Interesting Facts about Charlie Hill, the first Native American stand-up comedian

Google Doodle celebrates the 71st birthday of American actor and comedian Charlie Hill, the first Native American stand-up comedian to show up on national TV, on July 06, 2022. Here are some interesting facts about Charlie Hill.

Here is a look at the life and work of Charlie Hill.

Personal

• Birth name: Charles Allan Hill
• Birth date: July 6, 1951
• Birthplace: Detroit, Michigan, U.S.
• Died on: December 30, 2013 (aged 62)
• Death place: Oneida, Wisconsin, U.S.
• Famous for: Comedian, writer, actor
• Spouse(s): Lenora Hatathlie
• Known as: American actor and comedian

20 Interesting Facts about Charlie Hill

1. Charles Allan ‘Charlie’ Hill was an Oneida-Mohawk-Cree stand-up comedian actor and writer. He composed for the TV series Roseanne.
2. Charles Allan Hill was born on July 6, 1951, in Detroit, Michigan, the U.S. He moved as a child with his family when they got back to their property on the Oneida reservation in 1962. Hill was additionally of Mohawk and Cree family ancestry.
3. Charlie Hill was a graduate of West De Pere High School, class of 1969. He additionally went to the University of WI-Madison where he studied speech and drama. He left college and moved to Hollywood, to seek after his dream as a stand-up comedian. He was engaged with the Broom Street Theater Group.
4. On weekends, the Hill family partook in watching comedy shows together. Charlie Hill was especially moved by comedian Dick Gregory, who melded activism supporting the Native American civil rights movement with comedy in a manner he had never seen. Hill was inspired to do likewise. Having set a vision for his future, he later enlisted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying speech and drama.
5. While at university he was a member of the experimental Broom Street Theater Group. He likewise toured Europe as a member of the La MaMa Experimental Theater Group, which was situated in New York City.
6. During the mid-1970s, Charlie Hill was a member of Hanay Geiogomah’s Native American Theater Ensemble. Among different productions, the group performed Coyote Tracks and Foghorn at La MaMa Experimental Theater Club in the East Village of Manhattan, where the ensemble was in residence. The ensemble additionally visited Germany in 1973 and the United States in 1974.
7. After college, Charlie Hill moved to Los Angeles and worked as an actor and comedian. There, Charlie Hill became fast friends with some of the top comedians of the time. Having become well known around 26 years old, Hill got a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to debut on The Richard Pryor Show in 1977.
8. Charlie Hill’s first network appearance was on The Richard Pryor Show in 1977. He was then the first Native American comedian to show up on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. He likewise showed up on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and showed up on Late Night with David Letterman.
9. After his debut, Charlie Hill became a regular on late-night talk shows and exclusive comedy clubs. He proceeded to perform stand-up around the world and showed up in movies and TV shows, for example, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Show with David Letterman, Roseanne, and Moesha.
10. Charlie Hill was selected to host the First Americans in the Arts awards show in Hollywood three times. Once, he co-hosted with the Oneida singer Joanne Shenandoah. As a stand-up comedian, he showed up in venues internationally and was a regular at The Comedy Store in Hollywood.
11. In 1970s, Charlie Hill procured a spot to perform at Hollywood’s popular Comedy Store, an exploring ground for significant network TV.
12. Charlie Hill showed up on numerous TV programs and hosted an evening of Native American comedians on a Showtime special. He was the subject of the PBS documentary On and Off The Res’ with Charlie Hill (1999), directed by Sandra Osawa.
13. Hill was interviewed by American Indian Movement activist Dennis Banks in the documentary A Good Day to Die.
14. Charlie Hill was featured in the 1984 film Harold of Orange, composed by Gerald Vizenor.
15. In 2008, Charlie Hill was awarded an honorary doctorate by Sinte Gleska University. Charlie Hill got the 2009 Ivy Bethune Tri-Union Diversity Award from the Screen Actors Guild.
16. In 2010, “Native America on the Web” honored Charlie Hill for his “lifetime of promoting positive images of Native Peoples and bridging cultural differences through the healing power of humor”
17. In 2012, he likewise won the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Award for his exceptional work as a Native artist.
18. Charlie Hill died from lymphoma on the early morning of December 30, 2013, at the Anna John Nursing Home in Oneida, WI. His death followed a year-long fight against cancer.
19. He is known for having been the first Native American comedian to show up on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
20. On July 6th, 2022 the Google Doodle was devoted to Charlie Hill in recognition of his challenging destructive stereotypes in the entertainment industry as well similar to the first Native comedian to be on national TV.