In November 1950, Moore joined the service and remained enlisted for more than 34 months. Stationed in Fort Campbell, Kentucky but later traveling to Korea and Berlin, Rudy would often perform for his fellow service men who nicknamed him "The Harlem Hillbilly" for his R&B style of singing country songs. One night while putting on shows at the service club, the following act was slow to come out on stage. The crowd began to yell for something to happen, so Moore performed a comedy routine he had learned from Caldonia Young, a Cleveland comedian whom Moore would watch a lot. The crowd loved it and at this point he decided to pursue his comedy career.

After the service, Rudy Ray Moore continued to perform and moved to Seattle, Washington, to visit his family and wound up recording some songs for Federal Records. The most famous of these recording sessions is "Step it up and go." Although Moore's singing career didn't hit the big time, he did deliver some truly great soulful rock 'n' roll songs in a similar vein of Richard Berry. Remaining the "Turban headed prince of the blues" up through the late 1950's, Moore decided to perform under his real name and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1959.

Several more singles were released by various labels, including his own Vermont Records, with Moore performing either as a solo artist or with other vocal groups like The Seniors. He also managed to meet and introduce a lot of black celebrities of the era while being the MC at the California Club. At this time his first comedy albums were recorded, "Below the belt" and "Let's all come together" (both 1961), which was later followed by "The Beatnik scene" (1962).

While working at the world famous Dolphin's of Hollywood record store (which later burned down during the Los Angeles riots), Moore's songs were often playing on their own radio station, but this period of employment would give way to a significant change in his career. A wino named Rico would often come into the store requesting money for soup. Moore would give him money if he would perform a toast called "Dolemite." Toasts are a black tradition of story telling, often the "tallest" tale being the best. Rudy was amazed at how much the people enjoyed this routine and decided to modify it and use it professionally in his act. This single bit of material has become his namesake.

Realizing he needed to carve out his own niche from other black comedians of that period (namely, Redd Foxx), Rudy Ray Moore took a much more shocking approach to his comedy by filling his material with profanity, sex, and several traditional toasts (Shine and the Great Titanic, The Signifying Monkey, and of course Dolemite), making him the world's first X-rated comedian. His toasts were formatted as rhyming stories ("Some folks say that Willie Green, was the baddest motherfucker the world had ever seen," etc.) and often backed by music which has made him a great influence on rap artists of today, many of which have sampled Moore's material or even went so far as to have him appear in songs or videos.

Things finally took off in 1970 with the release of the comedy LP "Eat Out More Often" featuring the "Dolemite" toast as well as other material. After four consecutive weeks on the BILLBOARD magazine soul charts for the week ending 8/29/70, "Eat Out More Often" had gone up ten spots from #34 to #24. By 11/21/70, "Eat out" had dropped to #40 but the quick release of Moore's second LP, "This Pussy Belongs To Me," followed close behind at a steady #49. Moore made history by being the first 'soul' artist to have two releases chart at the same time.

Sixteen more comedy albums were released within a few years, selling well over a million copies combined, though none achieved the massive acclaim of his first two ground breaking albums. With titles like "I can't believe I ate the whole thing," "The Streaker," "Dolemite for President," and "Dolemite Is Another Crazy Nigger" his releases were always held under the counters at record stores. But what really took the public by surprise were his outlandish and incredibly daring record covers which always featured Rudy Ray Moore and several women seminude in hilarious and suggestive poses. This by far helped his releases gain the status they achieved since these records were not teasing you and gave you "more than you came for!"

Moore's comedy albums were always recorded at his home instead of in a club. He would invite his friends over, serve drinks, with an engineer there to record the proceedings. This quickly gained him the title "The king of the party records."

Crowds were beginning to want more from Moore, and in particular the "Dolemite" character. In 1974, Rudy gathered all the money he had made from his records and performances (approx. $100,000) and produced his first film, "Dolemite." Although amateurish in virtually every aspect of film making, there is an incredible charm to the film which to this day is regarded as a cult classic. 

From his companion (and fellow comedian) Lady Reed, his all-girl kung fu army, pimpin' clothing and decor, and incredibly outlandish characters (the Hamburger Pimp being a personal favorite), you can't help but laugh at it while you laugh with it. The script is relatively scatterbrained, never exactly staying on track to the plot. It is basically just a showcase for Moore to do his thing. But you won't find a complaint here. You are watching this movie for that reason alone. All the extra action is a bonus.

Moore proved that "Dolemite" was even badder on screen than he was on record. One major aspect of the films popularity is the incredible dialogue created by Moore. He wanted to create phrases that weren't necessarily vulgar but would make the crowd stand up and cheer. Something like "You no business, insecure, rat soup eatin', junkyard motherf**ker!" had audiences screaming for more and the MPAA scratching their heads about how to rate the film. Although initially laughed at by studio executives and critics, the film was a blow away success and paved the way for more films.

The further adventures of Dolemite were featured in the film "The Human Tornado" (sometimes referred to as Dolemite 2) in 1976. The film's theme, as well as a track entitled "Mr. Wonderful," are sung by Moore.

Another character from his comedy act was introduced to film in 1977 with "Petey Wheatstraw - The Devil's Son-in-law." 

In 1977 Moore also appeared in "Monkey Hustle" as big time hustler, Goldie. In 1978, producers tried to clean up Moore's film image with "Disco Godfather" (aka The Avenging Disco Godfather). 

1982 brought his comedy routines to video in the form of "Rudy Ray Moore's Rude." A documentary, "The Legend of Dolemite" later appeared in 1994.

The fact that Rudy Ray Moore was so far ahead of his time has often left him overlooked by the media and its critics. Only now is he beginning to get the respect and admiration that he deserves as a performer and a pioneer. 

Moore continues to perform live and appear at cult film conventions around the country and you can be sure you will see more from him in the future. After all, this is the man who "handcuffed lightnin' and threw thunder's ass in jail!"

Notable songs include --

• Dolemite

• Step It up and Go 

• Petey Wheatstraw

• Ready, Willing, and Able

• Ring A-Ling Dong

• Hully Gully Fever (And the Flu Bug Too)

• Hurricane Annie

Rudy Ray Moore may be available for your next special event!
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