Mark Ridley(II)
- Producer
Following graduation from Wayne State University with a BA in
Communications, Mark Ridley headed west to California to put his degree
to good use in the film industry. While in Los Angeles, he visited the
Comedy Store and Improv on a nightly basis. Seeing a young David
Letterman, Richard Pryor, and a host of others perform live and up
close gave him inspiration. Mark Ridley started the Comedy Castle in
1979 and pioneered the three-performer format now standard in all
comedy clubs. The Comedy Castle alumni includes some of the best known
comedians working today: Tim Allen, Jim Carrey, Jay Leno, Jerry
Seinfeld, Garry Shandling, Drew Carey, Rosie O'Donnell, Ellen
DeGeneres, and many more. For the past 20 years, Mark Ridley's Comedy
Castle has been a landmark fixture in downtown Royal Oak. Ridley's
credits in the entertainment field are numerous. Winner of a local Emmy
for co-producing and hosting Tim Allen's final local television
performance in Detroit on "Funny Side of The Street". Ridley has also
hosted morning radio and done voice over commercial work in Detroit.
Ridley's influence on the local entertainment scene cannot be
overlooked. His national connections enable Ridley to help manage and
promote local comedians. Many of whom have gone on to perform on "Jimmy
Kimmel Live" and Comedy Central. Mark Ridley's Comedy Castle has hosted
the Showtime Comedy Club Network, HBO's Comic Relief, A&E's Comedy On
The Road with John Byner, and the Comcast Comedy Spotlight. Ridley
co-produces "Laugh-A-Palooza" each year at the Meadowbrook Theater.
This gives rising Detroit talent an opportunity to show off their
comedy skills in front of a larger theater crowd. On the charity front,
Ridley has worked with former Detroit Lion Doug English on his Lone
Star Classic to find a cure for spinal cord injury. His fund-raiser at
the Comedy Castle each year, Don't Just Sit There, benefits victims of
spinal cord injury at Walk The Line in Ferndale. Ridley is also
involved with the American Cancer Society, Forgotten Harvest, and each
year hosts a golf outing to benefit the Macomb Oakland Regional
Center-Futures Foundations. This organization provides housing and job
placement for the mentally and physically challenged.