Mark Proksch is a comedian, actor, and writer, best known for his recurring role on the television series THE OFFICE as Nate, Dwight Schrute's lackey and the office handyman. Since that time, he has appeared on numerous TV shows including: PORTLANDIA, MODERN FAMILY, EAGLEHEART, BOB’S BURGERS, DRUNK HISTORY, NEW GIRL, and ON CINEMA. As of 2015, he currently appears as Pryce on BETTER CALL SAUL. Early in his career, Mark made eight appearances on Midwestern local morning TV news shows as Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser, a supposed yo-yo master who was socially awkward, painfully nervous and appallingly lacking in yo-yo skills and fashion sense.
MARK PROKSCH PIECE FROM AMC.COM
How did Better Call Saul co-creators Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould find the perfect person to play the clueless, Hummer-driving dim bulb that is Pryce? As luck would have it, actor Mark Proksch knew a thing or two about playing Midwestern goofs.
Long before viewers rolled their eyes at Pryce’s antics, Proksch became a viral video star thanks to a series of appearances he made on local morning shows in Wisconsin as Kenny “K-Strass” Strasser, a character Proksch calls a “complete idiot who discloses way too much about his personal life.” To get booked on the shows, Proksch sent out press releases to the local stations touting K-Strass as a yo-yo champion who was going to local schools to teach children about protecting the environment. The bookings quickly started pouring in, and just like that, Zim Zam the Yo-Yo Man was born.
However, here’s the kicker: Proksch had no idea how to yo-yo. “[I would] try to hold off on the yo-yo demonstration as long as possible because once I did the yo-yoing, they would know that I can’t yo-yo and they would get me off the show as soon as possible,” he says. “So I would ramble, telling the interviewer about my odd views of child-rearing and about my divorce. … Some it was improv, but a lot of it was stuff that I wanted to say to further the character. … We thought of it as this weird way to tell a story through two, three minute interviews.”
Unfortunately, after six or seven appearances, word got around that Zim Zam was a hoax and his remaining bookings were canceled. However, viewers who saw the bits uploaded them to YouTube, where they have gotten quite a second life and even attracted the attention of Gilligan and Gould after Proksch was cast as Pryce in Season 1. “Mark has a special ability that no matter what he does, it’s funny,” Gould says. “There’s something about him. He’s a comedy original.” Adds Gilligan: “I laugh uncontrollably every time I see these videos, and I’m not sure why, other than the fact that this guy is amazingly funny. I think part of what I’m responding too so favorably is the courage it takes to do this, the cock-eyed bravery it takes to go on a television station and play this crazy, inept character who presents himself as a yo-yo master. I said to him when we met, ‘Mark, how do you do this? … How do you be so ridiculous and never break character?’ He just kind of shrugged and smiled and said, ‘I guess that’s who I am.'”
Indeed, Proksch – who says he took Gilligan and Gould’s reaction as “incredibly high praise” – says the K-Strass character isn’t much of a stretch from who he is as a person. In fact, he says there’s even a little bit of K-Strass DNA in his performance as Pryce on Better Call Saul. “Every character that I play is a variation of me,” he says. “I have yet to play an out and out asshole or a villain. It’s always kind of a pathetic guy wearing pleats. And that’s what I love. I’m so happy that I get to play these arrogant idiots.”
In other words, Pryce doing the “squat cobbler” feels just as natural as K-Strass doing the “blue flying angel.” “If I find it funny, I’ll do it,” Proksch says. “I have no real pride or vanity when it comes to myself and comedy. … So, me sitting in pies? I was all for it.”