Mike Lawrence (comedian)

Michael Patrick Lawrence (born January 14, 1983) is an American comedian and writer from Davie, Florida. He formerly lived in New York City[2] and currently lives in Los Angeles.

Mike Lawrence
Birth nameMichael Patrick Lawrence
Born (1983-01-14) January 14, 1983 (age 41)
Miami, Florida, U.S.
MediumStand-up
NationalityAmerican
Alma materFlorida Atlantic University (BA)
Years active2005–present
SpouseAdina Pliskin
Children1
Websitewww.mikelawrencecomedy.com

Early life

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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

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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.[2][5]

In 2010, Lawrence was named one of the New Faces at the largest comedy festival in the world, Just for Laughs.[6] He later performed at the festival in 2012 at both the Montreal and Chicago festivals.[7] While in Montreal, he recorded a set for HBO Canada's Funny as Hell.

In 2011, Lawrence performed at Lance Bangs' Come Laugh With Us at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival with fellow features Kristen Schaal, Fred Armisen, Jon Daly, and Brett Gelman.[8] Mike also performed on John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show with fellow features Hannibal Buress, Michael Ian Black, and Hari Kondabolu.[9] 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.[10] Sadamantium was recorded at the Nerdist Showroom at Meltdown Comics.[11] The album received positive reviews from The Huffington Post, The A.V. Club, America's Comedy, and The Laugh Button.[10][12][13][14] 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.[15] 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.

In 2016, Mike won the first season of Roast Battle hosted by Jeff Ross.

Podcasts

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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.[16] Lawrence and the podcast were featured on an episode of Toy Hunter in the episode called Nerd of Mouth, in 2013.[17][18]

Lawrence 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, Hollywood Handbook with Sean Clements and Hayes Davenport, The Artie Lange Show hosted by comedian Artie Lange, "What Say You?" with Brian "Q" Quinn and Sal Vulcano of Impractical Jokers, and "What Do You Know?" with Joel Heyman of Rooster Teeth.

Personal life

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He has one brother and sister.[19] Lawrence married Adina Pliskin in 2014.[20]

In 2021 Lawrence was diagnosed as being on the autism spectrum.[21]

Filmography

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Television

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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
2016 Roast Battle Himself First Place Winner
2018 Comedy Central Stand-Up Presents Himself

Discography

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References

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  1. ^ "Instagram".
  2. ^ a b Palafox, Patrick (April 13, 2011). "Comedy in DC: Mike Lawrence". We Love DC. 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. ^ Irvin, Zuri. "Writing Jokes with Mike Lawrence". Medium. Medium.com. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  6. ^ Gadino, Dylan P. (July 16, 2010). "Just For Laughs: Feimster, Lawrence, Jost impress at New Faces". LaughSpin. Archived from the original on April 26, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  7. ^ "Nikki Glaser, Brody Stevens, Jonah Ray and 14 more comedians to film half-hour specials for Comedy Central". LaughSpin. February 14, 2013. Archived from the original on September 15, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  8. ^ Kate, Meagan (April 23, 2011). "Bridgetown Comedy Festival: Day 2". LaughSpin. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  9. ^ Gardner, Lucas (July 6, 2012). "John Oliver's New York Stand-Up Show is back July 20, so let's watch a preview!". LaughSpin. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  10. ^ a b Heisler, Steve (May 28, 2013). "Mike Lawrence: Sadamantium". The A.V. Club. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  11. ^ Frissore, Angie (June 4, 2013). "STAND UP TUESDAYS: MIKE LAWRENCE". Under the Gun Review. Archived from the original on October 12, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  12. ^ Bartolone, Tony (June 11, 2013). "Mike Lawrence's Sadamantium". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  13. ^ DiCostanzo, Ben (July 1, 2013). "Mike Lawrence, 'Sadamantium' (review)". The Laugh Button. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  14. ^ Schildgen, Alex (May 24, 2013). "Mike Lawrence and Nerdish Insecurities: 'Sadamantium'". America's Comedy. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  15. ^ 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.
  16. ^ "Nerd of Mouth". Cave Comedy Radio. Archived from the original on August 18, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  17. ^ "Toy Hunter, Season 2, Episode 8". TV.com. Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  18. ^ Garris, Blake (May 23, 2013). "The Marvel Life: Mike Lawrence". Marvel Comics. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  19. ^ Lohne, Megan (February 21, 2013). "Mike Lawrence: Born into Comedy". TimesSquare.com. Retrieved October 8, 2013.
  20. ^ "Filmmaker Adina Pliskin, Brush Class of 2002". February 5, 2018. Retrieved April 21, 2019.
  21. ^ Mike Lawrence - Somewhat Damaged
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