Tim Allen’s Tim Taylor might have been the supposed star of the fictional present Instrument Time on House Enchancment, however he was typically upstaged by his co-host, the lovable Al Boland, performed by Richard Karn. Along with his deadpan catchphrase “I do not assume so, Tim,” and his relative lack of clumsiness, Al did his finest to maintain Tim in line, and followers adored him for it. He additionally appeared like an everyday man you would possibly know, which is smart, since Karn got here to the function not from doing a ton of onscreen performing however after taking over different forms of jobs in Los Angeles, together with managing an house advanced. House Enchancment proved to be his huge break, and he was part of the present for all eight seasons. Learn on to search out out what the actor has been as much as since.
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Karn simply might have missed out on the sitcom function that made him a star. In a 2012 interview with Vulture, busy character actor Stephen Tobolowsky (he performed Ned Ryerson in Groundhog Day, amongst a whole lot of different roles) talked about passing on a suggestion to play Al. He famous that, although the wage was “enormously princely” for him on the time, the sitcom would not have allowed him to tackle different jobs, so he ended up letting it go. “They received Richard Karn to play that function. He was on it for years and years and years and made beaucoup bucks,” Tobolowsky stated, including that he has no regrets, since he was in a position to go on and “do all of the exhibits everyone is aware of [him] for.”
In the meantime, what might have appeared like unhealthy luck on Karn’s half led to him reserving the long-running present. He reportedly discovered in regards to the audition when he ended up in site visitors college after rolling via a cease signal. Karn was seated subsequent to a expertise agent who informed him in regards to the alternative, and the remainder is historical past.
Previous to House Enchancment, Karn’s solely onscreen credit have been in a couple of episodes of One Life to Dwell. The household sitcom was on the air from 1991 to 1998, throughout which period he took on another roles, together with visitor spots in Boy Meets World, Burke’s Legislation, and Soul Man. After the House Enchancment collection finale, Karn continued performing, showing in films together with a couple of installments of the Air Bud franchise and a number of other holiday-themed rom-coms. On TV, he is guest-starred in Watching Ellie; True Jackson, VP; and Detroiters, and he reunited with Allen for 2 episodes of his follow-up sitcom, Final Man Standing. Most lately, he performed Maya’s (Maya Erskine) dad Fred within the ’90s-set center college comedy, PEN15.
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Enjoying the host of Instrument Time for therefore a few years actually paid off for Karn, who’s emceed a number of recreation exhibits and competitors collection in his profession. He was the host of Household Feud from 2002 to 2006, the co-host of Bingo America from 2008 to 2009, and has been the voice of many TV specials.
In 2021, he and Allen teamed up once more to co-host the Historical past Channel actuality competitors collection Meeting Required, through which contestants revamp common home items. This 12 months, they premiered one other present on the identical community. Appropriately titled Extra Energy, it delves into the historical past of instruments and the way we use them, so it is mainly Instrument Time 2.0.
In a press release saying the brand new collection, Karn stated (through Collider), “My friendship with Tim has lasted over 30 years… in a row! The prospect to do a present like Instrument Time was unquestionably thrilling. We might not have Binford however we nonetheless may have a world of enjoyable!”
When he isn’t working, Karn is spending time together with his spouse of 37 years, Tudi Roche, and their grown son, Cooper. Both that, or he is on the golf course. Like a lot of his former co-stars, the actor is a giant golfer. Via a lot of the late ’90s, he yearly hosted The Richard Karn Celeb Golf Traditional in Seattle. These days, he might be discovered at occasions run by different celebrities, together with comic George Lopez’s annual outing. And these golf tournaments typically flip into House Enchancment reunions, with Karn hitting the hyperlinks alongside Allen and Debbe Dunning (Heidi), who’re additionally closely into the game.