Born in Pasadena, California, Freberg is the son of a Baptist minister. His traditional upbringing is reflected both in the gentle sensitivity that underpins his work (despite his liberal use of biting satire and parody) and in his refusal to accept alcohol and tobacco manufacturers as sponsors—an impediment to his radio career when he took over for Jack Benny on CBS radio.

Freberg was employed as a voice actor in animation shortly after graduating from Alhambra High School. He began at Warner Brothers in 1944 by getting on a bus and asking the driver to let him off "in Hollywood." As he describes in his autobiography, It Only Hurts When I Laugh, he did this, getting off the bus and finding a sign that said "talent agency." He walked in, and the agents there arranged for him to audition for Warner Brothers cartoons where he was promptly hired.

The popularity of Freberg's recordings landed him his own program, the situation comedy That's Rich. Freberg portrayed bumbling but cynical Richard E. Wilk, a resident of Hope Springs, where he worked for B.B. Hackett's Consolidated Paper Products Company. Freberg suggested the addition of dream sequences, which made it possible for him to perform his more popular Capitol Records satires before a live studio audience. The CBS series aired from January 8 to September 23, 1954.

The following series is dedicated to his failed attempts at satirical comedy that were previously unreleased.