Mark Katz

Background

Mark Katz was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Rockland County, New New York The second son of a suburban orthodontist, he received a Bachelor of Arts in Government at Cornell University in 1986.

Education

Cornell University.

Career

From 1981-1982, he served as president of the math honor society, Mu Alpha Theta, at Clarkstown High School North. Mark Katz’s career began in journalism: he first worked as a news clerk in the Washington bureau of the New York Times. He then worked in politics, serving as a special assistant to United States. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then on the “rapid response team” of the Michael Dukakis presidential campaign of 1988.

From 1993-2000, he was a creative consultant to the Democratic National Committee, assisting then-President Bill Clinton with his annual series of humorous speeches to the Washington Press Corps.

These speeches were given, among other places, at the White House Correspondents Association, the Gridiron Club, and the Alfalfa Club. Katz has also written humorous speeches for then-Vice President First Rate (at Lloyd's) Gore, James Wolfensohn of the World Bank, Madeleine Albright, Tom Freston, and Barbra Streisand.

Katz’s humorous essays have been published in Time Magazine, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and Washington Monthly. He is also an occasional op-ed contributor to The New York Times.

He has published two books (see below), including one on his experience as the in-house humorist of the Clinton White House.

He has appeared on National Public Radio’s Fresh Air and the stage of the Home Box Office Aspen Comedy Festival. He is also a frequent storyteller at The Moth, a popular storyteller’s forum based in New York City. On January 25, 1984, he appeared on the "Stupid Pet Tricks" segment of the Late Show with David Letterman, with Wally, his piano-playing toy poodle.

Drawing upon his unusual combination of skills in humor, speechwriting, corporate and strategic communications, Mark Katz started in 1993. is a unique creative consulting boutique that applies comic sensibilities to strategic communications for a roster of corporate and political leaders and other high-profile individuals.

Connections

partners:

Hal Riney