Rick

With a B.Sc. from the University of Waterloo, Rick Green began teaching at the Ontario Science Center in 1975. There he developed numerous programs, plays, and exhibits combining humour, information, and entertainment. Four years, and thousands of public demonstrations later, Rick became a comedian.

A member of the Toronto based comedy troupe The Frantics, Rick wrote and performed on stage, record albums, radio, and television. Frantic Times, their CBC radio series ran for five seasons and was nominated for 7 ACTRA Awards. In 1987, Rick won two ACTRA awards, “Best Performer, Entertainment Feature” and “Best Writer, Entertainment Feature” for The Frantics Look At History, a 13 part series on CBC.

In 1988 Rick embarked on a busy solo career, writing and performing stage productions and radio series, while writing for a number of Canadian TV shows.

Starting in 1989, he wrote 139 episodes of Prisoners of Gravity, and hosted as Commander Rick. This quirky literary series garnered Aurora Awards, a New York Festival Award, and four Gemini Award nominations.

At the same time Rick joined Steve Smith to create The Red Green Show. Rick then co-wrote the show for eight seasons, directed four seasons, and performed in 173 episodes as the hapless klutz ‘Bill.’ The Red Green Show is still seen on CBC and PBS and remains one of the longest running prime time series in North America. In addition to the television series, Rick co-wrote and illustrated several Red Green books. In 2003 Rick returned to the show and will be onboard again in 2004 for the shows 14th season.

While working on The Red Green Show, Rick developed an innovative Canadian comedy series, History Bites, for History Television. Each episode explores a famous historical event by asking “What if television had been there?” This fast-paced series channel surfs through the ancient past, spoofing the media, while satirizing the folly of human history. Now starting a fifth season, this clever series is a hit on the air, and in classrooms! In 2003 Rick won a Gemini award for Directing, and the O.H.A.S.S.T.A. National Leader Award as Person Of The Year. Rick has written and directed corporate videos and television commercials. He has written satirical articles for magazines and newspapers and taught courses in writing, and physical comedy.