MO ROCCA

'Mo Rocca' (born 'Maurice Alberto Rocca' on January 28, 1969 in Washington, DC) is an American writer, comedian, and political satirist. Rocca is best known for his work as a correspondent from 1998 to 2003 on Comedy Central's popular satirical news program, ''The Daily Show with Jon Stewart''.

Contents

Early life and work

Career

References

External links

Early life and work

Rocca attended Georgetown Preparatory School, the Jesuit boys school in North Bethesda, Maryland and later went on to graduate from Harvard University in 1991 with a B.A. in literature. He served as president of Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatricals. Later, he worked as a writer and producer for the children's television series ''Wishbone'' (1995), ''The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss'' (1996) and ''Pepper Ann'' (1997), and also as a consulting editor to the men's magazine ''Perfect 10''.

Career

Rocca is a regular panelist on NPR's ''Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!'' and is a celebrity commentator on VH1's ''I Love The...'' shows: ''I Love the 80s'', ''I Love the 70s'', ''I Love the 70s Volume 2'', ''I Love the 80s Strikes Back'', ''I Love the 80s 3-D'', ''I Love the 90s'', '', ''I Love Toys'', and ''I Love the Holidays''. The series officially stated his occupation as "media gadfly" for one of its incarnations, and noted his physical resemblance to the children's book character Waldo in another. He was the host of ''Things I Hate About You'' on Bravo. Rocca is also a regular correspondent for ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' and has been a celebrity judge on the Food Network's ''Iron Chef America'' where he frequently engages in high comedy, such as claiming a dish is "McDelicious."
Rocca was an on-the-floor correspondent for Larry King on CNN at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, which he called an "Obamarama." Though occasionally making straight insights and political comments, Rocca's irrelevant and irreverent statements were a humorous contrast to King's more staid politician and pundit guests. Rocca characterized Teresa Heinz Kerry as the "Siren of the Serengeti," and expressed affinity with the statement by keynote speaker, Barack Obama, about the pains of growing up as a skinny boy with a funny name. During his report to King from the convention floor alongside the Pennsylvania delegates, he exclaimed "Everybody's talking Teresa, Teresa, Teresa!" Rocca spent a good deal of his time with the Convention delegates from American Samoa. He returned as a correspondent for the 2004 Republican National Convention.
Rocca is the author of the ''All the Presidents' Pets: The Inside Story of One Reporter Who Refused to Roll Over.''
He was the host of ''Whoa! Sunday'' which premiered in 2005 on Animal Planet.
He is a regular judge on the Food Network's ''Iron Chef America''.
He has recently begun satirical commentary on ''CBS News Sunday Morning''.
Rocca is a contributor to the Huffington Post.
Rocca now hosts ''The Mo Rocca Show'' on Sirius Satellite Radio.
Rocca also contributes to AOL Newsbloggers^[1]. His blog is entitled 'Mo Rocca 180°, Only Half as Tedious as the Regular News'
Starting April 17, Rocca will play the role of Vice Principal Douglas Panch in the Broadway production of ''The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee''.

References

1. 'Mo Rocca 180°': Only Half as Tedious as the Regular News

External links

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★ Mo Rocca on TomGreen.com

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★ Mo Rocca Interview on LX.TV

★ TheaterMania.com article on Spelling Bee

★ Mo Rocca Fan Site

★ Mo Rocca's Blog

★ Classic Mo Rocca Daily Show Clips