Rich Hall was a writer and performer on the sketch comedy TV series Fridays, Not Necessarily the News, and Saturday Night Live.

In 1986, he had his own Showtime channel special, Vanishing America, which was turned into a book with the same title.

Rich Hall invented the term "sniglet" (if not the concept) and collected and published several volumes of them:

• Sniglets (Snig'Lit : Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should) -1984
• More Sniglets: Any Word That Doesn't Appear in the Dictionary, but Should -1985
• Unexplained Sniglets of the Universe -1986
• Angry Young Sniglets -1987
• When Sniglets Ruled the Earth -1989

He has appeared several times on the Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

He has also achieved some, albeit minor, popularity in the UK. In 2000 he won the Perrier Comedy Award at the Edinburgh Fringe, in 2003 he had his own BBC TV series, Rich Hall's Fishing Show and has regularly guested on Have I Got News For You and QI.

He has also achieved some popularity in Australia, regularly appearing at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, and also on Australian comedy panel shows, like The Glasshouse.

In 2001, he assumed the character of much-convicted country singer Otis Lee Crenshaw, touring as the character and releasing an album and concert movie.