Impact On and Affiliations in Contemporary Comedy
Specializing in writing comedy specials and staging one-man shows for comedians, Olson became producer-writer for Penn & Teller on their notorious FX variety series Penn & Teller's Sin City Spectacular.
When Olson was a staff writer for Rocko's Modern Life, director Stephen Hillenburg showed Olson a comic book called "The Intertidal Zone" that Hillenburg drew as a student at Cal Arts. Olson loved it and suggested that Hillenburg rewrite it as an undersea cartoon series for Nickelodeon, which became SpongeBob SquarePants.
Selling comedy screenplays to Dreamworks, United Artists, Touchstone Pictures, and Warner Bros., Olson was able to dedicate his time to writing and directing live stage performances in Hollywood at the HBO Theater, The Steve Allen Theater and Comedy Central Stage featuring well-known comedians and actors.
As an occasional actor, Olson has guest-starred in a live action sequence in SpongeBob SquarePants ("Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V"), in "Don't Watch This Show" by director-comedian Bobcat Goldthwait, in the documentary When Standup Stood Out by filmmaker Fran Solomita, on The Tonight Show playing an Indian yogi with Bobcat Goldthwait, and in a featured role as a fundamentalist professor in the film The Anna Cabrini Chronicles by filmmaker Tawd B. Dorenfeld. Olson also plays Hunson Abadeer aka "The Lord of Evil" on Cartoon Network's Adventure Time with Finn and Jake. In Adventure Time, his real-life daughter Olivia Olson plays his TV daughter Marceline the Vampire Queen.
Martin Olson's brother, Thomas Olson, is a well-known dramatic film and stage actor. Olson's daughter Olivia Olson is a singer-songwriter, who appeared in and sang in the British comedy film Love Actually, and also plays Vanessa on Disney's Phineas and Ferb.
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