DAVE THOMAS

Welcome

Some people know Dave Thomas from the sketch show “SCTV” that launched the careers of John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy and Rick Moranis. Some people know Dave Thomas from the TV show “Arrested Development” or the movie “Rat Race.” Some people know Dave Thomas from the nineties ABC sitcom “Grace Under Fire”. Most people don’t know Dave Thomas was also one of the Writer / Producers for Fox’s TV show “Bones” or ABC’s “The Blacklist”. Or that he acted alongside Henry Fonda, Jonathan Winters, John Cleese, Richard Pryor, Zach Galifiankis, Whoopi Goldberg, Mary Louise Parker and Ashton Kutcher. Or that he co-created ABC’s “America’s Funniest People” with Vin Di Bona. Or that he directed John Travolta, Jean Stapleton and Max Von Sydow in theatrical motion pictures for Paramount and MGM. Or that he created a game show called “Family Challenge” that ran for 144 episodes on ABC and Family Channel. Or that he wrote “Spies Like Us” with Dan Aykroyd. Or that he founded an animation company in 2001 called Animax. The fact is, Dave loves TV and he’s produced, directed, written or starred in every type of television except news.

Welcome

Some people know Dave Thomas from the sketch show “SCTV” that launched the careers of John Candy, Martin Short, Catherine O’Hara, Andrea Martin, Eugene Levy and Rick Moranis. Some people know Dave Thomas from the TV show “Arrested Development” or the movie “Rat Race.” Some people know Dave Thomas from the nineties ABC sitcom “Grace Under Fire”. Most people don’t know Dave Thomas was also one of the Writer / Producers for Fox’s TV show “Bones” or ABC’s “The Blacklist”. Or that he acted alongside Henry Fonda, Jonathan Winters, John Cleese, Richard Pryor, Zach Galifiankis, Whoopi Goldberg, Mary Louise Parker and Ashton Kutcher. Or that he co-created ABC’s “America’s Funniest People” with Vin Di Bona. Or that he directed John Travolta, Jean Stapleton and Max Von Sydow in theatrical motion pictures for Paramount and MGM. Or that he created a game show called “Family Challenge” that ran for 144 episodes on ABC and Family Channel. Or that he wrote “Spies Like Us” with Dan Aykroyd. Or that he founded an animation company in 2001 called Animax. The fact is, Dave loves TV and he’s produced, directed, written or starred in every type of television except news.

Television

Dave has written, directed, produced, and co-starred in television shows for all the major networks.

Most notably The Dave Thomas Comedy Show (1990) (CBS) and Grace Under Fire (1993) (ABC). He was co-creator and co-executive producer of America's Funniest People (1990) (ABC). He wrote and directed the M.O.W. Ghost Mom (1993) (Fox) starring Jean Stapleton and Geraint Wyn Davies and starred in the M.O.W.'s Kids in the Woods (Disney) and Picture Perfect (1995) (ABC). He has voiced animated shows like The Simpsons (1989), Duckman, Catdog, Dilbert, Animaniacs, Justice League of America for Warners and Tarzan for Disney.

Movies

Dave Has Appeared In Numerous Feature Films, Including Stripes, Spies Like Us, The Experts, Boris & Natasha, Coneheads, And Rat Race.

He Has Appeared In Numerous Feature Films, Including Stripes With Bill Murray And Harold Ramis, Spies Like Us (1985) (Dave Was Also Co-Writer With Aykroyd) With Chevy Chase And Dan Aykroyd, The Experts (1989) (Dave Directed) Starring John Travolta And Kelly Preston, Boris & Natasha With Sally Kellerman, Coneheads With Dan Aykroyd, And Most Recently Rat Race With John Cleese, Whoopi Goldberg, And Cuba Gooding Jr.. In 2001, Dave Played A Featured Role In The Theatrical Features Who's Your Daddy And Call Me Irresponsible (Norstar). Dave Also Voiced A Major Role Along With Joaquin Phoenix And Rick Moranis In The Full-Length Disney Animated Feature Bears (2004).

McKenzie Brothers

The duo became a pop culture phenomenon in all media in both the United States and Canada appearing in movies, record albums, editorial cartoons, television and radio commercials for over five decades.

Bob and Doug McKenzie are a pair of fictional Canadian brothers who hosted “The Great White North”, a sketch introduced on SCTV during the show’s third season when it moved to CBC Television in 1980. The characters were created by Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis - Bob is played by Rick and Doug is played by Dave. The duo became a pop culture phenomenon in all media in both the United States and Canada appearing in movies, record albums, editorial cartoons, television and radio commercials for over five decades including, SCTV appearances on CBC and NBC Television, Polygram and Anthem Records, television commercials for Pizza Hut, Mr. Lubbe, Miller and Molsons Beer, MGM and Disney Studios, and Global Television.

SCTV

Dave was in the Second City Stage show in Toronto when Bernie Sahlins and Andrew Alexander decided to do the sketch comedy show that would become known as SCTV.

Bernie was pissed off at Lorne Michaels for pirating talent from his theaters for SNL (Dan Aykroyd, Gilda Radner, and John Belushi) and decided the only way to stop that talent drain was to start his own show. So he and Andrew went to Canada’s Global television and made what they called a “facility deal” – Global would provide the studio (stages, cameras, lights, editing equipment, and crew) and Andrew and Bernie had to find the money for everything else (writers, actors, directors). Bernie had a lot of respect for a Chicago Second City alum, Harold Ramis, who was in Los Angeles doing TVTV when Bernie approached him to come to Canada and work with his old alumni Joe Flaherty to put this TV show together.

Books

For me, a good story opens a window in a comfortable room revealing the twinkling lights of some unknown place in the night beyond and a voice says, “Why don’t we go out there?

The story of SCTV was like that. It was an adventure into the unknown because none of us, not even the producers, knew anything about television. And now, in my later years, I’m starting to write stories like that. “The Many Lives of Jimmy Leighton” opens a window to the concept of alternate realities and I was lucky enough to find a collaborator like Max Allan Collins to join me on that adventure.

Let’s talk.