Brief Bio:

Alsatian-born comedian/author/music artist ‘Mad Mark’ Wirtz moved to London, England, as a teenager and became an internationally awarded musician/record producer for EMI Records, working at Abbey Road studios alongside artists like the Beatles and Pink Floyd, the latter of whom Mark discovered and signed to their recording contract.

In 1972, Mark moved to Los Angeles, where he continued his music career.

In the early 1980's, subsequent to a divorce, Mark exited the music business to dedicate himself to full-time single parenting of his daughter, whose custody he had assumed. 

By 1983, his savings and royalties having dwindled, Mark took on a myriad of "day jobs," including telemarketer, waiter, Mâitre d', voice-over artist, translator, undercover agent, sales manager/trainer, bloodstock agent and car-washer, while burning the midnight oil as a burgeoning author. (Since then, Mark has published four novels and countless articles, all typically underscored by his acerbic satirical wit.) 

In 1996, Mark took his first steps into comedy by performing stand-up in various Hollywood clubs (including The Improv and The Comedy Store), and studied improvisational comedy at Hollywood's Groundlings Theatre.

Family matters prompted Mark to move to Savannah, GA, in 1998, where, in the absence of any comedy clubs within 200 miles, he focused on his writing career as a novelist, nationally syndicated columnist, and Food/Drama critic.

In 2004, at the behest of his "Les Philippes" Rock-band leader son-in-law in Barcelona, Mark ended his hiatus as music producer and traveled to Spain to produce the band's debut album, which subsequently reached #1 in the Spanish independent charts.

While continuing to be regarded as a cult legend in the music world, his work being discovered by a new generation of music fans (a catalogue of 8 CDs continues to be a global best-seller on i-Tunes and other online music vendors), Mark shifted from Rock'n'Roll to comedy in 2006, when a chance meeting with the Jax Comics, a group of working comedians in Jacksonville, FL, connected him with the Jax Comedy Zone club. There, Mark resumed his previously interrupted comedy pursuit as a priority career commitment, rendering his music merely peripheral to his comedy writing and performing.

‘Mad Mark’ now lives in Tampa, FL, and currently performs in southeastern comedy clubs and beyond, while work-shopping his one-man musical comedy show-in-progress, “Cooking For Cannibals.”

Mad Mark is a featured Rooftop Comedy performer, was a 9 times champion and #1 winner of the 2008 FameCast comedy contest, top 5 finalist winner in the 2009 YOBILaugh comedy competition, and currently a semi-finalist in the 2010 YOBISing contest.

For more detailed info, including bio, discography, comedy clips and original paintings, please visit:

http://www.markwirtz.com

http://www.myspace.com/dreamtunesmusic

http://www.rooftopcomedy.com/comics/MadMarkWirtz

http://www.youtube.com/user/madmarkwirtz

or GOOGLE Mark Wirtz (pack a sandwich)