Richard Karn is instantly recognizable as the bearded, amiable co-star of ABC’s hit comedy “Home Improvement.”
A Seattle native and a graduate of the University of Washington, Karn is a veteran of a dozen years on the stage, including such Broadway hits as the smash musical “Me And My Girl.”
Richard’s mother, Lou Wilson, was a well-known Pacific Northwest artist. His father, Gene Wilson, is a Seattle architect who gets a big kick seeing his son as the brains behind “Tool Time,” the show within a show on “Home Improvement.”
If he’s half as lucky on the golf course as he’s been in Hollywood, Karn may be looking for a hole in one at the PayLess Celebrity Golf Classic.
On his way home from a rehearsal of “Macbeth,” Richard was cited for rolling through a stop sign. He promptly found himself enrolled in traffic school. There, he met an agent, who told Karn about a new television show under development. That show was “Home Improvement.” He auditioned for a role, a role already filled by another actor.
The other actor landed a movie deal, and Karn took his place ONLY for the pilot episode, until the other actor returned. Which he never did. Karn found a home on “Home Improvement.”
Not willing to trust his luck, Richard kept his day job as an apartment building manager until the end of his first season on prime time. With a top-rated show and a three-year renewal in hand, Karn is still a stranger to financial security.
“Thirty apartments. It was quite a gig,” Karn says, typically noting the brighter side of life. “You know, most folks who live in an apartment only get to know the people who live in the immediate proximity, next door, or across the hall. Manage the building, you get to know everybody.”
Does that feel a long time ago?
“A very long time ago,” says Karn who just moved into a new home with wife Tudie and eighteen-month-old Cooper. “A very long time ago.”
Let’s cut to the chase. Can Karn play golf or is he just acting?
“Ha, ha, ha, ha!,” he laughs, either hysterical or stalling. “Well, let’s see. I like to play a lot. I’ve been playing for quite a few years. Whenever I found myself in the position where I could play. I’ve probably got about an 18 handicap. I shoot in the mid-to-low 90’s. I have a great time at it. If I paid a little more attention, I could probably not three putt so many times.”
He’s stalling.
“I get to play like maybe once a month. Maybe once every two months. If I were able to play a little more consistently and probably like anything else, it would raise the status of my game.”
Karn loves to play golf with his father when he gets the chance.
“I remember when I was littler, Dad was trying to teach me golf,” he laughs. “He was full of advice like, ‘Keep your head down. Keep your elbow in.’ It was tough when I was a youngster. Seems like I had too much energy. Or there wasn’t enough action in a round of golf.
“Golf wasn’t the game of choice until I turned twenty,” Karn continues. “Before that, golf seemed like a chore. Although a lot of kids today are taking it up and having a good time.”
Basically, golf wasn’t sufficiently dangerous for the young Karn. “I broke my leg the first time I went downhill skiing. I broke my ski the second time I went skiing,” Richard, a “darn good” skier today. “I knew right then I loved to ski.”
Now a father himself, he began to see the more sanguine pleasures of eighteen holes of golf.
“I like just hanging out with my dad,” offers Richard, whose best score card read 86. “Giving him a bad time about a bad shot. Or he won’t use his woods right now. He’s using a one iron off the tee. I give him a tough time about that.”
Payback time.
“All my life my dad would tell me, “If you’re going to do something, you should do it the right way.” Now, I can say, “Dad, you know, if you’re going to tee off, you should be using a wood.”
Karn, suddenly famous, newly a daddy himself, busier than ever, can go forever it seems without picking up a club. “And then a quality event like PayLess Celebrity Classic will make a call and I take the time to play for a worthwhile cause like United Cerebral Palsy.
At home I sometimes feel guilty if I’m going out just on my own to play,” Karn admits. “Seems like there should be a reason.
“The reason, I guess,” Karn guesses, “is, I don’t want to make a fool of myself when I actually go out and play in front of a lot of people.”
Not to worry. “The last time I played, I birdied a par 4. With a seventy-foot chip,” Karn says. “That was nice. That’s nice to do. Aiming to do something so difficult and then actually getting doing it.”
Golf and downhill skiing are really very similar, when you think about it.
Practically the same sport.
Richard Karn (Call Sunday a.m. at 212-xxx-xxx.)
JDW: …machine is rolling, going back to my computer. Thanks for doing this for me. I know it’s not as much morning for you as it is for me. I can promise you I just got out of bed.
RK: Okay.
JDW: I’d like to talk about your golf, first of all. Are you much of a golfer?
RK: Okay. Yeah. That’s my little boy in the background there.
JDW: Let’s see, I know who that is. Cooper.
RK: Yeah.
JDW: How old?
RK: He just turned one, March 4th.
JDW: How long have you been on “Home Improvement?”
RK: This is our second season.
JDW: Any connection?
RK: We actually conceived Cooper before I got this job.
JDW: It seemed curious to me that you have a child when you’re old and a 2 year old TV show. I’ve always been worried about having children because I couldn’t afford to take care of them.
RK: That’s why we waited so long. And then it finally occurred to us that there’s never going to be the right time.
JDW: That’s true.
RK: So we just went ahead and did it. And it became the right time.
JDW: Were you a guy who always wanted children?
RK: Yeah, I did. But now that I have one, I didn’t realize how great it is.
JDW: I always thought there was some hormonal thing, switch, that comes on when you take a look at them. Because I have a lot of male friends who never wanted a kid. They went ahead and had a kid for the woman, and the next thing you know, they’re quitting their day job so they can stay home and watch them gurgle.
RK: Well, yeah. There’s a whole nuther thing that takes over. I don’t know if it’s hormonal but it’s this unconditional love. You’re bringing this guy into the world. You just want to give them the best. At least that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
JDW: Does it make you work any harder?
RK: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t know. I’ve always worked hard. But now there’s a point to it. There’s more of a point to it. More than self-satisfaction.
JDW: Golf. We need to talk about golf.
RK: Okay.
JDW: Tell me about how good you are.
RK: Ha ha ha ha. Well, let’s see. I’m probably like Tim with tools. I like to play a lot. I’ve been playing for quite a few years. Like when I was doing summer stock or whenever I found myself in the position where I could play. I’ve probably got about an 18 handicap. I shoot in the mid-to-low 90s. But I have a great time at it. And I think if I’d paid a little more attention and did a little more, I could probably get down, not three putts so many times.
JDW: Attention when you’re on the green?
RK: I get to play like maybe once a month. Maybe once every two months. And if I were able to play a little more consistently and probably like anything, it would raise the status of my game.
JDW: Why do you play so infrequently? There’s one reason there, right? (child calling in the background.)
RK: What’s that?
JDW: There’s one reason right there in the background.
RK: I didn’t hear the question.
JDW: Why do you play so infrequently?
RK: Oh, yeah, well, there you go. That and also I’ve been doing a lot of weekend gigs too. To make some extra money on the side.
JDW: Connected with Home Improvement?
RK: In a way. You can do appearances different places. Sears is hooked up with me for a few. They pay you a promotional fee and you go out and shake hands and sign autographs, things like that. A lot of times, those will take up my weekends. Then when I’m not away on the weekends I want to be home with Trudi (sp?) and Cooper and during the week, I’m working. But once we go into hiatus, I’ll have a little more time. And then things like Payless come up and I take the time to do those. Sometimes I feel guilty if I’m going out just on my own to play.
JDW: Like, what’s your reason, right?
RK: Yeah. There should be a reason, here. And I guess the reason is I don’t make a fool of myself when I actually go out and play with a lot of people.
JDW: I know we have the Fred Meyer Golf Challenge which I found to be a particularly dangerous affair. Golf balls just riffling into the galleries. Old ladies going down. But they don’t care ’cause it’s famous guys who hit them.
RK: Good luck.
JDW: Where were you an apartment manager? A couple of years ago?
RK: In West Hollywood.
JDW: West Hollywood?
RK: Yeah.
JDW: How many rooms?
RK: Apartments. Thirty apartments. It was quite a gig. We had lived up the street from where we ended up, doing, when we first moved here and then we moved, but the apartment managers there, where we were first living, hooked us up with their management company. So we then moved back to an apartment building right down the block from them to take over. I guess we did it for about two years.
JDW: It’s a good job? Apartment manager. I know a lot of writers who have done that over the years. You can sit there and write. Or you can…
RK: Yeah. I think it can be a good job for a lot of people. It’s not for everyone. Because you put yourself in a position of authority at your building, and anything that happens, people will come to you. Which is the way, I guess, it should be if the power goes out or whatever. At two o’clock in the morning, someone pulls the fire alarm. That’s happened a couple of times.
JDW: Does that feel a long time ago?
RK: A very long time ago. A very long time ago.
JDW: Sears wasn’t flying you around the country?
RK: No. But for the time, it was a good gig because we wouldn’t have to pay rent. And it gave us a nice place to live. It’s funny, when you’re the manager, you know everybody in your building. Otherwise you might know one or two people in your building. But this way, you know everybody.
JDW: What’s been some of the biggest surprises for you between apartment manager and your palatial weekends in New York City?
RK: Because we have a little baby, I think we kept our heads a little bit more than just, we don’t go out and Hollywood party hop. Very much. Or go to any of the clubs. The biggest change is we moved into a house. Something you always pictured yourself in, but when you’re in our business, it’s not always affordable or you’re not in the same town long enough.
JDW: Where are you living now? West Hollywood, still?
RK: No. In Studio City.
JDW: What is the sense you get, there’s a man who was an apartment manager two years ago, gets his first prime time gig apparently, has a baby, buys a house, you look down the road you see an Al Borland, like on TV for like, Mash? Is that the secret Richard Karn deal?
RK: We’re picked up for three more years, already. So we definitely have three years, which will make it a total of five years. But after that, it’s who knows. Who knows.
JDW: Will you make enough money for ten years in those five years?
RK: I’m hoping to put enough money away to be able to live for longer than that. Depending on how well any of our investments do. That kind of stuff.
JDW: You’re looking for more good luck, huh?
RK: Actually, work begets luck. And I’m hoping this leads to another job. Whether it’s another television show, or feature films, is yet to be seen. But that’s kind of like how my life has gone. Work eventually leads to other things. I’ll work with somebody and five years down the road, they’ll give me a call and say, “Listen, I’m doing this. Would you like to do this?” It’s probably like most business. The people you meet along the way are all people, if you like them, you want to associate with them in your business end of the life.
JDW: You might be a nicer guy than I am. I meet people and it rarely ever comes around.
RK: Well, how old are you?
JDW: I’m 46.
RK: 46? You’ve been a writer all your life?
JDW: In a manner of speaking. Public Relations.
RK: Public Relations.
JDW: I used to be PR Director of Nike. I know a lot about how you can be an 18 year old kid one day and a 22 year old international superstar the next. I’m glad to hear you’re not buying all those gold chains and fast automobiles.
RK: That’s a whole different end of the business. I was in my mid-thirties when all started taking off. Early in my thirties. So I had eleven years in New York where I kind of realized my place in the world.
JDW: A suit of armor?
RK: Yeah. A suit of armor or, in a small way, you go off and do a lead role at a regional theatre like the Actors Theatre of Louisville. And you have a great time. You go out to dinner during that time and people come up to you and say, “Gee, we really liked the show. It was really nice.” And that was nice. On a very small scale. And this is like, just magnified. So many people can come up to you. That are affected by television and just say, “Gee, we liked the show last week.” Or, “We liked the kind of quality entertainment you guys are putting together.”
JDW: I’m going to have to watch this show.
RK: I think so.
JDW: I think so.
RK: You have kids?
JDW: Uh, no.
RK: No?
JDW: No.
RK: Well, that’s the cool thing about the show. It gets the family audience and it gets across the board.
JDW: The only show we’ve watched that, a year ago we drove around America. We didn’t have a TV. Lived in a van. And this year we’re out at the farm, without cable. So we get, like, the three networks. And the only, my girlfriend fell in love with Seinfeld in Florida. And that’s basically the only show we watch.
RK: That’s one of the shows I watch. But I watch it because I understand that urban mentality. Living in New York and watching an episode on how to find a parking space. That’s one of the things I used to think about.
JDW: I was there once, at four o’clock in the afternoon in a brownstone with instructions to move the car. And I opened the door and it was like a damn Broadway musical where all the doors opened at the same time. Everybody stepped out at the same time. And we all dove for our car.
RK: Exactly. There’s a whole ritual there. That not everybody across America realizes. But I think, the way they present it, you can still appreciate it.
JDW: So you lived in Seattle?
RK: Grew up in Seattle.
JDW: Grew up in Seattle, forged in New York.
RK: Yeah.
JDW: And now you’re out in Hollywood. So you’re doing all right.
RK: I’m having a great time. I’m just having a fabulous time. I’ve got a wonderful, nice, supporting role, where I don’t have to carry the show. Because it’s my first television, I can sit back and watch and see how everything works. Basically the bulk of my work has been theatre. So this is very different in a lot of ways. And I can sit back and watch and grow. Hopefully.
JDW: I’m trying to steer you towards a little philosophy now.
RK: Okay.
JDW: …what you learned in Seattle, what you learned on Broadway, what you’re learning on television, what you learn on the golf course. What Cooper teaches you. Are you thinking about golf on the golf course?
RK: Depends on who I’m with. Really. If I’m with my dad, I’m half thinking about golf. I’m half thinking about my dad.
JDW: Your mother is deceased?
RK: My mom passed away in 1983. She was an artist. A Northwest artist.
JDW: Are you very artistic yourself?
RK: I could have been. But I didn’t pursue it. She was so darned good. She would try and teach me. But I couldn’t sit still long enough. I had places to go. Things to do. I’ve calmed down a heck of a lot since those early days. Now I’m seeing what I was through Cooper. Cooper is everywhere at once. But I think Seattle was nice because it was, for me, and seeing so many other people, the people I know now, coming from such a normal, nice little kind of upbringing. Where no one took guns to their junior high school.
JDW: I think that’s what is going to be called the good old days. Very shortly.
RK: The good old days.
JDW: Yeah. Where you didn’t have to arm yourself before going to school.
RK: And New York, was…
JDW: How old we you when you got there?
RK: Twenty-three. That’s another whole ball of wax. Being on your own. Working at getting work. The work ethic there.
JDW: What’s tougher? Auditions or playing golf?
RK: Auditions. Oh yeah. Auditions are still tough. I think for most people they are. I think a lot of actors that are working a lot today, if they had to audition anymore, they probably wouldn’t get the role.
JDW: That’s kind of the way cold calls are. Chase people around. Thank you very much for making yourself available. I’m like two for ten. If Mike Ditka doesn’t call me back, I’ll be done.
RK: Oh yeah?
JDW: Oh. I can do a story with or without you and it looks like Ditka is going to be without. I need one quote on golf and I’ll let you go back to your Sunday. Your dad plays golf. You play golf with your dad. What’s he teach you about golf? What do you teach him?
RK: I remember when I was littler, him trying to teach me golf. Laughs. Like, “Keep your head down. Keep your elbow in.” It was tough when I was littler. Golf wasn’t the game of choice until I turned like twenty. After, once I got into college, I didn’t really think about golf. And before that, it seemed like a chore. Although a lot of kids today are taking it up and having a good time. But I think I like just hanging out with my dad. Giving him a bad time about a bad shot. Or he won’t use his woods right now. He’s using a one iron off the tee. So I give him a tough time about that.
JDW: Well, I always found that made a lot of sense. I could hit it twice, straight, with a one-iron. Or I could hit it four times a long ways in the wrong direction with something else.
RK: But all my life my dad would tell me, “If you’re going to do something, you should do it the right way.” So now I can say, “Well dad, you know, if you’re going to tee off you should be using a woods.”
JDW: What’s a duck hook?
RK: What’s a duck hook?
JDW: Yeah.
RK: I think that’s when you hook it and have to yell “DUCK!”
JDW: Is that a golf term?
RK: I never heard of a duck hook.
JDW: Okay. I just had this image of somebody standing, walking up to the first tee with a three wood or something and hitting the duck hook into the pond.
RK: Maybe it’s one of those duck hooks which goes down.
JDW: Yeah. Okay. I’m going to hang up and I’m going to have so many questions. And you’re my feature guy.
RK: Yeah?
JDW: Second only to Ditka.
RK: Can you think of anything?
JDW: The thing that interests me most, really, is the transition from apartment manager to a five-year series job, I guess. How you deal with that. What kind of man you are.
RK: It isn’t real in a way. The reality is there. I go to work. I think about doing the work. And then all this peripheral stuff is happening. Like we’re the top ten show. We’re the top five show. We were the number one show. That is like, you think about, we’re the number one show.
JDW: I’m on the number one show.
RK: I’m on the number one show. And then you think, well, what does that mean? It means we’ve done a fabulous job. We’ve hooked into something universal that people like to see. But then life will move on. Mash was the number one show. And what are they doing now?
JDW: They do have residuals, right?
RK: You do have residuals. But residuals, like anything, aren’t forever.
JDW: Do you worry about being typecast as an Al Borland? Like Radar O’Reilly. You’ll never have another job again?
RK: That passes through my mind a lot. But for my character I’ve got a beard. When I shave it I look a lot different. I’ve played so many different types of roles, well, that I hope it won’t happen. I think the audience out there builds up a trust in a lot of people. And you either carry that trust or you drop the ball.
JDW: How about working on your craft. All those years on Broadway. Do you get the sense you were getting better all the time?
RK: Oh yeah. Refining. Becoming more subtle.
JDW: You know you can do it?
RK: Uh huh. You don’t want to just get a job and be lazy about it. Do the same old tricks you’ve always done. I don’t think that gets you anywhere. I’ve always striven to better what I’m doing. Like this job. This is basically my first straight man job.
JDW: What were all the previous ones?
RK: Usually the comic lead. Or the suit of armor.
JDW: Are you a singer?
RK: No, not really. My wife is the singer. She sang with the Boston Pops. She’s done quite a few musicals on Broadway. Seattle Rep.
JDW: Seattle has some good regional theatre, apparently.
RK: Oh yeah. And yeah. In fact, Dan Sullivan, who runs the Seattle Rep, has got two shows running on Broadway right now.
JDW: I was reading the first week of January, Time Magazine, or something, where they went over all the best of ’92. And there were like ten plays and two of them came directly from Seattle. One won the Pulitzer. The first Pulitzer won by something that never got to Broadway.
RK: Is that Wendy Wasserstein?
JDW: I think so, yeah.
RK: You live in Portland. There’s a particular humor in Portland. There’s a particular humor in Seattle that’s different from humor in Wisconsin or New York. But I think Seattle has a very good sense of what’s theatrical.
JDW: That’s a good idea. Have you ever played in Portland?
RK: Yeah. Actually not Portland proper, but I did summer stock at Cannon Beach.
JDW: That’s good enough for me. I am recording this, but I like that idea. Summer stock at Cannon Beach.
RK: Yeah. That was great.
JDW: What was the play? Do you remember?
RK: We did four plays. We did “Born Yesterday.” “See How They Run.” “My Fat Friend” and I can’t think of what it was now.
JDW: I’ll just use “My Fat Friend.” That’s good enough. I like that name.
RK: And “Born Yesterday.” They made that a movie. It’s coming out now. Again.
JDW: What kind of skier are you?
RK: Pretty darn good.
JDW: Pretty darn good?
RK: Pretty darn good.
JDW: That was more your style as a youngster than golf?
RK: Yes. I skied a lot more as a kid, than I played golf. Broke my leg my first year.
JDW: That didn’t cure you, eh?
RK: It didn’t cure me, no. I came back. The first time back on the slopes I broke my ski. And after that never had a problem.
JDW: Any injuries golfing?
RK: Ha ha ha. Uh. Had a sore little finger once when I had the wrong grip for too long.
JDW: What’s your best score?
RK: My best score was an 86? I think.
JDW: So, no hole in 1s. No pars.
RK: No. The last time I played, which was two Sundays ago, I birdied on a par 4. With a 70 foot chip. That was nice. That’s nice to do. To actually do it. Aiming to do that and then doing it.
JDW: I think there’s my philosophical quote. Because I get the sense there’s one paragraph here in your bio that basically covers your entire stage career. And then it goes into how you met the guys at New Harmony. And I’ve got a traffic school at McBeth. “Not willing to trust his luck, he kept his day job.” Carol & Company, recent stage work. Mother father. Wife. Son. You told me about that. I’ll let you go.
RK: Okay.
JDW: Thank you very much.
RK: You’re welcome.
JDW: And darn it, I will watch you on TV the first chance I get.
RK: Well I think you and your wife, right?
JDW: As far as we’re concerned, sure.
RK: Or girlfriend.
JDW: Yeah.
RK: Companion. I think you might enjoy it.
JDW: I’m sure of it. I think it’s one of those shows that was on once and it’s like, well, we don’t know these folks and we went on to something else. And if I really want to investigate, I’ll call my mom. Find out the truth.
RK: Okay.
JDW: Alright. Thanks a lot. Good luck. I’ll see you in the summer.
RK: Alright.
JDW: Bye, Richard.
July, 1993
