Mike Mercury

Wisconsin native Mike Mercury is a professional stand-up comedian and writer who has been involved in the performing arts in one form or another since he was 8 years old. At the tender age of 10 he wrote and directed his school Christmas play; a rather grim tale about Santa Claus being hijacked on an airplane and the subsequent cancellation of that joyous holiday. It was later made into a movie of the week.

In seventh grade he won his middle school’s coveted “Actor Of The Year” award for his work in several stage productions, upsetting the heavily favored eighth grader, Scott Herkert, who went on to a successful career in residential construction.

In High School, shunned by a narrow-minded and elitist theater department, Mike concentrated on music: drums and percussion in band, and the kazoo in the back row of geometry class. In his senior year, he got an “F” in bowling because it was spring, he was in love and he never showed up. This, too, was later made into a movie of the week.

After High School, Mike attended college and became a star in the community theater scene. He gave commanding performances in everything from serious dramas to high comedy to musical operettas. In 1983, armed with just his sizzling array of talents and his wealth of experience (and about $180 in his pocket) he headed west to Los Angeles to pursue his lifelong dream of becoming a MOVIE STAR!

That didn’t happen. He did, however, accomplish many notable things. He joined an improvisational training and performance group called “L.A. Connection.” After a year with them he formed his own Improv group , “High Adventure.” After passing an audition for Mitzi Shore at the world renowned Comedy Store, they quickly became a favorite act there, appearing weekly (and sometimes weakly) opening for Louie Anderson, Robin Williams, Roseanne Barr, Sam Kinison and Andrew “Dice” Clay, just to namedrop a few.

In the spring of 1988 the Writer’s strike virtually shut down the entire industry and Mike was laid off at his job as a Production Assistant from the not-even-close-to-being-a-hit Disney show, “Videopolis.” Broke, bitter and craving cheese, Mike returned home to America’s Dairyland.

He was welcomed home with open arms. (Mostly small caliber handguns). In fact, he was quickly asked to play the lead in a production of an original political satire called “Election Rejection: How I Flunked Out of the Electoral College” which was produced at the renowned “Ark” theater. After a successful run in which critics and audiences alike raved about his performance (some were heard saying, “He should go back to L.A.”) he was hired as a permanent act at the Piccadilly Comedy Pub. It was there that he finally put all his talents to use in what has now become the show that it is today; “Hilarious, Dynamic and totally entertaining!” (Wisconsin State Journal)

Mike quickly became an audience favorite and a headliner at comedy clubs all across America. Now working primarily in the Corporate market, his likable persona, quick wit, and clean and clever observational material, make him a much-sought-after performer.

Toss in some customized joke writing specifically for your company and you’ve got the makings of “One very memorable evening“. (Milwaukee Journal)

“Mike Mercury delivers great material AND plays off an audience as well as anybody we’ve ever seen.” (Chicago Tribune)