Mark is a late-comer to the comedy field.
Mark has always been a wise-ass, but only recently decided to try it out on stage in front of strangers with drinks. Mark has never built a website. And Mark is decidedly uncomfortable talking about himself in the third person, so let's cut the crap and go first person, shall we? Good. Thanks. My comedy is best described as "Fresh-underwear observational": Mostly clean, but just a layer away from the naughty bits. My formal stand-up career began in Aspen, Colorado (on a dare), and has generally revolved around that unique style of life found in the lightly-populated confines of high-attitude Western Colorado. Ski resort life presents ample opportunity to riff on such compelling topics as:
At this point the folks were bursting with pride, but wondering why they financed my high-priced education at San Diego State University when I could have landed the casino gig without the Telecom degree. So. after a year and a half of Tahoe fun and good ol' Catholic guilt, I wrangled an entry-level job in TV news at the CBS affiliate in Monterey (KMST 46), working my way up from lowly floor-director to one-man-band news dude. (I think I got the job because I had - and still have - perfect TV news hair...unfortunately.) One Man Band means I had to conduct the interview AND hold the camera AND the microphone AND drive the news car AND edit the story AND wash the news car before going home after the 11 o'clock news. Ahhh, the glamour of local news!! If they had a blackboard I'm sure it would have been my job to clean the erasers after class. 1987 found me living in my ex-girlfriend's semi-remodeled Pacific Grove house, awaiting a sign from above as to where I was going and what I was doing with my life...when a call came from a friend in Colorado asking if I wanted to move to Vail and do the same one-man-band bullsh*t I had just left in Monterey. "WOULD I?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING!!!" The mountains were calling, and I could not put them on hold. The Vail TV news gig lasted from January to April, where I met my future ex-wife (the anal-retentive German Lutheran), and was transferred to Aspen to commence a 20+ year adventure in skiing, hiking, career-cobbling, friend-making and oxygen-searching. I've worked as a TV and radio newsman, magazine circulation director, bartender (again), handyman (again!), telephone technician, public relatons coordinator, TV host, real estate marketing coordinator, video producer and...comedian! Yeah -- that. (finally!) I've got less than two years as an official comic under my belt. Though, during a brief stint in San Diego I managed to win a major regional humorous speaking contest with Toastmasters...but they're obliged to laugh and clap, so I don't count that as official stand-up comedy since there's no chance of bloodletting or even mild heckling. Toastmasters is risk-free comedy training, so I higly advise it for first-timers terrrified of conflict. Even if you suck, they will clap. It's the law. Thanks for peeking into the site-in-progress. It will get better - I promise. Cheers - MT  |
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