anniversary. The duo shot new footage for this special. Thomas subsequently created a new animated Bob and Doug McKenzie series, Bob & Doug
, for his company Animax Entertainment
. Moranis declined to voice the role of Bob, which was taken over by Dave Coulier
, but remains involved in the series as an executive producer.
On June 24, 2008, Moranis declined to come out of retirement to join the other cast members of Ghostbusters
in the production of a new video game based on the films. The following year, Ghostbusters Harold Ramis
told Entertainment Weekly
of a proposed Ghostbusters 3 that, "Everybody said they'd do it". Ramis later stated to Student Life "Rick won’t do it. Rick has retired from show business. But everyone else says they’ll do it." In January 2010, a Moviefone columnist suggested, without attribution, that Moranis may come out of retirement to reprise his role as Louis Tully.
Moranis was nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award in the Best Comedy Album
category.
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, actor, musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
, and a magician. Moranis came to prominence in the late 1970s on the sketch comedy show Second City Television
Second City Television
Second City Television is a Canadian television sketch comedy show offshoot from Toronto's The Second City troupe that ran between 1976 and 1984.- Premise :...
, and later appeared in several Hollywood films including Strange Brew
Strange Brew
The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew is a 1983 Canadian comedy film starring the popular SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, who also served as co-directors. Max von Sydow co-stars....
; Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
; Spaceballs
Spaceballs
Spaceballs is a 1987 American science fiction comedy parody film co-written by, directed by, Mel Brooks and starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Mel Brooks & Rick Moranis. It also features, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and the voice of Joan Rivers. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on...
; Little Shop of Horrors
Little Shop of Horrors (1986 film)
Little Shop of Horrors is a 1986 American comedy musical film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical comedy of the same name by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a nerdy florist shop worker who raises a vicious plant that feeds on human blood...
; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 comedy film. The directorial debut of Joe Johnston and released through Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III, the film tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to 1/4 of an inch with his electromagnetic...
; Little Giants
Little Giants
Little Giants is a 1994 family comedy film, starring Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill as brothers in a small Ohio town, coaching rival Pee-Wee Football teams.-Synopsis:...
; Parenthood; The Flintstones
The Flintstones (film)
The Flintstones is a 1994 American live-action comedy film based on the Hanna-Barbera cartoon television series of the same name about a Stone-Age man, his family and his best friend. The film was directed by Brian Levant, written by Tom S. Parker, Jim Jennewein and Steven E...
; and My Blue Heaven.
Early life
Moranis was born to a Jewish family in TorontoToronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, and went to high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
at the Sir Sandford Fleming Secondary School. He went to elementary school
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...
with Geddy Lee
Geddy Lee
Gary Lee Weinrib, OC, better known as Geddy Lee , is a Canadian musician, best known as the lead vocalist, bassist, and keyboardist for the Canadian rock group Rush...
, frontman of the rock band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
. His career as an entertainer began as a radio disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
in the mid-1970s, using the on-air name of "Rick Alan" at three Toronto radio stations. He also did the voice over for a short lived cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
series
Television program
A television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
called Gravedale High
Gravedale High
Gravedale High is an animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera for NBC Productions...
.
Feature films
After his SCTV work, Moranis had a busy film career that lasted over a decade. In a 2004 interview, Moranis talked about the kinds of films he enjoyed the most:Retirement
He left the film industry in 1997, six years after the 1991 loss of his wife, Anne, to liver cancerLiver cancer
Liver tumors or hepatic tumors are tumors or growths on or in the liver . Several distinct types of tumors can develop in the liver because the liver is made up of various cell types. These growths can be benign or malignant...
. He later explained that he "pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. "I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it".
, Moranis was on the Advisory Committee for the comedy program
Humber College Comedy: Writing and Performance
The Humber School of Comedy was founded in 1999, at Humber College in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.One of the Comedy students' mandatory course requirements is to perform at Yuk Yuk's comedy club's Toonie Tuesday nights.-Faculty:Yuk Yuk's founder Mark Breslin, SCTV's Robin Duke, Cindy Block, Shawn...
at Humber College
Humber College
Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning is a polytechnic college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Humber offers more than 150 programs including: bachelor’s degree, diploma, certificate, post-graduate certificate and apprenticeship programs, across 40 fields of study. Humber serves...
.
In 2005, Moranis released an album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
titled The Agoraphobic Cowboy, featuring country songs with lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
which Moranis says follow in the comic tradition
Tradition
A tradition is a ritual, belief or object passed down within a society, still maintained in the present, with origins in the past. Common examples include holidays or impractical but socially meaningful clothes , but the idea has also been applied to social norms such as greetings...
of songwriters/singers such as Roger Miller
Roger Miller
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky tonk-influenced novelty songs...
, Kinky Friedman
Kinky Friedman
Richard S. "Kinky" Friedman is an American Texas Country singer, songwriter, novelist, humorist, politician and former columnist for Texas Monthly who styles himself in the mold of popular American satirists Will Rogers and Mark Twain. He was one of two independent candidates in the 2006 election...
, and Jim Stafford
Jim Stafford
James Wayne "Jim" Stafford is an American comedian, musician, and singer-songwriter, prominent in the 1970s. Stafford is self-taught on guitar, fiddle, piano, banjo, organ and harmonica....
. The album was produced by Tony Scherr
Tony Scherr
Tony Scherr is an American jazz and folk rock bassist, guitarist, singer-songwriter and record producer.-Biography:Scherr was born in New Haven, Connecticut. He played with Woody Herman as a teenager, and moved to New York City in the late-1980s, where he became a prolific session musician, working...
, and is distributed through ArtistShare
ArtistShare
ArtistShare is a crowdfunding website and labelWharton Innovation and Entrepreneurship Consulted on 10/12/2011 for musicians and other creative artists which allows them to fund their projects utilizing a "fan-funding" model to allow the general public to directly finance, watch the creative...
, as well as Moranis' official web site. Commenting on the origins of the songs, he said that in 2003, "out of the blue, I just wrote a bunch of songs. For lack of a better explanation, they’re more country than anything. And I actually demoed four or five of them, and I'm not sure at this point what I’m going to do with them—whether I’m going to fold them into a full-length video or a movie. But, boy, I had a good time doing that".
On December 8, 2005, The Agoraphobic Cowboy was announced as a nominee for the 2006 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. (A previous album by Moranis was entitled You, Me, The Music, and Me (1989)). On February 3, 2006, Moranis performed Press Pound on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...
and discussed the development of his music career.
In November 2007, Moranis reunited with Dave Thomas
Dave Thomas (actor)
David "Dave" Thomas is a Canadian comedian and actor. He was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, but moved to Durham, North Carolina where his father, John E. Thomas, attended Duke University and earned a PhD in Philosophy. Thomas attended George Watts and Moorehead elementary schools...
for a 24th anniversary special of Bob and Doug McKenzie, titled Bob and Doug McKenzie's 2-4 Anniversary. The duo shot new footage for this special. Thomas subsequently created a new animated Bob and Doug McKenzie series, Bob & Doug
Bob & Doug (2009 TV series)
Bob and Doug is a Canadian animated sitcom, which premiered on Global on April 19, 2009. The series is a revival of the SCTV sketch characters Bob and Doug McKenzie....
, for his company Animax Entertainment
Animax Entertainment
Animax Entertainment is an animation and interactive production studio based in Van Nuys, California. Animax's clients include Disney, ESPN, Warner Bros., National Geographic, Sesame Workshop, WWE and many others. Animax has a particular expertise in Adobe Flash animation and has produced work...
. Moranis declined to voice the role of Bob, which was taken over by Dave Coulier
Dave Coulier
David Alan "Dave" Coulier is an American stand-up comedian, impressionist, television and voice actor, and television host. He is well-known for his role as Joey Gladstone on the ABC sitcom Full House, which ran from 1987 to 1995....
, but remains involved in the series as an executive producer.
On June 24, 2008, Moranis declined to come out of retirement to join the other cast members of Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a...
in the production of a new video game based on the films. The following year, Ghostbusters Harold Ramis
Harold Ramis
Harold Allen Ramis is an American actor, director, and writer, specializing in comedy. His best-known film acting roles are as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters and Russell Ziskey in Stripes , both of which he also co-wrote...
told Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
of a proposed Ghostbusters 3 that, "Everybody said they'd do it". Ramis later stated to Student Life "Rick won’t do it. Rick has retired from show business. But everyone else says they’ll do it." In January 2010, a Moviefone columnist suggested, without attribution, that Moranis may come out of retirement to reprise his role as Louis Tully.
Albums
- The Great White North (1981)
- You, Me, the Music and Me (1989)
- The Agoraphobic Cowboy (2005)
Moranis was nominated for a 2006 Grammy Award in the Best Comedy Album
Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album
The Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album was awarded from yearly 1959 to 1993 and then from 2004 to present day. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:*From 1959 to 1967 it was Best Comedy Performance...
category.
Film acting credits
| Title | Year | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Strange Brew Strange Brew The Adventures of Bob & Doug McKenzie: Strange Brew is a 1983 Canadian comedy film starring the popular SCTV characters Bob and Doug McKenzie, played by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis, who also served as co-directors. Max von Sydow co-stars.... |
1983 | Bob McKenzie Bob and Doug McKenzie Bob and Doug McKenzie are a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted "Great White North", a sketch which was introduced on SCTV for the show's third season when it moved to CBC Television in 1980. Bob is played by Rick Moranis and Doug is played by Dave Thomas... |
also writer and director |
| Hockey Night | 1984 | Coach | |
| 1984 | Harry | ||
| Ghostbusters Ghostbusters Ghostbusters is a 1984 American science fiction comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Sigourney Weaver, Harold Ramis, and Rick Moranis and follows three eccentric parapsychologists in New York City, who start a... |
1984 | Louis Tully | |
| Streets of Fire Streets of Fire Streets of Fire is a 1984 film directed by Walter Hill and co-written by Hill and Larry Gross. It was described in previews, trailers, and posters as "A Rock & Roll Fable." It is an unusual mix of musical, action, drama, and comedy with elements both of retro-1950s and 1980s... |
1984 | Billy Fish | |
| Brewster's Millions Brewster's Millions (1985 film) Brewster's Millions is a 1985 comedy film starring Richard Pryor and John Candy based on the 1902 novel of the same name by George Barr McCutcheon. It is the seventh film based on the story, with a screenplay by Herschel Weingrod & Timothy Harris... |
1985 | Morty King | |
| Little Shop of Horrors Little Shop of Horrors (1986 film) Little Shop of Horrors is a 1986 American comedy musical film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical comedy of the same name by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a nerdy florist shop worker who raises a vicious plant that feeds on human blood... |
1985 | Seymour Krelborn | |
| Head Office Head Office Head Office is a 1985 American comedy film, produced by HBO Pictures in association with Silver Screen Partners. It stars Judge Reinhold, Eddie Albert, Lori-Nan Engler, Jane Seymour, Richard Masur, Michael O'Donoghue, Ron Frazier, Merritt Butrick and was directed and written by Ken... |
1985 | Howard Gross | |
| Club Paradise Club Paradise Club Paradise is a 1986 American comedy film directed by Harold Ramis starring Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole, and Jimmy Cliff. The film reunites director/co-writer Ramis with most of his SCTV co-stars -- SCTV cast members Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy, Rick Moranis, Joe Flaherty, and Robin Duke play... |
1986 | Barry Nye | |
| Spaceballs Spaceballs Spaceballs is a 1987 American science fiction comedy parody film co-written by, directed by, Mel Brooks and starring Bill Pullman, John Candy, Mel Brooks & Rick Moranis. It also features, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, and the voice of Joan Rivers. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on... |
1987 | Lord Dark Helmet | |
| 1989 | Automatic Safety System | ||
| Ghostbusters II Ghostbusters II Ghostbusters II is a 1989 science fiction comedy film produced and directed by Ivan Reitman. It is the sequel to the 1984 film Ghostbusters and follows the further adventures of a group of parapsychologists and their organization which combats paranormal activities... |
1989 | Louis Tully | |
| Parenthood | 1989 | Nathan Huffner | |
| Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is a 1989 comedy film. The directorial debut of Joe Johnston and released through Walt Disney Pictures and Silver Screen Partners III, the film tells the story of an inventor who accidentally shrinks his and his neighbor's kids to 1/4 of an inch with his electromagnetic... |
1989 | Wayne Szalinski | |
| My Blue Heaven | 1990 | Barney Coopersmith | |
| L.A. Story L.A. Story L.A. Story is a 1991 American romantic comedy film, written by and starring Steve Martin. Set in Los Angeles, California, it relates a series of episodes in the romantic life of an L.A. TV weatherman. It includes surreal sequences in which he is offered romantic advice flashed to him by a freeway... |
1991 | Gravedigger | uncredited |
| Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Honey, I Blew Up the Kid is the 1992 sequel to the 1989 film Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Directed by Randal Kleiser and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the film stars Rick Moranis, Marcia Strassman, Robert Oliveri and Amy O'Neill, who reprise their roles as Wayne, Diane, Nick, and Amy Szalinski... |
1992 | Wayne Szalinski | |
| Splitting Heirs Splitting Heirs Splitting Heirs is a 1993 British film starring Eric Idle, Rick Moranis, Barbara Hershey, Catherine Zeta-Jones, John Cleese and Sadie Frost. The film was directed by Robert Young, and features music by Michael Kamen... |
1993 | Henry Bullock | |
| Little Giants Little Giants Little Giants is a 1994 family comedy film, starring Rick Moranis and Ed O'Neill as brothers in a small Ohio town, coaching rival Pee-Wee Football teams.-Synopsis:... |
1994 | Danny O'Shea | |
| 1994 | Barney Rubble Barney Rubble Bernard "Barney" Rubble is the deuteragonist of the television animated series The Flintstones. He is the diminutive blonde-haired caveman husband of Betty Rubble and father of Bamm-Bamm Rubble... |
||
| Honey, I Shrunk the Audience Honey, I Shrunk the Audience Honey, I Shrunk The Audience! was a 3-D film spin off of the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids film series that was shown at several Disney theme parks.-Synopsis:... |
1994 | Wayne Szalinski | |
| Big Bully Big Bully (film) Big Bully is a 1996 comedy-drama film starring Rick Moranis and Tom Arnold. The film was directed by Steve Miner.-Plot:Growing up in Hastings, Minnesota, young David Leary was constantly bullied by Roscoe Bigger , nicknamed "Fang" because of a pointed tooth. David is ecstatic when his parents... |
1996 | David Leary | |
| Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves is a 1997 direct-to-video sequel to Honey, I Shrunk the Kids and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid. It is the last film in the Honey, I Shrunk the Kids franchise... |
1997 | Wayne Szalinski | |
| Muppets Tonight Muppets Tonight Muppets Tonight is a live-action/puppet television series created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring The Muppets. Much like the "MuppeTelevision" segment of The Jim Henson Hour, Muppets Tonight was a continuation of The Muppet Show, set in a television studio, rather than a theater.-Format:The... |
1997 | Himself | Guest star |
| Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys | 2001 | The Toy Taker / Mr. Cuddles the Teddy Bear | voice only |
| Brother Bear Brother Bear Brother Bear is a 2003 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures, the forty-fourth animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics. In the film, an Inuit boy pursues a bear in revenge for a battle that he provoked in which... |
2003 | Rutt | voice only |
| Brother Bear 2 Brother Bear 2 The soundtrack to Brother Bear 2 was released August 15, 2006. It is available only on digital outlets such as iTunes and walmart.com. It includes the following tracks:#Dave Metzger - Opening: Brother Bear 2 – 0:34... |
2006 | Rutt | voice only |
Audio/Video
- Rock Radio Scrapbook 1973, with a RealAudio clip of Rick Allen from June 1973
External links
- Moranis ArtistShare projects
- Rick Moranis, Singing 'Cowboy', a December 2005 story from Weekend EditionWeekend EditionWeekend Edition is the name given to a set of American radio news magazines produced and distributed by National Public Radio . It is the weekend counterpart to Morning Edition. It consists of Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday , each of which airs for two hours, from 8 a.m. to 10...
- OpEd Piece by Moranis from the NY Times website
- Rick Moranis Interview Proton Charging May 27, 2006