Meet The Actor Behind Progressive's Dr. Rick

His calming, quiet demeanor. His sensible sweaters. His surprisingly expansive knowledge of home insurance and his rock-solid belief that we all turn into our parents one day. He's Dr. Rick (Bill Glass), and he's become a warm and supportive presence during Progressive's latest series of ads. 

Ever since 2020, his authoritative nature has helped lead homeowners through domicile and vehicle-based insurance issues and all manner of accident-and-disaster based claims, from fires to floods to traffic accidents. All the while, he's stayed collected and avoided blowing his stack. His expertise lies in the practice of protecting his clients from Parentamorphosis, the act of turning into your parents.

But do you know anything about the actor who portrays him? It turns out that actor Bill Glass has been playing Dr. Rick for Progressive the whole time, and he has a long resume behind him. He's a comedic actor whose improv career has won him several famous friends, he's been in several TV shows on top of his work plugging insurance and he has — in the form of Dr. Rick — managed to scale the kind of heights that most spokespeople never see. All that hard work means he's unlikely to be one of those commercial actors who ends up being replaced, but while he's in the limelight, here's a few facts about the guy behind the mustache. 

Ironically for a fellow who plays a home insurance pitchman, Bill Glass once — jokingly or not — said he dreamed of a career helping to save people from the sorts of disasters covered by Progressive's commercials. Per an Instagram post showing off pictures of Glass and his family visiting a firehouse, he wanted to join the force but couldn't make it past the physical portion of the exam.

"Side note I held the jaws of life and affirmed that I could never be a firefighter. I'm now also unofficially certified to be a tillerman," he joked in the post. A tillerman is someone who perches at the back of a tractor trailer-style firetruck and helps steer it toward emergencies. Still a fairly important position, and the kind of guardian role that Dr. Rick would definitely take on, were he a fireman. 

Another field of study Bill Glass considered? Journalism. Glass even entered the University of Kansas to pursue a degree in the discipline. His reasoning was that he thought a journalism degree might bridge the gap between the improvisational comedy world and a practical career. ESPN had a fearlessly humorous way about it in the 1990s when Glass was in college, so he thought becoming a sportscaster for them might satisfy both of his yens.

But Glass soon started working as an improvisational comedian and got tangled up in Chicago's famous Second City improv troupe. Acting quickly ended up consuming all of his attention. He would leave the university just a bit shy of graduating with a journalism degree, but he did use the expertise he gleaned from his professors to make Dr. Rick a richer character. 

What ultimately helped Bill Glass shape Dr. Rick? His professors at the University of Kansas. Glass admits basing some of Rick's actions on his teachers, whom he admired but who also provided him the kind of low-key, well-meaning, calm inspiration that Dr. Rick required of the actor. "I approach the role more like the professor in college ... teaching 15th century architecture who thinks he is changing the world with every lecture he gives," Glass told The Kansas City Star. "All my professors were cool, but I guess you could blanket it to every professor." 

Glass noted that every teacher might find the subject they're lecturing on to be of major importance, but it's not always that way for the person listening — just like Dr. Rick's patients. "That professor, he or she may seem a little over-enthusiastic or over-serious about that subject like it's going to change the world," he concluded. That definitely helps explain the super-serious tone of Dr. Rick's lectures, and why he might take simple talks about movie etiquette or mall behavior so earnestly.

Yes, it's true — the mustache Bill Glass wears for his Progressive ads is a creation from the production company's makeup department. In real life, his upper lip remains bare. But he does have a nickname for his faked pushbroom — he calls it "The Beast."

Glass told the Kansas City Star that the process of getting the mustache on and in place takes over 30 minutes in the makeup chair for him. But the way the character looks matters not to the actor, who's more focused on how the good doctor makes others feel. "I'm more hopeful that I'm making people laugh or the campaign's making people laugh," he said. "I know that sounds cheesy, but whether I'm on an improv stage or doing a commercial or a sitcom or whatever work I'm lucky enough to do, I just want to make people laugh."

While one would think a national advertising campaign might make Bill Glass a bit more recognizable, especially to people in his vicinity, he reported to the Kansas City Star that none of the acquaintances in his life — or even total strangers who encounter him in the wild — have recognized him as Dr. Rick. The sole exception? His optometrist, who put two and two together.

In spite of the fact that no one outside of his immediate family seems to know he's also Dr. Rick, Bill Glass is extremely grateful for his role. "I'm just happy to have a job," he said. "I'm older, man. I'm not trying to get famous at this point." He admits that it's fun being the good doctor, and he's glad people are enjoying the campaign, but it doesn't matter to him in the end that he's not an instantly recognizable face.

When a brand launches a new campaign, it's impossible to tell what will grab consumers' attention. Dr. Rick has wildly succeeded in this respect; as of 2022, he was voted the seventh most popular advertising mascot in an Ad Age magazine poll. That puts Bill Glass' Dr. Rick on nearly the same level as Flo, the perky Progressive pitchgirl played by Stephanie Courtney who's been working for the insurance company for years. It even makes him as famous as other insurance pitchmen, such as AllState's Mayhem, as well as celebrity advertising mavens such as Tom Selleck. Progressive even responded to his Flo-and-her-crew levels of popularity by releasing a book featuring the good doctor's advice, "Dr. Rick Will See You Now." 

What does Glass think triggered Dr. Rick mania? He suspects it might have something to do with the fact that the campaign debuted during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Because of the pandemic and all the advertising going very heavy, I think Progressive chose to put out this lighter fare, and I think maybe that's why people paid attention to it at first," he told The Kansas City Star. 

This especially makes sense when one thinks about how Dr. Rick's commercials focus on people trying hard not to become their parents — a real danger back in the days of pandemic-related living pods. Aside from the tone, he also thinks the character's relatability factor definitely helps make the commercials interesting. 

As noted earlier, Bill Glass has a lot of experience as an improvisational comedian. He was a member of Chicago's Second City troupe, was a member of The Groundlings, and has scored admiring comments from his fellow comedians. "Bill is a long time pal and one of those actors in Hollywood that will all the sudden be a 20 year overnight sensation. He's always been so damn funny. Give him a show," Eric Stonestreet of "Modern Family" posted to his X (formerly Twitter) account. Agreed Fortune Feimster, "I was in an improv class with Bill at the Groundlings like 15 years ago and he blew everyone out of the water. He was so funny." 

Glass himself told The Chicago Sun-Times that his rich improv history means he's played in the sandbox with a lot of celebrities, many of whom he's indebted to for their support and education. "I owe people like Tina Fey, Amy Poehler and David Koechner," he explained. It looks like all that support is being paid back trifold with Glass' recent success. His improvisational skills helped win him a role on Peacock's "Rutherford Falls," and he's appeared in series as varied as "Roswell" and "Fresh Off The Boat," while recently guest-starring on "St. Dennis Hospital."

Dr. Rick is notoriously loaded with folksy platitudes and gentle sayings about life. Whether encouraging his clients to get rid of their own throw pillows or teaching them how to use modern technology, he's always got something fresh to say and a way to be supportive. But one phrase in particular has stuck with Bill Glass in the months and years since he started filming the Dr. Rick commercials.

"The recent one saying, 'If you woke up early, no one cares,' is a fun one for me because it reminds me of my dad who was always up early," he told The Chicago Sun-Times. But does Glass have a favorite Dr. Rick ad? It turns out he can't rank one over another from the bunch — they're all his favorite.

Bill Glass does have another theory about why Dr. Rick has taken off, and it all comes down to how people-pleasing his character can be. He makes people laugh at themselves, their friends, and their families. "I think people are laughing at themselves," he told The Chicago Sun-Times. "They're laughing at their parents a little bit. I call it 'triple regeneration.'" 

Glass says that the children watching get a kick out of the prematurely-aged millennials in Rick's care. The adults, meanwhile, get a rueful chuckle watching people their own age act like seniors. The elders, in turn, get a laugh out of their kids behaving like them.This circle of familial silliness results in a shared experience of joy. "I think I'm getting a kick out of the fact that it's so relatable to every sort of chapter of a family," Glass added.

In another Progressive first, Bill Glass appeared as Dr. Rick on "Hot Ones" in the fall of 2024. Glass stayed in character as he handed out wisdom while trying to survive Da Bomb and other nuclear grade sauces. The appearance marked the very first time a mascot character has ever appeared on Hot Ones.

During his time on the program, Dr. Rick fails to maintain his cool, reacting to the vibrancy of the sauces and the painfully spicy accoutrements brought to the table. He does manage, between pained gasps, to give host Sean Evans tips on how to survive morphing into his own parents and helps to sell the notion of "parentamoprhasis" to viewers everywhere. For those who missed it back when First We Feast posted the segment in 2024, the entire episode can be viewed on the First We Feast Facebook page in its entirety.

Here's a big surprise for fans of Dr. Rick — this doesn't mark Bill Glass' first time appearing in a commercial. As a journeyman comedic actor, he's naturally hawked other products for other companies during his time in Hollywood. 

Glass's first time appearing in a commercial was for a Toyota's Great Sales Event in 2013. In it, he plays a dad whose quest for a fuel-efficient car gets him in trouble with his wife, who has a very long memory. His second ad was for Jack in the Box in 2014. Glass plays a rowdy co-worker who's hanging out with Jack, the company's mascot, at a company picnic. Things soon devolve into a big mess thanks to a few bites of Jack's Blazin' Chicken Sandwich, which results in a whole lot of corporate nonsense. 

These definitely served to get Glass's foot in the door and lay the groundwork for his appearences as Dr. Rick, which have ensured his position in the commercial character pantheon forever.