I’m a writer and stand-up comedian living in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn where I work on new and exciting ways to affect the world through laughter. And I play a lot of Boggle.

My Back Story

I am not Italian. I’m Welsh, like Tom Jones. I hail from Madison, New Jersey where my father, an elementary school gym teacher, imparted sparse life lessons via dodgeball. The rest I learned from Three’s Company. In high school I was elected class clown (it was a landslide). I attended the University of Delaware where I studied film, fronted a cover band called Snackplate and hurdled things for the track team. After graduating, I u-hauled it to Boulder, Colorado where I studied improv, played piano in a Phish-ish jam band called The Buzzz (3 z’s) and somehow ably DJed parties with my limited collection of Yes, Night Ranger and Hall and Oates albums. In 1999, I began telling jokes on stage in New York City. After years of TV appearances on NBC, Comedy Central, VH1, etc., club gigs, cruises, colleges, festivals and tours from Vegas to Amsterdam as well as warm-up jobs for the Daily Show and Colbert Report among others, I decided to dial it down and focus on my writing as a means of stabilizing daytime hours and strengthening my stage act. So I started a blog and enrolled in a copywriting course at the School of Visual Arts.

My Front Story

The summer of 2007, I landed an internship with Wieden and Kennedy in Portland, Oregon where I wrote my first TV and print ads for NIKE. While in the Pacific Northwest, I booked Bumbershoot in Seattle opening six shows for Janeane Garofalo. Six months later, a few weeks into my first full-time job as a copywriter for Kirshenbaum, Bond and Partners in NYC, I taped my debut stand-up appearance on Late Night with Conan O’Brien. The focus thing was working- writing began to fuel my stand-up and vice versa. At KBP, I went on to create “3conomics” for Wendy’s, which became their Value Menu campaign during the early days of the recession, and was awarded a Golden Bagel by the agency for Campaign of the Year. Soon after, I was featured prominently in New York Magazine as one of “Ten New Comedians that Funny People Find Funny.” That Fall, after “leaving” KB where I had penned over 20 TV and radio spots for Wendy’s, most of them airing nationally, I jumped into a Hybrid car for a month and drove cross-country, writing and producing a Ford Motor Company sponsored comedy project for J. Walter Thompson. Since I’ve had stints writing freelance for MTV’s “Silent Library,” BBDO, Grey and many others.

And here I am.

RESUME | ADVERTISING

McgarryBowen, DIGO, Fluid – 2011 freelance copywriter
BBDO, Euro RSCG, Grey, SKINNY, Sapient Nitro, DIGO - 2010 freelance copywriter
JWT LA - October 2009  freelance producer, writer- Ford Motor Co.
Kirshenbaum, Bond & Partners - March 2008 – Sept 2009  copywriter  Wendy’s, Mohegan Sun, Panasonic, Diagio, BMW
Wieden + Kennedy, Portland – June-Oct 2007  copywriter for NIKE, COKE; producer LaughBox, WK’s first stand-up comedy showcase
Lowe NY - 2005 freelance copywriter, Degree Deodorant
VH1 - Nov 2004 freelance promo writer

RESUME | COMEDY

Television

Live to Dance, CBS – audience warm-up
Late Night with Conan O’Brien, NBC – stand-up, actor
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, NBC – actor, audience warm-up
Late Friday, NBC – stand-up
Last Comic Standing, NBC – season one finalist
Premium Blend, Comedy Central – stand-up
Silent Library (season 4), MTV — writer
Jump Cuts, Comedy Central – actor
The Daily Show, Comedy Central – audience warm-up
Colbert Report, audience warm-up
Important Things with Demetri Martin, Comedy Central – warm-up
Best Week Ever, VH1 – talking head
100 Funniest/Scariest Movies, Bravo – talking head
Cheap Seats, ESPN – actor

Writing

Silent Library (season 4), MTV — writer
FADER.com, contributing writer
The Onion, guest writer
Time Out New York, contributing writer
CollegeHumor.com, contributing writer
Stereogum, contributing writer
Thrillist.com, contributing writer
The Wrong Coast, AMC freelance writer

Festivals/Tours

Bonnaroo Manchester, TN 2011
Charleston Comedy Festival 2010
Bumbershoot Seattle 2007
Vancouver Comedy Festival 2006
Nobodies of Comedy Tour 2005/2006
Montreal ‘Just for Laughs’ Comedy Festival 2005
College Humor Short Bus Tour 2005
Toyota Comedy Festival NYC 2001

Kudos

1^st Runner-up Best Male Comic, Emerging Comics of NY 2003
1^st Runner-up, Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots semifinals 2000
1^st Runner-up Son, Baldo Family Awards 1982

Education

SVA, NY 2007
University of Delaware, BA English/film
University of Colorado, Boulder, postgrad creative writing
Writer’s Boot Camp NYC, sitcom writing
Upright Citizens Brigade NYC, improv

Other Skills

Playskool’s Darth Tater is an homage to Darth Vader, the evil antagonist in George Lucas’ Star Wars trilogies. Lucas was excited with the toy’s release saying, “If Darth Vader was a potato, this is exactly what he’d look like.” Lucas denied selling out the Dark Lord claiming that Darth Vader was originally written as a potato but through time became a corrupt cyber-man to fit the rest of the story.
Star Wars fans were apprehensive to see their favorite ruler of the Dark Side in spud form. Hasbro claimed that Darth Tater “is every bit as menacing as Darth Vader because he comes with a light saber, cape and helmet. It’s just his torso that’s in the shape of a potato.”
Children’s focus groups indicate that kids will continue to live in fear of Darth Vader despite the big red lips, schnoz and a tuber-shaped body. Reports say, kids who dislike the taste of potatoes will be even more frightened by the toy.

I was named one of New York’s “Ten Comedians That Funny People Find Funny.” Even made the Table of Contents…

Bruce Bonneville

Fisher Vs. Slate: Love All

Bridge Bash

Beer

The Pleaser Twins

Lift Ticket to Ride

:15s for Nike Pro Cold Apparel. Shot by the Perlorian Brothers. I wrote and did VO.

NIKE KICKSTACK

Custom wooden drawer components designed to look like classic NIKE shoe-boxes.

SHOEBOX PAPER INSERTS

PRINT CAMPAIGN FOR NIKE PRO COLD LACROSSE

NIKE BACKYARD

By giving a fresh look to an old line of backyard games including wiffleball, tetherball and foursquare, NIKE reintroduces the world to a timeless genre of sport.

BASKETBALL BLOG CALENDAR

As part of a season-long Nike Basketball campaign urging the public to “keep basketball righteous,” I was asked to create an extensive calendar laying out topics for our “Voice of Basketball” (being pitched at the time as Al Sharpton) to discuss. With an often humorous tone, Sharpton would post daily blog entries concerning all things basketball, such as moments in history, game highlights, player updates, etc., all the while emphasizing the importance of keeping the game virtuous.

Bacon and Blue Burger

I invented 3comonics.

Much of the advertising we see and hear today is different than what we saw and heard a year ago. The messages have changed to reflect the economic times we live in. And for good reason. Can you imagine not revisiting your client’s brand message and, rather, putting more media dollars behind ideas that are out of touch with how people are thinking and feeling today? It would be marketing suicide.

Of all the work I’ve seen, two recent campaigns have stood out for their boldness: Hyundai’s Assurance Program and Wendy’s 3Conomics. First, there’s Wendy’s lessons in 3Conomics, “3 waaaaay better sandwiches for just 99 cents each.” At a time when most fast feeders are pushing value eating, Wendy’s has done a nice job in positioning its menu of inexpensive sandwiches under the “3Conomics” banner. And — even more refreshing — it has not resorted to a desperate, hard-hitting tone in the work. Instead, it’s continued with the effective use of humor, while clearly expressing the 3Conomics value idea. Who says you can’t sell with a smile in hard financial times? People still need to laugh, and that still enables consumers to remember your message, and motivates them to consider you.

Directed by Chris Smith

Wendy’s Radio

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