David William Thomas (born May 20, 1949) is a Canadian actor, comedian and television writer, known for being one half of the duo Bob and Doug McKenzie with Rick Moranis. He appeared as Doug McKenzie on SCTV, for which he won a Primetime Emmy Award out of two nominations, and in the film Strange Brew (1983), which he also co-directed. As a duo, they made two albums, The Great White North and Strange Brew, the former gaining them a Grammy Award nomination and a Juno Award.
His other notable acting credits include My Man Adam (1985), The Experts (1989), Coneheads (1993), Rat Race (2001), Beethoven's 5th (2003) and Santa's Slay (2005). He is also known for playing Russell Norton in the TV series Grace Under Fire (1993–1998) and provided the voice of Tuke in Brother Bear (2003), and Brother Bear 2 (2006).
Early life
David William Thomas was born May 20, 1949, in St. Catharines, Ontario. He is the eldest son of British parents, Moreen Duff Muir (1928–2022), a church organist for thirty years originally from Glasgow, Scotland, and composer of church music, and John E. Thomas (1926–1996), a medical ethicist from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, who was head of the Philosophy Department at McMaster University, and the author of several books. Dave's younger brother, Ian Thomas, is a Canadian singer-songwriter.
The family moved temporarily to Durham, North Carolina, where his father attended Duke University and earned a PhD in philosophy. The family moved back to Dundas, Ontario, in 1961, where Dave attended Dundas District high school, and later graduated with an honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario.
Career
Starting his career as a copywriter at ad agency McCann Erickson in 1974, Thomas became the head writer of the Coca-Cola account in Canada within a year. After watching a Second City stage show in Toronto, and while suffering from self-described "boredom" in his advertising work, he auditioned for the Second City troupe and was chosen as a performer. He was a cast member of the Toronto production of Godspell, along with Victor Garber, Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, and Andrea Martin. Paul Shaffer was the musical director.
Thomas has had a long career doing voices for animation including Animaniacs, Duckman, CatDog, The Adventures of Tarzan, Justice League and multiple roles on The Simpsons, King of the Hill and Family Guy. In 2005, he had a guest stint as Charlize Theron's "Uncle Trevor" on Fox's Arrested Development. In 2006, he reprised his voice role in Brother Bear 2 and appeared as himself in the feature film The Aristocrats. He began production on ArnoldSpeaks.com, a video blog, as the voice of Arnold Schwarzenegger; Animax Entertainment won an Emmy for a broadband animated series produced for ESPN, Off Mikes.
In 2007, Thomas and Rick Moranis reprised their roles as Bob and Doug McKenzie in a one-hour special, Bob & Doug McKenzie's Two-Four Anniversary, for CBC Television. The show featured cameos from McKenzie celeb fans like Ben Stiller, Dave Foley, Tom Green, Paul Shaffer, Andy Dick, Matt Groening, Barry Pepper, Martin Short, and Geddy Lee. Former Prime Minister of Canada Paul Martin was the host. In 2008, Thomas revived Bob and Doug McKenzie in a new animated series, Bob & Doug. While Thomas reprises the character of Doug in the new series, Moranis chose not to voice the character of Bob, which instead is voiced by Dave Coulier. Moranis is, however, involved in the series as an executive producer.
In November 2009, Thomas received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from his alma mater McMaster University and gave the fall convocation speech. In 2010, Animax continued to produce branded entertainment, advertising and digital shorts for corporations like Disney, Warner Brothers, NBC Universal, and Kodak. In 2011, Thomas's company Animax produced another animated show for MTV entitled Big Box along with numerous Internet shorts such as Life With Dad.
In 2012 and 2013, Thomas guest -starred in the dramatic shows Perception and Bones as well as comedy shows Comedy Bang! Bang! and How I Met Your Mother. In addition, in 2013, Thomas voiced the recurring role of Jeff Foxworthy's father Jesco in the CMT show Bounty Hunters.
Thomas joined the writing staff of the Fox crime drama television series Bones beginning in 2013. Thomas worked for two seasons on Bones, writing several episodes and working on staff as consulting producer for two seasons.
In 2015, Thomas joined the writing staff of NBC's The Blacklist as a consulting producer.
In 2020, life-sized statues of Thomas and Rick Moranis as their characters Bob and Doug McKenzie were put in place at the ICE District Sports Arena in Edmonton, Alberta.
Also in 2020, the Governor-General of Canada announced that Thomas was being appointed to the Order of Canada, Canada's highest civilian award.
In 2021, Thomas and Max Allan Collins teamed to write a sci-fi mystery novel, The Many Lives of Jimmy Leighton.
Awards
- ACTRA AWARD for Best Variety Performer in 1978.
- Emmy Award in 1981 for Outstanding Writing in a Variety or Music Program.
- Juno Award for Best Canadian Comedy Album of the Year in 1981.
- Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album Nominated in 1983
- Juno Award in 1983–84 for Best Comedy Album of the Year.
- People's Choice Award with the cast of Grace Under Fire in 1994.
- Earl Grey Award in 1995 for his work on SCTV.
- In 2002, he and the cast of the SCTV received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
- Emmy Award in 2006 – Outstanding Achievement in Content for Non-Traditional Delivery Platforms – Thomas and his company Animax won this award for ESPN's Off Mikes
- Lifetime Achievement Award from Humber College Toronto in November 2009.
- Honorary Doctor of Letters from McMaster University in 2009
- In 2020, Dave Thomas was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada.
- In 2020, life-sized statues of Thomas and Rick Moranis as their characters Bob and Doug McKenzie were put in place at the ICE District Sports Arena in Edmonton, Alberta.
Filmography
Television
{| class="wikitable sortable"
!Year
!Title
!Role
!Notes
|-
|1976, 1977
|King of Kensington
|Rev. Penner, Harold
|2 Episodes
|-
|1976–1982
|Second City Television
|Doug McKenzie, various characters
|Main cast
|-
|1978
|Home to Stay Television MOW
|Petrie
|Television film
|-
|1979
|Riel
|Militia Captain
|Television film
|-
|1984
|data-sort-value="Get Along Gang, The" | The Get Along Gang
|Leland Lizard (voice)
|Episode: "Pilot"
|-
|1990
|data-sort-value="Dave Thomas Comedy Show, The" | The Dave Thomas Comedy Show
|Himself
|5 episodes; also writer, producer, and director
|-
|1991
|Parker Lewis Can't Lose
|Lionel Tower
|Episode: "Tower of Power"
|-
|1992
|Boris and Natasha: The Movie
|Boris Badenov
|Television film
|-
|1993
|Animaniacs
|King Arthur (voice)
|Episode: "Sir Yaksalot"
|-
|1993–1998
|Grace Under Fire
|Russell Norton
|Main cast
|-
|1994
|data-sort-value="Larry Sanders Show, The" | The Larry Sanders Show
|Himself
|Episode: "Headwriter"
|-
|1994–1996
|data-sort-value="Red Green Show, The" | The Red Green Show
|Ben Franklin
|3 episodes
|-
|1995
|Picture Perfect
|Ernie Barrett
|Television film
|-
|1996
|Duckman
|Tad Venom (voice)
|Episode: "The Longest Weekend"
|-
|1996
|Kidz in the Wood
|Tom Foster
|Television film
|-
|1997
|Nightmare Ned
|Pig Dad (voice)
|Episode: "Canadian Bacon"
|-
|1997, 2006
|data-sort-value="Simpsons, The" | The Simpsons
|Rex Banner, Bob Hope (voice)
|2 episodes
|-
|1998
|CatDog
|Mailman, Mean Bob (voice)
|2 episodes