| Jackie Martling | |
|---|---|
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| Pseudonym | "The Joke Man" |
| Birth name | John Coger Martling, Jr. |
| Born | February 14, 1948 [1] |
| Medium | Stand-up, radio, television, film |
| Nationality |  United States |
| Website | www.jokeland.com |
John Coger "Jackie" Martling, Jr. (born February 14, 1948) is an American comedian, comedy writer and radio personality. He is best known for being a writer on The Howard Stern Show from 1983-2001.
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Jackie Martling was born in Mineola, New York on Long Island. He attended Locust Valley High School, and lived in Bayville New York, and earned a mechanical engineering degree from Michigan State University in 1971.[2] Martling is of English, French, and Dutch ancestry.[3]
Martling began his show business career as a musician on Long Island, New York, playing with an original music and comedy trio, "The Off Hour Rockers," until the late 1970s, when he began telling jokes on stage, solo. Jackie's partners in the "Off Hour Rockers" were Chris Bates on guitar and Herbie "King of the Honky Tonks" Werner on keyboards. He eventually segued into performing full time as a stand-up comedian.
Jackie's initial breakthrough into major radio came in 1981, when longtime writer/producer of the Rick Dees Morning Show on KIIS-FM, Los Angeles, Dave Lipson, discovered Jackie's "976-JOKE" telephone service. Each day's offerings were recorded and aired daily on the Dees morning show, eventually leading into live call-ins where Jackie would reel off joke after joke. This turned out to be one of the most popular "bits" of the legendary morning show. Lipson always spoke quite fondly of Martling, who in late 1981, invited him to his home in Long Island for a BBQ dinner and an evening of laughs.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he recorded several joke LP records, which he later mailed to Howard Stern at WNBC-AM, when Stern first arrived in New York City in 1982. Martling obtained the money to produce these LPs from Rodney Dangerfield. Dangerfield claims he was never repaid this loan, although Martling claims he paid Dangerfield back with jokes. The LP records led to his being asked to make a guest appearance on Stern's radio show, and that led to his eventually being hired as a cast member.
When Howard Stern got his own TV show, Martling insisted that he be named head writer of both the TV and radio shows, which reportedly caused conflict between Martling and fellow Stern show writer, Fred Norris. Martling also claims to have pioneered writing jokes "on the fly,"[citation needed] a technique of instant scripting, where he wrote jokes and funny lines for Stern while the show was in progress, although Stern has disputed that Martling originated this technique on the Stern show, let alone on other shows.
Martling and Norris wrote most of the material for the infamous "Jackie puppet," which was usually voiced by Billy West. West has said how surreal it was to sit behind Martling, viciously attacking him as the puppet, with lines that Jackie had just written himself. It was often obvious to listeners when a joke was written by Martling, because when it was read on air, he could be heard in the background cackling like a mad man.
After several earlier disagreements over compensation, Martling left the Stern show in March 2001, over a salary disagreement with the show's employer, WXRK.[4]
Martling's chair on The Howard Stern Show was eventually filled by former MADtv cast member Artie Lange; however, Lange did not take over Martling's job as head writer. Martling appears in the 2003 straight-to-video film Mail Order Bride, which also featured Artie Lange, although the two have no scenes together.
After leaving the Stern show, Martling pursued other interests, including acting, music, and stand-up comedy. He also continued to expand his line of electronic joke products that he has co-created with Excalibur Electronics of Miami, Florida, but earned little in the way of compensation for any of it.
On September 25, 2006, Howard Stern announced that Martling would be returning to radio by joining the Howard 100/101 Sirius Radio channels. Stern elaborated further on the September 26, 2006 broadcast, saying that Martling's new show on Howard 101 would be called "Jackie's Joke Hunt". The show, co-hosted by fellow friar Ian Karr, premiered on October 3, 2006 at 7 p.m. EST. It continues to air, live, every Tuesday at 7 p.m. EST on Sirius Howard 101, with re-airings scheduled for Thursday mornings at 12 a.m. EST, and Saturday afternoons at 2 p.m. EST. Martling can also be heard on Howard 100 on Sundays when Sirius airs "Master Tape Theatre," and on XM Satellite Radio's uncensored Comedy Channel 150.
Martling has since returned to the Stern show to roast producer Gary Dell'Abate and on March 13, 2007, Martling made a long-awaited guest appearance on the show. Since that time, Martling has made several additional guest appearances both in the studio and by phone.
In addition to his stand-up career, Martling has released five joke CDs, three videos (including the infamous Hot Dogs + Donuts), five joke books, one Jokemaster Junior, one iPod application, and, in April 2007, released his first musical CD, Happy Endings, which went platinum and contained the smash hits "Flies" and "The Pot Song". He also had an appearance in the hit comedy documentary, The Aristocrats, however, he did not, as rumored, actually write the joke for which the movie was named. He has also appeared in over a dozen other independent films.
In May, 2007, The Stern Show aired a two-day salute to Martling on Sirius Satellite Radio's Stern 100. The show contained dozens of classic Jackie moments, intercut with new interviews with Martling and others.
In October 2008, Martling and former American Idol runner-up Bo Bice toured Kuwait and Iraq, entertaining the U.S. troops.[5]
Over the years, in his stand-up act and on the air, Martling recounted wild tales of his partying days on the road and spoke publicly of his fondness for "drinking Marijuana and smoking beer". In December 2005, he announced that he was sober and had not had a drink in five years.
His sobriety, however, does not include marijuana. He recently shot and posted two videos on YouTube that show him smoking the drug, and he is often a guest at events for the Marijuana Policy Project.[6][7]
Martling is legally separated from wife Nancy Sirianni. He currently resides in Manhattan and in Bayville, New York. He appears to be cultivating a new image as an eligible, single man, and was recently interviewed for a divorced women's website where he and the middle-aged hostess claimed the interview was actually their first blind date.[8] In an interview with Lisa G of the Howard 100 News on April 15, 2009, Martling stated he has a girlfriend with whom he currently resides, a friend of 20 years.
He is a longtime member of the New York Friars Club and is actively involved with the Carol M. Baldwin Breast Cancer Research Fund, Inc.
| Preceded by none |
The Howard Stern Show the Jackie chair 1986-2001 |
Succeeded by Artie Lange |
   | Other Official Web Site - JokeLand : Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling |
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