According to his biography, Mark Russell was born, in the thirties ...or forties...in Buffalo, New York.

He served in the Marines in the fifties and had a couple of weeks of college before starting out as a piano player in the Carroll Arms Hotel Bar, on Capitol Hill. He made up songs about his customers, many of whom happened to be politicians - and he quickly outgrew the place.

He was resident comedian at Washington's Shoreham Hotel from 1961 to 1981.He says he lives in Washington for the same reason a coal miner lives near the shaft.

The Mark Russell Comedy Specials, now starting its twenty-fifth season on public television, have consistently placed among the five top-rated shows on that network. Mark Russell has also been a weekly commentator on CNN's Inside Politics Weekend.