Rick Miller | |
---|---|
Born | Canada | March 12, 1970
Genres | Theatre, Musical comedy, Impressions, Observational comedy |
Spouse | Stephanie Baptist |
Website | www |
Rick Miller (born March 12, 1970) is a Canadian director, actor, comedian, musician, playwright, and podcast host, currently living in Toronto. He has two architecture degrees from McGill University in Montreal, and has performed in 6 languages on 5 continents. Although primarily known as a solo theatre creator and performer, Miller is also known for hosting the television series Just for Laughs [1] and for performing a version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" during which he impersonates "twenty five of the most annoying voices in the music industry". His BOOM Trilogy of solo shows (BOOM, BOOM X, and BOOM YZ) examine 75 years of music, culture and politics, and have been performed over 600 times across North America, Europe and Asia.
Miller has created and performed in many plays, BOOM , [2] BOOM X , [3] BOOM YZ , Bigger than Jesus , [4] MacHomer , [5] [6] HARDSELL 2.0 - VENDU , [7] and several plays with Robert Lepage, including Lipsynch. [8] . He is currently working on a large-scale play called - and about - MONEY, which is scheduled to premiere in 2026.
In an example of art imitating life imitating art, The Simpsons featured a segment in the episode "Four Great Women and a Manicure", in which Homer and Marge played versions of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, respectively. This was an idea originally conceived by Miller for his one-man-show MacHomer. Matt Groening approved of the show and allowed Miller to use his characters.
Miller is also the co-creative director of Kidoons, the Canadian multimedia company that has developed the family touring stage shows Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea (premiered in 2015), [9] Jungle Book (premiered in 2018), [10] , FRANKENSTEIN: A Living Comic Book (premiered in 2022) and HANS: My Life in Fairy Tales (premiering in 2025). Kidoons also produces web series for families, featuring animated characters that connect to the Kidoons stage shows. [11]
When not on tour, Miller is the frontman for the Toronto party band TRAINWRECK, [12] also featuring his life partner, Stephanie Baptist. In 2019, he released a compilation CD of 20 tracks from all of his solo shows called Rick Miller SONGS (from BOOM X and Other Shows). [13]
Miller is best known for his famous portrayal of the Queen song "Bohemian Rhapsody" "as performed by 25 of the most annoying voices in the music industry". However, the actual number of parodies in the sketch is 27, including a general parody of lead guitarists. A video of the performance was uploaded on YouTube in 2007, and has been seen over 1,000,000 times. [14] The list of parodies includes (in order): Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Michael Bolton, Corey Hart, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Jon Bon Jovi, Robbie Robertson, Neil Diamond, Aaron Neville, Dennis DeYoung, Barney the Dinosaur, Aerosmith, "Any Annoying Lead Guitarist", Meat Loaf, Crash Test Dummies, Tom Petty, Beck, The B-52's, AC/DC, Metallica, The Rolling Stones, Ozzy Osbourne, Julio Iglesias, Bobby McFerrin, Andrea Bocelli, and Guns N' Roses.
Miller has also worked as a voice actor for numerous animated television shows and a video game.
Some of the characters he has voiced include:
"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, A Night at the Opera (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack of a refraining chorus and consisting of several sections: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. It is one of the few progressive rock songs of the 1970s to have proved accessible to a mainstream audience.
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, and Roger Taylor, later joined by John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock.
Shadow the Hedgehog is a character who appears in Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. He was created by Takashi Iizuka and Shiro Maekawa, designed by Kazuyuki Hoshino, and first appeared in Sonic Adventure 2 (2001).
Colin Edward Quinn is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. He first gained widespread attention for his work as a cast member and writer on Saturday Night Live from 1995 to 2000, and he became known for anchoring Weekend Update, the show's news parody segment. Prior to SNL, he was best known as the announcer/sidekick on MTV's 1980s game show Remote Control. Following his departure from SNL, Quinn went on to host Comedy Central's late-night panel show Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, where he and a panel of New York's big names in stand-up comedy discussed and debated news stories of the day. Notable film work includes his role as Dooey in A Night at the Roxbury, Dickey Bailey in the Grown Ups films, and playing Amy Schumer's father in the film Trainwreck. Comedians such as Jerry Seinfeld, Tina Fey, Chris Rock, and Dave Attell have cited Quinn as the quintessential "comic's comic" and New York comedian.
Avenue Q is a musical comedy featuring puppets and human actors with music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and book by Jeff Whitty. It won Best Musical, Book, and Score at the 2004 Tony Awards. The show's format is a parody of Sesame Street, but its content involves adult-oriented themes. It has been praised for its approach to themes of racism, homosexuality and internet pornography.
Thomas Christopher Parnell is an American actor and comedian. First breaking through as a performer with the Los Angeles comedy troupe The Groundlings, Parnell found wider success during his tenure as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2006. After leaving SNL, he played the role of Dr. Leo Spaceman on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock (2006–2013). Parnell is also a prominent voice actor known for his deep and distinctive voice. In animation, he voices the narrator on the PBS Kids series WordGirl (2007–2015), Cyril Figgis on the FX series Archer (2009–2023), Jerry Smith on Adult Swim's Rick and Morty (2013–present), and Doug on Fox's Family Guy (2019–2022). His work also extends into commercials, having voiced the Hamburger Helper mascot “Lefty”, appeared in advertisements as “America’s Dad” for Orbit Gum, and is most known for voicing "The Progressive Box" in a series of advertisements by the Progressive Corporation.
We Will Rock You is a jukebox musical based on the songs of British rock band Queen with a book by Ben Elton. The musical tells the story of a renegade group known as the Bohemians who struggle to restore the free exchange of thought and culture in a vaguely Orwellian society.
Fanboy & Chum Chum is an American animated comedy television series created by Eric Robles for Nickelodeon. It is based on Fanboy, an animated short created by Robles for Nickelodeon Animation Studio and Frederator Studios, that was broadcast on Random! Cartoons. The series was first broadcast on October 12, 2009, on Nickelodeon as a preview, then officially premiered on November 6, 2009, after SpongeBob's Truth or Square. In the show, two slow-witted would-be superheroes attempt to rid their town of Galaxy Hills of evil, while annoying everyone around them.
Annoying Orange is an American live-action/animated comedy web series created by Dane Boedigheimer. The series follows a talking orange who annoys fruits, vegetables and various other objects and even people and creatures by telling crude jokes and puns and making annoying noises until their demise. The Annoying Orange YouTube channel has 13 million subscribers as of 2024.
MacHomer is a one-person play by Rick Miller which blends William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth with the animated television series The Simpsons. Miller conceived the idea in 1994, when he was performing in a production of Macbeth. The first performance of MacHomer was at the Montreal Fringe Festival in 1995. MacHomer has been re-written a number of times. The early version of the play was more of a stand-up comedy routine, but in 2000, it was expanded into a theatrical production. In 2006, for the 10th anniversary tour, Miller further revamped the play, adding new songs and characters, and incorporating videos.
The Hall of Game Awards was an award show held by Cartoon Network. The inaugural show was hosted by Tony Hawk and aired on February 25, 2011. There were four installments of the awards, the last being held in February 17, 2014.
Alpocalypse is the thirteenth studio album by the American parody musician "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on June 21, 2011. It was the seventh studio album self-produced by Yankovic. The musical styles on the album are built around parodies and pastiches of pop and rock music of the late 2000s and early 2010s. The album's first single, "Whatever You Like", was released almost two and a half years prior to the release of the album, and the single peaked at number 104 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album's final single, "Perform This Way", was released digitally on April 25, 2011, but failed to chart.
Jason Paige is an American singer, writer, record producer and actor best known for singing the first theme song for the English version of the Pokémon television series.
Sonic Boom is an animated television series produced by Sega of America, Inc. and Technicolor Animation Productions in collaboration with Lagardère Thématiques and Jeunesse TV, respectively for Cartoon Network, Canal J and Gulli. Loosely based on the video game franchise Sonic the Hedgehog created by Sega, the series is the fifth animated television series based on the franchise and the first to be produced in computer-generated imagery animation and in high-definition.
Angelina Jordan Astar is a Norwegian singer whose audition for the 2014 season of Norway's Got Talent at the age of seven, singing "Gloomy Sunday" in the style of Billie Holiday, became a viral video online and brought her worldwide press coverage. She went on to win the competition at the age of seven with her performance of George Gershwin's "Summertime". Since then, she has worked to raise money on behalf of environmental causes and various children's charities. She always performs barefoot, after befriending a young shoeless girl and giving her shoes to her. Jordan later wrote a book about the experience, Mellom to hjerter .
Bohemian Rhapsody is a 2018 biographical musical drama film that focuses on the life of Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock band Queen, from the formation of the band in 1970 to their 1985 Live Aid performance at the original Wembley Stadium. It was directed by Bryan Singer from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten, and produced by Graham King and Queen manager Jim Beach. It stars Rami Malek as Mercury, with Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, and Mike Myers in supporting roles. Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor also served as consultants. A British-American venture, it was produced by Regency Enterprises, GK Films and Queen Films, and was distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Six13 is a New York–based Jewish all-male a cappella singing group. Formed in 2003, the six-voice group is known for parodying contemporary pop songs by adding Jewish themes and lyrics. It also sings cover versions of pop hits and Yiddish and Israeli classics, and produces original compositions based on traditional Jewish prayers. Relying solely on vocals, the group achieves the effects of guitar, bass, drums, and electronic music through beatboxing and multiple layering of vocal tracks on its music videos. The group performs regularly for universities, synagogues, public and private groups, and in music festivals. It has released eight albums and won numerous awards.
Michael R. Cusack is an Australian animator, writer, director, producer, musician, voice actor, and internet personality. He is known as the co-creator of the Adult Swim animated series Smiling Friends (2022–present), in which he voiced the characters Pim, Allan, and various others. He is also the creator of the Adult Swim animated series YOLO (2020–present) and the Hulu animated sitcom Koala Man (2023–present).