Rick Moranis

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/wiki/Rick Moraniscreator

Rick Moranis in 1990

The average American home now has more television sets than people ... according to Nielsen Media Research. There are 2.73 TV sets in the typical home and 2.55 people, the researchers said. —An excerpt from My Days Are Numbered, something funny Rick wrote.

Frederick Alan "Rick" Moranis was born on April 18th, 1953 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was a radio DJ in the 70's, and made it big on SCTV in 1979.

Originally intended to protest against government requirements for "Identifiable Canadian Content" on the show, Rick, along with SCTV cast mate Dave Thomas, thought up of Bob and Doug McKenzie, two half-wit, drunkard brothers who talk about various things on The Great White North. However, despite the McKenzie Bros. being incredibly stereotypical characters, this all worked too well and made them really popular with the audience, so much that the U.S. version also included The Great White North skits. This also made the two comedians members of the Order of Canada due to their contribution.

After SCTV and its reboot, SCTV Network 90, Rick ended up in a bunch of movies throughout the 80's and for over half of the 90's. During his career, he got married to a scenery designer named Ann, and they had two kids, Ariel and Josh. In late 1990, Ann was diagnosed with liver cancer, prompting Rick to decline the offer of doing City Slickers in order to nurse her back to health. Sadly, she died 5 months later.

In 1997, Rick retired from acting, because he felt it was too complicated to raise his kids while he was going everywhere to do movies. So, in his own words, he took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then he found out that he doesn't miss acting.

In 2005, Rick also released a comedy album entitled The Agoraphobic Cowboy, which draws influence from country music. It got nominated for a Grammy Award, much to his surprise.

More information can be found here.

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Rick Moranis has performed in the following roles:

Pre-retirement:

• SCTV (1976) -- Joined the cast in '79.
• SCTV Network 90 (1981) -- continuing from where the original SCTV left off
• Strange Brew (1983) -- Movie debut.
• Streets of Fire: A Rock and Roll Fable (1984)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• Club Paradise (1986)
• Little Shop of Horrors (1986) -- One of his best performances.
• Spaceballs (1987)
• Ghostbusters II (1989)
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989) -- What he was best known for.
• Parenthood (1989)
• My Blue Heaven (1990)
• Gravedale High (1990) -- Short-lived cartoon series on NBC.
• Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
• Splitting Heirs (1993)
• The Flintstones (1994)
• Little Giants (1994)
• Big Bully (1995)
• Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1996)

Post-retirement:

• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Island Of Misfit Toys (2001) -- Oddly enough.
• Brother Bear (2003)
• Brother Bear 2 (2006)

Discography:

• The Great White North (1982; alongside Dave Thomas)
• You, Me, The Music and Me (1989)
• The Agoraphobic Cowboy (2005)

Rick Moranis provides examples of the following tropes:

• Adorkable: Often described as "nerdy", whether as himself, or characters such as Louis or Seymour.
• Blue Eyes
• Canada, Eh?
• Jewish and Nerdy
• Older Than They Look: In his 20's and 30's, he looked about a decade or two younger than he actually was. Plus, he portrayed the comic book character Henry (a young boy) in this SCTV sketch.
• The Short Guy with Glasses: He is exactly 163 cm, or 5'4, in height, making him shorter than most of his co-stars in movies and on T.V.
• Song Parody: "I Ain't Goin' Nowhere" off The Agoraphobic Cowboy is a straight-on parody of Johnny Cash's Rolf Harris's Geoff Mack's "I've Been Everywhere".
• The Southpaw
• Typecasting: His characters range between nerds, sleazes, weasels, geeks, and goofs. Keep in mind that the roles are more versatile than you think (in Streets of Fire, for example, he got to play a Badass sleazy nerd).