But with each new project, Mark is increasingly becoming The Guy Who knows how to do incredibly viral Internet comedy. Mark's stunts have the kind of why-didn't-I-think-of-that appeal that make you want to instantly click the video, or forward it to a friend. What would happen if you lived in a furniture showroom for 30 days?
"Everything I do can be explained in one sentence," Mark told us in a recent interview. "I honestly think [success on the Internet] all starts in the idea. Make it original, make it catchy, and make it concise."
His process for developing these ideas was born out of a failed sketch comedy group. "Leading a sketch group is like having five girlfriends and trying to keep them all happy. I was at a low point creatively, and just couldn't take it anymore. So I broke all those ties, and one day I just took out a notebook and started writing ideas that I thought were funny, without any sort of agenda. I wrote down about twenty ideas, and some of them really made me laugh. One of these ideas was a Guns N' Roses tribute band made entirely of kids." From this first idea would come Mark's first big viral success, "Li'l Gn'R."
Mark took out a small ad in an entertainment magazine, auditioning kids for the characters of Axl Rose, Slash, and the rest of the band. "It was immediately clear that I needed a 'why?' This is always the first question in any media interview: 'Why are you doing this?' So for Li'l Gn'R, I said, 'Because I want to expose today's kids to classic rock.' And that seemed to satisfy everyone."
Originally, Mark had no intention of even having them perform -- he just wanted videos of the kids lip-syncing on stage -- but then he called famed music club CBGB, who loved the idea and wanted the band to perform. "I had no idea Li'l Axl could even sing, but then he just wailed it," Mark recalls. "So we had them play to a backing track, with Li'l Axl singing, and ... I was in awe, and almost on the verge of tears. It exceeded my wildest dreams."
Mark came home to find the kind of media frenzy usually reserved for celebrity felons. "I had voicemail messages from Ellen Degeneres, the New York Post, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the Los Angeles Times, and on and on. Sometimes you do so much work [on these projects] and you get no results. Sometimes you do minimal work and get great results. You never know."
Even when his ideas fail, Mark refuses to give up. "One of my strengths is persistence," he says, as illustrated in his next project, "Ferris Wheel." The concept was to get Broadway stars to ride a Ferris wheel with him, approaching celebrities like Al Pacino and Antonio Banderas as they left the theater after the show. He received constant rejections for two and a half weeks, which would leave most mortal comedians heartbroken and drunk. Mark finally got some interest from Perfect Strangers sitcom star Mark Linn-Baker ... who stood him up. Still Mark would not give up, until finally he achieved his goal.
"I love stories about a guy who everybody thinks is in his own world, but he's so persistent that eventually he's able to pull something off," Mark says. "Getting Mark to finally ride the Ferris wheel with me was like the Rocky moment. I felt like I could do anything."
Mark is quick to credit his longsuffering team, who are willing to spend a month in a car with him, or follow him around in subzero temperatures. "It's really important to put together a great team, even if you're a solo performer. You can have an idea that's amazing, but if it's not shot well, or doesn't have good music, it's not going to turn out well. I've been lucky to build an amazing team."
The mainstream media has taken notice, with The Today Show, Good Morning America, and even CNN featuring him as a guest. Mark's humor is clean and advertiser-friendly, so mainstream advertisers are signing on as well -- which allows him to work with the blessing (and sponsorship) of large companies like IKEA, AirTran, and Ford.
But even with his newfound success, Mark remains focused on the funny idea. "It's important to do stuff you care about, that you personally think is funny," he says. "On the Internet, the worst possible thing is to do something because you think it will be popular. Always try to do something original and different -- what you can get out of it will be much more exciting."
And it's hard to get more excited than The Guy Who consumed 171 cups of coffee in one day.
Mark is a finalist in our Funniest Person on the Web contest. Click here to vote!
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