Mark Ridley

Following graduation from Wayne State University with a BA in Communications, Mark Ridley headed west to California to put his degree to good use in the film industry. While in Los Angeles, he visited the Comedy Store and Improv on a nightly basis. Seeing a young David Letterman, Richard Pryor, and a host of others perform live and up close gave him inspiration. Mark Ridley started the Comedy Castle in 1979 and pioneered the three-performer format now standard in all comedy clubs. The Comedy Castle alumni includes some of the best known comedians working today: Tim Allen, Jim Carrey, Jay Leno, Jerry Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen DeGeneres, and many more. For the past 20 years, Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle has been a landmark fixture in downtown Royal Oak. Ridley's credits in the entertainment field are numerous. Winner of a local Emmy for co-producing and hosting Tim Allen's final local television performance in Detroit on "Funny Side of The Street". Ridley has also hosted morning radio and done voice over commercial work in Detroit. Ridley's influence on the local entertainment scene cannot be overlooked. His national connections enable Ridley to help manage and promote local comedians. Many of whom have gone on to perform on "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and Comedy Central. Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle has hosted the Showtime Comedy Club Network, HBO's Comic Relief, A&E's Comedy On The Road with John Byner, and the Comcast Comedy Spotlight. Ridley co-produces "Laugh-A-Palooza" each year at the Meadowbrook Theater. This gives rising Detroit talent an opportunity to show off their comedy skills in front of a larger theater crowd. On the charity front, Ridley has worked with former Detroit Lion Doug English on his Lone Star Classic to find a cure for spinal cord injury. His fund-raiser at the Comedy Castle each year, Don't Just Sit There, benefits victims of spinal cord injury at Walk The Line in Ferndale. Ridley is also involved with the American Cancer Society, Forgotten Harvest, and each year hosts a golf outing to benefit the Macomb Oakland Regional Center-Futures Foundations. This organization provides housing and job placement for the mentally and physically challenged.