Richard Karn, who is best known for playing Al on the beloved sitcom Home Improvement from 1991 until 1999, reemerged for the first time in years earlier this month. Fans were stunned to see that Karn is sporting a very different look these days!
Karn Reemerges Looking Slimmed Down
Karn, 68, was spotted out and about in Los Angeles grocery shopping with his wife Tudi Roche, who he’s been married to for nearly forty years. He looked noticeably thinner than he did in his Home Improvement days, leading some to say that he’s lost so much weight that he’s almost unrecognizable.
As he shopped, Karn wore a casual blue-and-red striped golf shirt and navy-blue shorts. He paired this look with gray sneakers, and he had sunglasses wrapped around his neck. Karn also rocked a white beard and gray hair to complete his look.
Check out the photos of Karn for yourself here.
Talk about a transformation!
Related: Tim Allen And Richard Karn Of ‘Home Improvement’ Fame Are ‘Back In The Shop’ In ‘Assembly Required’
Karn Talks Home Improvement
Despite having a decades-long career in Hollywood, Karn is still best known for his time on Home Improvement. Surprisingly, he wasn’t the first choice to play Tim Allen’s sidekick on the sitcom. In fact, he only scored an audition for Home Improvement because he met the show’s producer a decade before.
“Fast forward years later and when I found out they were having auditions for Home Improvement, I called them up,” Karn previously revealed.
“They said the whole show was already cast and there really wasn’t anything in there for me,” he continued. “They didn’t think I was right for the role of Al because they originally wanted someone who was much taller and older than Tim…they wanted that diversity between the two characters and they felt like I was too much like Tim.”
Thankfully, Karn was able to win over producers with his audition, and the rest was history. The show was immediately a hit, making Karn famous overnight. He admitted that when the show premiered, he “didn’t really understand how it would change my life.”
“My wife and I managed an apartment building for our day jobs and it got to the point where we had someone call up and say, ‘Hey we’ve got a leak in our sink. Can you please come and take a look?’” he recalled.
“I went down there and there’d be like 15 of their friends sitting there and they’d say, ‘See, Al is our super [building superintendent],'” he continued. “That kind of hit me and I thought, ‘maybe it’s time to give up the day job.’”
Related: Tim Allen Reveals What It’s Like To Reunite With ‘Home Improvement’ Costar Richard Karn
Karn’s Bond With Allen
Karn also became close to his co-star Allen in real life.
“Tim’s a little more serious in life,” Karn explained. “Tim gave us interesting presents for Christmas each year. He once had bikes made for everybody with the Binford logo on them. And then he also gave us Rolex watches one year. Christmas was always a lot of fun thanks to Tim.”
Karn was saddened when Home Improvement ended in 1999.
“It wasn’t really up to me,” Karn lamented. “Tim was ready to go. He really wanted to do other things and at that point it was also when Michael Jordan was leaving the NBA. Jordan made a big thing about wanting to go out on top and Home Improvement was the number one show on ABC when we left.”
To this day, however, Karn is still making money from Home Improvement reruns.
“Every time the show gets bought around the world … you get a little percentage of that,” Karn stated. “You don’t want to have to live on that but it’s a nice kind of annuity.”
Fans hadn’t seen Karn in years, so it’s nice to see him reemerge looking slimmed down and healthy. We wish him many years of happiness to come!
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