Comedy Night: Paul Mecurio

A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Paul Mecurio is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winner for his work on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." Paul has an extensive list of acting and stand-up television credits. He has appeared in his own Comedy Central Special, starred in his own series on HBO, appeared on CBS's "The Late, Late Show," VH-1, "Conan O'Brien," "Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld," "Hannity," CNN, MSNBC, "The Tonight Show," "The Daily Show," NBC’s “Chuck”, HBO’s “Bored To Death,” CBS’s “Ghost Whisperer,” ABC’s “Mr. Sunshine,” and ABC's "Wednesday's at 9:30."
Paul graduated with honors from Georgetown Law School and began his career on Wall Street as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at the law firm of Willkie Farr and Gallagher and later as an investment banker at CS First Boston. All the while, Paul was honing a second career writing and performing comedy and was hired by Jay Leno to write jokes for “The Tonight Show.” With the encouragement of Jay, Paul moved center stage, leaving Wall Street and starting his career as a stand-up comedian.
Paul was invited to be on a new Comedy Central show called “The Daily Show.” Paul has been featured as a performer on “The Daily Show” as a correspondent and in “The Daily Show” segment, “Second Opinion,” in which he skewered the medical profession playing an HMO representative with a less than sympathetic mindset.
As a writer for “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Paul won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement In Writing In A Variety, Music or Comedy Program. Paul has also been honored with a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting (think The Pulitzer Prize for Broadcasting) for his work on The Daily Show. Paul has also received a second Emmy nomination for his work on “The Daily Show.”
Paul appears as a contributor on Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, and CNBC. Paul is a recurring contributor and satirist on “Hannity,” CNN’s “Amercian Morning,” “Dylan Ratigan,” “Red Eye with Greg Gutfeld,” “Fox & Friends,” and “The Joy Behar Show,” among others.
Paul created, executive produced, stars in and hosts the HBO Sports series, “Got No Game with Paul Mecurio,” which recently premiered with weekly installments at www.HBO.com and www.paulmecurio.com. The series takes a satiric look at the world of sports through original sketches and one-on-one interviews and has been nominated for an Emmy Award.
Paul created executive produced and hosted his own topical sports comedy show, entitled, ”Sports Central” for Comedy Central, and currently has three television shows he has created in production.
-A sit-com starring Paul based on his unique journey from being a Wall Street lawyer and investment banker to comedian and actor. Lewis Black will co-star. Don Scardino, the famed director from “30 Rock,” will Direct and Executive Produce. This show is slated to begin production end of 2012.
-A show hosted by Paul centered around his unique brand of stand up that involves the audience. The show, entitled, “Mob Rule w/Paul Mecurio” is a talk show hosted by Paul that gives a voice to the audience-the average American. The famous Wayans Brothers are attached to produce. This show is slated to begin in early 2013.
-An adult animated show called, “Paul Mecurio’s The Disgraced Squad,” about a group of disgraced sports superstars who have been kicked out of sports and use the very powers that got them thrown out of sports to fight crime and do evil. This show has a network buyer in place and is in production to launch by year-end.
Paul was seen in a guest-starring role opposite John Cleese in the ABC sitcom “Wednesday at 9:30” as well as in a variety of other dramatic and comedic shows. He has shot a television pilot set in New York City for famed producer/directors Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana. He can be seen in the dramatic film, “High Art, Low Life,” written and directed by Peter Nourjian and is the lead role in the independent film “Faux Pix.”
A national headliner in clubs across North America and in Europe, Paul has performed three times at the prestigious Just For Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal and has made over two dozen national TV appearances including multiple appearances in his own Comedy Central specials, on “The Late, Late Show” on CBS, “Conan O’Brien,” “The Tonight Show,” Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” “Hannity,” “Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld,” “Dylan Ratigan,” “Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn,” NBC’s “Late Friday,” and on VH1’s popular clip shows.
Paul is a published essayist for The New York Times Sunday Magazine, as well as a regular contributor to “The Bob and Tom Radio Show,” the largest syndicated radio show in America with 4 million listeners in 165 markets. He also appears regularly on a variety of SiriusXM radio shows, including, ”The Jim Breuer Show,” “Howard Stern’s Robin Quivers Show; The Chatter” “Raw Dog Comedy,” “The Judith Regan Show,” “Left Jab,” and “The B Team Sports Show,” among others.