Paul Provenza (born July 31, 1957 in New York City) is an actor, comedian and filmmaker. Provenza grew up in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx and graduated in 1975 from the Bronx High School of Science. He then graduated in 1979 from the University of Pennsylvania, with the first Theatre Arts degree ever awarded by that Ivy League school. At Penn, he wrote for the Pennsylvania Punch Bowl and was a cast member of The Mask and Wig Club. He has returned numerous times to perform with Mask and Wig in their annual Intercollegiate Comedy Festival.
At the 2006 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Provenza held a nightly show at the Underbelly, entitled "Talk Of The Fest". Held at 11pm each night of the festival, the set up was described by Provenza as that of a "green room for the whole festival". He would visit other performers' shows & invite the ones that impressed him to take part, alongside pre-arranged guests (Trey Parker & Matt Stone from South Park flew over to appear as guests one night). It was essentially a live chat show with the guests performing a few minutes of their material before discussing their shows, career & comedy in general with their host in a relaxed environment.
