And the uncontested Open Mic Fight Champion of the World is... Mo Mandel from San Francisco, California!
Mo Mandel, the first-ever champion of Comedy Central's Open Mic Fight national comedy talent search, was born in Boonville, CA on April 6th, 1981. During Mo's childhood, his parents were still clinging to the hippy lifestyle which brought them out to Northern California, and many nights Mo lay awake in bed, unable to sleep due to the sounds of his mother's Samba band practicing in the room next door. This was the first time that Mo thought about performing himself, more specifically, performing matricide.
Attending the University of California at Santa Barbara, Mo pursued a degree in creative writing while taking extra curricular courses in social rejection. He spent many hours alone in his room writing dark short stories about how fake and misguided society was. Then an attractive woman began sleeping with Mo mid-way through his junior year and he realized how great life was and how people are full of love and promise, and that society is truly good. Then the girl broke up with Mo because he wasn't the kind of man that she could, "see herself being with in the long-term," and he cried and then punched a kitten in the stomach.
Mo first attempted stand-up comedy in London while living with a new girlfriend in 2004. Discovering that he loved stand-up comedy and that his girlfriend loved sleeping with other men, Mo moved to San Francisco and began performing every night while earning a living by making lattes. After taking 3rd place in the prestigious San Francisco International Comedy Competition in 2006 ($4000 prize, gambled away in underground Jenga tournaments), Mo said goodbye to the day time work routine and began touring comedy clubs nation wide. The next year, he went on to fight his way through throngs of up-and-coming comedians to win Comedy Central's Open Mic Fight in 2007. However, Mo has not forgotten his roots and urges you to tip generously when you order your annoying non-fat light foam mochachinos because those coffee shop kids need money to make flyers for their bands which are totally gonna make it.
Mo has performed at Carolines, The San Francisco Punchline, Cobb's Comedy Club, The Gotham, The Seattle Underground, The Hollywood Improv, as well as many other fine venues; Mo has also shared the stage with the likes of Dana Carvey, Jim Norton, Patrice O'Neal, Craig Ferguson, and Dave Attell to name a few. Come see this young comedic sensation before he gets a sitcom and quits performing stand-up comedy altogether, or before he doesn't get a sitcom and quits stand-up anyway because he has to make a living in order to support an illegitimate child that he never wanted. Road life is lonely. "Mo Mandel has appeared on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Sarah & No Name After Dark."
