Mad love for Mark Malkoff and his Starbucks odyssey

EDIT:

For those of you wanting to see the Colbert Starbucks video, here you go! And feel free to look around while you’re here – we’ve got all kinds of Stephen Colbert goodness here at the No Fact Zone!

Audience Coordinator extraordinaire Mark Malkoff has been getting all sorts of attention for his unbelievable quest to visit every Starbucks in Manhattan in a 24-hour period. Having been featured in fora like The Today Show and Fox and Friends (not to mention your friendly neighborhood No Fact Zone), he’s now the subject of a nice write-up and video at ABC News. Check it out:

Coffee, Water, Biscotti …
‘Colbert Report’s’ Mark Malkoff Sets Out to Eat, Drink and Chug Water in 171 Manhattan Starbucks in One Day
By REBECCA LEE
July 31, 2007

Most people go to coffee shops to grab some quick caffeine and a snack, or relax and visit with friends, but one guy decided to give his Starbucks visits a time limit as he challenged himself to shop at every one of the Manhattan cappucino-selling shops in one day.

That’s no small task — these days it seems like you can’t walk or drive five feet without passing a Starbucks, which are on corners, in strip malls, inside your local bookstore, you name it, they’ve got a Starbucks.

New York City is particularly notorious for its high concentration of Starbucks locations.

There are so many, in fact, that Mark Malkoff, a comedian/writer for “The Colbert Report” not to mention a curious New Yorker, set out to do the impossible — visit each of the 171 Seattle-born coffee company’s stores in Manhattan in a 24-hour period and consume at least one product (that’s not including the other four boroughs’ sites or the handful of private stores located in corporate buildings throughout the city).

“Everyone thought it couldn’t be done,” said Malkoff in an interview with ABC News. “My friends, my family, Starbucks employees said it couldn’t be done.”

. . .

As the day wore on, the challenge proved to be much harder than Malkoff had expected. Long lines, frequent bathroom breaks, harrowing near-crashes on his trusty stead rattled his nerves, which were already shot thanks to the excess of caffeine in his system, and ate away at precious time.

“The thing that was going through my head was that it would be a tragedy that I would never get over if I hit 160 Starbucks or 167. I needed to hit every single one,” said Malkoff, whose first attempt at hitting all 171 stores in his friend’s car on April 2, 2007, failed miserably.

After 14 hours of intense coffee consumption, Malkoff’s body began to deteriorate. With blurred vision, slowed reflexes, and uncontrollable jitters, Malkoff decided to call in the cavalry, better known as Jill, or the friend with the car. For the remaining six hours, Malkoff was a zombie — sleeping in between locations, stumbling into stores, and acting like a madman.

“By the end of the day, I was shaking and my eyes were wide,” he said. “I think the employees were a little terrified of me. It was kind of like Dustin Hoffman in ‘Marathon Man’ when he was up for 24 hours. You just don’t want to do that.”

Read the full article and watch the video at ABC News

Congratulations on your success, Mark; it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

Haven’t seen the video that started it all? Go to www.171starbucks.com to see Mark’s masterpiece.