MG: Well, Larry, I visited LA at the end of college with the rest of my graduating class and loved it. You see, I went to school in Chicago. It gets cold. I once dug my entire car out of a mound of snow. (Luckily I was parked in front of a bar. It made the afternoon a little easier.) So I decided to come to a place where I could wear Hawaiian shirts and drive a Jeep with the top down all year long. Second, I decided when I was five years old that I was going to move to Hollywood. I didn't want to disappoint five-year-old me. I wanted him to think I was cool. And finally, it was once said to me, "If you wanna hunt, ya gotta go where the buffalo are." I figured that even though I was an actor and not a hunter, I could replace the word 'hunter' with the word 'actor' and the word 'buffalo' with the phrase "acting jobs that pay money where you can potentially perform in front of millions of people'.
LK: But Mark Gagliardi, you knew it was going to be hard.
MG: Yes and no, Larry. I had always heard from family, friends, and movies about showbusiness that an actor's life is tough. I wanted to audition during the day so I got a job as an overnight waiter, which was fun, but the hours sucked. Can I say sucked on your show?
LK: Go ahead.
MG: Thanks. Anyway, there are thousands of actors in LA and not everyone can make it big. But at the heart of all the madness is a great group of people who are, on whatever scale, trying to bring a little adventure and romance to the rest of the world. I have worked with many of them and enjoyed every minute. My goal is to work with all of them. That makes it worth it.
LK: So it's worth losing ten cars?
MG: Wow, I can't believe you brought that up.
LK: We have good researchers.
MG: All right, so I am not the best when it comes to the little things. Like parking tickets. And the impound lot. And the concept that cars should cost more than $500 and last longer than it takes to rack up enough parking tickets that the city tows it, rendering it only a memory as you round up exact change for the bus.
LK: And bills. You're not good at that either.
MG: Have you been talking to my mother?
LK: Yes. Brings me to family. Supportive?
MG: Very.
LK: Good. Have you gotten the Jeep yet?
MG: Unfortunately, no. And my girlfriend Jen all but burned the Hawaiian shirts.
LK: Mark- may I call you Mark?
MG: Of course, Larry.
LK: Mark, earlier you mentioned five-year-old Mark. Your childhood. Talk a little more about that.
MG: Sure, Larry. I was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee...
LK: You're going to have to make this short. We're going to commercial in thirty seconds.
MG: Oh, all right. Born Tennessee. One of only a few Italian families. Catholic grade school. Played soccer when I was five, not my thing. Pee-wee football two seasons, not my thing. Did plays, more my thing. A showchoir, also my thing. Plays in high-
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LK: And we're back for a final word with Mark Gagliardi.
LK: You mentioned potentially performing in front of millions of people. How many people do you perform in front of now?
MG: Is this the part when I get to plug what I'm doing right now?
LK: If you want it to be.
MG: Well, I'm nothing if not shameless. I've performed in front of millions of people on a few TV shows.
LK: Really? I've never seen you on any.
MG: That's not surprising. My roles are quite small. If I were famous they'd be called cameos. But since I am not they're just small parts.
LK: Well, you know what they say, there are no small-
MG: Yes, I'm well aware of that phrase. But I've gotten to do some really fun short films as well.
LK: Are any of them on TV?
MG: Not that I know of, but they are on iFilm and Atom Films. They're websites.
LK: Anything on stage?
MG: I do a monthly fake radio show called The Thrilling Adventure And Supernatural Suspense Hour that your listeners can check out at workjuice.net. I can be seen at Disneyland in several shows. I'm probably not supposed to talk about which ones. Something about maintaining the magic.
LK: I understand.
MG: If people want to talk to me about it, they can email me.
LK: Anything else?
MG: Well, I'm excited that I have found Second City LA. When I was in Chicago I fell in love with Second City.
LK: The famous improvisation theatre?
MG: That's right, Larry. I would go see the show there as often as I could and when I got to LA I found out that there is one here as well. Now I am performing every week at Second City LA in two shows. Every Wednesday night we do an improv show starting at eight o'clock and on Thursdays we have a sketch comedy show starting at ten.
LK: And where is the theatre?
MG: It's at 8156 Melrose Avenue in West Hollywood.
LK: Well, that's all the time we have for tonight. Thanks to my guest, Mark Gagliardi.
MG: It's been my pleasure, Larry.