Ok, so a new movie just came out and I'm a little bit more excited about it than I usually would be. The movie "Free Guy" is hitting theaters and I'm thrilled that someone I know is in it! Mark Lainer is an actor I met back in 1988 or so as part of a comedy troupe I became involved with. I've written about Style Without Substance many times on the blog. They were a remarkable group of talented people. It really was an exciting and creative time in my life and I was thrilled to be part of a team.
Mark was an incredibly funny actor (and totally still is). Any part you handed him--mime, priest, colorizer, beach nerd--were much improved by his presence. We did a lot of sketches together and I was lucky enough to get tapes of some of them. I want to share them here.
Mark was an incredibly funny actor (and totally still is). Any part you handed him--mime, priest, colorizer, beach nerd--were much improved by his presence. We did a lot of sketches together and I was lucky enough to get tapes of some of them. I want to share them here.
Style Without Substance was a much larger group when I first came aboard, maybe 15 people at one point. As the head of the group started to focus on the idea of an actual comedy troupe, it worked its way down to 8 people. Mark was one of them. After about a year or so, he got an opportunity to go to Florida. Disney World was opening up an comedy club on their property and he got the gig with their in-house improv group. We stayed in touch and I got to see him perform there during a family trip. After that we lost touch, but every time we went to Orlando, there he was again, doing the Indiana Jones show or as a wacky make-up artist at Universal Studios. We reconnected there, thanks to Facebook, and have been in communication since, which is how we found out about his new movie role.
This was a favorite of mine, "Us Guys at the Beach" (which was called "Beach Blanket Zingo" at the time). Mark, even with the smaller part, just nails the hungry character.
The group had a chance to put together a half-hour comedy pilot at this time, so a slightly re-configured cast headed to the studio for a low-budget shoot. At minimum, we thought we'd have a solid demo reel to show around. I got two sketches included and Mark was in both. The first was called "A Restaurant Sketch" even though I had titled it "Dinner Out." It became know as The Titmouse Sketch for reasons that will be very apparent. Mark doesn't have a big part here, but when he says "What? No dingo?" I crack up every time.
Now, here's the thing; the show announces them as a new improv group, which is exactly the opposite of what they were. They were a sketch comedy group that wrote, honed and rehearsed the material before it got before an audience. But people were turning the term "improv group" into a generic phrase for any comedy team, like the word selfie suddenly means any photograph of yourself whether you took it yourself or not. Also, please excuse the quality. it's a 30-year old VHS tape, that was a copy itself before I digitized it at home.
Now, here's the thing; the show announces them as a new improv group, which is exactly the opposite of what they were. They were a sketch comedy group that wrote, honed and rehearsed the material before it got before an audience. But people were turning the term "improv group" into a generic phrase for any comedy team, like the word selfie suddenly means any photograph of yourself whether you took it yourself or not. Also, please excuse the quality. it's a 30-year old VHS tape, that was a copy itself before I digitized it at home.
I'm surprised Cinema Sessions got in, but in 1988 colorization was a hot topic in the entertainment world. The group had done it many times, but a different actor, the late Jack Keller, had been playing the colorization guy. Now Mark got to do it. And he can do a sleazebag as well as he can do a nerd.
Mark was in a lot more sketches, but I didn't write those and this is my blog, after all. Not much left to say except, "Good luck, Mark!" Oh, and go see The Free Guy, in theaters now.
