Our Comedic Journey

MISPLACED BIOGRAPHY The Misplaced Comedy Group found its beginnings in late 1999, when actor and radio personality Steven Grabo and close friend Jeffrey Prekop won several awards at a National Competition in the performing arts. Realizing that they only lived a mile from each other, they started writing comical radio skits and commercials for broadcast. After hosting several comedy clubs, Steve was introduced to Jennifer Feliciano. Jeff brought in his brother Dave Prekop, and the four of them started to perform Theater Games! John Gradick, Steve’s previous boss at the radio conglomerate and then next-door neighbor, also got in on the action. It was during this time that they started recording material that would change their reputable images forever!

During the 9/11 attacks of the World Trade Center, Jeff showed up at Steve’s door in some dazed and confused shock. He had a concept to record a song parody that would immediately be heard across the country and become the #1 Internet Comedy Song on MP3.COM for six months! “The Bin Laden (Banana Boat) Song” became a top hit on their CD “The Afghan Files,” and pretty soon skits like “Muslim Barbie”, “Friends In Blown Up Places” and “The Afghanistan Dating Game” became some of the most requested downloads on the Internet.

The four then started focusing on promoting a ‘live’ show that could present their studio material with a new trend that was just starting to hit America’s comedy culture, Interactive Theater Games. While setting up performance dates, the four of them started getting cast in separate performances. Steve started getting leading roles in independent film projects, Jen was performing Stand-up and raising a family, while Dave and Jeff were performing Shakespeare and also in the middle of starting their own families.

In 2003, Many changes came into play after Steve moved and a new location was established.

Joining the new, larger cast were: Traci ‘Keychain’ Kanaan, Bryan Tupper, Loren Evans, Stan Koci, Melissa Holmes, Tami Vaughan, Kevin Allen, Linda Cleet &  BOB! (…who grew up with Steve, and eventually became the webmaster for The MCG site from 2003-’06).

A New Logo was developed, and an entirely new interactive website was created (as previous fans could tell). The new site included a Forum where Misplaced Fans and Members could interact and post MCG’s Latest Happenings.  Also! A brand new line of “Misplaced Gear” was made available for fans all around to show their support for Misplaced Comedy!

Along with all these changes… came all new Material!

The CD “Good Eats” made it’s Debut with the MP3.com #1 comedy Hit “Martha’s American Pie,” a song dedicated to the Martha Stewart trial, which deemed televisions leading story at the time.
The troupe then took to the stage with an entirely new show that featured a variety format that included improv, as well as their sketches and characters found on their CD’s. This new show gave audiences the opportunity to actually ‘see’ the voices and characters heard from their CD’s.  Audience members also witnessed for the first time, the Misplaced Comedy’s “Joke Board.” A giant 12 foot logo that enabled members to pop out of hidden doors, tell a joke and break up a scene, … a wall inspired by Rowan and Martin’s “Laugh-In.”

The shows were then followed by several months of production, for the simultaneous release of CDs “Absurd Sensationalism” and “Misplaced Holidays.” They were both released simultaneously in late October 2004, and spoofed the National Election, as well as other current events of the time.   The parody song, “Swift Boats (Are a Comin’)” became an electoral hit, as it reached number four on the Internet comedy charts.  The Nationally Syndicated radio show, “Dr. Demento Show,” featured a classic episode of “The Elderly Superfolks”.

In 2004-05, realizing that they were able to expand in their productions, they started to produce videos to add to the many features on their website, with hopes to involve the new material in collaboration with their evolving website and technologies… a full year before YouTube was available.

They’ve also adapted to the constantly changing mediums found on the Internet, by producing Podcasts. While people were only voicing their political opinions and teeny bopper love poems into their built-in computer microphones, The MCG used this new medium to actually produce half-hour radio shows which included segments from prior CD’s, as well as new and previously unreleased material.  They became one of the very first Podcasts to be featured on iTunes, and eventually gained recognition and Five-Star Podcast Awards for their productions in their use of the new technology.

The revolving cast of The Misplaced Comedy Group continued to keep writing and producing new batches of skits and parodies, while booking and promoting a new live show!

In late 2005, early ’06, continuing in the madness were new members Janet Day, Annie Jackson and Mackenzie Karney, rounding out a complete cast of seasoned characters.

Their release of the CD, “Un-Real Estate” focused on making sport of several issues that pronounced eminent doom for real estate and an over glamorized and promising market/economy… who knew that a little over a year later they would be right, eh? I guess they did!

“Unreal Estate” spawned several top 10 Internet comedy singles, including the #1 single “Flu Bird”, a parody song about the avian flu epidemic. The CD featured twice as many sketches, songs and parodies than their previous releases, allowing almost 80 minutes of material all in one package.

By the end of 2006, after 10 months of preparation, Misplaced Comedy’s Live and Video Show  “Misplaced Mayhem” made its debut.  The show featured live interactive video, which had never been done before by any independent comedy act ever. Steve was quoted as saying “the only thing remotely close to our interactive video would be Disney’s Finding Nemo display at Disney World”. The 2 hour long show also implemented a more burlesque style of humor within their sketches, videos, song parodies and stand-up material.

“Misplaced Mayhem” was definitely ahead of its time.  During the show, The MCG Players were able to utilize the entire stage, with their 12 foot Joke Board and 10 foot interactive video screen… allowing absolutely no ‘dead time’ in between their sketches, parodies and improv bits.

In late 2006, The MCG Mascot, Squeaks passed away as well as several close members to the troupe… Memorandums were placed during the closing credits.

The “Misplaced Mayhem” shows ran through the Spring of 2007, where American Idol Magazine listed them as one of “The Best Emerging Artists” of 2006  (Volume 3 – Issue #2).   Sarasota Magazine also posted a photo and mentioned them in a brief story about local talent on Florida’s Gulf Coast.

2008 was a year of recuperation from the live shows, but not for The MCG’s studio recordings… “The Vault”, was completed to record future endeavors and CDs, as well as edit video clips from the previous live shows.

Several members also took time off to pursue other ventures.  Janet, Mac and Linda moved out of State, while Steve joined up with several old band mates to form “Bob’s Band”, named after best buddy BOB! (who was the roadie & tech guru).

In 2009, Steve & Bryan got together to continue recording several Podcasts, and released “The Original Podcasts” CD.  The CD included the first 2 groundbreaking Podcasts Shows, that originally aired in 2005. The inner sleeve included photos of the troupe during the recordings and live shows, as well as brief stories behind the scenes of each of the sketches, song parodies and commercials.

During this time, a video of Steve & Bryan can be found of their famous “Mentos Battle Royal”, where the two battle it out in arena style combat with a massive sugar frenzy!

Members of The MCG were also cast in the film “Stalker”, written by Grabo. the short film was eventually taken over by Capstone Pictures and became “Perception”, a film directed by John Pocino.  A film that was due for release in late 2010.

With the MCG constantly evolving, new recruits to comedy joined in on the fun!

New Members: Erica Pead, Kerri Stringer, Ken Shields, Joyce & Allen Kretschmar joined in 2009, as The MCG dove head first into new territory.

The MCG had already started recording for their New CD, along with new videos and animation to go along with the plans of an even larger live showcase.

The new and updated website implemented a more user friendly 3-D look with updated bios, galleries, videos and all the things you need to know about The Misplaced Comedy Group!

Fans could become MC Groupies by passing the word of The MCG and sending pics of themselves wearing MCG memorabilia. Groupies also get free stuff and advance tickets to their shows.

In 2010, the New Decade started out with the CD, “Back For More Abuse.” The release showed off a new blend of comedic parodies and sketches. With this CD, The MCG continued their comical awareness of global, environmental and economic issues with parody performances like  ‘Billion Dollar Bailout’ , ‘Drill Baby’ , ‘ School Policy’ and ‘Healthcare 2010′, while bringing back #1 singles “Call The Police” and “I’m Not Drunk Enough Yet (To Love You)”.   The compilation continued along the lines of a variety format similar to their award winning podcasts with witty commercial and sketches placed between various song parodies. Top parody songs “Because you Died” , “Call me (The Cougar Song)” and ‘Cowards’, all written and performed by Kerri Stringer.  While the parody song “Eye Boogers”, a song Steve wrote about their cat, was meant for Kerri’s golden voice.  A slew of videos also followed to help promote “Back For More Abuse”, including a 2-part reality show spoofing the making of the CD. A constant production and work schedule, including work on the film Perception, burnt out most everyone in the troupe. By the time the CD was out, everyone was pretty much spent, physically and emotionally.

After a year of working and filming, Steven Grabo started working on a solo music project. In November 2012, “Grabo” was released, under the Misplaced Music umbrella.  The first single from the CD, “Lust”,  spawned a music video which included most of the cast members of Misplaced Comedy.

In 2015, Steve joined Janet in a variety of short teaching seminars and work shops. Although classes were full, the workshops were streamed via the internet to help people create their own comedy show and assist in their acting and Stand-up personas. The workshop also brought out new and old members of The MCG, which led to the creation of a New Murder Mystery Dinner Theater Show.

A Clairvoyant Murder Mystery Mayhem sold out various comedy theaters and resort dining facilities for a season. The show included Steven Grabo, Ken Shields, Janet Day, J. Hogan, as well as new members, Molly Morgan and Eric Dunn. The interactive theater experience featured various song parodies and comical “who dun it” scenarios, with food and prizes. The entire show was inspired by Steve’s experience with Genevieve Ramsey’s ‘Pushcart Players’, during the creation of Misplaced Comedy. Molly stole the show with her extravagant portrayal of “Madame Le’ Bim Boe”, while Ken’s parody song of “She’s A Lady”, had the entire place in stitches!

2019, brought in a brand new LIVE podcast! The Potluck Brother’s Podcast, featuring: Patrick Loring, Mike Jones and Steven Grabo hit the airwaves with a ‘guys’ perspective life and current events. Unfortunately, audiences didn’t seem to support the show’s abrasive nature and both Mike and Pat became disenfranchised with the turnout and left the show. Steve changed the format around and created a more interactive Game Show approach, keeping the name in case the former members would rejoin. The “Game On” show seemed more interactive with people entering the live feed, and started to gain more of a following. Bob! (Dammit), and Tony B joined the show, creating even more elements and fun. The Live Show continued until the internet host, Podbean, decided to end their Live Broadcast element to their service in May 2026. The Potluck Podcast will continue to display various episodes and “Best of” clips, but the Live “Game On” shows will need to go through a metamorphosis before regrouping again on another platform.

Steve hopes to take the “Game On” experience to a new level of performance, so people could experience the show in person, as well as view it through a streaming service. But those plans will have to be put on hold until the All-New MCG site is built.

In March of 2026, The MCG Server space disappeared. Over night, every production streamed or broadcast, all the files that had been saved, all the original podcasts pinged for every music site around the globe, all the videos, mp3s, photos and biographies… everything was gone. “It was like a giant fire happened, and we lost everything,” Grabo told listeners on the Potluck Podcast’s live show. No one anywhere could contact the company who hosted the server space. The entire company and everyone there were gone. Only ‘ghost’ pages remained from their company on line. Through the assistance of iCann and other various domain broker resources, Steve was able to retrieve the domain name(s) for The Misplaced Comedy Group, and made preparations to have a newer, more compatible website made available through another domain service. With a little time, a Brand New Site will be up and running and The Misplaced Comedy Group will be back online with a vengeance!

Right Now, The MCG are writing and recording again, with the resurgence of past members throughout Misplaced Comedy’s vast history. This website that you’re viewing right now was developed, replacing the previous ‘lost’ edition.   The MCG plans on releasing the CD “Leftovers”, from past unreleased recordings, with new recordings and video projects in development for the next decade.

Expect to hear more and more material from The Misplaced Comedy Group, including all their side projects, podcasts, game shows and music through their Misplaced Music label, as they continue on their quest for global domination.