In the old days, folks like Dean Martin and Jackie Gleason and Ed Sullivan hosted variety shows — so titled because the guests represented a wide range of entertainment professions and allowed viewers to exerience a broad spectrum of show biz.

Not anymore.

Most entertainers today master more than one discipline, and it's not unusual to find rock stars acting, dancers writing novels, comedians starring in O'Neill tragedies or celebrity Cajun chefs directing Broadway musicals.

Or all of the above.

Paul Mecurio is an excellent case in point. He ... well, where does one start?

Mecurio has won an Emmy and Peabody for writing and reporting for "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart." He's currently writing for and appearing as a correspondent on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert." As a standup observational comic, he's a national headliner. His podcast, "Adam Corolla Presents Paul Mecurio — Two Chairs and a Microphone," has featured guests ranging from Paul McCartney and Kristen Chenoweth to Bryan Cranston and Judd Apatow. He created and hosts the HBO Sports web series "Got No Game with Paul Mecurio." And, as an actor, he has three television shows in various stages of development.

Oh, and it's probably worth mentioning that Mecurio, a Providence, R.I., native, graduated with honors from Georgetown Law School and had successful careers on Wall Street as a mergers and acquisitions lawyer and in Boston as an investment banker.

One would think Mecurio would focus on just one discipline — if only to keep his resume under 17 pages.

"The truth is, I love performing and I love writing and I love being a commentator who interviews people. I'm lucky to get to do all of them," Mecurio says. He's on the phone before starting a four-show/three-night residency Thursday at Comix in Mohegan Sun.

But Mecurio is also a realist. The broad spectrum of skills certainly doesn't hurt as he established a career and explores options. He says, "I don't want to sound too commercially crass, but if a person running a network comes to you (about a potential project), they want name value. You have to be a brand and someone with a following, and it's a fact that all of these things are ways for people to get to know me and my work."

When he was working on Wall Street, Mecurio's hobby was to jot down goofy idea for short films. With one of his first paychecks, he bought a camera and made a short comedy that was accepted into a film festival in Austin. Part of that experience was attending a luncheon where the filmmakers got to pick the brains of guests like Spike Lee, Albert Brooks and Woody Allen.

"That started a momentum and a trajectory," Mecurio says. "Pretty soon, I started writing jokes based on the caricature-happy big shots I'd see at Wall Street acquisitions mergers. They were, like, fat guys in cowboy boots with helicopters who ordered people around and pontificated. I couldn't help myself."

Fate and courage intervened. At a private corporate function where Jay Leno was the entertainment, Mecurio introduced himself to the comic and gave him some of the jokes he'd written.

"He called me the next day. Such a nice guy," Mecurio remembers. "He said, 'I knew you were a lawyer — your jokes are way too wordy. I don't need stage directions telling me to make "a funny face."' But he told me to keep trying, and one day he called back and told me, 'Hey, I'm gonna use one of your jokes tonight.' It was a completely transformative experience."

As Mecurio wrote more and more for "The Tonight Show," Leno encouraged him to start trying out the material in clubs. It ushered in a "secret life" period where Mecurio would work late on Wall Street, take a dinner break, change clothes in the car, go do an open mic set, change back into his suit, and return to work.

To hear Mecurio describe these times over the phone is like a private concert. The anecdotes are hilarious and self-deprecating — but also shrewd and bitingly funny descriptions of life in the modern world.

Ultimately, he gave up corporate business and, one step at a time, his career has extrapolated. He says he can still be a bit awestruck when he interviews or interacts with what he continues to call "celebrities," but he also acknowledges that he's now somewhat recognizable on his own. His own fame means it's easier, for example, to get guests for his podcast — and that he lands those folks in turn only makes his own identity stronger.

"It can get to be sort of confusing," Mecurio laughs. "You get to know people and make connections and doors start to open. But it's more than that. I'm fascinated by all kinds of people, and to get to meet all these people and do all these things is a lot of fun. My thought is, you know, if I somehow become a major film star or something, maybe I'll focus on one thing — if I can ever figure out what that would be."

Paul Mecurio, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday and 8 and 10:30 p.m. Saturday, Comix, Mohegan Sun; $15-$40 with $10 food/drink minimum per person; (860) 862-7000.