lifestyles
But seriously folks
Mark Mallouk is trying to make a living out of making people laugh
Mark Mallouk, Prairie Village senior,
practices his comedy routine in the mirror.
Photo by Julianna Peter
By Casey Barnes Kansan staff writer
Mark Mallouk would not mind making a living as a regular guest on "Saturday Night Live," but his real aspirations are much higher.
He wants to star in a Mentos commercial.
Mallouk, Prairie Village senior and stand up comic, is joking about plugging the mint known as Mentos.
Even when talking about his future in comedy, Mallouk is a comedian. He makes jokes about jokes and says he has had a sense of humor as long as he can remember.
"In kindergarten I was the class clown," Mallouk said. "I remember peeing on myself during recess just to get attention."
Today he doesn't have to try so hard to be in the spotlight.
His act, which started receiving recognition when he was a sophomore at the University of Kansas, now has flourished into a professional career. Last spring, a talent agent arranged for him to tour in Colorado and the Kansas City area during the summer. This fall he plans to travel to Las Vegas to work at The Improv and Catch a Rising Star and to San Francisco to work the Punch Line. All three are major clubs in the comedy scene, Mallouk said.
He attributes his success to his favorite comedian, Nick Griffin. Griffin, the older brother of a childhood friend, now is a professional comic working in Los Angeles. It was Griffin who wrote Malkouk's first act, which Malkouk performed on stage when he was 14 years old. Griffin also recommended Malkouk to the agent
In his second year at KU Mallouk decided to give comedy another try, performing on open-mike nights at Stanford and Sons in Westport in Kansas City. Mo.
Although he progressively improved, he said, life as a novice wasn't easy.
"the first 10 or so times, no one laughed," Mallouk said. "it sucked. I would drive 45 minutes to Kansas City and then back again, and no one laughed at my act."
All jokes aside, Mallouk takes his comical side seriously and has planned his academic life around it.
Mallouk's first big break came in the spring of 1993 when he found out he was going to perform an in-between act for Rock Chalk Revue. He decided he had better get funny.
He is graduating in May with a triple degree in economics, psychology, and human development and family life. He plans to earn a masters degree in business
I remember peeing on myself during recess just to get attention
"There I was, wearing a tuxedo in a high school gym on a Friday night without a date," Mallouk said. "It reminded me of my high school prom."
administration at Pepperdine
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— three of the biggest
— traveling 40 hours a week to get their start."
"Getting an MBA is the avenue I'm going to take right now," Mallouk said. "I want to be a professional comedian, but I don't want to start how other comics do it."
While Mallouk seems ahead of the game in comedy, he isn't missing out on the life of a college student.
Mallouk, whose parents originally are from Egypt, explained why his three Sigma Chi roommates adored him.
not as cool as the other guys in the house." Mallouk said. "But they've always accepted me because they thought I'd be good at building beer-can pyramids."
Whether he is telling a joke or just watching television, his best friends say that when Mallouk is around there is never a dull moment.
"He's the best person to talk to about a problem," said Jason O'Brien, Prairie Village senior and friend of Mouluk's.
"I'm first generation from Egvdt. so I'm
"He can make the whole situation seem lighter than it is. His best quality off-stage is that he can make anybody feel good."
Casey Matile, Emporia senior, said Mallouk was like comedian Jerry Seinfeld but dirtier.
Although Mallouk has many talents and is on the road to success in all of them, his real aspiration is to be on television, a goal he partially has achieved already.
His act, which he describes as suggestive but clean, can be seen on the show "Stand-up Stand-up" on Comedy Central, a comedy channel found on Sunflower Cablevision's channel 12.
He also performs for Student Union Activities frequently and can be seen in October and November performing at Stanford and Sons.
AIDS patient claims traditional Chinese herbs and acupuncture have kept him healthy and strong for nine years
The Associated Press
At three he was diagnosed with asthma. From then until his late teens, he would spend six to nine months of the year pumped full of pills that would speed up his system, only to send it crashing down later.
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — "Mike" was always a sickly child.
So when he found out in 1985 that he had AIDS, he decided to forego the doctors, the hospitals and the drugs. Instead, he looked East for an answer.
"I haven't used any Western medicine at all," the 41-year-old said of his AIDS treatment. Mike asked that his real name not be used because his parents don't know he has the disease.
Although he has never touched AZT or any of the Western drugs commonly used to treat AIDS, Mike said he's healthy and strong nine years after being diagnosed with AIDS. And he gives much of the credit to Chinese herbs and acupuncture.
He's just one of thousands of people in the United States who have faith in traditional
Dr. Kuo-Hsiung Lee, a professor of medicinal chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is working on that. He recently won the Lifu Academic Award for Chinese Medicine — considered the Asian Nobel Prize — for using Western technology to find active compounds in Chinese herbal remedies.
Eastern remedies. But without proper testing, it's unlikely those remedies will ever be accepted by the mainstream.
His discoveries include an anti-cancer drug extracted from the mayapple plant that's now undergoing clinical trials at the University of Texas. He also has found an anti-HIV agent that has been shown to be more effective and less toxic than AZT in the test tube.
Lee believes that the American health care system has much to learn from such countries as Japan, where he says more than 200 traditional Chinese herbs are approved for use.
Safety and economics are the issues that have the Food and Drug Administration and other agencies worried.
But for people like Mike, time is too precious to spend waiting around for clinical trials that typically take years.
He said very little was known about AZT when he found out he had AIDS, although he had read that it was very toxic. He also had little faith in the studies because he knew patient participants who had shared their AZT doses with friends or otherwise ignored doctors' instructions.
Mike started looking through libraries for alternative therapies. These days he gets monthly acupuncture treatments and daily herbs in the form of teas or tablets.
Mike acknowledges the dangers of unproven treatments. However, he says adults should be allowed to make their own decisions and take their own precautions.
The bill, including massage therapy, exercises and vitamins, is $200 to $300 a month much cheaper than AZT.
"I don't really care to have my hand held by the government," he said. "I think we need to take charge of our own health care."
SEPTEMBER 7.1994 PAGE 4R
People and places at the University of Kansas.
EXHIBITIONS AND LECTURES
Exhibition-Shuttlecocks: The Making of a Sculpture, July 8-Oct. 16 at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo.
Lecture-Double Jeopardy: As Artist and Critic by Charles Cowdrick, sponsored by Lawrence Photo Alliance, 8 tonight at Lawrence Public Library Auditorium, 707 Vermont St.
Exhibition-Mixed Media Works by Marcel Miller Gross and Kristen Miller, 1:30-4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Art and Design Building Gallery.
Exhibition-Jennifer Bartlett: A Print Retrospective, Aug. 21-Oct. 16 at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo.
Exhibition-Architecture Graduate Student Exhibition, today through Friday at the Art and Design Building Gallery.
Lecture-Sandy Winters, Massachusetts artist and former KU student, on her work, 7 p.m. tomorrow at Spencer Museum Auditorium.
Exhibition-Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850-1850, Aug. 27-Oct. 9 at Spencer Museum of Art.
Exhibition-Land and Its Uses: Photographs from the Collection, Sept. 3-Nov. 13 at Spencer Museum of Art.
Exhibition-Native American Ceramics from the Southwest Pueblos, Sept. 10-Oct. 23 at Spencer Museum of Art.
Lecture-Allison Saar, Ideas and experiences influencing her art, 1:15 p.m. Sunday at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 4525 Oak St., Kansas City, Mo.
Exhibition-works of artist Susan C. Ax, opens today at DeMattais Gallery at Kansas Newman College, 3100 McCormick Ave., Wichita.
PERFORMANCES
Doctoral Recital-Timothy Deighton, viola, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Swarthout Recital Hall.
Renegade Theatre presents "East Side Comedy Shop XIX," 8 p.m. Fridays, 7 and 10 p.m. Saturdays at the Renegade Theatre, 518 East 8th St. Tickets $6.
Missouri Repertory Theatre presents "Dancing at Lughnasa," Aug. 29-Sept. 18 in Spencer Theatre at the Center for the Performing Arts, 50th and Cherry streets. Tickets for Tuesday-Sunday performances, $24. Friday and Saturday evening performances, $30.
Topeka Performing Arts Center presents The Everly Brothers with Kris Kristofferson, 8 p.m. Friday at Topeka Performing Arts Center, 214 Southeast 8th St., Topeka. Tickets $27.50, $25 and $22.50.
Helen Hocker Center for the Performing Arts presents "Fiddler on the Root," Sept. 9-11 and 16-18 in the Gage Park Ampitheater, Topeka.
Advanced tickets $6 (adults) and $4 (12 and under), $7 and $5 at the gate.
Lighten Up Improvisational Company presents "Play It By Ear" and "Outside the Lines," 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 10 p.m. Sundays in Lucas Place, 323 West 8th St., Kansas City, Mo. Tickets $4-6.