#90 Richard Karn Shares Some Home Improvement Tips

Announcer 0:00

Looking to sound like you know what's going on in the world, pop culture, social strategy, comedy and other funny stuff. Well join the club and settle in for the Jeff Dwoskin show. It's not the podcast we deserve. But the podcast we all need with your host, Jeff Dwoskin.

Jeff Dwoskin 0:16

All right, Tim, thank you so much for that amazing introduction. You get the show going each and every weekend this week was no exception. Welcome, everybody to Episode 90 of live from Detroit, the Jeff Dwoskin show. As always, I am your host, Jeff Dwoskin. Great to be back for another episode of podcast goodness. And this one is chock full of goodness for you. It's our final episode of 2021. We've been going for about a year and a half. But this is our first full calendar year. This ends our first full calendar year 2022 is going to be amazing. Before we get to 2022 gotta end 2021 with a bang and a bang. It shall be our guest today is Richard Karn. That's right Al from home improvement is here we talk all about home improvement, how he landed the role of our Al Borland. Richard also hosted family feud, of course, we talk all about that. You know, I love the feud. We also talk about Bingo America, the many Christmas movies Richard's been a part of how Richard dealt with his very own death hoax and his new show with Tim Allen called assembly required all that and so much more coming up in just a few minutes.

I can't believe the years over and as I look back, I can't believe what an amazing year it was that I got to share with all of you this year alone. I talked with Candy Clark from American Graffiti, comedian Alonzo Boden, Ted Neely, Jesus from Jesus Christ Superstar, Burt Ward, Robin from Batman, Ted Lange and Fred Grandy from the Love Boat - Isaac and gopher, i know! Carole Baskin, Ed Begley, Jr. Dee Wallace, Paul Provenza, 1977 Spider Man, Nicholas Hammond, Isaac Whitlock, Jr. And the list goes on and on. It has been such a joy to talk with all of these amazing people and share those conversations with you. I do hope you enjoy listening week after week as much as I enjoy talking to these amazing people and bring it to you week after week. 2021 was awesome, but shares hairs to an amazing 2022 We've got a lot to look forward to on the show. And I'm excited to share it all with you after the new year. If you're like Jeff, some of those names sound amazing, but I must have missed the episodes. No problem. They're all available. Head over to your favorite podcast app, goodpods, Apple, castbox Whatever you use is fine. Just go to it. You've got I don't know where to if you don't know where to go go to Jeff Advani comm and there's a link that says Follow my podcast, and it lists all the podcast apps, it'll link you right to it gonna do Spotify, Audible, whatever you do you boo, sign up, follow tell your friends, I appreciate you. Thank you very much.

And now it's time for the social media tip. All right. This is the part of the show where I share a little bit of my social media knowledge with you a little 411 I picked up on the street. I've been in the social media game for quite a long time and I love to share tips and things that I learned so that we can all raise our social media game together. I figured since it's the end of the year, I'll wrap up with a few reminders of some cool tools that I think you should have in your social media belt. One is the fireside chat app, firesidechat.com/jeffDwoskin. You can get access to all the crossing the stream live episodes we do every Wednesday at 9:30pm Eastern time. Come listen join the show and get inspired to start your own once you're creator you can start your own Weekly bi weekly monthly show on the fireside chat app. Another way to really get yourself out there is Instagram reels. You can save a reel and then repost it on TikTok if you want but I think reels is magic. I don't have a huge Instagram account. Suddenly I'm saying hey everyone go follow me on Instagram at Jeff Dwoskin show but seriously, I am being serious but do that. But then also post reels reels are amazing. I get 1000s of views on my reels way more than I get on my posts. There's something about the live video nature of it that I think attracts more people. So check that out. And of course the final tool in your belt and 2021 and launch 2022 With all social media guns ablaze in grab the hashtag roundup app. It's free, totally free Android phones, iOS phones, grab it play along you know I read all the tweets at the end of the show. Love to read one of yours one day A between fireside chat app getting active on rails and downloading the hashtag roundup app. I think that's enough for you to finish off the year with. And that's the social media tip.

I do want to thank everyone in advance for their support of the sponsors when you support the sponsors. You're supporting us here at live from Detroit, the Jeff Dwoskin show and that's how we keep the lights on today's interview sponsor asks, Are you looking for a hammer, a saw a screwdriver not sure what type of screwdriver well head over to Harry's hardware. They've got every type of screwdriver you can think of Phillips flathead an assortment of ones you can buy and never know what to use them for. But look great hanging on your tool wall this holiday season. It's never been a better time to buy a leaf blower roof rake or a variety of nuts and bolts that will never be the ones you need when you need them. But that's why Harry's hardware is open 24 hours a day and then over to Harry's for all your hardware needs. Right. I'm always I never have the right stuff. Never never have the right stuff. So it's good to know that Harry's hardware is open 24 hours a day. Check them out if you need any hardware stuff, hammers, whatever.

Well, I think now is a great time to pivot over to my conversation with Richard Karn. Get ready for an awesome chat about Home Improvement assembly required Christmas movies, Air Bud movies, death hoaxes, and of course, the feud, Family Feud. That is enjoy. All right,

it's time for the Jeff Dwoskin show Celebrity edition, introducing the star of Home Improvement and 15 Family Feud Bingo America and so much more. I'm your host, Jeff Dwoskin. Richard, are you ready to play the viewed?

Richard Karn 6:55

Do you know how long ago that was? Holy smokes, I think that was like 2005 or 2006 is a long time ago.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:03

You had a good run there, though.

Richard Karn 7:05

I did. I had a great time. That was so much fun. And I almost didn't take it what would have kept you from doing that. I didn't think of myself as a game show host bottom line. I it was just such a weird kind of a thing to do. Soon as I turned it down. My agents got on the phone and said, you know, Richard, yeah, you've done family movies. You've done Family TV. This is just another family show, you know, that you should consider and you know, I grew up watching Richard Dawson. And so I knew how the show works. I'm glad they talked me into it because I really had a great time.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:33

Yeah, Family Feud is is interesting. Yeah, I grew up on Richard Dawson and he made it iconic like kissing all the women and all that kind of stuff. But I think it's interesting how they've continuously changed the host to kind of give it that new vibe.

Richard Karn 7:46

They kind of made a point of it. They signed us to five year contracts and then changed us out after four years.

Jeff Dwoskin 7:52

Do you like Steve Harvey?

Richard Karn 7:53

How do you feel he's Yeah, you know, Steve is exactly I think what they really wanted you know, they wanted Al Roker and Al didn't want to leave New York. So they chose me

Jeff Dwoskin 8:04

got it. They want to get they give us they got confused because you were owl and home improvement. So they just different out we got a different.

Richard Karn 8:12

Well, the producer one of the producers i i had done a show with her the year before I did. I did the pilot have to tell the truth with oddly enough. John O'Hurley is the host.

Jeff Dwoskin 8:22

Oh, I think that they have that now with how do I know not to tell the truth, which is to tell the truth where one of them's a liar. Is that Yes. Yeah. I love that show. They brought it back recently. The star of blackish is the host with his mom. Okay, well, that would have been a good gig too. I always wondered about that. Because I do carry did that he went from being this big sitcom star. Yeah. And then to the prices right? It's got to be a good gig. It's a day. It's a consistent gig. But it's a different it's a different thing.

Richard Karn 8:50

The gig was like a piece of cake. I only worked on the weekends. You know, we did 12 shows six on Saturday and six on Sunday. Oh, could

Jeff Dwoskin 8:57

you do a back to back to back to back, back to back to back to back? Yeah, everyone just bring a change of clothes. So it seems like it's a different day or something.

Richard Karn 9:04

I have lots of suits.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:06

I was I was ready to go into a question. I actually had a question ready for you.

Richard Karn 9:10

When I was bringing you and then you got sidetracked, right.

Jeff Dwoskin 9:13

Like I ready to play the few that I actually had one ready for you to go. Just you know, it was all Family Feud. But we can we can go into if there's a low later I'll go into I have some family few questions. Okay. Let me I did. I did have a question for you. I have some family a few questions. I come from a data backgrounds. I'm genuinely curious about this. When the people are surveyed, is it open ended answers meaning like when you say we asked 100 Americans how much to tip for good service. Can they write in anything they want? Or is it was it like, well, that's

Richard Karn 9:45

no writing. They don't write it down. They just they say it, it's all verbal, but

Jeff Dwoskin 9:50

they can answer anything. It's not like have these 10 Which do you do? And then they do that?

Richard Karn 9:54

No, no, they don't. They have to come up with their own stuff,

Jeff Dwoskin 9:58

which is why sometimes it's some of those answers. So,

Richard Karn 10:00

exactly. I mean, it really leaves it leaves itself open to you know, some very seriously funny stuff inside people's minds.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:08

Well, you asked 100 random people a question, what do you put on a hammer? like ours? Oh, yeah, they can say anything. And so it's like, so when I get some of those answers, it was like two people said, and it was an okra?

Richard Karn 10:21

Well, you know, you got to remember, this is 100 people that will actually answer their phone and take a survey.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:29

It's not just 100 people, it's 100 people that are willing to put the time and

Richard Karn 10:33

exactly, you know, they've got the time. haven't got time for the pain.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:39

Okay, that that answers so much that answers so many questions.

Richard Karn 10:44

You know, I think that's maybe why, you know, our all of our polling has been so scared. Nobody wants to answer the phone anymore. There's been there's been too many cold call, robo calls and stuff like that people are just tired of it.

Jeff Dwoskin 10:55

The greatest thing at&t ever did was put in the spam risk thing. Yeah. And it's like, I'm guilty of it, too. It's like, you almost have to tell people like this is my phone number. Because if you call me and there's no caller ID, I'm not picking it up. I'll let it go to voicemail. And then I'll be like, Oh, no, then I'll call right. Sorry, mom.

Richard Karn 11:17

Mom, did you just call me? Sorry, I was in the weird.

Jeff Dwoskin 11:22

Do you think I'd have your number and my phone was in the third dimension? Okay, so beauty you did a Bingo America too. So you must you must have dog doing a game show?

Richard Karn 11:32

Well, I mean, that was just like, kind of a quick opportunity after I left. Family saved it. So funny because you know, it's bingo. It's bingo. America. People liked the show. I mean, it was a fun show. But the demographics weren't what they expected. And I don't know what they expect it because it's bingo. It's like, okay, you can kind of see the demographics maybe. And, you know, what's the one that that's usually has very risky answers. Match Game, you know that that might be a lot more fun for college kids to watch. But bingo, I don't know. I don't get that. It wasn't my point. I mean, it wasn't my place to say it's just that when they said, Well, we're not getting the demographics. We want to go. Well, you are. It's just not the ones you want.

Jeff Dwoskin 12:13

Could you replace Patrick Duffy? Or did he replace you? I didn't I didn't go deep. I when I Googled it, I didn't even realize he was looking.

Richard Karn 12:20

I think I replaced Patrick Duffy. And I think I remember getting a phone call from him going thanks a lot.

Jeff Dwoskin 12:28

Man, that's funny. Lisa had a sense of humor about it. You're like saying don't wait. Same thing happened to me was that when I was on the Feud, I get a call one day. They're moving on? Well, they

Richard Karn 12:40

gave me an out. You know, they asked me if I'd like to do the next season and not take the bump that I got in my contract. You know, I got a 17% raise in the fifth season. They go What would you like, would you if you didn't take that? Would you mind? I go well, we did that four years ago. Let me ask you a question. Are the ratings up? They go? Yeah. Are you happy? Yeah. Then what's the problem? I mean, you guys own. I mean, they're Bertelsmann. They own American Idol. They own a million things. It's not like they were worrying about money. Right? Are my 17% Every time you hear one of these stories is always some weird bottom line. Yeah, yeah.

Jeff Dwoskin 13:14

I can tell you, this ledger, it may sound better if we move. Yeah, I don't care that your beloved my daughter as it is, is the current version. She wouldn't have been alive for years. So to watch it around, but so that nothing person. She loves family views. Well, it's

Richard Karn 13:30

a funny show. It's a fun show. It's you can play along with it. The answers are hysterical. And you know, Steve Harvey, he's a stand up, he'll go a lot more for the jugular than I ever felt like I should, you know, I didn't want people to get embarrassed or be closed down or anything like that. I wanted them to have fun. So I didn't call him on a lot of things, which I could

Jeff Dwoskin 13:50

have. Are there ever times you just broke down? And you're just Yeah, it is.

Richard Karn 13:54

I mean, they're there because the answer was so absurd. I'm going really, is that what you think? They probably panic,

Jeff Dwoskin 14:01

right? They got like seconds, right? And they gotta like,

Richard Karn 14:04

it's the perfect game. It's, you know, out of all of the games out there. It's the most fun. I mean, there are shows out there now where they actually have writers that can write some of the jokes can't write jokes for this, because you don't know what's gonna happen.

Jeff Dwoskin 14:17

Right? Right. And they don't you pretty much writes itself. Probably. Yeah, it's like improv.

Richard Karn 14:21

And that was scary because I hadn't done that before. This was the closest I've ever gotten to doing stand up, you know, just my fortune that I was around Tim and a lot of stand ups before that. Well, you know, watching how their minds work, how they how they do stuff because I was theater, you know, it's all written down. You know, in the moment, you don't have to search for something funny to say it's already written, but you're funny you're like naturally funny. You got to thank you but you don't know that till you're like have to do it. It's

Jeff Dwoskin 14:46

just an air of value that kind of brings it out so so that's cool. All right. So I know that I want to talk about the death hoax so you've you've had to death hoaxes, and we're talking now so I'm guessing it's not sensitive since you're Live.

Richard Karn 15:00

I taped this last year. I knew all the questions you're gonna ask.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:05

I know it's like all these interviewers. Yes, the same stuff.

Richard Karn 15:08

The what's it

Jeff Dwoskin 15:11

like to wake up and like, Well, I

Richard Karn 15:13

never see it. I mean, I'm never the first one to see it. I always get somebody at, you know, calling up and go, are you okay? You know, Oh, thank God. He answered the phone. We thought you were dead. You know, going Oh, really? Okay. Well, this last one was it was a weird one because it was it was like a Republican fundraiser. I mean, if you went down to the bottom of whatever this was, it was actually raising money for the Republican Party.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:35

And somehow they thought they could pull in some cash. Yeah. By saying Richard Karn has passed away.

Richard Karn 15:41

I guess there's money in that. I don't know. Oh, I feel so bad. Okay. I'll give some money to Trump.

Jeff Dwoskin 15:48

All right. Well, it's got to be horrible for the certain people. You ever see George shits Creek at all?

Richard Karn 15:54

We tried. I love all of those actors. But I just I didn't like the show. For whatever reason.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:01

There's one episode where the Moira character Katherine Harris character has a death hoax. Well, I

Richard Karn 16:06

wish I could have watched that one. That would have been fun. They wanted

Jeff Dwoskin 16:09

to know if you had this type of experience or like everyone thinks you're dead. And you're like, you take a moment to just kind of see what nice things people are saying about, you know, goes to Twitter, right Chairman when went to Twitter and tweeted this about Richard, because you walked in on them and this one scene and they're all talking about her, and then they look up and realize she's alive. And she's like, go ahead, keep going. Oh, no, no,

Richard Karn 16:30

go ahead. Go ahead. I want to hear this. around next time.

Jeff Dwoskin 16:35

Yeah. Before my mom passed, he would always say like, I would want to go to my own funeral, because I want to see who shows up. I want to hear what they say about me. Yeah, not all of us are given that gift of a hoax. I

Richard Karn 16:49

know you can do it in film and TV, though. And spy novels. And I've

Jeff Dwoskin 16:53

ever met Paul McCartney. But there's something you have in common right there. You can talk about

Richard Karn 16:57

true. Um, you know, although I never took pictures barefoot.

Jeff Dwoskin 17:01

So here's a question for you home improvement related. You have anniversaries and you send people anniversary gifts. He had birthdays, he sent birthday gifts. Do you send Stephen Tobolowsky a gift basket every now and then. And just thank him whatever kept him away from home improvement? Ah,

Richard Karn 17:20

no. But I will tell you, I met him. I ran into him at Arts Deli. Okay. We're going for lunch. And I see him sitting there having lunch. And he was by himself. And I went up to him, I just I felt compelled to go up to him. And I didn't know what I was gonna say. And he looks up and he goes, Oh, my God, oh, I wish I had taken that job. And I go, I just want to thank you for not taking that job. I really agree. And he didn't take it for like a long time, because I was only going to do the pilot. And then once the pilot was done in April, he had until July to come back and do the first show and he got another movie. And he took the other movie and they call me back and go well, we need you for the maybe the first you know, one or two or three episodes, and I went I'm I'm happy to oblige. I am so happy to oblige. Because I know the producers. I had met them six years before in Indiana doing a playwrights conference. So I knew these guys, aside from ever working with them that much. They asked me if I wouldn't mind doing the first few episodes and I go absolutely because you know my my wife is pregnant now we're we're we've moved from New York to Los Angeles. And now we're starting a family and we don't really have regular jobs. We're actors for hire. It all worked out.

Jeff Dwoskin 18:37

That's cool. Oh, god bless his popularity. I

Richard Karn 18:40

guess he never stopped working.

Jeff Dwoskin 18:42

I mean, he's always done something. Sometimes he just think it's just the universe kind of putting things where they should be. Yeah. Oh my gosh, your dynamic with Tim on that show was so good. I can't imagine

Richard Karn 18:54

what when you're, you're trying to figure out how to put characters together and how to write the characters. Yeah, what they wanted was somebody that was older, taller, I mean, a mutton Jeff a very different sensibility from Tim, because these guys knew me. They felt I was too much like Tim, I was, you know, similar size, similar age, similar kind of comic sensibility or whatever. Although once you put us on tape, we went in opposite directions. And I'm an actor. I wasn't me. I wasn't playing me. I was playing out.

Jeff Dwoskin 19:26

Well, it worked. It won't point your catchphrase. I don't think so Cham, which I think came out early were like they like oh, you deliver that so well. That just became a thing they kept doing everything becomes a thing. Everything becomes a thing.

Richard Karn 19:40

Everything we you know, we rehearse the pilot for 10 days, almost two weeks, and I would because I wasn't going to be the character that we're going to continue on with. I came out they kind of wrote my role down a little bit. Maybe Tim more talk more in the show and I was just kind of in the background, but I still walked out there as his assistant and we were rehearsing and I walked out, I didn't think anything about until we had an audience. And now all of a sudden we have an audience sitting there watching us and like a little play. So when I walked out there and he introduced me, I felt like I should acknowledge the audience because it's we're not saying that there isn't an audience. We're saying there's a tool time audience, right. So I, you know, I walked out there and I just kind of went like that, that salute. And the next week, you know, owls does his salute, and I go out, what's his salute? Can you fill me in on that? He's just well, you did it last time ago. I did. I hadn't said we hadn't seen the show. I go, What did I do? Go? Well, you went like this. I went, Oh, okay. All right. I'll do my salute. And you know, and that was, that was the thing. Now, I don't think so was like, second or third, or somewhere. Early, early on, where I was still not a cast member. I was just a guest star. I was minding my P's and Q's because I knew I was there to support Tim. I wasn't there to you know, become a star beyond the show. I was just there to field his humor, you know, so he's like, go, hey, yeah, well, do you think they call it molding because it's been in the refrigerator too long. And you know, he gets a laugh, and I just let him have that laugh. I wasn't gonna step on the laugh. And I'm just I just look at, I'm about to say, my next line. And right before I'm about to say it, there's another laugh. There's another laugh of me just looking at him. Like, you know, you Dum Dum head. And so I went, Oh, that's nice. I hope I they don't feel like I'm milking this, this or anything that you know, this is all going in my head. And then I went, I don't think so Tim, and that got a laugh all the rest of that day, the writers or producers would walk by me and go, Wow, you know, you did yourself a favor. You really, you know, and I had like two lines. And one of them was I don't think so. Yeah. But that moment, that exchange where the audience kind of knew who we were before we knew who we were cemented in their minds that they saw something that they could write to they saw they saw a relationship that they enjoyed,

Jeff Dwoskin 21:56

that's awesome. Yeah, cuz we're real chemistry is great, as is Steven is, well, that would

Richard Karn 22:01

have been something else. I'm sure. I mean, I may maybe went to I, you know, you just you don't know. But I had nothing. I had no ulterior motive. I had no, you know, agenda. I was just there for Tim, I was throwing up those big old grapefruits for him to hit out of the park.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:17

It was just that natural charisma coming through. You can't apologize.

Richard Karn 22:23

And I count my blessings every day that something like that happened. However, you know, I spent 11 years in New York being an actor doing theater, a year and a half in LA before I got this job, I had more than my 10,000 hours to get to where I needed to get when the moment happened. When the opportunity came, I was able to do it. Not overdo it. Just do it.

Jeff Dwoskin 22:43

Right. You just you delivered and you just kind of sat there going? Yeah. Oh, did I just do something? Knowing in your head? I just did something. Yeah, I get it. Well, yeah, it's it's appeal,

Richard Karn 22:55

you know, because it's great to have an audience. I mean, it really is a stand up now without an audience is really hard for a lot of those guys. They you know, because they need the feedback. They need that energy and my background being theater, I loved having that energy. That's why it was great to have an audience right there for Tool Time. Even though you know, for the most of the time, we didn't play to them. But every once in a while because of the show within the show, we could play to the audience.

Jeff Dwoskin 23:19

It was a really good dynamic. I had one friend that wanted me to ask you a very specific question about a nomad that got crushed by an eye beam and wanted to know if the car really was destroyed because he cried a little inside when it happens.

Richard Karn 23:32

Oh my god, we got cards and letters from people like we were killing baby seals. They were so upset. They really work. The thing is, is that we took the shell of a Chevrolet like a nomad but it wasn't a nomad we just dressed it up to look like one and so when the camera pulls back and you see the red car there and the IBM comes down on it and I you know I'm 20 feet from this happening and it happens so fast the metal goes right through metal it was scary was like you want to laugh want to enjoy the moment but you know, you can't because you're on camera, and it has to be something else and you you're really only going to do it once you can't like yeah, okay, let's let's do that again. You can't that moment has happened.

Jeff Dwoskin 24:11

That is so funny. All right. Well, he will appreciate that and he thinks you threw me off grants right? It

Richard Karn 24:16

was a station wagon you know, it's like you know, but the Nomad has mystical powers or something like that because it's something a lot of people you know, really covered and remember with fondness

Jeff Dwoskin 24:28

one of my fans wanted me to ask you if you ever got to if you ever dated one of the tool time girls, but I think you were already with your wife.

Richard Karn 24:35

Yeah, I was married. You know when I got the job. We were married six and a half years at that point and pregnant first couple of seasons was pam pam Anderson right and then Debbie was had been on the first season as another character. She was Kiki Vaughn Hurston Wyler, Miller or whatever. When they were looking for the next tool time girl producers wanted a girl next door they wanted somebody you know that didn't had the background that pam pam did. They didn't want to send a full Tim wanted somebody that could be on a calendar, a calendar girl, you know, so he wanted that. And they wanted something else. And they didn't really communicate that to each other. And so they had hundreds of people come in, you know, I went up to Carmen, one of the producers. I went, Carmen. What about Debbie? Oh, well, we saw Debbie and, and well, she said she wasn't running. What do you mean? She wasn't right. She's perfect. I mean, Tim really wants somebody that can be on a calendar in there. And Carmen stops and goes, what he he wants a girl. Okay, well, they went back and they, they looked at her again. And she was cast. And it was perfect. You know, it was it was the perfect of both worlds.

Jeff Dwoskin 25:41

That was after Playboy for Pamela. And then she left for Baywatch.

Richard Karn 25:45

She left for Baywatch. Mainly because she knew that the time girl wasn't going to do a lot. And she really wanted to do a bunch of stuff. Right? She had aspirations and and that helped, you know, that was a world audience at that point. I mean, they watch was worldwide. So

Jeff Dwoskin 26:02

stay Tool Time girl, or go running in slow motion in a red bathing suit full time. It's it's an obvious perfect obvious. I mean, she was very popular is a payment by like, then be cheaper just to know someone before they actually explode. Explode. You know that because it's your

Richard Karn 26:18

boy. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's not something that you are taught. Think about what fame is, or what being recognized is, and it's one thing but then when it's actually happening, it becomes way more personal. And depending on how you feel about it. It's either invading your life or you're happy that it's happening. You know, some people that just get upset that someone has come up to them at the restaurant. I decided early on that. I mean, if I was going to be upset, it's gonna be upset all the time. It's like why do that? So let's just take care of it. Move on.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:46

If you can see I'm wearing a Detroit Tigers had nice Tim's a Michigan boy. So they

Richard Karn 26:52

is a Michigan boy but a Colorado boy also, but he's got a place up on one of the legs.

Jeff Dwoskin 26:56

But Home Improvement took place in suburban Detroit. So right so yeah, love that. I always love Dave cool. A we're in the Redwings unfold. So it's cool when Detroit gets represented. Hey, I

Richard Karn 27:07

did a show called The Detroiters. Oh, I

Jeff Dwoskin 27:10

was gonna ask you about that. I love that show. I was so upset when that guy Yeah, I cancelled that was such a funny, funny, funny show

Richard Karn 27:16

was it was very fun. And I actually I had to play myself. You know, thank God. I had the four years of playing myself on Family Feud before I had to do that, you know, because playing yourself is like a whole nother world. It's a whole different thing.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:28

Is it a version of yourself though, right? Like, yeah, like I would never say, who wrote this crap?

Richard Karn 27:35

Well, that's the thing. It's like, it's me being host of a the D Awards, the Detroit awards for the advertising. And so what I'm saying would have been written by somebody as far as that's concerned. So it was me playing a host.

Jeff Dwoskin 27:50

I always wondered what people outside of Detroit or outside of Michigan watching that show thought of it because there's a lot of inside jokes, right it being from Michigan, all of those things were like local real local commercials that they were spoofing and things that they were doing. So to us, it was like, Oh, my God, this is like hilarious. And all

Richard Karn 28:09

of the other commercials were voiceover by Kid Rock. That's very funny.

Jeff Dwoskin 28:13

Sure, every city has a thing. We have a very famous Detroit zoo commercial. And we have a famous Mel fire superstar and like all these things, and they would mock all those and it was like, it was just so funny. I was like, kills me when like a really good funny show gets gets canned. But yeah, okay. Well, thanks for bringing that up. Cuz I was gonna ask you about that. I did want to tell you like, I worked with Tim Allen. Once in, we did a fundraiser together. It was like one of his big returns to stand up. It was it was a while ago, and I don't know, they the big the best compliment I ever got was after the show. I was leaving and they were all on stage doing press. And Tim Allen's mom came with me to tell me how good she thought I was. And that was to this day, I was just like, Anytime he's like, I got the greatest compliment I ever got was Tim Allen's mom, because if the mom tells you, you know, it's special, you know, it's special. Because mom ain't gonna lie to you. She didn't have to. So let's see what else I noticed. You have a few Air Bud here. Everybody movies. What's it like working with all the dogs?

Richard Karn 29:12

I did those those were those were fun. I actually I replaced Greg Harris Gregory Harrison played the dad in the first one and then apparently he didn't want to do the next one. So I did like the next three the guys that did they are but they also did they also did some shows with a monkey you know and I did one of their monkey shows MVP most valuable primate which was also fun. Yeah, and that was those were all filmed up in Canada you know, either Toronto or Vancouver

Jeff Dwoskin 29:38

and then so you've you've done a lot of Christmas movies by coincidence or just you have a love for Christmas you just love doing those is it just

Richard Karn 29:47

I think it's a coincidence and but they're also they're always family friendly. Hallmark does 40 Christmas movies a year lifetime does 40 Christmas movies a year so there's a lot of Christmas stuff out there and once you get in that kind of they Okay, so certain actors, certain actors, they're fine with because Hallmark doesn't really want villains. They want some obstacles that they have to get past but they don't want people that are to mean, otherwise people will change the

Jeff Dwoskin 30:11

channel. You are not mean at all. You want to be nice, no, but I played

Richard Karn 30:14

a hallmark villain where I bought the Christmas Town from the girl who was living in New York and wanted to get back to New York and then realize that the Christmas Town was something that she really didn't realize, you know, how many people are affected and that she loved it and there was a love interest and then she wants it back and I charged her like three times the amount. That's about as evil as I get. It is evil

Jeff Dwoskin 30:37

as Hallmark again, it's so funny. Let's talk about last man standing and you guessed it on there, and you walk out and mention his three boys. And he goes no, no, it's three girls as far as swear I get it. It was three boys. I love when TV shows go mad like that. And and reference other shows like dude, like or relationships like that were from before those. Yeah, just it's so funny to me. It's so fun. Well,

Richard Karn 31:02

the thing is, is that character wasn't written to be me wasn't written. For me to play it. I think my agents submitted me. And then the producers of last man saw that they went oh my god. Hmm. We've got Richard. So we should. So they rewrote it. They rewrote a little bit of and they added the kids line and this and that. And they helped me backstage, I couldn't come out before the show. Everybody introduces everybody, you know, but they kept me back. And then when I entered there was like this gasp that the audience went, Oh my God. And they were cheering and it went on and on. And I felt I mean, I was cool. But I after a while I felt a little embarrassed. And I started I just started the scene. You know, afterwards, the writers came up to me, they went Why did you stop? They were loving you. They were it was good. I know. I know. But it was going on. Well, we could have edited that out. And I went okay, but I don't know. I just felt it had been enough.

Jeff Dwoskin 31:57

It's funny. It's so funny. And then you have a new show on the History Channel assembly required assembly required. And it's a reality show.

Richard Karn 32:06

Yeah. Oddly enough. It's something Tim and his daughter, Katie. Katie Fox is one of the producers has got it. They've been working on it for for a little while. And then they brought me in to co host with Tim, because I think Tim didn't want to do any of the hosting heavy lifting. I think he likes the idea of just sitting back and being Tim it worked out. I mean, all that chemistry came rushing back, it was like getting back up on that bike again. It was fun. That's awesome. That'll be fun to watch. Well, it'll be something different because the History Channel does have these shows like forged in fire. And you know, maybe some of the cooking shows like that where the hosts are, you know, they're amusing and funny, but nothing like what Tim and I are, that's a whole nother realm of what's going on because of our history. So the

Jeff Dwoskin 32:49

idea of the show is it's builders are tasked to fix household items.

Richard Karn 32:53

Yeah, in a way. I mean, we send them a box, okay, they have 90 minutes to build what's in the box, we don't tell them what it is, they have to figure it out. But you know, they're very good builders. So they most of the things are self evident like that. But we break something that's in there. So they have to work with something that's broken, they have to fix it. And after 90 minutes of the three contestants, we have to choose one that didn't make the cut. And the other two will go on to the other half of the show where they'll have five days to build a bigger crate of stuff that we send, and then they incorporate the smaller build into the bigger bill. Okay,

Jeff Dwoskin 33:27

so it's like chops but with constructions.

Richard Karn 33:30

Yeah, I mean, and we've had, we had guys, I mean, we literally had a NASA rocket scientist who couldn't get it done in 90 minutes. So it was like we saw how brilliant where he was going. But it didn't work after 90 minutes. He just couldn't, couldn't do the time. And that, you know, that's part of the game. You got to factor those things in.

Jeff Dwoskin 33:49

It sounds like something I will be very excited to watch.

Richard Karn 33:52

I hope so. I mean, my God we talk, you know, there's a lot of footage, and in my mind, I'm going can they use any of this? I mean, we're just talking going off on tangents, and I have to reel Tim in, he'll ask somebody quite Hey, you know, that thing that we gave you? What did you think about that? Because, you know, my friend, Jay in his garage, but we didn't you know, after like five minutes of Tim going off, I would finally go tell let them answer your question. You know, it's like I all of a sudden became out I had to become out in real life.

Jeff Dwoskin 34:22

That's so funny. The idea of being a contestant on that would give me anxiety I or my marriage can barely survive a trip to IKEA.

Richard Karn 34:30

Yeah. Well, you know, there are people that that you know, all of a sudden the cameras rolling and they have they feel like they have to perform, and that can kind of get in the way of their process, because they're performing and they're not performing.

Jeff Dwoskin 34:41

Right. They don't want to get cut. But,

Richard Karn 34:45

you know, it's really it's about the elegance of what they build. When it comes down to it. We're not really we're not voting on their personality we're voting on you know, how they build what's at hand

Jeff Dwoskin 34:55

and then your I just started the show, as you've seen Episode One even before I knew we were going to talk and you're in pen 15 And it was on who who I get is the first episode it was one of those things where I think we put it on pause for a second because it was so real the anxiety of like being back in middle school,

Richard Karn 35:14

it was like, it is very uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable humor.

Jeff Dwoskin 35:17

It was hard to watch. I was like, but in a good way where my wife was like, I can't watch it if I'm having an anxiety attack. Well, that

Richard Karn 35:25

I've been in a weird way. That's why we never watched Curb Your Enthusiasm because it's very uncomfortable. It's funny, but you know, watching with your wife, you just go okay, we don't want to watch

Jeff Dwoskin 35:35

this. That's how my wife feels about Curb Your Enthusiasm. I like I haven't seen it in a while. But like when I did watch it, I was into that. Yeah, but yeah, it's it's one of those things. It's just either hits you right or hits you wrong.

Richard Karn 35:46

True. And I don't think I came in to like the fourth episode of Penn 15 into the season. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 35:52

I've been I've been Gotcha.

Richard Karn 35:53

But her dad her real dad is a world class drummer Peter Erskine. Really? I mean, he played with the the weather report. Oh, wow. I mean, world class jazz drummer, and she wrote me I'm in a Steely Dan cover band. I'm the drummer for a Steely Dan cover band called stealing Damn. Which is, you know, funny on a lot of level.

Jeff Dwoskin 36:16

That's a great name.

Richard Karn 36:17

Peter tried to teach me show me how to look playing drums and failed miserably, but I guess I looked okay. And her real mom plays her real

Jeff Dwoskin 36:25

mom. I was talking to a comedian friend of mine, Bill Dwyer. He used to host battle bots. And he's like, I was listening in the pen 15. And they're watching battle bots. And it's my voice.

Richard Karn 36:35

I should get paid for that. Yeah, that's exactly. Yeah,

Jeff Dwoskin 36:39

it's it's I immediately called My he

Richard Karn 36:44

did have to pay a licensing fee. So I don't know if he gets it.

Jeff Dwoskin 36:48

Oh, no, no, no. But it's it's funny. There's definitely buzz on that show. Because I had heard people talking about it. Yeah, I wanted to check it out. Well, what

Richard Karn 36:56

was great about doing that show was that the the girls knew each other from school from NYU, they went to NYU together. So they would do the same. But I mean, they would keep going, they would just, you know, off the top of their heads, just continue scenes and see where they where they might go, whether it's usable or whatever, like that. And they encouraged me or the other actors to they were fine with with anything that we wanted to say or come up with. There was an episode where we're at the dinner table, you know, she goes that's close to her brother, and I go, What did you say, you know, as the dad says, What did you say? She goes, nothing bull shoot, and the brothers go knows you did? She said, Hey, uh, you know, I go Go to your room, and she's supposed to go to a room. She goes, No, I will go to your room. We'll talk about this later. Because no, I'm thinking, Well, what do you do? Well, as a parent, it's like the unknown. I took out the old you know, I started counting. I went one and her eyes, her eyes went good. I was like, I went two and three, I started getting up and she'd like scurries out of the room. She comes back laughing and go, Oh, my God. That's what my dad did. My dad

Jeff Dwoskin 38:05

found that it's so funny. Okay, I want to wrap up. I want to put you on the other side of the feud. I'm going to ask you a couple of questions. And then I have the answers. And then and the people that voted for him. Okay. Okay, Richard, you're ready. Are you ready to play the field? Let's do it. Alright. 100 people surveyed Top six answers. We asked 100 Americans how much do you tip for good service? 20% Show me 20% That's right. That's number one answer is number 139 people out of

Richard Karn 38:35

100 Depends on where you live because some people just double the tax.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:38

Yes, I always do 20% Because it's just so easy to 10% and then double that

Richard Karn 38:43

right and double the tax you know, if you're in New York or California, that's 18% Somewhere about perfect.

Jeff Dwoskin 38:49

Alright, writing alright. 100 people surveyed Top six answers on the board names something you might eat with a hamburger french fries. Show me french fries. You're really good at this.

Richard Karn 39:01

Well, you're giving me softball questions. I know I didn't want to come over to our I like I like the one where he asked you know what month Do you start showing pregnancy and they'll grow in September. made perfect sense. That's when she started showing.

Jeff Dwoskin 39:21

I think that's a perfect place to wrap it up. Can't go again. Come on and I are no Denat thank you so much for hanging with me. It was it was a lot of fun. I had a good time talking with you.

Richard Karn 39:32

Well as Tim Ella's Mother said you did such a good job.

Jeff Dwoskin 39:36

Thank you. Now it'd be like Tim Allen's mom and Richard Connor both tweet is there any place people can kind of keep up with you on what's going on, you know on Twitter.

Richard Karn 39:48

You know, I'm on Twitter and all that but I I'm not really good at that kind of stuff. Although, you know, once the show starts going, you know, they have a they have a team of people that throw stuff out there or or Give me stuff to throw out there. So but I'm on Twitter is I think the real Richard Karn. I'm not very diligent about it. So if

Jeff Dwoskin 40:07

you if you tweet or send Richard a message, just be patient. I'll get back to you eventually. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for hanging out with me. I really, really appreciate it. All right, a lot. You're welcome. All right.

How awesome was Richard Karn so many great stories? Definitely check out his new show with Tim Allen assembly required. I hear a new season is coming your way. So much fun. I should have asked harder Family Feud questions. Shouldn't I have I? I shouldn't have gotten so easy on them. Anyway, that was a lot of fun. That was a lot of fun. You know what else is a lot of fun playing hashtag games on hashtag round up. That's right.

As we near the end of the episode, it's time to read tweets from another trending hashtag from the family of hashtag roundup games at hashtag roundup on Twitter. Follow us and play along all day every day. also download the free hashtag roundup app what the same app from the social media tip Yes, the same one. Download the free hashtag roundup app play along with us. And one day one of your tweets might be read on live from Detroit, the Jeff Dwoskin show fame and fortune awaits you this week's hashtag deeping with a theme of the show our guest Richard Karn, Al Borland from home improvement of course, we need to read tweets from #HomeImprovementSongsAndBands the ultimate hashtag mashup game which takes home improvement things and mashes them up with songs or bands brought to you by dangerous tags a once weekly Game On hashtag round up, though exciting, and here are a few of my favorite #HomeImprovementSongsAndBands who's down with PVC you know me express your shelf. I can solve for miles and miles, nine inch nail guns, grout, grout, let it all out. I apologize for the singing but I think it helps a little not a lot. Maybe so dust in the wind. That was bad. You can call me owl Yeah, our Borland when I think about you, I hang my shelf. I saw her standing there get it saw purple drain. Purple drain. We're an American band saw. We're an American band saw. Yes. I said it twice. Pink Floyd's The load bearing wall. DIY MCA did we almost have a wall that was sorry Am I singing is not helping. I know Ricky don't lose that lumber. These are all really great #HomeImprovementSongsAndBands Tool Time in a Bottle handyman the handyman can cuz he makes it to Dad. Dad. Dad Dad. I didn't have other words. backsplash fever. This land is bored land is land is your land. Dadda Dadda Dadda way to tie into the home improvement theme have to be builders square. He really was classic. And our final hashtag Home Improvement songs and bands tweet roof. There it is. Roof. There it is. Right? Those were awesome. #HomeImprovementSongsAndBands tweets. As always, they are retweeted at Jeff Dwoskin show on Twitter, hunt him out, retweet them, show him some love. Well, that's it.

The hashtag readings over the interviews over I guess we're the end of another episode. We have reached the end of episode 90. I can't believe it and we've reached the end of 2021. You may still have a few days left depending on when you're hearing this. I've enjoyed spending this year with you. I look forward to 2022 Thank you to my special guest this week. Richard Karn. And of course, thanks to all of you for coming back week after week. I can't thank you enough. It means the world to me. And I'll see you next time. Rather. I'll see you next year.

Announcer 44:23

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of the Jeff Dwoskin show with your host Jeff Dwoskin. Now go repeat everything you heard and sound like a genius. Catch us online at the Jeff Dwoskin show.com or follow us on Twitter at Jeff Dwoskin show and we'll see you next time.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai