Rodney Marks

Rodney Marks (born 1956), is an Australian comedian. Marks satirises bureaucracy by impersonating experts of either sex and varied ethnicity and occupation. He has professionally performed for hundreds of corporations, government departments, universities and other organisations in Australasia and the USA. In his hoaxes, Marks allows tension to rise as he usurps power by making authoritative, vexatious statements. Then he reveals his identity, to the relief of the audience. Marks combines formidable knowledge of management jargon with a relaxed improvisational style and a warm, persuasive personality. He studied theatre at the University of New England in 1977-79 and worked as an actor, director, academic, management consultant and arts administrator before he became a full-time comedian in 1991. Meanwhile he had gained master's degrees in business administration and public administration, the former from the AGSM, the latter from Harvard University. Marks returned to Harvard as artist-in-residence in 1995 and hoaxed academics, students and experienced managers.

He has had appointments as artist-in-residence at the Australian Graduate School of Management (in 2000-01), the University of New England (in 2001-02), the Macquarie Dictionary (in 2002-03), and the University of New South Wales (2007), where he was also visiting professor-at-large

Marks’s characters are experts, whose expertise is called into question by audience members as he progresses through his performance. By doing so, the very nature of expertise is called into question. Marks’s work is by its very nature undermining of authority. However, by calling into question distinctions between real and fraudulent expertise, his comedy also celebrates the real variety.

As Marks has aged, his characters have moved up the fake hierarchies of the industries and sectors. In his thirties, he was a major, a marketing director, an executive officer. In his forties, he was a colonel, a CEO, president. In his fifties, he now portrays generals, managing directors and philanthropists.

Another feature of his development, is that he is now less political and more philosophical, less of an social commentator and more of an entertainer. Early in his career, he had roles in which he was an objector at a wedding, a downsizing executive who sacked a whole audience and a relocation consultant who moved audience members interstate, at least in their minds, for the duration of the performance.

Marks often includes and question-and-answer component in the performances, allowing audience members to participate in the humor. He also frequently roasts senior management, giving a voice to others in the crowd who are not allowed to be so pointed. The permission to roast is usually given by the executives, as an example of their willingness to receive feedback and improve the systems and processes of their organisation.

In 2011 he was voted Keynote Speaker of the Year by the National Speakers Association of Australia.