Bill Boggs, a Philadelphia native, is a four-time Emmy Award–winning TV host and entertainment industry insider. He has been a major figure in the lifestyle, food, travel, consumer, sports, news, and celebrity reporting arenas for more than 25 years—hosting 15 different TV shows, including the New York–based Midday Live with Bill Boggs, NBC’s Weekend Today in New York, and the long-running Food Network hit, Bill Boggs Corner Table. Bill has interviewed many of the most notable personalities of our time, including cultural icons, presidents, international leaders, writers, athletes, celebrity chefs, authors, and movie stars ranging from Gloria Swanson to Renee Zellweger.
Bill is the on-stage personality for Simon Super Chefs Live, a 24-city culinary food and wine show presented around the country in Simon Malls. On TV, he pioneered the first-ever national restaurant review show, TV Diners on Food Network. He has interviewed notable guests on CNBC, MSNBC, and ESPN, and has had two series—Historic Traveler and Freeze Frame on the Travel Channel. He is seen frequently as guest host of The Call on NY1.
In 2003, Boggs debuted his one-man Off Broadway show, Talk Show Confidential, now playing at the Triad Theater in New York. It’s the first theatrical production of its kind, dealing with the alternately bizarre and inspiring world of talk shows. The show features rare video clips, archival photos, and music blended with monologues. He also starred in the Off Broadway hit, Our Sinatra.
In April 2007, Bill’s book, Got What It Takes? Successful People Reveal How They Made It to the Top, based on his interviews with 44 leaders in their fields, was published by HarperCollins. Bill is a sought-after motivational speaker, with stories of self-empowerment drawn from first-hand experience with some of the world’s most successful people. He has written both essays and travel pieces for the New York Times and is a featured columnist for Black Tie International Magazine. In 1980, Grosett & Dunlap published Bill’s novel, At First Sight.
Bill has always displayed unique versatility, illustrated by his roles as a game show host for CBS, a news anchor for WNBC-TV, moderator of a steamy late-night series on ABC-TV, and as host and executive producer of the syndicated FOX-TV series Comedy Tonight. For nearly a decade, he also served as host of Championship Boxing Update for Showtime. Bill began his talk show career in High Point, North Carolina, where he produced and hosted the syndicated Southern Exposure with Bill Boggs.
As an executive producer, he helped to create Court TV and was also the executive producer of the ground breaking Morton Downey Jr. Show. Bill has appeared as himself in several movies and television series, including: Trading Places, The Lemon
Sisters, Eyes of Laura Mars, Oz, The Dave Chappelle Show, As the World Turns, Spin City, and Miami Vice.
Bill has a son, Trevor, and in 2000 was honored as a Father of the Year by the National Father’s Day Committee. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and also has a master’s degree from Penn’s Annenberg School. He is on the board of governors of the Friars Club of New York, a member of the New York Athletic Club, and a member of the Yale Club.
He is married to Carol Campbell Boggs, the publisher of Hallmark Magazine. They live on the tranquil island of Manhattan.