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Mark Russell: Mark Russell Comedy Specials
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Mark Russell has spent the better part of the last 30 years on public television as host of the “Mark Russell Comedy Specials,” which were consistently among the top-rated shows on that network. With impeccable timing, twinkling eyes and shock-of-recognition insights into American politics, he draws merriment from the pomposity of public life. Whenever Mark Russell is down in the dumps, he opens the newspaper and immediately cheers up. Practically everything he sees strikes him as funny. “Some days”, he says, “the jokes jump off the pages and write themselves.”
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Mark Russell is uniquely successful in making fun of Washington politics and politicians. His Mark Russell Comedy Specials have been on the PBS network for 28 years. The idea originated when Mike Collins, Fred Dentinger and John Hutchinson of WNED-TV caught his show at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington.
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[T]he special still allows viewers to enjoy Russell doing what Russell does best. Many of his finest comedic highlights are intercut with tales of his not-so-fine moments on the bumpy road to becoming America's foremost political satirist. He talks candidly about his unsuccessful auditions for the Tonight Show With Jack Paar and The Ed Sullivan Show--due to concerns that his humor was just "too inside Washington." It wasn't until Russell's "discovery" by WNED, in his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., that his star really began to rise. WNED introduced him to PBS stations in 1974 and the Mark Russell Comedy Specials were born in 1975.
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For more than 25 years Russell has appeared on the American public broadcasting network PBS at least four times a year. His comedy specials are a mix of political stand-up comedy covering current events and musical parodies, in which Russell accompanies himself on his trademark piano. Russell's song parodies use melodies from old standards with new humorous lyrics pertinent to the subject matter. For example, in 1990, following the execution of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu, Russell did a parody song on his show to the tune of "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." ("Pardon me, boys / Are you the cats who shot Ceaucescu / You made my day / The way you blew him away.") Russell himself admits that most of his jokes and songs are very topical and have "a shelf life shorter than cottage cheese."
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Russell plays off the day’s headlines, performing stand-up comedy while accompanying himself on the piano. He has spent 30 years on public television as host of the “Mark Russell Comedy Specials,” consistently among the top-rated shows on that network. With impeccable timing, twinkling eyes and shock-of-recognition insights into American politics, he draws merriment from the pomposity of public life.
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Mark Russell Comedy Specials