Comedian Marty Rackham, Las Vegas Sun, Aug. 8, 2003

Columnist Lisa Ferguson: Rackham emphasizes comedy’s role in career Lisa Ferguson Friday, Aug. 8, 2003 | 8:18 a.m. If you've watched any television in the past year -- heck, even just the past week -- you've likely seen Marty Rackham. Given the comic-turned-actor's lengthy list of credits, it's inevitable that even casual TV viewers will catch at least one of his guest-starring roles on some of the biggest hit shows in recent memory: "Seinfeld," "Sex and the City," "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Everybody Loves Raymond," "NYPD Blue," "Ally McBeal," "JAG," "Melrose Place," "L.A. Law," "Judging Amy," "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," "Married With Children," "Murphy Brown" and "Mad About You," to name more than a few. If the title "King of the Reruns" existed, Rackham would be a serious contender for the throne. While he considers himself primarily an actor these days, the 45-year-old says he still relishes taking to comedy-club stages. He wraps a weeklong gig Sunday at Riviera Comedy Club. "Right now, I can't wait to get a microphone in my hand," Rackham said during a recent call from his home in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. It's the creative aspect of comedy that he most enjoys. "The one thing I have always wanted to do ... is create something where there once was nothing. That in itself is satisfying," he says. "There are times when you're done and you look at what you've created and you go, 'Wow, that was good. That's gonna last me for a couple of days.' " Neither comedy nor acting was Rackham's first professional calling: At 19, he traveled across the pond to play pro soccer for a team in Brighton, England, but returned stateside in the early '80s to finish college. He briefly wore a jersey for the Houston Hurricanes before taking the head soccer coaching job at Quinnipiac College in Hamden, Conn. A trip home to New York proved fateful, when Rackham went to watch a buddy perform at a comedy club. "I was just looking at him going, 'Wow,' and then looking at the crowd and seeing how everybody's neck was straightened up and their heads were looking at him, and I went, 'Wow, they're into what he has to say.' " Before long it was Rackham (age 27 at the time) cracking up crowds during open-mike nights at The Improv in New York. He spent about a year paying his comedy dues performing late-night gigs before landing in the club's "prime-time lineup" of comics and becoming a fixture on the Big Apple's comedy scene. He was bitten by the acting bug upon performing in "Say Something Funny," an off-Broadway show that offered a behind-the-scenes take on the world of stand-up comedy. Rackham soon began landing parts in television commercials and, in the early '90s, he headed to Los Angeles to pursue acting full time. Early on he had roles on many half-hour sitcoms, including five guest spots on "Seinfeld." Fans of the show will remember his four turns as Jake Jarmel, the exclamation-point obsessed boyfriend of Elaine. (On the remaining episode, he played a police officer.) Among his most fun experiences, he says, was working in 1995 on "Married With Children." The episode on which he appeared was shooting just as the O.J. Simpson murder trial was getting under way in Los Angeles. "We never rehearsed" the show, Rackham recalls, because series star Ed O'Neill "was just locked into the trial" coverage on television. "They couldn't get him away from it." Surprisingly, Rackham says, hourlong dramas are his favorite jobs. He considers his 2001 appearance on ABC's long-running series "NYPD Blue" (in the episode titled "Everyone Into the Poole") as his best work. "You know what it is? I'm in my 40s now, so you start going toward what really makes you happy and what your strengths are," he says. For Rackham, that meant refocusing on his stand-up career two years ago, following what he calls "a hiatus" from the comedy stage. During that time, he went to work on his idea for a television series. The show followed a trio of comics on a camping trip and "all of the issues that they bring, and one particular situation that needs to be dealt with while they're there." The premise was well-received by execs at a couple of networks, he says, but ultimately failed to find a home. Since returning from the comedy respite, Rackham says he approaches his stand-up act "with much more passion, because the reality of it is, they're my words." With comedy, unlike working in television, he says, "No one tells me to rewrite" the jokes. "No one says, 'Cut. Let's do it this way' ... I don't feel at any time they're gonna recast me during the show, which can happen in TV." But it's due to his day job that Rackham can afford to be choosy about the handful of comedy clubs in L.A., Las Vegas, New York, Texas and Canada at which he performs each year. Such specific scheduling allows him to spend more time at home with his two soccer-playing daughters, ages 9 and 12. "I'm not breaking any world-record bank accounts here at all, but it enables me to be with my children as they're growing up," which has long been a priority for the father. "Because of that, I don't want to go on the road as much." Rackham's dream job? To fashion a career similar to the one forged by another comic/thespian -- "Law & Order" co-star Richard Belzer -- by landing a regular role on a dramatic series. "He's more known for that than his stand-up at this point," Rackham says of Belzer. "But also, I want to create. I would love to just create shows and run them." Out for laughs Prop comic Heath Hyche shows off his handmade gizmos and cast of characters -- among them, football "great" Spartacus Dunkleburger, and Dale the NASCAR fan/ladies man -- through Saturday at Palace Station's Laugh Trax. Catch Bill Tucker at Fitzgeralds. The comic settled his stand-up act into the Second Floor Showroom about a month ago, performing at 10:30 p.m. Thursday through Monday. His signature "Wild Turkey Man" bit is a crowd pleaser. Admission (ages 21 and older) is free with a drink purchase. Fresh from performances at the Just For Laughs Festival in Montreal, Alexandra McHale makes her Las Vegas debut Tuesday through Aug. 17 at The Improv at Harrah's. This year and last, the 26-year-old killed on the college-comedy circuit, and was named Best Female Entertainer by the National Association of Campus Activities. archive