2011 Emmy® Award winner, Comedian/Travel & Foodie Expert Mark DeCarlo is thrilled to be back in his hometown of Chicago, contributing his comedic whimsy to Chicago’s #1 daytime show, ABC’s Windy City LIVE. On the show, which premiered in May 2011 in Oprah Winfrey’s historic time slot, Mark celebrates the slightly off-kilter characters that make Chicago the best city in America to work, play and live…May through October ONLY.
Prior to WCL, Mark rode the road less traveled for 4 seasons on the Travel Channel’s “Taste of America with Mark DeCarlo,” scouring the U.S. for delicious food and the quirky zealots who champion ancestral recipes and down-home stories over mass-produced mush. It took 400 cities, and a lot of napkins, but through it all, a portrait of America… and its hungry people emerged. These hilarious stories – and previously secret recipes – are collected in Mark’s best selling new book, “A FORK ON THE ROAD: 400 Cities, 1 Stomach,” a comedic travelogue/cook book published by Lyons Press to sparkling reviews.
Mark continues his book tour through 2012, traveling the country performing LIVE Foodie Comedy shows, and hosting Travel, Music and Food Festivals. Mark is also in-demand as a keynote speaker and comedic host for corporate clients at dozens of Fortune 500 Companies, having hosted World Wide meetings for McDonalds, US Foods, Stryker Medical, BCD Meetings and DAV Productions, among many.
In addition to continuing on WCL, Mark will host two new TV series in 2012. THIS vs THAT, is a show that blends science & comedy into an entertaining weekly hour of high energy hijinks. Mark, with co-hosts Brad Sherwood and Chris Tallman, guarantee laughter, knowledge and spit-takes. The show premiered May 1, 2012 Internationally and will hit US televisions this fall. The second show, EconomicalECO, is a How-To series that popularizes ways to radically reduce cost of living by choosing economical American products & services, without mutating into a radical, off-the-grid hippie and sleeping in a Yurt, premieres in 3Q 2012.
Prior to Mark’s recent burst of activity, he’s always kept busy, succeeding in virtually every cul-du-sac of show business. Three months after his UCLA graduation, Mark became the All-Time Champion on NBC’s “Sale of the Century,” winning over $115,000. After founding the Second City’s West Coast Touring Company in Santa Monica, Mark hosted Fox’s hit dating show STUDS for 580 episodes, birthing reality TV – for which he is truly sorry. Juicy roles on Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Tracey Takes On, and The Ben Stiller Show kept him in demand between live shows with his improv group, The Frayed Knots! In 2001 Mark starred in the Oscar® Nominated “Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius” as befuddled cartoon dad Hugh Neutron, continuing for a decade on the award winning Nickelodeon TV series. Animated stints on Barnyard, Planet Sheen, Johnny Bravo, Handy Manny and the Thumb series of comedies Thumb Wars, BaTThumb and Thumbtanic keep Mark in demand as a cartoon voice actor. After Studs, Mark hosted 3 more hit shows; Fox’s extreme game show Big Deal, and FX’s late night talk show The X Show, before hitting the road from 2005-2009 for the Travel Channel.
