Minnesota-based comedian Dave Mordal just doesn't want to leave home. But this time he has to. Even if it's just a couple or so hours away.
Mordal, who is originally from Elk River, will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 6, at the Landmark Mercantile in Marshall. He is sharing the bill with Darlene Westgor, a national winner of Nick at Nite's Funniest Mom in America and Rox Tarrant, host and producer of Twin Cities DIVA of Late Night Comedy.
Mordal first shot to fame when he appeared on the first season of NBC's "Last Comic Standing." He then went on to compete in the third season of "Last Comic Standing," where he was the runnerup to Alonzo Boden. Mordal also did several appearances on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."
"I'm pretty much the guy you work with that's funny, but I've got a different take on it," Mordal said.
Mordal, who still lives on a farm in central Minnesota, said the only thing that keeps him going is doing a lot of writing. But he hates to leave the state.
"I actually ruined my career because I don't want to leave home," Mordal said. "But you gotta work."
After a year and a half of not doing his standup routine on a regular basis, Mordal said he's easing himself back into the scene.
"I'm just doing comedy once in a while," Mordal said. "Once a month at the most."
He also rather would do a small venue than in a theater.
"That's are just so impersonal, you're 40 feet from everyone," Mordal said.
The reason Mordal was away from the stage was his year and a half long stint of "Wreckreation Nation" on the Discovery Channel. Mordal said that Rob Fox, one of the producers of "Last Comic Standing" had approached him about doing a show more than a couple of years ago, and asked if he had any ideas.
"I said yep," Mordal said. Mordal's idea was something along the lines of "Dirty Jobs for Dangerous Sports," he said.
Mordal went on a local radio station asking for ideas for weird sports and the like.
"On of the best was the downhill barstool races," Mordal said about an annual event that takes place in Drummond, Wis. every winter. "They just put skis on their barstools and go down the hill. I really didn't expect it to be much, but there were 2,000 people for this."
Mordal said Discovery bought 13 episode of "Wreckreation Nation" without ever meeting him. The show aired in 2009.
"The Discovery show was so strange," Mordal said, adding that he was already doing the fourth episode of "Wreckreation Nation" when he finally met someone from the Discovery Channel.
Although it was an interesting concept, Mordal said his show hit some of the worst ratings on Discovery.
"We just had a lot of bad luck," Mordal said. "It destroyed our ratings."
But he had a blast doing the show, Mordal said. And he hasn't given up on returning in front of the camera. Mordal said
"I talked to a couple of networks, see what happens," Mordal said.