Jackie Martling

Born and raised on Long Island, NY, comedian Jackie "The Joke Man" Martling earned a mechanical engineering degree from Michigan State University in 1971. Early on he channeled his energies into rock & roll, performing with his college outfit the Pillowcayse before moving to Denver, CO, in 1973 and assembling the Off-Hours Rockers. Comedy nevertheless remained his abiding passion, and friends knew him for an apparently bottomless repertoire of jokes. Once the band split in 1978 he folded comic material into his solo sets and tested stand-up material at an open-mike night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star. Continued appearances in small clubs led to his first album, What Did You Expect?, in 1979, followed by Goin' Ape! in 1980 and Normal People Are People You Don't Know That Well in 1981. All three LPs were mailed to the then-unknown New York radio host Howard Stern; by 1986 Martling had joined the program full-time and later served as its head writer. Despite the frequent on-air refrain "Eff Jackie!," his popularity supported a run of further comedy releases including Sgt. Pecker, Hot Dogs & Donuts, Snart, and The Very Best of Jackie Martling's Talking Joke Book Cassettes, Vol. 1, alongside a consistent slate of live performances.