Rising Stars
Viewed:
589
Zach Sherwin
Zach Sherwin — and his beat-droppin’ alter ego MC Mr. Napkins — easily stands out from Boston’s stand-up comedian crowd. It might be the hair. But it’s more likely the 28-year-old’s unique brand of rabbi’skid-meets-hip-hop-wordsmith comic virtuosity that will help catapult him from local notoriety to international superstardom. He’s already on his way, thanks to appearances on Vh1, CNN, and CollegeHumor.com; his ubiquitous presence at nearly every comedy night in the Boston area; and a starring role in an upcoming commercial for Sierra Mist, previously hyped with a series of funny spots featuring comedians Tracy Morgan, Michael Ian Black, Jim Gaffigan, Debra Wilson, and Kathy Griffin.
Sherwin started writing raps when he was 13, but they weren’t funny — not on purpose, anyway. After all, when a Jewish teenager raps, pretty much exclusively, about what a great MC he is, it’s organic fodder for comedy. Years later, Sherwin honed his comedy chops as one-third of the Late Night Players, a sketch troupe born at Brandeis University that toured until last autumn. By then, he’d started rapping during shows as MC Mr. Napkins — a “cross of Paul Barman and Eminem and Emerson and Tennyson and Dickinson and Kinison” — and was, he says, using the Late Night Players’ shows as a terrarium to develop the character and see what raps were clicking with the audience.
At first his rhymes, sharp as shoulder blades, were somewhat serious, paying homage to Sherwin’s fervent love of hip-hop. When he noticed that he was getting the most attention for a funny rap called “Bike Stop,” Sherwin shifted gears, combining his love for rap and his passion for comedy into one finessed act. The result? Priceless rhymes about spelling bees and sphygmomanometers. (Look it up.)
