Ritch was given this award by the University of Dayton's Erma Bombeck writers' workshop.

Ritch Shydner, author of the newly released Kicking Through the Ashes: My Life as a Stand-up in the 1980s Comedy Boom, has been described as “an incredibly funny observational comedian.”

He has made numerous guest appearances on late-night TV as a comic. He also played Al Bundy’s co-worker on Married with Children and appeared in Designing Women, Roseanne and feature films such as Beverly Hills Cop II. He has written for Roseanne, The Jeff Foxworthy Show and HBO’s The Mind of the Married Man. This is his second book. In 2006, he compiled stories of comedians on the road for I Killed, which he co-wrote with Mark Schiff.

Read more at Erma Bombeck writers' workshop.