About Rich

Rich Elwood has been performing, writing and producing comedy for stage, television and radio for over 30 years. During his last year of high school in 1972 he performed standup comedy in various bars in Toronto . There weren't any comedy clubs in Canada in those years and only one or two in the US .

An on-air radio job brought him to Vancouver and the yearning for a suitable place to perform comedy lead him to open what became the legendary Punchlines Comedy Club in early 1978.

In addition to Vancouver, Punchlines expanded to Calgary & Victoria and was very successful. The clubs were keenly instrumental in the development of the comedy industry in Western Canada .

Over the years many great acts performed there or just hung out to laugh. Performers such as Robin Williams, Dennis Miller, Dick Shawn, Pat Paulsen, Timothy Leary, Frank Gorshin, Steven Wright, Gilbert Gotfried, Adam Sandler and Howie Mandel played Punchlines.

Art Linkletter, Kreskin, The Hill Street Blues cast, Kirstie Allie, Motley Crew, the WKRP cast, Richard Dean Anderson, Rosie O'Donnell, Jerry Seinfeld and many others made Punchlines their club of choice while in Vancouver

Rich first appeared on television in 1972 on a CBC TV show called All About Toronto. After that he hosted The Performers on CTV for five seasons and the Fame Game on CBC. He performed standup comedy on The Alan Hamil Show & The Alan Thicke Show on CTV in Canada and A & E's Evening at the Improv and Comedy on the Road in the USA . His film credits include Happy Gilmore starring Adam Sandler and The Joan Rivers Story - an NBC-TV Movie of The Week.

He was a contributing writer for Double Exposure on CTV and The Comedy Network and was nominated for the Best Comedy Writer award at the 2000 Comedy Awards. In addition to his television pursuits Rich has become a fixture on the corporate show circuit especially for his fake key-note speaker appearances.

Rich in the Adam Sandler movie, "Happy Gilmore."

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