"The feisty little What Exit? Theatre Company is certainly not lacking in bravery."
Bob Rendell - Talkin' Broadway
dave konig's sordid past!
Child Star
Born in The Bronx, Dave Konig comes from humble stock. "My parents were humble people. Humble, but proud. And short. They were humble, proud and short. And loud. Humble, proud, short, loud Jewish people." Beginning at the age of ten, young Konig appeared in several Off Broadway productions, including a successful revival of Herb Gardner's A Thousand Clowns. "Show business is great for kids," Konig says. "Look at all the happy, well adjusted adults who started out as child actors; me, Lorna Luft, the cast of Different Strokes..."
The Lost Years
After several years "on the boards," Konig dropped out of society. "It was a crazy, mixed up time," he says, speaking of the mid-to-late seventies or early to-mid eighties depending on how much he is lying about his age. " War was raging in the Falkland Islands and there was protest in the streets - I had to be a part of that!" So Dave Konig climbed into a beat up old Volkswagen van and set off to find America. However due to a remarkably poor sense of direction, a strong aversion to travel and the fact that he couldn't drive, he never actually made it out of the Bronx.
Dim Bulb, Big City
In the go-go swinging 80's the stand-up comedy boom was sweeping the nation. Konig was bitten by the bug. "It really, really hurt and my thigh was swollen for a week. I needed ointment." Konig soon recovered, and shortly thereafter he started performing stand-up comedy. Konig also maintained a strong legit career in regional theater (The Boys Next Door, The Odd Couple), Off Broadway (Ibsen's An Enemy Of The People, several plays at The Manhattan Punch Line Theater and The Ensemble Studio Theater) and Broadway (Grease!).
TV Writer, TV Star
In the early nineties, Konig wrote for shows on Comedy Central (Random Acts Of Variety, That's Not Fair), MTV (You Wrote It You Watch It) and VH1 (Rumor Has It). "I'll never forget my first TV writing job. I couldn't believe I was getting paid to write comedy sketches, just like on the old Dick Van Dyke Show! I felt like a young Rose Marie..."
But soon, Konig was moving out from the writer's room and stepping in front of the cameras. This would inevitably irritate the cameramen. "Hey, get away from the cameras!", they would shout. Shortly thereafter though, Konig launched a successful TV comedy broadcasting career, hosting Showtime's Showtime Mailbox, FX's The Imposters, HBO'S Hardcore TV, USA Network's The Dave Konig Show, and METRO-TV's Emmy Award winning Subway Q&A, where he is featured in the wildly popular Konig Underground segment.
The Future
What's next for Konig? "I'm pitching a sitcom. In it I would portray an inner city high school teacher who returns to his old school in Brooklyn to preside over a classroom of lovable, but zany misfits. I call it Welcome Back, Dave Konig. I know the premise sounds familiar, but there's a twist; my character, Mr. Konig, suffers from the disease of lactose intolerance and every episode ends with one of my zany students "accidentally" tricking me into drinking a large glass of whole milk. Each show ends with me having a violent, allergic reaction." Well, it's sure to be a big hit. After all, Dave Konig remains -- as always - America's Most Beloved, Living Entertainer!
Hebrew School Dropout: Or How I Converted from Judaism to Catholicism and Back, and Lost Those Stubborn Last 10 Pounds!
3-Time Emmy Winner Dave Konig in:
Saturday April 10, 2010 at 8 pm
Sunday April 11, 18, 25 at 3 pm
Burgdorff Cultural Center, 10 Durand Road
