Johnny Hardwick facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Johnny Hardwick
Hardwick in 2004
Born	John Michael Hardwick (1958-09-21)September 21, 1958 Austin, Texas, U.S.
Died	August 8, 2023(2023-08-08) (aged 64) Austin, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Voice actor comedian writer producer YouTuber
Years active	1990–2023
YouTube information
Years active	2015–2023
Genre	Song parodies
Subscribers	18,000
Total views	608,000

John Michael Hardwick (September 21, 1958 – August 8, 2023) was an American voice actor, comedian, writer, producer and YouTuber. He was best known as the voice of Dale Gribble in the animated American television show King of the Hill. Hardwick also served as staff writer, story editor, and producer for the show. He had three Prime Time Emmy nominations and in 1999 he won an Emmy Award for working as a producer on King of the Hill.

Life and career

John Michael Hardwick was born in Austin, Texas on September 21, 1958. He attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. After graduating with a BS degree in journalism, he worked for a decade as a bartender in live blues bars in Dallas and Austin, Texas including Nick's Uptown, Sixth Street Live, and The Greenville Bar & Grill. Starting in 1990 he then performed stand-up comedy for a number of years, appearing at such venues as the Dallas Improv and the Velveeta Room in Austin and appearing on shows including Evening at the Improv and Caroline's Comedy Hour.

Hardwick was the first stand-up comedian to appear on The Jon Stewart Show. In 1995, Hardwick appeared at the Montreal Comedy Festival, where Brandon Tartikoff saw his show and offered him a sitcom for NBC. However, after Hardwick proposed a comedy along the lines of Green Acres and Get a Life the network showed little interest in seriously pursuing the idea.

After Hardwick signed with the Strauss-McGarr agency, he was continually booked doing stand-up comedy in both Austin and all over the United States. He was originally planned to be a regular in MTV's Austin Stories—but left to help create King of the Hill. While at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles, Hardwick performed a comedy set about his father in Texas. After the show, he was approached by television writer and producer Greg Daniels and Beavis and Butt-Head's Mike Judge, who were helping to put together King of the Hill at the time. Daniels and Judge felt Hardwick's Texan humor was just what the show needed and offered him a job writing for the fledgling program. Hardwick moved from Austin to Silver Lake, Los Angeles to work for the show. Hardwick's first day working for King of the Hill was one day after NBC's option on his sitcom development deal expired (thus making it legal for Hardwick to pursue a sitcom with another network).

The role of Dale Gribble was originally offered to Daniel Stern, but producers were unable to agree with Stern on a salary. Instead, Hardwick won the voice role, having no interest whatsoever in how much money was involved. Hardwick performed the role for the entire 13-year run of the successful show and appeared in 257 of 258 episodes.

On September 12, 2012, Hardwick created his own YouTube channel, though it had no uploads until 2015. In December 2018, Hardwick started regularly uploading new content. As of May 2023, the channel had 17,500 subscribers and over 608,000 views; primarily videos on there consist of song parodies and monologues in the voice of Dale Gribble.

Death

Johnny Hardwick died at his Austin home on August 8, 2023, at the age of 64.

Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Johnny Hardwick para niños