Carolines breakout artist: Mike Vecchione

by Punchline Magazine

June 28, 2010

Print this page out to get $5 off admission to Mike Vecchione’s show at Carolines on June 29. Get more ticket info here.

World famous comedy venue Carolines on Broadway and Punchline Magazine have joined forces to present the Breakout Artist Comedy Series. Each Tuesday, at Carolines in New York City, an emerging stand-up comedy star will headline their own show and prove just why they’ve been quietly building a name for themselves in the national comedy scene.

And since we here at Punchline Magazine are all about exposing the best comedians – well-known or not – we’ll be profiling each comedian taking part in the Carolines series each week. So let’s get to this week’s headliner: Mike Vecchione!

Born in Youngstown, Ohio and raised Italian American and Catholic. Mike’s father was involved in a family business and his mother was and is an elementary school teacher. As a family, they moved back and forth between northeast Ohio and South Florida throughout his childhood.

Mike started playing contact football at age 9 in Florida and wrestling at age 13 in Ohio. Mike’s senior year of high school he placed second in the Florida AAA State Tournament and went on to college at Pennsylvania State University where he wrestled in 1991-1992 and tutored student athletes. He moved to Philadelphia in 1995 with his bachelors degree in criminal justice and began work counseling adjudicated teens and children with mental health issues.

He started teaching special education in the Philadelphia School District in 1998. He received his masters in Special Education in 2001 from Cabrini College and continued to teach in both public school and residential school settings.

Mike started stand-up comedy in 2000 and moved to New York City in 2003. He’s performed on Comedy Central’s “Live at Gotham” and you’ve seen him on IFC’s hit show “Z-Rock.” He was also a contestant on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” in 2010. In 2009 he won the People’s Choice Award for Favorite Comic at the NY Comedy Festival. Mike was also the 1983 and 1984 Spelling Bee runner up at Pine Grove Elementary School.

He failed to advance to the national bee in Washington D.C. because of the complexity of the word “ruthless,” which he still spells with two o’s.

Who do you think are the breakout artists of the next few years?
The people who will break out in the next few years are the people working hard, under the radar right now. Hopefully I’m one of those people. If I’m not, you’ll probably see me connected to a ponzi scheme or oil spill.

Before you started comedy, you were a wrestler and a teacher. Do you find stand-up to be similar to wrestling? Teaching?
Wrestling and teaching are the perfect activities to prepare for stand up: Wrestling teaches discipline and hardwork, but most of all… overcoming adversity-(losing), then having to rebound. Teaching forces you into preparation, and dealing with situations on the spot, while everyone else is watching abd judging.

Teaching and wrestling go hand and hand….when a person is not listening, put them in a submission until they tap, signaling that they have had enough and they are now prepared to pay attention….

You’re currently a contestant on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.” What’s the competition like? Are the performances more nerve-racking than usual? As it is a reality show, do the producers try to start fights or hook ups between cast mates?
Last Comic Standing is a great experience. It’s primetime television, so you are obviously trying to be as funny as possible in the time they give you to attract as many fans as possible; because it is a competition it helps to physically harm the other competitors if necessary — kind of like that prison show: Lock Up – when someone is a snitch.

Which reality show stars do you think would be the best at stand-up? Snooki? Heidi Montag? Tim Gunn?
The reality show stars I would like to see do stand-up are the Jersey Shore kids. They would learn rather quickly that you cannot fist pump your way out of bombing in front of a live audience.

What’s next for Mike Vecchione? Where will you be in a few years?
In a few years, I hope to still be doing stand-up, writing and producing and starring on a TV project. Here’s my project idea: I’m thinking a guy who moves in with a family in Connecticut to be a housekeeper, then jumps in and out of the future to PREVENT messes that he might have to clean up. It’s Who’s The Boss meets Quantum Leap.