Mark Wright: The serious side of being a funny man…

Interview – 2017

The versatile Mark Wright is well-known for impersonating celebrities and sports stars on television. He has appeared on a number of primetime comedy shows including Issues, That Comedy Show and Newsflash. Wright has also acted in TV dramas Shortland Street, City Life, Nothing Trivial and Harry.

In this ScreenTalk, Wright talks about:

How meeting Worzel Gummidge Down Under star Jon Pertwee was a thrill
Riding into the Christmas bloopers tape on Peppermint Twist
Getting his first taste of impersonation on sketch show Public Eye
Feeling that the sitcom version of The Billy T James Show was the wrong vehicle for the star
Parodying the news reading style of Richard Long on the show Issues
People being conned by his Jonah Lomu impression on Sportsnight
Playing a manager moonlighting as a dancing penguin on soap Shortland Street
Working with a comedy legend on the kidult show The Amazing Extraordinary Friends
Being part of the "fantastic" ensemble cast on Harry
Impressing his kids with a role on Terry Teo
The challenge of being typecast as the "funny guy"

This video was first uploaded on 6 March 2017, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – Andrew Whiteside

I was for a long time typecast as funny wacky zany comedian guy, even though I'm a classically-trained theatre actor . . . sometimes you can't get auditons. I've had said to me that 'you're too well-known as a funny man for a dramatic role', which I always find is an interesting slant.
– Mark Wright, late in this interview

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