Lance Krall Crawls to the Top in Hollywood

Although no one will ever match Sid Caesar’s portrayal of hundreds of comedic characters that he created on his sketch-comedy show with Imogene Coca in the 1950s, Lance Krall comes mighty close. And just as TV hailed Caesar with his own show, so it does for Krall, as Vh1 launches the second season of “Free Radio,” which will run eight consecutive Thursdays at 11 p.m. beginning April 2.

Although in “Free Radio” Krall sticks to one character, versus the hundreds of them that he easily slides into in a heartbeat during an improv performance, you never know what his character will do. Playing a moronic morning radio host who interviews A-list celebrities, such as Kiefer Sutherland, Tony Shalhoub and Ray Romano, he and his guest improvise the entire show.

Krall started his acting career in Atlanta at Whole World Theater, an improvisation troupe he co-founded a year before graduating in 1995 with a B.A. in Film and Theater from Georgia State University. As a student at Whole World, I saw his versions of characters that seemed as real as anyone you’ve seen at home, at a mall or at a park. Not only could he mimic a person’s voice, facial movements and postures, he put his wide variety of characters in uncanny situations, gave them certain ticks, and made them say and do things that were hilarious.

I wasn’t the only one gushing over his talent at Whole World. After a Hollywood talent agent spotted him there and suggested he move to L.A., he did in 2000, and landed his first acting job in an NBC sketch-comedy show produced by Steve Martin called “The Downer Channel.” It was a downer, and lasted only four episodes. From there, Krall portrayed “Kip the Gay Guy” on “The Joe Schmo Show,” a faux-reality show on Spike TV, and then created his own show, “The Lance Krall Show,” which also ran on Spike.

Krall has been acting and writing since he landed in Hollywood. If you want to laugh really hard, click visit YouTube and type in “Lance Krall” to see his crank phone calls and his appearance on Conan O’Brien explaining why the CIA shut down three airports to look for him. It really is a true story.