Paul Mecurio

A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Paul Mecurio graduated with honors from Georgetown Law School and began his career on Wall Street as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer at the law firm of Willkie Farr and Gallagher and, later, as an investment banker at CS First Boston. All the while, Paul was honing a second career, writing and performing comedy and was hired by Jay Leno to write jokes for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992). In 1995, with the encouragement of Jay, Paul moved center stage, leaving Wall Street and starting his career as a stand-up comedian. In 1996, Paul was invited to be on the original writing team for a new Comedy Central show called The Daily Show (1996). In 2001, as a writer for "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", Paul won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Writing in a Variety, Music or Comedy Program. For his work on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart: Indecision 2000", Paul was honored with a Peabody Award for Excellence in Broadcasting (think The Pulitzer Prize for Broadcasting). In 2002, Paul received his second Emmy nomination for his work on "The Daily Show". Paul has also been featured in "The Daily Show" segment, "Second Opinion", in which he skewered the medical profession, playing an HMO representative with a less than sympathetic mindset. Paul has shot a television pilot, Sports Central (2005), in which he starred, co-created and executive produced. Using a news format, "Sports Central" is a funny, smart look at the controversial off-the-field issues and player behavior plaguing sports. In addition, Paul currently has a sit-com in development, based on his life. A national headliner in clubs across North America and in Europe, Paul has performed at the prestigious "Just For Laughs Comedy Festival" in Montreal and has made numerous TV appearances, including his own "Comedy Central Presents" half-hour special, "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart", "The Late, Late Show" on CBS, Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn (2002), NBC's Late Friday (2001), Comedy Central's "Dr. Katz" and numerous appearances on VH1's popular clip shows. Paul has been a guest on Fox News Channel and makes regular appearances on CNN, CNNfn and MSNBC as a political satirist. Paul was featured as a political satirist in the 2004 Presidential Election coverage by The Daily News, CNN, MSNBC, CNNfn, and ESPN2. Paul is currently headlining comedy clubs nationwide. Paul is regularly heard by millions of listeners, nationwide, in his recurring segment, "Paul Mecurio's Image Makeover", on the nationally syndicated morning radio show, "The Bob & Tom Show". Paul was seen in a guest-starring role opposite John Cleese in the ABC sitcom, "Wednesday at 9:30", and shot a television pilot set in New York City for famed producer/directors Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana. He can also be seen in the upcoming film drama, "High Art, Low Life", written and directed by Peter Nourjian and recently shot the lead role in the independent film, "Faux Pix". Paul has written, produced and directed five short films, the latest of which, "Gloves", an off-center dark comedy has been screened at several prestigious film festivals including "The US Comedy Arts Festival" in Aspen, "The Toronto Film Festival", "The Los Angeles Independent Film Festival" and "The San Sebastian Film Festival" in Spain. Paul also worked on the film, American Buffalo (1996), starring Dustin Hoffman and Dennis Franz, based on the award-winning David Mamet play of the same name.