Mike Lawrence (comedian)

Mike Lawrence
Birth name Michael Patrick Lawrence
Born (1983-01-14) January 14, 1983
Miami, Florida[1]
Medium Stand-up
Nationality American
Years active 2005–present
Influences The Simpsons, Patton Oswalt, Dr. Seuss, Marvel comics from the 60s to early 90s, his parents[2]
Website www.mikelawrencecomedy.com

Michael Patrick "Mike" Lawrence is an American comedian and writer from Davie, Florida. He currently lives in New York City.[1]

Early life

Lawrence was born in Miami but grew up in Davie, Florida. He attended Western High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Florida Atlantic University in English.

When he was 16 years old, he began working at a McDonald's in southern Florida. He attributes his ability to deal with hecklers to his time spent at McDonald's working the drive-thru. In his podcast interview on WTF with Marc Maron, he stated, "Heckling doesn't bother me because I've been yelled at for McNuggets."[3][4]

Career

Lawrence started his career at the age of 15 by performing poetry at open mic nights in 1998. After realizing that the part he liked most about it was making people laugh, he moved to comedy.[1]

In 2010, Mike was named one of the New Faces at the largest comedy festival in the world, Just for Laughs.[5] He later performed at the festival in 2012 at both the Montreal and Chicago festivals.[6] While in Montreal, he recorded a set for HBO Canada's Funny as Hell.

In 2011, Mike performed at Lance Bangs' Come Laugh With Us at the Birdgetown Comedy Festival with fellow features Kristen Schaal, Fred Armisen, Jon Daly, and Brett Gelman.[7] Mike also performed on John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show with fellow features Hannibal Buress, Michael Ian Black, and Hari Kondabolu.[8] He regularly opened for Oliver soon after.

In 2012, Lawrence also made his first appearance on Conan O'Brien's TV show, Conan.

In 2013, his comedy album Sadamantium was released by Comedy Central Records in conjunction with his half-hour special on The Half Hour.[9] Sadamantium was recorded at the Nerdist Showroom at Meltdown Comics.[10] The album received positive reviews from The Huffington Post, The A.V. Club, America's Comedy, and The Laugh Button.[9][11][12][13] In September, he wrote a piece for The Huffington Post called The Five Most Important Things I've Learned Doing Comedy in New York That I'd Pass on To Newer Comics where he shares his feelings about comedy and his career.[14] He performed again on Conan in this year. Lawrence wrote a piece for and was a guest on W. Kamau Bell's show Totally Biased.

Podcasts

Lawrence hosts the Nerd of Mouth podcast with Jake Young on the New York City-based comedy podcast network, Cave Comedy Radio. Episodes are published weekly. Topics discussed on the podcast include comic books, video games, TV shows, and movies; things that Lawrence enjoys.[15] Lawrence and the podcast were featured on an episode of Toy Hunter in the episode called Nerd of Mouth, in 2013.[16][17]

Mike has also been a guest on many notable podcasts, including You Know What Dude! with comedian Robert Kelly, You Made It Weird with comedian Pete Holmes, WTF podcast with comedian Marc Maron, The Adam Carolla Show with Adam Carolla, Keith and The Girl with Keith Malley, The K Ohle Show with Kurt Braunohler, The Artie Lange Show hosted by comedian Artie Lange, and "What Say You?" with Brian "Q" Quinn and Sal Vulcano of Impractical Jokers.

Personal life

Mike's mother was a stand-up comedian and he has one brother and sister.[18]

Filmography

Television

Year Title Role Notes
2011–2012 John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show Himself Two episodes
2012 Naked Truth Writer TBS pilot for panel comedy show hosted by Tom Papa
2012–2013 Conan Himself Guest comedian
2013 The Half Hour Himself
2013 Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell Himself One episode. Wrote a piece for the show.
2013 Toy Hunter Himself Featured in the episode Nerd of Mouth
2013-2014 @midnight Himself Five episodes

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 3 Palafox, Patrick (April 13, 2011). "Comedy in DC: Mike Lawrence". We Love DC. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  2. Lawrence, Mike. "Mike Lawrence AMA". Reddit AMA. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  3. Kim, Sussana (April 26, 2012). "Working at a McDonald's Drive-thru Gave Comedian Confidence". Good Morning America. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  4. Marc Maron (December 6, 2012). "WTF with Marc Maron" (Podcast). Earwolf. Retrieved October 17, 2015.
  5. Gadino, Dylan P. (July 16, 2010). "Just For Laughs: Feimster, Lawrence, Jost impress at New Faces". LaughSpin. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  6. "Nikki Glaser, Brody Stevens, Jonah Ray and 14 more comedians to film half-hour specials for Comedy Central". LaughSpin. February 14, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  7. Kate, Meagan (April 23, 2011). "Bridgetown Comedy Festival: Day 2". LaughSpin. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  8. Gardner, Lucas (July 6, 2012). "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show is back July 20, so let's watch a preview!". LaughSpin. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  9. 1 2 Heisler, Steve (May 28, 2013). "Mike Lawrence: Sadamantium". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  10. Frissore, Angie (June 4, 2013). "STAND UP TUESDAYS: MIKE LAWRENCE". Under the Gun Review. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  11. Bartolone, Tony (June 11, 2013). "Mike Lawrence's Sadamantium". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  12. DiCostanzo, Ben (July 1, 2013). "Mike Lawrence, 'Sadamantium' (review)". The Laugh Button. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  13. Schildgen, Alex (May 24, 2013). "Mike Lawrence and Nerdish Insecurities: ‘Sadamantium’". America's Comedy. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  14. Lawrence, Mike (September 3, 2013). "The Five Most Important Things I've Learned Doing Comedy in New York That I'd Pass on To Newer Comics". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  15. "Nerd of Mouth". Cave Comedy Radio. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  16. "Toy Hunter, Season 2, Episode 8". TV.com. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  17. Garris, Blake (May 23, 2013). "The Marvel Life: Mike Lawrence". Marvel Comics. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  18. Lohne, Megan (February 21, 2013). "Mike Lawrence: Born into Comedy". TimesSquare.com. Retrieved October 8, 2013.

External links

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