Mo Rocca to Perform at Ridgefield Playhouse, 5/3

Humorist, author and actor Mo Rocca is best known for his offbeat news reports and satirical commentary. Currently a Correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood, Mo is also a panelist on NPR's hit weekly quiz show Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! and the host and creator of the Cooking Channel's My Grandmother's Ravioli, in which he learns to cook from grandmothers and grandfathers across the country. He is famed for his wacky, tongue-in-cheek "fake news" reports. Rocca spent four seasons as a correspondent on Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and four seasons as a correspondent on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. This witty actor and television personality puts an entertaining twist on everything he talks about and talk he will at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Saturday, May 3, at 7:30 p.m.

The audience gets to ask Mo what they have always wanted to.... Bissell House (378 Main St., Ridgefield) will pour a free glass of house wine or draught beer with dinner the night of this show when tickets/stubs are presented. This event is part of The Moffly Media Entertaining Conversations and Clark Construction Comedy Series and is a Ridgefield Library @ Ridgefield Playhouse Event. Media sponsor is WSHU.

"I know a lot about a few things-mostly useless things." But, actually, he knows a lot about acting, journalism, humor and important topics such as his latest project, Electoral Dysfunction, a feature length documentary exploring voting in America and the consequences of a Constitution that doesn't include the right to vote. (Really.) Throughout, he encounters a range of activists, experts, and election administrators, along with some highly opinionated third graders, who offer commentary on how voting works -- or doesn't work -- in America. Rocca, a graduate of Harvard and the former president and author of Harvard University's Hasty Pudding Show, boasts stage credits that include Vice Principal Douglas Panch in Broadway's The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and Doody on the Southeast Asian Tour of Grease. Rocca's book, All the Presidents' Pets: The Story of One Reporter Who Refused to Roll Over, is a tour-de-force of investigative journalism that blows the lid off a long-held Washington secret: Presidential pets are more than just photo-ops.

"Too many Americans are lazy when it comes to studying low-brow culture. I've given all these shows-Punky Brewster, Webster-the thought they deserve," explains Mo Rocca, who began his career in TV as a writer and producer for the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning PBS children's series Wishbone. He went on to write and produce for other kids series, including ABC's Pepper Ann and Nickelodeon's The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss.

Rocca also served as consulting editor at the adult men's magazine Perfect 10. These experiences prepared him for the broad range of topics he'd tackle on The Daily Show, where his profiles ranged from a man so obsessed with First Ladies he dresses up as Florence Harding to a husband/wife pet-mummification team. Rocca is a judge on Iron Chef America and was a frequent guest on cable news shows Countdown with Keith Olbermann and Larry King Live. He was a regular on the VH1 retrospective I Love the... series and served as host of Things I Hate About You on Bravo and Animal Planet's Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca. He also once played the role of Turista #2 on telenovela Amor Descarado on Telemundo.

For tickets ($75), call (203) 438-5795 or visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.