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Rich Talarico | |
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| Born | August 25, 1973 Frankfort, New York, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, producer, actor, director, comedian |
| Website | www.richtalarico.com |
Rich Talarico (born August 25, 1973) [1] is an American television writer and producer, best known for his work on Comedy Central's Key & Peele .
Rich was born in Frankfort, New York. He attended the local high school, and caught the acting bug performing in high school musicals and doing stand-up comedy. He took graphic design courses at Mohawk Valley Community College, [2] but moved to Chicago to study at the famed Second City Theatre.
In 1992, Talarico moved to Chicago, took his first improv class with Stephen Colbert at The Second City, [3] and earned a position with Second City's National Touring Company. Talarico went on to co-create five original sketch comedy revues for the company's ETC. and Main stages. [4]
While in Chicago, Rich was also involved at Improv Olympic (now iO), under the direction of Charna Halpern and the late Del Close. [5] At iO he played on house teams "Mr. Blonde" and "Faulty Wiring," and co-created the long-form improv shows "Strap Heads," "Trio," "Close Quarters," and "Dasariski." He also played with the early casts of the long-running "Armando Diaz Experience, Theatrical Movement, and Hootenanny."
In 2001 Talarico relocated to Los Angeles to write and produce for the sketch comedy series Mad TV . His work at Mad TV earned him three Writers Guild Award nominations.
Rich has written for NBC's Saturday Night Live , [6] co-produced The Naked Trucker and T-Bones Show for Comedy Central, [7] wrote and produced TBS's Frank TV , served as a monologue and staff writer for NBC's The Tonight Show With Jay Leno , writer and performer for HBO's The Sketch Pad , and most recently was a writer and performer for Review , also on Comedy Central. Talarico has also written for "Key and Peele", being the writer who wrote their most famous sketch, the substitute who mispronounces names (A-Aron).
Rich has directed dozens of short films, many of which have appeared in festivals like the L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival, [8] and the Just for Laughs Shorts Festival [9] at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago. He wrote and directed a corporate video series for the company Geek Eyewear, and most recently directed CC Social Scene, a sketch/comedy improv series for Comedy Central Digital, which is hosted by Paul Scheer.
Talarico has appeared as an actor in several TV commercials, most notably A&W Rootbeer's Mr. Dumass. He has also appeared in small roles on Late Night With Conan O'Brien , Early Edition , What About Joan? , Review , and the feature film High Fidelity .
Rich Talarico performs and teaches long-form improv comedy and sketch writing in festivals and at theaters all over the country. He can be seen performing live improv regularly at the iOWest in Los Angeles as a part of the fan and critically acclaimed improvisation trio, "Dasariski." [10]
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