Comedian Palascak finds success in telling slacker tales

February 11, 2009
By Armando Vega
Staff Writer

Last Thursday, Michael Palascak, a college-age comedian from Wabash, Indiana who still lives at home with his parents, treated UIS to a stand-up routine.

The self-described slacker, who admits to waking up at 1 p.m. on most days, milked his aversion to anything even resembling responsibility for all it was worth.  (“Money doesn’t grow on trees—it grows in my dad’s wallet.”)

Like so many good comedians, Palascak related to the audience by discussing the college experience from which he had recently graduated- Xavier University in 2004.

“You never wanna put up so many whiteboards in a dorm full of freshman boys.  Within the first week, each and every one was covered in penises.  Some with wings…some with little engines.”

He referred to alcohol as “liquid Halloween,” because it allows you to decide who you want to be for the night.

“Do I want to be that guy who hits on his friend’s girlfriend, or Harry Potter tonight?”

Many of his stories were self-effacing ribs on his decision to become an English major—“all it’s done is help me critique my rejection letters”—and he shared with the audience his decision to actually become an Englishman, in order to get the most out of his degree.

It was all very funny for the first half hour.  But Michael Palascak seems to use his best material right off the bat.  The quality of the show dipped in quality considerably for the remaining hour.  It was hit or miss after that.
One started to pick up on the fact that he seemed to overly enjoy bellowing words in a tapering off quality, as if he were falling off a cliff “NOOOoooooo…”

And if it seemed at times that his style was a bit too coerced—like maybe he was trying too hard to sound like a dorky white kid for comedic effect—no doubt that is because it was coerced.  A scan of his MySpace page shows Mike to be athletic, fairly inquisitive and involved (with minors in Math and Performance Studies and involvement in a slew of extracurricular activities), and apparently grossing a nice, fat income, one totaling or in excess of $250,000 a year.

You don’t make that kind of money by being a slacker.  You do make some good jokes though.