And what of the man who has assembled the various personalities of creative expression around him, organized them into an efficient and dominating brigade of artistic acrobats, and unleashed them upon a college community begging for some audio-erotic asphyxiation?

Who? Indeed, Who!

While legally verified documents exist which mark his life as having begun in Ontario, Canada sometime in the very-late 1980’s, which claim he immigrated to the United States sometime in the early Oughts, and which go blank after his successful completion of a Liberal Arts degree at the University of Iowa, this somehow feels incomplete.

Of course rumors abound: vague ties to unspecified performance art troops; various claims of an origin steeped in mysticism and black magic; a life consumed by highly passionate and torrential romantic involvements leading to an all-consuming desire of genuine human connection which propels the directness of the radio program; alleged dealings with Maple syrup smugglers.

These may or may not have merit, but perhaps it is better to think of the man as wholly separate from the radio program which bears his name.  He is merely a contributor to what is a self-sustaining juggernaut.  Jesse Marks is Jesse Marks; the Variety Hour is the Variety Hour.