Paul Mecurio

Paul Mecurio is a rising star on the comedy scene today combining his quick wit and intelligence with his innovative improv abilities and honed performance skills to create a hilarious and unique comedy experience.

Mr. Mecurio is a native of Providence, Rhode Island and has a law degree from Georgetown Law School.  During his career on Wall Street as a lawyer and investment banker, Mecurio was hired by Jay Leno to write jokes for The Tonight Show.  With the encouragement of Jay, Mecurio eventually moved center stage, leaving Wall Street and starting his career as a stand-up comedian.

In 2000-2001, as a staff writer for Comedy Central's critically acclaimed comedy The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Mecurio won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Writing In A Variety, Music or Comedy Program.  In addition, Mecurio has been honored with a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting (think The Pulitzer Prize for Broadcasting) for his work on The Daily Show.  In 2001-2002 Mecurio received his second Emmy nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Writing In A Variety, Music or Comedy Program, also for his work on The Daily Show.

Mr. Mecurio recently had a guest starring role in the ABC sitcom Wednesday at 9:30 starring John Cleese and shot a part in the upcoming film drama, High Art, Low Life, written and directed by Peter Nourjian.  This fall, Mecurio is scheduled to play the lead in a new film called, Faux Pix.

Mr. Mecurio has also been featured on The Daily Show in a segment called, "Second Opinion", in which he skewered the medical profession playing an H-M-O representative with a less than sympathetic mindset.

As a stand-up, Mecurio has experienced great success.  In 2001 he brought down the house in Montreal's famed Just For Laughs Comedy Festival.  

Mr. Mecurio has also made over a dozen national television appearances on such shows as The Late, Late Show with Craig Kilborn, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn, NBC's Comedy Showcase, NBC's Late Friday, Comedy Central's Dr. Katz, New Joke City with host Robert Klein, NBC's Friday Night Videos, The Disney Network, MTV, VH-1, and The USA Network.

Mr. Mecurio also makes regular appearances on MSNBC and Fox News as a political satirist.

A national headliner in clubs across the country and in Europe, Mecurio's act has been met with rave reviews.  New York Newsday says "... Paul blends an engaging performance with very funny and smart material creating a refreshingly unique set of stand-up."  The Boston Globe describes Mecurio's act as "... honest, extremely well-written, fearless and very, very funny...watch for this guy, he's creating his own new wave in comedy!"  Mr. Mecurio is the regular warm-up comedian for The Daily Show and has performed warm-up for The Late Show with David Letterman, as well as New Joke City.

Mr. Mecurio has written, produced and directed five short films, the latest of which, Gloves, an off-center dark comedy has been screened at several prestigious film festivals, including The HBO Comedy Arts Festival, Aspen, Colorado, The Toronto Film Festival, The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival and The San Sebastian Film Festival, Spain.  Mecurio also worked on the film American Buffalo, starring Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Franz based on the award winning David Mamet play of the same name.

Given his Wall Street background, Mecurio is very comfortable with corporate events. His stand-up act is corporate appropriate both in terms of content and language, and Mecurio does something very unique among comedians, he works very effectively with clients to customize his show to the needs and wishes of the client. At corporate events Mecurio has performed not only as a stand-up comedian but has worked extensively hosting corporate benefits, acting as an auctioneer for corporate fund raisers and being the Master Of Ceremony for corporate award shows.