Donald Sterling. Counterterrorism. Investment banking. Washington press corps dinners. If you want to know what comedian Paul Mecurio thinks about any of these random topics, chances are you can turn on the TV (right now!) and find out. With regular bookings on CNN, Fox News, ESPN, MSNBC, and both the late-night and daytime talk-show circuit, Mecurio is often the irreverent, funny talking head in the middle who adds balance (and punch lines) to those sitting to his far right or left. As an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning writer for The Daily Show, Mecurio has to stay plugged in on all fronts, but he says that with modern technology, it's pretty easy. "I have an internet chip implanted in my brain, so I get news updates just like you get on the internet in real time. Actually, I am not even human. I don't feel love," Mecurio recently told New Times. "In all seriousness, I have always been a news junkie, and having worked on The Daily Show, I have had great training taking anything topical and commenting on it in a funny way."
Like the aforementioned Donald Sterling: "In the interview with Anderson Cooper, he said he was entitled to one mistake. What Sterling did was racist; that's not a mistake. A mistake is when you think Samuel L. Jackson is Lawrence Fishburne."
When Mecurio is not on your TV, he's out IRL on the comedy tour circuit, including a run at the Palm Beach Improv this May 29 to 31. But tonight, he'll bring his act to the Fort Lauderdale Improv during the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America's fifth-annual Comedy Night. Mecurio's own uncle has lived with Crohn's for years, so the cause is a close one. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. at 5700 Seminole Way, Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $25. Call 954-327-7625, or visit online.ccfa.org.
Wed., May 28, 6:30 p.m., 2014