Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Catholic
Religious Music & Entertainment
Tim Allen and Richard Karn of ‘Home Improvement’ Take Their Real-Life Friendship to History’s ‘Assembly Required’

Tim Allen and Richard Karn of ‘Home Improvement’ Take Their Real-Life Friendship to History’s ‘Assembly Required’

Last updated on: February 21, 2021 at 8:14 pm by Kate O'Hare

Tim Allen and Richard Karn of ‘Home Improvement’ Take Their Real-Life Friendship to History’s ‘Assembly Required’ 2021-02-21T20:14:19-08:00 Kate O'Hare

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

So, the guys who co-starred in a sitcom inspired by a real-life show about builders now star in a reality show featuring real-life builders. In a nutshell, that’s History’s Assembly Required, premiering Tuesday, Feb. 23 at 10 ET/PT.

Assembly Required Is a Home Improvement Reunion

Back in the ’90s, comedian Tim Allen and actor Richard Karn played Tim Taylor and Al Borland, stars of a home-improvement show called Tool Time, a fake show within a real ABC sitcom called Home Improvement. It was a parody of host Bob Vila and master carpenter Norm Abram of the real PBS show, This Old House (Bob’s long gone, but Norm’s still there).

On Feb. 23, Taylor and Karn — who are real-life pals — reunite for Assembly Required, a reality-competition show for folks who make and build things.

Because they’re shooting during the COVID-19 pandemic, Allen and Karn interact remotely with the contestants, who have components for gadgets (with some tenuous connection to history) sent to their home shops.

The final results are then sent back to Allen and Karn, who have some serious boys-with-toys fun while testing them to determine a winner.

Joining them is April Wilkerson, who built YouTube fame on being a self-taught DIY maker. While car enthusiast Allen and homeowner Karn have experience working with their hands — both draw the line at plumbing, though — Wilkerson supplies the show’s actual hands-on expertise.

Even Pros Can Become Rookies

Karn has been a game-show host, and Allen has spent decades on the comedy stage, but Assembly Required marks their first time as executive producers and hosts of a reality show.

Allen said he had developed and pitched the show a while ago but didn’t think Karn would be interested.

Last week, at a virtual session for the show as part of the TV Critics Association Press Tour, Allen explained:

And never would I consider Richard would be interested, for some reason. I see Richard socially. I never even thought about it and then one of my management team says, “Why don’t you ask Richard to host it with you?”

The only hesitation was I didn’t want to embarrass myself by going, “Would you mind doing, a kind of … look at … fix it?” And he jumped at the chance.

Then all of a sudden, it became, the two of us, kind of a live version of Tool Time, if you will. We’re very similar to the characters we play in that show.

Karn added:

My dad was a builder; my grandfather was a builder. I’ve always really respected that part of our society, our minds, being able to do that. … We’ve all kind of had forms of this show in our heads, but Tim was able to bring it to fruition.

Social Distancing Actually Made Allen’s Life Easier

Some upsides of the remote format are that we get to see where these makers actually do their stuff — and the hosts don’t have to vote somebody off the island while they’re standing right in front of them.

This was a bonus for Allen, who said:

It got pretty emotional. I’m not a big fan of judging art, movies or anything, and this was really difficult because the interest and the dedication for these men and women was unbelievable.

However, we set the show up to have winner and it got very difficult for me personally to go — they all did great. I don’t want to be in the position to judge people.

Said executive producer Brent Montgomery:

We would not normally have been inside these peoples’ shops, and it probably would’ve been even harder for Tim to eliminate people seeing them six feet away.

We really think being able to highlight these people in their own environment started at a really nice baseline. They’re using a lot of their own equipment. They’re on home turf. But it gives us I think an incredible foundation to maybe do some new and cool stuff in subsequent seasons.

Making Makers of the Next Generation

Allen, who spends a lot of time building and tinkering with cars in his shop in North Hollywood, California, has been passing the love of doing it yourself to the next generation.

My older daughter, she was in my shop one day and I said, “Well, just take the shock off your own Jeep.” And she did. And to watch the look on her face … it seems formidable because it’s just dirty, and then it’s unusual to use — she used a pneumatic wrench to get it off. Taking stuff apart, getting past the courage and, “Gosh, I’m gonna screw this up.” And you generally do.

Getting Some Tool Time Flashbacks

Having Karn, with his game-show-host experience, as a partner was helpful to Allen, who said:

I could tell you that none of this would’ve happened when I was coming unglued on the set. I’m not used to being — as the director said, “You haven’t done this before, have you?”

I’ve done a lot of movies. I’ve of course done television and concerts and theater. I’ve never been in this live format, and Richard was able to go, “OK, OK, OK.”

He’s a consummate professional and a genuinely calm-hearted person, and it was a perfect match to pull me out of having to go insane. … [He] was able to bring it back down and be exactly like we were in Tool Time. It’s amazing how this is an expansion of that relationship.

So, if you love Tim Allen — a Christian who refers to God as the Builder — and his most recent show, Last Man Standing (currently in its 9th and final season, Thursdays on Fox), you can tune into Assembly Required and watch this showbiz pro learn on the job.

https://youtu.be/dfRYssl9pXY

Image: History

Don’t miss a thing: Subscribe to all that I write at Authory.com/KateOHare

About Kate O'Hare

Based in Los Angeles, Kate O'Hare is a veteran entertainment journalist, Social Media Manager for Family Theater Productions and a rookie screenwriter. You can read more about the author here.

Previous Post

February 14, 2021

PBS Surveys 'The Black Church' -- The Non-Catholic Parts, Anyway

Next Post

February 27, 2021 Women and Power: Buffy vs. Scully

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category books breaking news digital media Faith practice food interview jane the virgin media movies music NFL Pope Francis Showbiz 101 social media sports technology television Uncategorized video

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz