Meet Mike
Mike’s storytelling skills have taken him to the highest levels of entertainment, politics, and academia.
Mike will tell you it all came from one skill: Joke Writing
Mike started in his home town of San Francisco while still in college
After college, Mike moved to Washington DC, hoping to get a job with his Political Science degree. He did not. So he started doing open mics, and within a year was traveling the country as an opening act for some of comedy’s biggest stars.
Budd Friedman, comedy kingmaker and owner of the legendary Hollywood Improv, saw Mike in a club and told him to “get your ass to LA.” Mike did, becoming a regular at the Improv. 7 years later, he made his first appearance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
Mike's writing career took off when he was hired to write for Grace Under Fire, a hit show on ABC.
Over the next 20 years, he wrote for 10 successful network comedies, including The Drew Carey Show, Whoopi, and 2 Guys & a Girl and sold a dozen original pilots and screenplays. In 2013, Mike received an Emmy nomination for outstanding writing. (Mike’s full credits on IMDB)
Meanwhile, Mike led a secret double life as a political speechwriter.
When a friend and speechwriting client was elected to Congress in 2008, he took a break from television writing and went with Congresswoman Jackie Speier to Washington. He returned to Hollywood a few years later for an HBO show, then to serve as show runner for the kids hit Crash & Bernstein.
Identify what you do well and work everyday to get better at it
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Identify what you do well and work everyday to get better at it 〰️
Mike continues to learn and teach
Identify what you do well, work everyday to get better at it, and trust that your skills are transferable.
Mike leads joke writing workshops in comedy clubs, colleges, libraries and corporate retreats. He coaches comedians, ghostwrites op-eds, and consults on fiction and nonfiction projects. His most rewarding experience was mentoring incarcerated writers at San Quentin State Prison, and hopes someday to find something equally fulfilling.
