Political comedian mark russell campaigns for laughs

Media Contact:

Kristen Gleason
Director of Marketing
The Paramount Theater
215 East Main Street
Charlottesville, VA 22902
434.979.1922 ext. 103
kristen@theparamount.net

For Immediate Release

January 21, 2008

Whenever political comedian Mark Russell is down in the dumps, he opens the newspaper and immediately cheers up.  Practically everything he sees strikes him funny. “Some days,” he says, “the jokes jump off the pages and write themselves.” His answer to the frequently asked question, "Do you have any writers?" is "Oh, yes ... I have 535 writers. One hundred in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives."

Just like his PBS specials, which have been extremely popular for more than two decades, Mark Russell's live presentations parody the biggest political stories in the news. The piano-playing satirist blends hilarious one-liners and music, performing stand-up political comedy in the form of brilliantly funny lyrics set to familiar tunes. Spend some time with Mark Russell at his Paramount Theater performance Friday, February 1 at 8 pm, and he'll prove to you that fact is indeed funnier than fiction.

This performance is sponsored in part by an anonymous donor.  Special Media Sponsor for this event is The Daily Progress.

With his trademark piano in tow, Mark Russell skewers official pomposity and spotlights the utterly outrageous, wielding his wit as deftly as a surgeon wields a scalpel. In presentations freshly crafted for each event and reflective of what literally made the headlines that day, he turns the Washington, DC scene into a musical comedy tour-de-force that leaves audiences rolling in the aisles

Russell readily admits that when he was a kid he dodged the draft.  He did it by joining the Marine Corps. After serving his full hitch he found himself in the smoke-filled bars of Washington, DC singing his funny songs. When he got a job in a Capitol Hill establishment, the first thing he thought was “I’ve started at the bottom but I’ve managed to work my way down.”

Around the time John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier was invading Washington, Russell invaded the Shoreham Hotel for a risky two-week gig.  It lasted for twenty years. The Marquee Lounge became the place where politicians would come to hear Russell’s jokes about the things they had done that day. After a brief 26-year hiatus, Russell returned to the Shoreham in November 2007. He says, “If I keep doing the act for another 20 years I will be 95 -- at which time I may slow down a bit, depending on which Clinton or Bush is in the White House.”

In addition to writing all his own material, Russell performs regularly around the country on college campuses as well as in his favorite place, public theatres. He has recorded numerous CDs, authored a book, writes a nationally syndicated column, and appears frequently as a guest commentator on news programs including CNN's Inside Politics Weekend.

Russell speaks of his recordings as “time capsules” commenting, “My guess is that if you play them for your children or grandchildren years from now, they will say, 'gee, things haven't changed much, have they?'"

Seats are still available for Mark Russell’s February 1 performance at The Paramount Theater. Tickets are $38.50, $41.50, $44.50, and $49.50. Half-price student rush tickets and group discounts are offered

Tickets are available online or through The Paramount’s Box Office at 434.979.1333.

For more information about Mark Russell, please visit www.markrussell.net.