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Marc Price retains his ‘Ties’ to stand-up
By John Benson
Unlike former Cleveland Cavalier Mark Price, who spent the ’80s drilling three-pointers, actor Marc Price spent the decade nailing one-liners as “Skippy” on hit sitcom “Family Ties.”
Today, the funnyman is still making people laugh as a touring stand-up comedian. Price returns to Northeast Ohio for shows Friday and Saturday at the Funny Farm rooms in Austintown and Warren.
“I remember coming to Youngstown during the popularity of the show at the time,” said Price, calling from Los Angeles. “People were flipping out. I don’t expect it to be quite the same way this time.”
While Price is known as a “Where are they now?” type of celebrity, the truth is, comedy was his family business. His father, Al Bernie, was an old-school radio comedian who worked the road for decades.
Despite a generation gap, Price said early on he was influenced by greats such as George Burns and Milton Berle. Also, as a kid, his dad would sneak him into clubs. This led him into the world of comedy, where he made his debut at age 14, appearing on an episode of “Archie Bunker’s Place” and actually doing stand-up on “The Merv Griffin Show.”
It was the latter show where “Family Ties” producers found Price.
“They thought I’d help keep Michael J. Fox looking young,” Price said, laughing.
While he was on the popular show, Price also kept working at Los Angeles comedy clubs such as The Comedy Store, The Improv and The Laugh Factory.
“I was hanging out with guys like Drew Carey and Tim Allen,” Price said. “It was just a cool time, too, because I wanted to be like them. They were all great stand-ups, already. They just weren’t famous yet. And they wanted to be on a sitcom. So it was this funny kind of dynamic.”
After “Family Ties” went off the air, Price kept acting. Over the decades he also hosted talk shows and worked off-camera as a writer/producer for Showtime, TBS, E!, Disney Channel and Animal Planet.