Ray Combs
Early life
Raymond Neil Combs Jr. was born in Hamilton, Ohio, on April 3, 1956. He graduated in 1974 from Garfield High School), where he was an actor, senior class president, and Boys State delegate. He declined a nomination to the United States Military Academy and served as a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years in Arizona.
Career
Combs began performing comedy at Cincinnati's Red Dog Saloon, where he developed his best-known shtick of audience sing-alongs of sitcom theme songs. In 1979, Combs sent a letter to David Letterman, asking for advice; Letterman encouraged him to continue in comedy. In 1982, convinced that he was better than the comedians whose acts he saw on The Tonight Show, Combs left his job as an Indianapolis furniture salesman and moved with his family to Los Angeles. He did well in a competition with more than 200 other young comedians, and began doing audience warm-ups for NBC sitcoms such as The Golden Girls, The Facts of Life) and Amen). He became so popular that other sitcoms changed their production schedules just so they could have him warm up their audiences. Johnny Carson heard the audience's laughter and then invited Combs to perform on The Tonight Show in October 1986; the audience gave him a standing ovation.
Career
In 1985, he appeared on an episode of The Facts of Life) as a background character. Around this time, he also guest-starred on an episode of The Golden Girls. In 1987, he appeared as a celebrity panelist on the John Davidson) version of Hollywood Squares, and had a small role in the comedy film Overboard) starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn (he was the local cop in the beginning hospital sequence).
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