For Release: January 4th, 2000
Mark Russell. He's smart and he's sassy. He's also well informed and well seasoned. Twenty-five seasons, to be exact. Mark Russell 25th Anniversary Special , a one-hour retrospective of Russell's career that also offers, for the first time, a glimpse of the man behind the comedy, airs Wednesday, Jan. 19 at 8/7 p.m. CT on KET.
The one-hour special is unlike any that has come before. In a departure from the familiar year-end review and songbook specials of the past, Mark Russell 25th Anniversary Special features the satirist poking fun at himself and talking candidly about his rise from the piano bars of Washington to a top-rated PBS series and a demanding coast-to-coast personal appearance schedule.
Of course, the special still allows viewers to enjoy Russell doing what Russell does best. Many of his finest comedic highlights are intercut with tales of his not-so-fine moments on the bumpy road to becoming America's foremost political satirist. He talks candidly about his unsuccessful auditions for the Tonight Show With Jack Paar and The Ed Sullivan Show--due to concerns that his humor was just "too inside Washington." It wasn't until Russell's "discovery" by WNED, in his hometown of Buffalo, N.Y., that his star really began to rise. WNED introduced him to PBS stations in 1974 and the Mark Russell Comedy Specials were born in 1975.
Mark Russell 25th Anniversary Special , produced by WNED/Buffalo, is closed-captioned for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Viewers can find out more about programming on KET by visiting the KET Web site at www.ket.org http://www.ket.org , a Kentucky.com affiliate.
Contact: Todd Piccirilli
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