Throughout the 1990’s, Richard Karn was beamed into millions of living rooms across North America. Playing the character of Al Borland on Home Improvement from 1991 to 1999 he was a part of many people’s lives. Add in a 4 year run hosting Family Feud from 2002 to 2006 and it’s hard to deny Karn has become a part of popular culture. Karn stars in Game Show currently playing at Stage West Calgary. We caught up with Karn prior to a recent performance to talk about the show and his career.

"The show is a lot of fun. As I get to know the area better when people tell me where they are from I have more of a reference now. The different towns and the rivalry between Calgary and Edmonton - I didn’t know about it when we started. It goes by so fast, I know there is funny stuff going on but I don’t remember it all because it happens so quickly. There was one young lady that I asked what she did and she said she farmed dirt. I was like, really? Dirt? Did you even have to go to school for that? I remember working with dirt as kid. There are always little innuendos, like somebody from Balzac. You can do a lot of things with Balzac of course, like it’s a good thing you are north of Balzac. People have been really nice unless you say you are from Edmonton, then they go crazy," he jokes.

Game Show is an interactive experience in which audience members participate in the game show for prizes, interspersed with a look behind the scenes at the goings on of the show. Of course there is drama, intrigue, and lots of twists and turns, not quite the same as an actual game show taping.

"I did 6 shows in a day, 12 shows in a weekend of Family Feud. We did weekends because we wanted families there. So the show would go pretty close to time, it is a 20 minute episode and they would maybe run 30 to 35 minutes. In a lot of ways it is similar to the experience of being at a taping. The guy who whips up the crowd really works a lot harder, if the show is not going on he is out there keeping the audience energy up."

On opening night I was pulled from the audience to participate. Having seen so many Stage West productions it was surreal to be on that stage myself, with Richard chatting me up and asking questions.

"It is a hybrid in a way because there is a game show going on and a play going on through it. There are a lot of unexpected things and participation too. It isn’t just watching a farce unfold on stage. It is funny and bright and clips along at a great pace. I am doing a lot of what I did on Family Feud - that is me. A different actor would do it differently. In Toronto, Charles Shaughnessy from The Nanny is doing the show. He will have a different interpretation. Because I did Family Feud there is a whole different energy because I understand game shows. So to have an actor that understands both sides of it is cool."

The show does have its risks as the audience is not coached in any way. The fear of making a fool of yourself likely reigns in many people’s minds, so Karn has to be quick on his toes with responses to diffuse this.

"I think Canadians are so nice. Maybe they just have a respect for it. If that were to happen it is kind of my job to just deal with it. Nobody has been mean or anything like that. After the first time and they see how it is I don’t think it is scary. I am not there to make people miserable. I learned in my 4 seasons on Family Feud that if you are too harsh with somebody they just clam up and it isn’t fun. In my mind I am clicking through all the things I could or should say."

The show itself is fantastic and funny, and well worth seeing. Those that may buy tickets to see Karn will be thoroughly entertained. The connection to Karn is strong for many people. As a kid if we asked something ridiculous we would get told, "I don’t think so Tim" even though none of us were named Tim. Sometimes something would call for "more power." Seeing and meeting someone you watched on TV can be a surreal experience.

"I think back to the shows I watched growing up, and if I had run into those people I would have told them stories. But I grew up in Seattle and wasn’t around TV people. Television is a very comforting thing because we are in your living room and there is an association with family and a lot of other things going on in your life. When you are growing up you are at an impressionable age...my character was always well received, I wasn’t a mean guy or stupid so people come up to me and are really nice. People come up to Tim [Allen] and most humour is based in insults, so people come up to him and insult him trying to be funny. It is hard for other people sometimes, depending on their character. At one point someone asked if I got upset that people constantly come up to me about Al. If I was going to be upset about that I would be upset all the time. It is part of life and it is not that they are intruding on my privacy, on the other hand I gave that up by being on TV. It wasn’t something I acknowledged at the time, it is just something that occurred to me at the time. I got into this business in theatre, doing this show a couple of thousand of people will see it. Doing one episode of Home Improvement that is a couple of million. I am thankful that I got that job. My son Cooper was born the first season and he is turning 21 now. It was two very life changing events happening in my mid-thirties. If I had gotten this show in my mid-twenties I would probably be dead now. The money that I could have done stupid stuff with...your frontal lobes haven’t connected in your 20’s, you do weird things."

Although not gay, Al Borland resonated with many members of the gay community.

"I became aware of that. I would get letters from the bears. My first instinct was the football team the bears? There would be pictures of two guys smiling, nothing provocative. So I was like ohhh. So I asked someone and they explained it. I would get letters calling me an honorary member of the bears. I was like Ok, well I’ve got a beard. I didn’t know it at the beginning but then I learned about it and was like ok cool."

The relationship between Tim and Al and the teasing Al endured from Tim at times was a little harsh. As the relationship grew, we saw the bond and respect between the two characters.

"It definitely had to grow. Everything is going to grow you just don’t know which way it is going to go. I wasn’t a regular character at first I was filling in. So in Tim’s mind I was there for just a little while. Then I am brought on to stay and Tim is like, great. Al is a funny guy but not somebody I would hang out with. So for awhile there it was like Al was just there at the workplace. It became apparent that Al was a bit more [than] that and as Tim and I got to know each other personally, we took Al in different [directions]. The first time we ever saw them outside of Tool Time was the episode we went ice fishing. It was a big breakthrough. The writers were writing one thing and I said, we are out of Tool Time, is there any way we can grow our relationship? They tweaked it a little bit here and there. Not enough for me at the time but there was new stuff. You don’t have to do a lot of changes to make big ones, little things go a long way."

As mentioned, Karn wasn’t originally supposed to be on the show and was filling in on the pilot for another actor, but was soon cast in the role. He was ecstatic to be working and enjoying himself so he didn’t find out about some aspects of the show until much later.

"They finally got rid of (on-screen girlfriend) Eileen because they thought she was too pretty. They thought it wasn’t as funny and they needed to put Al with somebody more in his league. I didn’t find out why they did it until way later. I was oblivious to a lot of things because I was just damn happy to be there. I had a great job and loved going to work, the rest just washed off my back. I don’t hold a grudge and am a pretty easygoing guy. I found out stuff years later. We always rehearsed Tool Time first, even if it ended the show. I was thinking it was fun to start off with I guess. It was cool by me, I lived close by, I could go and then leave. Then I found out later that Patricia Richardson didn’t want to come in until later in the day because she had twins. So they would push her scenes so she didn’t have to come in until noon. I’m not mad about it, but it is just like, oh ok. That is how that worked."

At the time Jonathan Taylor Thomas was the equivalent of Justin Bieber, on the cover of every teen magazine with throngs of female teenage fans. Thomas eventually left the show to focus on school but has popped up for guest appearances. Karn spoke highly of the actor who played Randy Taylor.

"He is a good looking kid, very smart.  Jonathan was short so he filled in the middle kid. Because he was a bright kid he knew how to tell a joke. So the writers would write for him because they knew his jokes would get a laugh. He always delivered. His character became a writer, the writers just felt that he would personify them as kids."

Karn keeps busy with theatre work and has appeared on Tim Allen’s new show Last Man Standing. The cast also reunited recently for an Entertainment Weekly shoot.

"We fall into a lot of the same kind of things but we are different. On Tim’s new show there are about 12 people that were on Home Improvement, in hair and makeup and camera guys. They’ve been working with him for 20 years. They would say, Tim is more perky this week than usual because we make each other laugh and I give him stuff. In theatre it is immediate and presentational whereas the first few days of TV rehearsal is a different energy."