Born in St. Catherine's, Ontario, Canada

Raised in North Carolina (date approximate)

Spent part of his youth in England

Began acting in college; met Martin Short

Performed with Short in "Macbeth"; he was Banquo, Short was Lennox

Early professional stage credit, Toronto production of "Godspell" starring Short and featuring Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Paul Shaffer, and Andrea Martin

TV debut, a regular on "The David Steinberg Show", a CBS summer replacement comedy-variety series

Left show business and worked as an advertising copywriter at McCann-Erickson in Toronto

Wrote a comedic commercial for Coca-Cola, Canada starring Tim Conway

Became head copywriter for Coca Cola, Canada

Left advertising at age 27 (date approximate)

Returned to acting; joined the Toronto company of Second City (date approximate)

Co-created, co-starred, and served as a head writer for the Toronto-based "SCTV", a TV show comprised of talents from the Toronto and Chicago companies (syndicated in the USA) (date approximate)

US TV dramatic acting debut, "Home to Stay", a CBS-TV movie shot in Canada

Wrote and acted in "From Cleveland", an unsold pilot videotaped in Cleveland, Ohio

Feature acting debut, "Stripes"

Left "SCTV"

With frequent collaborator Rick Moranis, released a comedy album, "Bob and Doug McKenzie's Great White North", featuring their popular "SCTV" characters; the album went gold in the US and triple platinum in Canada

Feature debut as co-director and co-writer (with Moranis), "Strange Brew" (also co-starred)

Served as a performer and writer on "The New Show", a short-lived NBC comedy-variety series from producer Lorne Michaels

Received story credit for the feature, "Spies Like Us"

Narrated "The Last Polka", an HBO comedy "documentary" about a fictional polka team starring John Candy and Eugene Levy

TV producing debut, executive produced "Steel Collar Man", an unsold pilot for an adventure series about a superhuman android (also scripted)

Executive produced, directed, wrote and starred in his first TV special, "The Incredible Time Travels of Henry Osgood", an installment of "Showtime Comedy Spotlight"

Executive produced and wrote "B-Men", an unsold comedy adventure pilot aired on the "CBS Summer Playhouse"

Directed "The Experts", a late Cold War comedy starring John Travolta

Executive produced, wrote, and hosted "The Dave Thomas Comedy Show", a five-week CBS summer replacement series

Wrote and acted in episodes of "Maniac Mansion", a fantasy comedy series on the Family Channel

Co-created and co-executive produced "America's Funniest People" for ABC

Executive produced, wrote, and acted in "Inside America's Totally Unsolved Lifestyles", an ABC comedy special spoofing "reality-based" TV shows

Debut as a sitcom regular, "Grace Under Fire" (ABC), starring Brett Butler

Directed and co-wrote "Ghost Mom", a supernatural comedy TV-movie on Fox

Formed Maple Palm Productions