By Noor Hussein. The University of Maine at Farmington, class of 2022
Robert Cochrane Marley Jr. (a.k.a. Bob Marley) was born in Bangor Maine, April 4th, 1967. He was the son of Robert Cochrane Marley Sr. and Marcia Marley. Marley went to school in Bangor until the fifth grade. He then attended Deering High School in Portland, Maine. Marley had his first experiences with comedy while in high school. He then graduated high school in 1985 and followed his parent's wishes for him to graduate college and lead a financially successful life.
Marley attended the University of Maine at Farmington, completing a major in community health. In his junior year, Marley would do comedy professionally for the first time. His first show was at a local health fair. Once he graduated from the University of Maine at Farmington in 1992, he continued his career in comedy.
Early in his career, Marley started doing stand-up in his hometown of Portland, Maine. He would shortly after, look for new experiences. To receive better recognition Marley ended up heading down to Boston, Massachusetts and doing stand up there. He did stand-up for over five years before getting the recognition and opportunity he had been looking for. At the age of 31, Marley was filming a movie along with other stars August 10th, 1998. The movie was called The Boondock Saints, which released in 2000 for the United States; some other countries would be able to watch it earlier. Marley played an ignorant yet comical Detective Greenly. Marley and the cast mostly filmed in Boston, Massachusetts and one time in Ontario, Canada.
After the movie Marley received national fame for his comedy, he aired on The Late Show with Dave Letterman, in 1999. Then in 2001, he went onto The Late Show with Conan O'Brien and appeared again in 2004. In 2007, Bob Marley made his first television appearance on Comedy Central, having a stand-up performance on a national stage. Marley had been living the life he worked hard for.
In 2009 The Boondock Saints 2 had just released, Marley returning to play the infamous Detective Greenly. This sequel was filmed mostly in Canada. In his career Marley ended up doing around 100 television performances. In 2010, Marley had broken the Guinness World Record for longest stand-up comedy. He lasted 40 hours on the stage, going through 17 hours of original jokes before repeating some.
In a 2015 interview, Marley states his love for Maine is never-ending. He loves the nature of Maine, and how peaceful the state is. Marley has toured across the nation and in many countries but finds New England the most fun. “New England is the funnest for me because I grew up here, and everybody feels like family.” - Bob Marley.
References:
● Wilson, P.F. “Laugh Tracks: Bob Marley.” Columbus Alive, 15 Jan. 2009,
https://web.archive.org/web/20110727142658/http://www.columbusalive.com/live/conte
nt/features/stories/2009/01/15/ca_ar_laugh.html
● Duffy, Troy, director. The Boondock Saints. The Boondocks Saints, Franchise Pictures,
2000, www.imdb.com/title/tt0144117/?ref_=ttpl_pl_tt.
● Duffy, Troy, et al. The Boondock Saints II, All Saints Day. The Boondock Saints II, All
Saints Day, Stage 6 Films, 2009. IMDB, www.imdb.com/title/tt1300851/.
● Fitzpatrick, Delany. “A Moment with Comedian Bob Marley – The Maine Campus.” The
Maine Campus, 18 Oct. 2015, mainecampus.com/2015/10/moment-comedian-bob-marley/.