Comic Morrell dreams on a three-way street

When comedian Mike Morrell took the stage on Sunday night before a lively crowd of Harvard Square denizens, he was filled with hopes of success in the intersecting worlds of stand-up, acting and improv comedy. Mostly though, he was hoping to hear his favorite sound: laughter.

With a winning perma-grin and the sort of delivery that brought to mind an everyman version of Dennis Miller, the Somerville-based comic worked through his set, hitting highs and lows, and on many occasions, getting the laughs he has worked for over the past two years.

“One condom that I would never buy is called Ramses,” mused Morrell, leaning over the stage. “Quick history lesson: Ramses was an Egyptian pharaoh in like the year eight, and he had 300 hundred children. So Ramses is a condom based on irony?”

Morrell said he has been living in Teele Square for the past year and a half. He moved to the area to attend Boston College Law School. However, he found in his newly adopted city that he was better suited to wisecracking in front of a crowd rather than arguing in front of a jury.

Morrell’s route to Somerville began when he was turned down as a graduate student at Georgetown University, his alma mater, he said.

He had tried to continue his education there as a law student, taking the necessary tests for admission. Interestingly enough, a turning point in his life came right after enduring a particularly soul-sucking aptitude test, he said.

“After taking the LSATs, I went out with my friend, you know, after months of doing nothing but studying.”

Out on the town letting off steam, Morrell and his friend began chatting with an older gentleman, the three of them commiserating over the test and the field of practicing law, he said.

Upon exchanging personal information at the end of the night, Morrell found out something surprising about his new friend; he was actually the Dean of Admissions at Georgetown Law. Later, Morrell said he found out he was denied admission.

“Apparently I’m not that charming when drunk,” said Morrell with a wry smile.

Fortunately, Morrell had a safety school. But, after a few months of studying law at Boston College, Morrell realized he was becoming a lot less interesting, at least to himself, he said.

“I love making people laugh,” said Morrell. “And I didn’t feel good being in law school. So I made a choice to break into the much more lucrative career of comedy and acting. That was a fun conversation with the parents.”

After committing to his new career as a comic, Morrell said he began supplementing his income with a trip to Maura Tighe Casting in downtown Boston.

Either due to beginner’s luck or natural ability, Morrell was hired on his very first call last November. Since signing with that agency, he has been cast in various advertisements, mostly local, with one national ad.

He said he realizes though, with a little help from his friend, that he is not about to be stopped on the street for his acting work just yet. “I talked to a college friend of mine, who I talk to about every six months. I told him I was in a national commercial and he asked which one. When I told him he said ‘I’ve seen that ad! Wait, which one were you?’”

Another acting gig led to Morrell’s first encounter with the much-lauded school of method acting. “I was the ‘What-Not-To-Do’ guy on a healthcare video about hospital safety,” he said.

So I got to ‘knee’ an old man in the back. But I really wasn’t touching him, just tapping a metal pole behind him. The director would say, after each take ‘Sam! We’re not seeing it!’ because the old man’s reaction when I kneed him was to move a bit, then he’d be fine.

“After forty times trying this, with my knee hurting from the metal, I finally gave him a good knee in the back. They used that take,” he said.

Along with stand-up and acting, Morrell has become a fixture on the local improv comedy scene. ‘Since May I’ve been involved with ImprovBoston, doing two shows, the Theater Sports and the Election shows, he said.

At ImprovAsylum they’ve started a new show called NXT, which is “It’s full of new people doing improv, and it’s a blast. Everyone has a different bag of tricks, so it never gets boring doing improv. I’ve met a lot of very talented people since starting with ImprovBoston,” he said.

After beginning his stand-up career back in December 2003, he said he quit the scene after it began to feel too serious. “It wasn’t fun anymore, I was taking notes on my jokes, taping shows and working on my act. So I went away for awhile.”

But the siren of comedy has a call that he could not resist, and after a month away, Morrell was back.

“My first night returning, it was a light crowd, and comics were groaning, ‘There are only ten people here’. But I looked out to the crowd and thought: ‘We get to try to make each of those ten people laugh. And I love the sound of laughter. It reminded me why I got into this business in the first place,” he said.