Johnny Mac, a stand-up comedian raised in West Windsor, returns to Catch a Rising Star at the Hyatt on Friday and Saturday, January 15 and 16. Mac, who moved to West Windsor, in 1972, grew up as John McMenamin. The future stand-up attended Dutch Neck School and was in the first class to enter West Windsor-Plainsboro High School (now High School South) in seventh grade. He graduated in 1979. He has fond memories of riding his bicycle from Grovers Mill to Quakerbridge Mall. “I’ve seen West Windsor explode,” he says. Mac also remembers ice skating on Grovers Mill Pond and shooting off rockets in a nearby field.
In high school he was a drummer in the band, jazz band, orchestra, and pit bands for the musicals. He also has fond memories of the marching band under the direction of Tony Pappalardo — especially the annual performance in the P-Rade in Princeton. “I remember the arches and how we played so much louder when marching through them,” he says. A bass in the choir, he credits David Christensen, the longtime choir director, with the group’s performance at Carnegie Hall.
