Portland-based comic Bob Marley rolls into Ellsworth this weekend for a three-day marathon at The Grand.

Maine Comic Bob Marley Unleashes Wit At The Grand

Ayuh, comedian Bob Marley is back in town. The popular Portland native is set to perform over the weekend, for his eighth year running, at The Grand.

Marley does Maine characters, but not “Maine humor,” he says, “it’s stuff that we can all relate to.”

For Marley, 41, one of the most important things about being a comedian is keeping people coming back with new material. If you saw him last year at The Grand, you will see a whole new show, he says.

The upcoming show will be a year in review of sorts. “This year’s been so crazy with the economy, the election, the Olympics — somebody threw a shoe at George Bush, how can I not do a joke about that?”

His act has been extremely successful this year, despite the tenuous economy. “Our attendance numbers have been awesome. People really want to get out and laugh.”

His most colorful cast of characters, the Marley family themselves, will also be featured in much of his fresh material. Luckily for Bob, his family delights in being a part of the act. Including his mother. “At first she was horrified, but now, if I don’t do jokes about my mom, she calls to ask what’s wrong.”

As if he isn’t already enough of a character, Marley shares his given name with the legendary musician. His name is actually Bob Marley, and believe it or not, he’s a junior. His father didn’t know anything of the Rastafarian musician until his son was in high school and has now taken to saying “no relation to the ‘reggie’ singer,” when he introduces himself.

Some of Marley’s jokes are about “getting your Maine on,” like people who will spend $20,000 on a boat, but not $2 on a buoy, when a milk jug can do the job.

Marley has come a long way since he started doing stand-up as a junior at the University of Maine in Farmington. “When I started my crew was me and my Nissan Sentra,” he said, recalling his days of living on lettuce and ketchup sandwiches as he drove from venue to venue.

The hard-working comic now regularly plays to sellout crowds across the country. During his 17-year career, he has starred in several films, been featured in his own special on “Comedy Central,” and made the rounds on the late-night TV circuit, appearing on “The Late Show” with David Letterman, “The Tonight Show” with Jay Leno, “Late Night” with Conan O’Brien and “The Late Late Show,” with Craig Ferguson and Craig Kilborn. A regular at the Aspen and Montreal comedy festivals, Marley was named one of Variety magazine’s “10 Comics to Watch.” He now has a standing invitation — no audition necessary — to the “Just for Laughs” comedy festival in Montreal.

Marley just wrapped the sequel to the cult classic “Boondock Saints,” in which he plays a quirky detective that is constantly bested by Willem Dafoe as a hilariously fey FBI agent. The film centers on two Irish brothers, played by Sean Patrick Flanery and Norman Reedus, who rid the city of Boston from its unsavory characters with a sense of divine purpose and lots of guns. Dafoe and Marley are the most memorable of the law enforcement team that tracks the two brothers. “Willem Dafoe is a great guy, I learned so much from him,” Marley said, “he’d do 10 different takes and they’d all work for the scene.” While working with him, he discovered that Dafoe also owns property in Maine, so they’d get together and test out their accents. Dafoe is not on the roster this time around but Judd Nelson and Peter Fonda have joined the cast.

“I’ve seen some of the footage and it looks great — better than the first one!” Marley said. The sequel, “Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day,” is set to open in late August. The Maine comic is already gearing up to do the talk show circuit to talk about his role.

Although he really enjoys his work on movies, he is a stand-up comedian at heart.

His favorite cities to play outside of Maine are Washington D.C., Boston, Tempe, Ariz., and L.A. He tours about eight to 12 weeks a year, and spends the rest of his time in Maine. After living in L.A. for years, Marley is thrilled to be back in his home state. “I love being in Maine, my kids are here, my wife is here, my families here, it’s the best place on Earth.”

He likes it so much here that he has turned down several offers to star in sitcoms. His agent is now talking to Bravo about doing something with the network for a set period of time, say several months.

As he continues to perform, his act and his priorities are evolving. Although he made a name for himself with plenty of “F-bombs,” he has now abandoned the four-letter word. “I listened to some tapes of myself and it was just F-this and F-that,” he says, “don’t get me wrong, if it’s done right it can be a great tool in comedy — do you know Lewis Black? Nobody says [The F-Word], better than him.”

The comedian has a high level of respect for his comic peers. While in L.A., he worked with many comedy greats such as Richard Pryor, Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld. His friend and colleague George Hamm, also of Portland, is set to play his opening act at this weekend’s performance.

Marley has reached a point in his career where he sets his own pace. After a five-year hiatus, he is offering his services to Maine high schools once again. This year, he will be able to perform free of charge at several high schools across the state. He took the break from his charity performances because he was just too busy. The performances are offered to the schools to help raise money for senior classes’ Project Graduations. He will be accepting requests for bookings for the next several weeks. To request a booking, call Oliver Keithly at 774-5554 or e-mail him directly at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .