Rich Gallup

Bio

Richard K. Gallup is currently a producer for Massachusetts-based MMO-developer 38 Studios, having left his successful and popular position as Features Producer at GameSpot, in order to return to the East Coast with his wife.

During his tenure at GameSpot, Rich produced several successful regular shows. Notable among them are GameSpotting, Button Mashing - a round-based game show where three competitors get narrowed down to two until eventually only one is left to face off with a GameSpot staffer, On the Spot - a weekly live show created and hosted by Rich (Alongside Ryan MacDonald and later Jeff Gerstmann), and The HotSpot - a podcast covering "all the hot topics from the world of video games".

Rich began his tenure at GameSpot as a GameSpot Live intern, impressing the team enough to land a staff job later. Prior to this, he worked as a QA Tester for THQ.

Whilst attending Middlebury College, Rich - along with friend and classmate Ben Coello - created, wrote, and starred in "The Ben and Rich Comedy Show", a loosely plot-based sketch show which lasted 3 episodes. The pair submitted it as their independent study project. Rich also created "<<" or "Rewind", a short film which reached the final in Nintendo's Eternal Darkness Film competition.

Rich currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, but often visits his family in New Hampshire, his home state. Since joining 38 Studios he has lived a relatively anonymous life, away from the constant scrutiny of his previous life in front of a camera sending footage straight onto the internet. According to Jeff Gerstmann, Rich is very happy to have some privacy back. This Wiki Page being a not-so-minor exception.

Doofycrap.com

Following his time at GameSpot, Rich started a "blournal" that can be found at www.doofycrap.com.

The first post on December 10, 2007, stated: "Once upon a time, the world needed a place like doofycrap.com. Now everybody calls it YouTube. Or Wikipedia. Or simply, “the internet.” Stay tuned…"

The site was built as a blog, but was characterized by (usually) daily updates that journaled some of the things that became famous on, and mostly because of, the Internet and its users. It is described by Rich, himself, here. Many of the posts contained much research into some of the most infamous Internet phenomenons, such as: The Exploding Whale, Gino!, the Hampster Dance, or the WOO-WOO whistle tip guy. Other such posts included mostly viral video's and their origins, but also encouraged reader participation, such as a search for the hardest working Hollywood bit player, which started with a post about Al Kaplon.

Doofycrap.com's most current post was made on May 19, 2008, letting readers know that the site was going to take a "short break", and encouraged them to "stay tuned." No further updates have been made since, and it would seem as though Rich has become too busy with his current work schedule (Namely, playing Frisbee with noted fantasy author R.A. Salvatore - whom he affectionately calls "Bob") to keep the site current.

The Eyebrow

Rich has a scar on his left eyebrow. The scar developed during puberty when, as Gallup explains, his body thought a mole had developed and tried to bleach it out. However, there was no mole, leaving a bleached patch of skin. This was unfortunate because he got his bleached eyebrow at the same time Vanilla Ice shaved eyebrows were becoming popular.

Alternative proposed origins for the white patch on Rich's eyebrow have been:

• He was struck by lightning, resulting in the nickname "Lightning Face".

• He was punched by a ghost, either causing him to shriek and his eyebrow to turn white, or leaving a ghostly mark upon his eyebrow.
• He is secretly Rogue from the X-Men (a cruel prank by former GameSpot co-workers Bob Colayco (Currently a PR representative for Blizzard Entertainment) and Carrie Gouskos (Currently a producer for EA Mythic).

Fun Facts

Cyborg Gallup

Cyborg Gallup in self-destruct mode

WHERE MY MONEY?!!

Rich could look this awesome soon.

• He claims to be a descendant of Lord William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (1824-1907), who is widely known for developing the Kelvin scale of absolute temperature measurement.
• He has an unhealthy addiction to Fluff, and, according to his profile page at 38 Studios, spends his spare time trying to make the fluffernutter, a sandwich consisting of Fluff and peanut butter, the official sandwich of Massachusetts.
• He coined the term "ish-dition" to describe installments of the HotSpot after being unable to reconcile his desire to use both the words "issue" and "edition" to label the weekly episodes of the popular podcast.
• Culled from his experience in college radio, Gallup hosted most episodes of the HotSpot while standing up. According to him, it keeps a lively flow and energy in leading an audio conversation show's various discussions.Jeff Gerstmann begrudgingly emulated this stance when filling in for Rich as host.
• He has a fear of needles and zombies.
• Has an extreme aversion to ketchup.
• He is also claustrophobic, and once almost punched through a door when locked in a small room by college friend and classmate Ben Coello.
• He has nicknamed his home state "New Hampshizzle."
• He now owns a cell phone. Jeff Gerstmann sent him something dumb.
• He makes instant Macaroni & Cheese with ice cream instead of milk.
• Also, he has his own special Mac & Cheese recipe that uses Tabasco sauce and garlic powder.
• He thinks this page is "creepy," but strongly encourages users to keep making it even creepier.
• His mom watches this page and tells him whenever something new is added.
• He has incredible urges to give nipple twists whenever he hears someone curse.
• He was co-captain of the 1997 state champion Granite State Challenge team. His team won every episode.
• He once attended a taping of Jeopardy to see his high school friend and Granite State Challenge teammate Ryan Friedman compete. In the Q&A session before the show, he'd asked show host Alex Trebek if he had any advice for aspiring game show hosts. Trebek promptly discouraged the idea of even having such aspirations. Unbeknown to Mr. Trebek, Gallup was host of his own internet game show "Button Mashing" at the time. Ryan won that episode of Jeopardy. Sadly, Gallup was unable to see the actual day-two taping of the show.
• He believes "Jose Chung's From Outer Space" (Season 3, Episode 20) is "the best episode of X-Files ever."
• He thinks Jim Jeannotte is the "greatest game show host of all time."
• He once saw one of the guys from "Office Space."
• He still keeps his pimp-suit costume from Button Mashing in his closet and occasionally wears it when he's home alone.
• He gave the Giant Bombcast PAX08 Edition three stars. According to Rich it was alright, but he expected more.
• His middle name is Kelvin.
• He attended Middlebury College, which instilled in him a love of Liberal Arts educations. It also made him unbearable.
• As explained at PAX08, Rich's staunch "No cursing" policy on his podcast stems from his college days, where he learned that not cursing led to instant credibility.
• He played "Rich Gallup, Grizzled Police Chief" in the award winning and mega-popular animated pilot webisode of "Time Trotters: The Animated Series." He had a similar role in the earlier Live Action "GameSpotting Live" episode using the same (Time Trotters) format.
• He is much beloved as one of the finest media hosts in the history of the internet (Which explains the detail of this page, and has caused untold thousands of internet users to lament the lack of opportunities for Rich to host A/V content in his current position).
• He prefers cats to dogs.
• He is half-cyborg half-wizard, as revealed in his epic battle against his wizard friend, Ben Coello.
• He once said that the movie The Big Hit is trash, which led Jeff Gerstmann to say he is trash. Rich then quickly pointed out that by being trash, he would know what is trash.
• He once hit himself in the face with his own microphone after shaking someone's hand, which prompted Jeff Gerstmann to say, "THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR NOT GIVING RESPECT!"
• He reckons that Raphael (who is cool but rude) is the best Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle, but everybody knows that it is Michelangelo (as he is,by all accounts, a party dude).
• Rich is indirectly responsible for a large amount of the Geek Cred of the movie "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" as a result of talking Jeff Gerstmann into going to see the movie with him. This led to a series of running gags and memes from the movie developing on "On The Spot" between Jeff and Rich. Jeff has, on occasion, begrudged Rich this fact, suggesting that Rich ruined his life by making him see the movie. Jeff is clearly wrong in that opinion because everyone knows Tokyo Drift is awesome.
• His mom's birthday is May 23rd, so buy her something nice.
• He has seen 94 episodes of the Persona 4 Endurance Run starting with episode 50
• Rich moderated both Giant Bomb PAX Panels and named the second one, 2009's "Giant Bomb Re-Reunion Tour: Tour Legit Tour Quit"
• According to an episode of the HotSpot, Rich was a tester for the original beta of XBOX Live.
• Rich's first system was a PONG machine
• Rich worked at Video HeadQuarters, the local video store in Keene, NH.
• He was once put in a choke hold by Curt Schilling
• His first "R" rated movie was Terminator 2.
• He knows all his old former GameSpot employees deepest darkest secrets, such as what members may in fact be "closet furry/furries." He has not used anybody's deepest darkest secrets to blackmail them because his alignment is 98% good except when holding the magic powers of “Internet TV Host” and equipped with the “Mystical Secret Video Tapes 1.”
• Rich Gallup says he scares easily, and thus tries to stay away from scary games. Also, he has never played Dead Space.
• Co-Created the club NROL (No Rotary or Lions) in high school.
• Claimed the Easiest way to have your phone call aired on The Hot Spot was to be from New Hampshire. It also helps if you have a cool story.
• Rich is a certified Scrum master
• Had a brief appearance in the short film "Attack Of The Killer Pants", now on Youtube."
• In late 2010, Rich decided to grow his hair long. Similar to New England Patriots Quarterback, Tom Brady. No word yet if Rich will also try to get the super model wife.
• Was thought to be a 'spirit guy' by his coworker.
• Rich is a big fan of the 90's CGI cartoon series ReBoot.

Rich Gallup's Street Racing Career (AKA Rich Gallup's Quest for Pink Slips)

Shortly after watching "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" Rich Gallup became a notorious illegal street racer injecting a racing finned "Pink Volkswagen Beetle Pimp Mobile" with a full gas tank of 100% pure Nitrous Oxide (NOS) and 0% gasoline, only then was he able to drift even on straight roads at 203MPH smoking everybody in the underground drag strip races. He wore his "Button Mashing" outfit for luck on every race.

A picture of Rich Gallup’s Underground Street Racing Car

During his illegal street racing career he won the "pink slip" of the Swedish Mafia’s stolen Ferrari Enzo as well as 10% of Gizmondo company stock using this car.

The fins on the Super car added by an Irish blacksmith help it maintain maximum stability airflow while drifting at over 200MPH.

Rich Gallup is the only person able to handle the driving of this super car. All other human beings have panic attacks simply sitting behind the wheel of this machine and are rendered unconscious in 20 seconds.

When Stefan Eriksson, the godfather of the Swedish mafia, took him for a test run of his "new ride," the Ferrari Enzo, he was blinded by the smooth bald head of none other than J Allard lowering the hood of his hoodie to vent the heat of a burning hot April sun. It was at that moment he crashed the Ferrari Enzo at 167MPH into a pole ending his street racing days and leaving only a single scar over a single Eyebrow. He was not wearing his Lucky "Button Mashing" outfit that gives him super human powers.

"Dietrich", directly prior to the crash.

After surviving the Ferrari Enzo crash he fled the scene leaving the Swedish Mafia overlord Stefan Eriksson to his fate with the local police

screaming only one sentence to him ("“My name is Dietrich!”") while running faster than an olympic speed sprinter over the embankment and into the forest housing district of wealthy millionares leaving nothing but an identity façade to throw off the cops off his trail and leave the crimnal mastermind Stefan Eriksson confused and dazed. Only then being satisfied with his evasion plan was he was smuggled through the Mexico border back into the USA in a dry ice cooled lobster taco shipment container aided by a angry mob of "mexican french maids". He has eluded both the Swedish Mafia and the cops ever since hiding in 's secret underground tunnels used in the american revolution while living with a group of Boston Tea Party reenactment actors.

After crashing in the Ferrari Enzo Rich Gallup invented a time machine built into an Ice-cream truck and made out of spare Taco Bell deep fryer

parts to travel back in time as it is the ultimate hideout for a wanted man this also why he looks so young as part of his deception. He is NOT a vampire!(Not being a vampire is not 100% confirmed). Lessons in acting from the group of Boston Tea Party reenactment actors assisted him in pretending he knows nothing of any events with time travel, street racing or the Swedish Mafia's stolen Ferrari Enzo when he is employed at GameSpot or 38 studios in the future times.

He used the Ice-cream truck time machine technology that was once used to elude the police and Swedish mafia on his Internet show "Time Trotters." After his great escape, it was sitting in his closet under an old monopoly game collecting dust. He fulfilled its destiny by using it to save video games. The time travel on Time Trotters was not a special effect.