Hal Sparks was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, raised in Kentucky – a little town called Peaks Mill. Don’t strain your brain, you’ve never heard of it. He lived in the sticks, was a boy Scout, started taking karate there when he was 8 years old, saw The Shining when he was 7. Hal didn’t have a TV so he spent most of his life listening to comedy records – when he wasn’t at the movies.

Hal has always been a bit of a video game nut, and back then, that meant that you actually had to stand at a video machine for hours (you kids today!). When he was 14, Hal decided he’d had enough of “country livin’” and moved to Chicago to live with his Dad, where he went to New Trier High School, a huge school with a great theater department that, quite frankly, should have expelled him. But, much to their credit, they didn’t, and Hal was able to start doing standup at 15 years old.

Hal won the Funniest Teenager in Chicago contest when he was 17 years old, the same year he starred in Frog, starring Elliott Gould, Shelley Duval and Scott Grimes. Hal also hosted a game show called “Treasure Mall.”

Hal graduated from high school and, sixteen days later, packed all his shit in his car and drove to LA. The next ten years he calls: “the Sisyphus years” – career-wise, every day Hal would roll the rock up the hill, and every night he would roll back down. But Hal kept plugging away, watching people he had moved to LA with or worked with pack up and go home, year after year.

In 1997, Hal felt he’d strayed too far from standup comedy and decided to go at it 100% again. For the next two years, he did standup every single night. Yes, Christmas and holidays. On June 26, 1999, Hal Sparks got Talk Soup. He was on the air the following Tuesday after the July 4th weekend.

Of course, recently Hal has become the guest host of The Stephanie Miller Show. He takes the microphone when Steph and the Mooks get that occasional vacation. In addition, Hal is a co-host on the SMS each Wednesday – a segment called: “Hump Days With Hal.” (Paraphrasing the movie “Shane” – “Momma loves you Hal… I know she does!”)

And the rest, you can Google… There’s obviously a lot more. But quite frankly, according to Hal, it’s none of your business. Until he decides to sell a book.