Martin Malloy’s Kill Tony Fame Boosts Cleveland’s Comedy Scene

“Make some noise for your next comedian, ladies and gentlemen, it’s Martin Malloy,” announces Tony Hinchcliffe, host of the hit live comedy podcast Kill Tony. The band plays and the audience applauds as Malloy awkwardly ambles onto the stage from behind the black curtain.

Few fans, if any, in this Austin, Texas, crowd are familiar with the Cleveland native, but they sure will be soon.

On Kill Tony, comedians of all levels put their names into a bucket, and, if chosen, perform a one-minute set of their best jokes. All performers who make it to this stage strive for one coveted award — the golden ticket. Awarded by the judges, the golden ticket not only grants recipients an invite back to the show, but it is also a stamp of approval that frequently puts comedians on a path to more recognition and a larger audience. 

With a deadpan stage presence, Malloy’s set of quick one-liners and hard-hitting punchlines keeps the crowd on their toes. The comedian’s humor continues to shock Hinchcliffe long after his set is over. Through his interview, his dry and unfiltered responses keep the judges red-in-the-face with laughter. 

“I was gonna do entirely different jokes,” Malloy says. As he prepared, he was worried about including some of his more controversial bits. He turned to Jeff Shaw, a fellow Cleveland comic who tours nationally with his clean act. “[Shaw] insisted I do them, and they loved it!”

Love it they did. Malloy walked off stage that night with his hands on a golden ticket, one he’ll redeem by returning to the Kill Tony stage on June 22.

At 60 years old, Malloy is a staple of Cleveland’s comedy scene. Before Kill Tony, Malloy won Rookie of the Year at the 2005 CLE Comedy Awards, was a finalist at the CLE Comedy Festival, appeared on NBC’s Last Comic Standing in a straitjacket and was on The Opie and Anthony show twice.   

Although he credits his high school commencement speech as his first time doing standup, Malloy officially began performing in November of 2004. This happened to be around the same time as another legend in the Cleveland comedy scene, Bill Squire. The two met at one of the weekly amateur showcase auditions at Cleveland Improv, which Squire attended regularly. Malloy's first performance there, Squire notes, was one of the many awkward auditions to take place that night. 

“Marty's set was definitely funny and interesting, but, you know, he's a little off-putting when you don't know anything about him,” Squire says. 

After a handful of other auditions and post-show dinners, however, Squire and Malloy got to know each other pretty well. As they spent more time together, Squire began to understand a very important part of what makes Malloy the comedian he is — his paranoid schizophrenia diagnosis.

“Part of the schizophrenia is the flat affects, and it comes across very funny with the standup,” Squire explains. “In the Kill Tony interview, he’s so direct and he’s so dry. Sometimes it’s a joke and sometimes it’s unintentionally funny, but he does both very well.”

Malloy was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1984, and the topic has defined his act since the beginning. This candidness “inspires other people and cuts down on stigma,” he says. It’s so central to his performance, in fact, that he began his Kill Tony appearance by referencing it: The optimist sees the glass as half-full. I’m a paranoid schizophrenic, so I see two glasses and one of them wants to kill me.

“Your first joke shouldn't necessarily be your funniest,” says Malloy, “but it should be one that gives them an idea of who you are.”

Since Kill Tony, Malloy’s fanbase has grown tenfold, increasing from three thousand to nearly 30,000 followers on Instagram. This explosion in popularity comes as a great relief and triumph to Malloy. 

“I don’t like other jobs that I work,” says Malloy, who discussed his days working at McDonald’s in his Kill Tony appearance. “I always wanted to make most of my income on standup comedy, and I do now.”

But his success is not only of benefit to his career, it shines a light on the Cleveland scene as a whole. Centered around the decades-old Hilarities 4th Street Theater, a favorite club of many national acts, Cleveland comedy is a hidden gem, with frequent shows at Imposters Theater on Lorain Avenue and Funny Bone Comedy Club in the Flats. The scene has birthed notable comedians, including Squire, Robert Coleman, Mary Santora and more. 

Squire has seen the effect himself. His podcast, The Cleveland America Show, got a boost to 5,000 views from Malloy’s appearance. 

“We never get anything quite like that,” Squire says. “His visibility raises everyone else’s visibility. If people get a little bit out of their comfort zones and go see some local shows, they’re gonna see not just guys like Marty, but other really talented comedians in the city.”

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