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Frederick Alan "Rick" Moranis (born April 18, 1953) is a Canadian comic actor best known for his work on SCTV and in films such as Ghostbusters, Little Shop of Horrors, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and My Blue Heaven.

Biography

Early life

Moranis was born Frederick Alan Moranis in Toronto, Ontario. In the 1970s, he worked (using the stage name Rick Allen) as a disc jockey at various radio stations in Toronto, including CFTR, CKFH, and CHUM-FM. Together with Ken Finkleman, he tried his hand at stand-up and did some comedy for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He followed that with his work at SCTV, enjoying particular success portraying "Bob" of Bob and Doug McKenzie. Doug was played by Canadian actor Dave Thomas.

His other memorable SCTV characterizations include motor-mouthed film producer Larry Siegel, terminally-ill rock star Clay Collins, smooth-voiced video deejay Gerry Todd, cool Leutonian pop star Linsk Minyk, kid-brother amateur comic Skip Bittman, head cheese butcher Carl Scutz, and morning homily intellect Rabbi Karlov.

Movies

After his SCTV work, Moranis had a busy film career which lasted over a decade. In an August, 2004 interview with Sound & Vision magazine, Moranis talked about the kinds of films he enjoyed the most:

The films he worked on include:

• Brother Bear 2 (2006)
• Brother Bear (2003)
• Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer & The Island of Misfit Toys (2001)
• Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1997)
• Big Bully (1996)
• The Flintstones (1994)
• Little Giants (1994)
• Splitting Heirs (1993)
• Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992)
• L.A. Story (1991)
• My Blue Heaven (1990)
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989)

• Parenthood (1989)
• Ghostbusters II (1989)
• Spaceballs (1987)
• The Rocket Boy (1987)
• Club Paradise (1986)
• Head Office (1986)
• Little Shop of Horrors (1986)
• Brewster's Millions (1985)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• Streets of Fire (1984)
• The Wild Life (1984)
• Strange Brew (1983)

Trivia

One of Rick Moranis' trademarks is that, with the exception of Strange Brew and The Flintstones, he always wears glasses in his films.

Celebrities impersonated by Moranis on SCTV include: David Brinkley, Dick Cavett, Merv Griffin, Woody Allen, Richard Dreyfuss, Al Waxman, George Carlin, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, Anson Williams, Al Pacino as Michael Corleone, Jim Bakker, Brent Musburger, Henry Moore, Phil Silvers, John Denver, and the voice of Gordon Lightfoot.

Recent activities

As of 2004, Moranis was on the Advisory Committee for the comedy program at Humber College, the only such diploma program in the world.

In an October, 2005 interview in USA Today, Moranis talked about backing away from the movie business:

"I pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. I'm a single parent (Moranis' wife died in 1991 of liver cancer), 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."

In 2005, Moranis released an album entitled The Agoraphobic Cowboy, featuring country songs with lyrics which Moranis says follow in the comic tradition of songwriters/singers such as Roger Miller and Jim Stafford. The album was produced by Tony Scherr, and is distributed through ArtistShare, as well as Moranis' official Web site. In the Sound & Vision interview done before he decided to release the album, he commented on the origins of some of the songs:

"About a year ago (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 demo’ed 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.

Quotes

• As Gerry Todd: "Meatballs, meatballs ... I kind of like that one."

• As Skip Bittman (impersonating Porky Pig meeting Kruschev): "A-be, da-be, da-be, da-be, da-be, Nikita!"

• As Clay Collins: "It's good to know my music turns on hip clergymen like you."

• Ghostbusters "During the rectification of the Vuldronaii the Traveller came as a large, moving Torb. Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the Meketrex supplicants they chose a new form for him--that of a giant Sloar. Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day, I can tell you."

• Ghostbusters II "Your honor, ladies and gentlemen of th-the-the audience, I don't think it's fair to call my clients frauds. Okay, so the blackout was a big problem for everybody, okay? I was stuck in an elevator for two hours and I had to make the whole time. But I don't blame them. 'C-Cause one time I turned into a dog and they helped me. Thank you."
• Ghostbusters II "Yeah! My clients are still under a judicial mes-trangement order! That blue thing I got from her!"

• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids "When Einstein invented the atomic bomb, did they ask him to prove that it worked?"

• Honey, I Blew Up the Kid "I was president of the astronomy club two years in a row! We were happenin' guys."

• Little Shop of Horrors "You look radiant today, Audrey. Is that new eye makeup?"

• Spaceballs: "I see your schwartz is as big as mine."

• Spaceballs: "What's the matter, Colonel Sandurz? Chicken?"

• Spaceballs: "I am your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former room-mate!"

• Mad Magazine #120, July 1968:"Don Martin Looks At Frogs" was one of the funniest things I have ever read. In fact, I laughed so hard, I almost croaked.

External links

• Official website
• His ArtistShare projects
• Rick Moranis, Singing 'Cowboy', a December 2005 story from Weekend Edition
• Rock Radio Scrapbook 1973, with a RealAudio clip of Rick Allen from June 1973
• Review of The Agoraphobic Cowboy from the Country Music Television website
• An Hour with SCTV's Rick Moranis, an August 2004 interview with Sound & Vision magazine
• October 2005 Interview with Moranis from the USA Today website
• OpEd Piece by Moranis from the NY Times website

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