Raymond Neil Combs Jr. (April 3, 1956 – June 2, 1996) was an American stand-up comedian, actor and game show host.

His popularity on the stand-up circuit led to him being signed as the second host of the game show Family Feud in its second run and first revival.

He declined a nomination to the United States Military Academy and served as a missionary from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years in Arizona.

[1][2] Combs began performing comedy at Cincinnati's Red Dog Saloon, where he developed his best-known shtick of audience sing-alongs of sitcom theme songs.

In 1982, convinced that he was better than the comedians whose acts he saw on The Tonight Show, Combs left his job as an Indianapolis furniture salesman and moved with his family to Los Angeles.

He did well in a competition with more than 200 other young comedians, and began doing audience warm-ups for NBC sitcoms such as The Golden Girls, The Facts of Life and Amen.

In 1987, he appeared as a celebrity panelist on the John Davidson version of Hollywood Squares, and had a small role in the comedy film Overboard starring Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn (he was the local cop in the beginning hospital sequence).

In 1988, game-show producers Mark Goodson and Howard Felsher gave Combs a seven-year contract to host a new version of Family Feud.

He later served as a guest commentator alongside Vince McMahon and Bobby Heenan at Survivor Series 1993 in a match of the Hart Family against Shawn Michaels and his Knights.

[5] Combs portrayed himself in episodes of In Living Color and 227 in Family Feud sketches and made an appearance on the TNN television series The Statler Brothers Show, where he did a stand-up comedy routine.

In October 1993, a Family Feud video game featuring Combs's likeness was released for both the Super NES and the Sega Genesis.