This page uses content from the Johnny Hardwick biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Johnny Hardwick is a stand-up comedian, the voice of Dale Gribble on the animated American television show King of the Hill, and a staff writer and story editor for the show as well.

A native of Austin, Texas, Hardwick attended Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas. After graduation, he performed stand-up comedy for a number of years, performing at such venues as the Dallas Improv and the Velveeta Room in Austin. He was originally planned to be a regular in MTV's Austin Stories - a deal that never panned out. In 1995, Hardwick appeared at the Montreal Comedy Festival, where Brandon Tartikoff saw him and offered him a sitcom for NBC. However, after Hardwick proposed a comedy along the lines of Green Acres bop 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 Los Angeles. While at the Laff 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 who was helping to put together King of the Hill at the time. Daniels 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 Venice Beach, California 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. After a series of lengthy auditions, Hardwick won the voice role himself after three weeks of auditions (a total of 53 people competed for the part). Hardwick says he based the voice of Dale Gribble on his own impression of William S. Burroughs.

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