Extract from Who’s Who in Australia and the Concise Companion to Theatre in Australia
Rodney Marks, Comedian. Creator and presenter of joke-name double-talking characters, around 100 shows annually for the past 20 years, usually in the form of fraudulent keynote speeches at business meetings. He has performed throughout Australia, and has had over 30 international tours to England, Mauritius, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu and the United States.
Why choose Rodney? Because …
He has delivered over 2,500 comic presentations at business events.
His results are outstanding. Testimonial excerpts and a select client list can be emailed on request.
He is flexible and will fit in with your agenda. He can present at a breakfast, during the conference business sessions or as an after dinner speaker. You can brief him so his presentation is customised to your industry and you can give him background on people so he can gently roast them – this is purely optional.
He relieves you of your workload, and does not add to it. He will attend face-to-face briefings, geography permitting, and will participate in telephone conferences if requested. His desk research skills, comedy experience and business contacts ensure the sensitivity, relevance and appropriateness of his humour.
He can adapt to different environments, having performing comedy at over 1,000 venues:
in corporate offices, private homes, restaurants, major hotels and resorts, wineries, convention centres, universities and schools, and cultural institutions
in comedy rooms, pubs and clubs
at arts, fringe and comedy festivals, and on Comedy
What is a comic hoax? What does Rodney do, and what is a comic hoax? Rodney arrives at an event in character, and mingles with attendees. If it is a conference, he will attend a seminar, and ask a question; if it is a dinner, he will attend pre-dinner drinks and work the room. This mixing establishes the credibility of Rodney’s comic character. At some agreed point, often advertised in the program, he will be called to a lectern to deliver a “keynote address”.
During the delivery of this 20 to 60 minute presentation, audience members slowly realise that they have been had. Rodney satirises three aspects of the audience’s identity:
the industry or industries represented are comically analysed
the organisation or organisations present are humorously caricatured, and
about a dozen individuals are gently roasted.
At the conclusion of the speech, the performance continues with a question and answer session. These questions are not set up. Those in the know about the hoax are observers. This time gives funny people in the group a chance to have some revenge … not really on Rodney, but on those who booked him.
What is a comic hoaxer? First and foremost, Rodney is a comedian. His genre is that of the corporate impostor. The purposes of Rodney’s comic hoaxes are for the audience:
to have fun, and to laugh
to celebrate industries, organisations, and people
