Robert Mac (born Robert Matthew Matz on January 26, 1968) is an American comedian.

Life and career

Robert Mac was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

in 1968, but moved with his family to

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

in 1972. He graduated from Salpointe Catholic High School in 1986 and attended the

University of Arizona The University of Arizona (Arizona, U of A, UArizona, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Tucson, Arizona. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, it was the first university in the Arizona Territory. T ...

from 1986 to 1991, where he graduated with a dual major of

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

, magna cum laude in

Creative Writing Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the use of literary ...

and Bachelor of Fine Arts, magna cum laude & Honors in

Media Arts New media art includes artworks designed and produced by means of electronic media technologies, comprising virtual art, computer graphics, computer animation, digital art, interactive art, sound art, Internet art, video games, robotics, 3D pri ...

. Mac began stand-up comedy at Laff's Comedy Club in Tucson in 1993, although he was a Top Ten Finalist in

Billy Crystal William Edward Crystal (born March 14, 1948)On page 17 of his book ''700 Sundays'', Crystal displays his birth announcement, which gives his first two names as "William Edward", not "William Jacob" is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. ...

Mr. Saturday Night ''Mr. Saturday Night'' is a 1992 American comedy-drama film that marked the directorial debut of its star, Billy Crystal. It focuses on the rise and fall of Buddy Young Jr., a stand-up comedian. Crystal produced and co-wrote the screenplay with ...

comedy contest in 1992. In 2001, Mac was a Finalist in the San Francisco International Comedy Competition. He won

Comedy Central Comedy Central is an American basic cable channel owned by Paramount Global through its network division's MTV Entertainment Group unit, based in Manhattan. The channel is geared towards young adults aged 18–34 and carries comedy programmin ...

's national Laugh Riot competition in 2001, and subsequently appeared on Comedy Central's

Premium Blend ''Premium Blend'' was a stand-up comedy series created and directed by Paul Miller that aired on the American cable television channel Comedy Central from 1997 to 2005. In 2005 the show was changed, and now known as "Live at Gotham". The show w ...

and secured a spot at the Montreal Just for Laughs Festival in 2002. He has appeared on NBC's

Late Friday ''Friday Night Videos'' (later becoming ''Friday Night'' and then ''Late Friday'') is an American music video show that was broadcast on NBC from July 29, 1983 to May 24, 2002. It was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularit ...

, A Dating Story on

The Learning Channel TLC is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. First established in 1980 as The Learning Channel, it initially focused on educational and instructional programming. By the late 1990s, after an acquisition by the ow ...

(TLC), and the

Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon The ''MDA Labor Day Telethon'' was an annual telethon held on (starting the night before and throughout) Labor Day in the United States to raise money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA). The Muscular Dystrophy Association was founded in ...

, where he was a Talent Search Winner in 2003. In 2007 he was a Finalist in the Boston Comedy Festival and appeared in the inaugural Great American Comedy Festival in 2008. In 2007, Mac launched a presidential campaign as part of the

alternative newsweekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...

Tucson Weekly The ''Tucson Weekly'' is an alternative newsweekly that was founded in 1984 by Douglas Biggers and Mark Goehring, and serves the Tucson, Arizona, metropolitan area of about 1,000,000 residents. The paper is a member of the Association of Alte ...

's Project White House, wherein the paper assisted would-be candidates in registering to be on the state's Presidential Primary ballot. Mac registered for the Arizona primary as a

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

candidate. In 2008, Mac appeared on Season 6 of NBC's

Last Comic Standing ''Last Comic Standing'' was an American reality television talent competition show on NBC that aired from June 1, 2003, to August 9, 2010, then again in 2014 and 2015. The goal of the program was to select a comedian from an initially large group ...

, where he was eliminated in the first round. He was, however, featured in a spotlight segment in the episode. He has performed with

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

, Adam Sandler,

Larry the Cable Guy Daniel Lawrence Whitney (born February 17, 1963), known professionally by his persona Larry the Cable Guy, is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, country music artist, and former radio personality. He was one of the members of the ...

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

, and

Victoria Jackson Victoria Jackson (born August 2, 1959) is an American actress, comedian, and singer who was a cast member of the NBC television sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' (SNL) from 1986 to 1992. Early life Jackson was born in Miami, Florid ...

. In 2001, Entertainment Business Journal ranked Mac 67 out of the top 100 stand-up comedians in the U.S. Mac started and operates a comedy walking tour business in San Francisco called FOOT! Tours, which combines history and comedy in a game show format. Mac has a staff of comedians and performers who host the tours. He continues to tour the country, performing at comedy clubs and casinos throughout the western United States.

Notes and references

External links

Robert Mac homepage

5 Questions with Robert Mac from the San Francisco Comedy Blog

Robert Mac MySpace page

FOOT! comedy walking tours home page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac, Robert American stand-up comedians 1968 births Candidates in the 2008 United States presidential election 21st-century American politicians Politicians from Tucson, Arizona Living people Arizona Democrats 21st-century American comedians