Where Are They Now? The Cast of “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”

Mark Curry

Mark Curry played the titular character, Mark Cooper.  He was a retired ball player who became a substitute teacher and gym coach.  While dealing with the madness of crazy students and faculty, he also dealt with the craziness of his two female roommates, and soon his family when they popped up in the second season.

After Hangin’ ended, Mark Curry consistently worked.  He appeared in bit parts in shows like “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Martin,” and in movies like Armageddon.  He became a recurring character on “The Drew Carey Show” when he became Drew’s new boss.  But in 2006, while doing laundry, the funny man was caught in a very serious explosion in his laundry room that left him with burns on 18% of his body.  After moments of depression and thoughts of suicide due to the accident Mr. Curry was able to pull himself out of it by the help of his fellow comedians, as he shared in a People magazine interview:

 “After the accident, it was comedians who called me. It was Sinbad on the phone making me laugh. Martin Lawrence called, the Wayans brothers. When Bill Cosby calls you, jokes with you, it inspires you. He told me to keep my head up and be strong. I started crying when he was on the phone. After I got off the phone with him, I walked for the first time since the accident. I got up onstage [at a San Francisco comedy club] three, four days after I got out of the hospital. I had to do comedy. I thought it might be my last time onstage, and I wanted to get up and talk about this.”

Since then, he has continued to do stand-up, and act.  He can currently be seen as Marcus on the popular Nick-at Nite show “See Dad Run.”