Marty Pollio (born February 22, 1955) is an American

stand-up comedian Stand-up comedy is a performance directed to a live audience, where the performer stands on a stage and delivers humorous and satirical monologues sometimes incorporating physical acts. These performances are typically composed of rehear ...

and

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

. He appeared twice on ''

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Johnny Carson, it aired from October 1, 1962 to May 22, 1992, replacing ''T ...

'' and once in a skit on the show with

Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...

. He also guest starred on several network sitcoms, including ''

Night Court ''Night Court'' is an American television sitcom that premiered on NBC on January 4, 1984, and ended on May 31, 1992, after nine seasons consisting of List of Night Court episodes, 193 episodes. The show is set in the night shift of a Manhattan ...

'', ''

Empty Nest ''Empty Nest'' is an American television sitcom that aired for seven seasons on NBC from October 8, 1988, to June 17, 1995. The series, which was created as a spin-off of ''The Golden Girls'' by creator and producer Susan Harris, starred Richa ...

'' and ''

Blossom In botany, blossoms are the flowers of stone fruit trees (genus ''Prunus'') and of some other plants with a similar appearance that flower profusely for a period of time in spring. Colloquially, flowers of orange are referred to as such as w ...

'', in addition to co-starring in a CBS pilot produced by

Dan Aykroyd Daniel Edward Aykroyd ( ; born July 1, 1952) is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Aykroyd was a writer and an original member of the "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" cast on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Nigh ...

, ''Mars Base One''. Born Martin Polio, he legally changed his last name to its original ethnic Italian spelling of Pollio. Raised in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

, Pollio is the son of the former Julia Tino, a homemaker and religious zealot, and Joseph Polio, a

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

and local racketeer who ran an after-hours gambling operation. As a teenager, his weekend job was delivering the "gifts" to cops and judges for his father. After graduating from St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Pollio was in his third year of a four-year apprenticeship as an electrician when he quit on a whim to become an actor. While attending theatre classes at the

University of Louisville The University of Louisville (UofL) is a public university, public research university in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is part of the Kentucky state university system. Chartered in 1798 as the Jefferson Seminary, it became in the 19t ...

, he studied movement theatre and

mime A mime artist, or simply mime (from Greek language, Greek , , "imitator, actor"), is a person who uses ''mime'' (also called ''pantomime'' outside of Britain), the acting out of a story through body motions without the use of speech, as a the ...

with Avner Eisenberg ( Avner the Eccentric) and later in Los Angeles with Israeli mime, Yaakov Noy. His performing career began in 1977 as a roving entertainer at the theme park,

Opryland USA Opryland USA (later called Opryland Themepark and colloquially known as Opryland) was a amusement park, theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. The park was located between the Cumberland River and Tennessee State Route 155, Briley Pa ...

, in Nashville, TN. Once his act became choreographed to music, he started doing what he called, "bar mime." He performed his act, along with impressionist Bill Sacra, and magicians

Mac King Mac King (born December 2, 1959) is an American magician who has performed on television specials, often as a co-host. He has his own family-friendly show, "The Mac King Comedy Magic Show", at the Excalibur Hotel and Casino in the Thunderland Sh ...

and

Lance Burton William Lance Burton (born March 10, 1960) is an American stage magician. He performed more than 15,000 shows in Las Vegas for over 5,000,000 people until retiring in 2010. He serves as a judge on '' Criss Angel's Magic with the Stars''. Profess ...

in a Louisville landmark

strip club A strip club (also known as a strip joint, striptease bar, peeler bar, gentlemen's club, among others) is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease and other erotic dances including lap dances. St ...

named the Merry Go Round. Once the proliferation of comedy clubs began in the U.S., he adapted his show accordingly, but is still known more for his physical comedy than his stand-up. Among other credits, Pollio was a movement instructor for the

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

winning company of

National Theatre of the Deaf The National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) is an American theatre company founded in 1967, based in Connecticut. It is the oldest theatre company in the United States that has maintained a continuous history of domestic and international touring, as ...

. He performed his one-man show ''Prisoners of Cheese'' at the Montreal Fringe Festival, and released a comedy/instructional video, How To Juggle and Other Cheap Tricks, which is widely distributed by View Video.

References

External links

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How To Juggle and Other Cheap Tricks
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollio, Polio, Marty 1955 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American stand-up comedians Male actors from Louisville, Kentucky St. Xavier High School (Louisville) alumni American male comedians Comedians from Louisville, Kentucky