The Bastion recently got a chance to chat with stand-up comedian Michael Palascak, who seems to be everywhere we turn these days. Take a break this afternoon to catch up with the frenetic activity of one of the city's power hitters.
When and how did you get started with comedy in Chicago, and was it always your plan to pursue stand-up?
The first time I ever performed stand-up comedy in the Chicagoland area was July of 2002 at Bill Brady's Barrel of Laughs Comedy Club in Oak Lawn, IL. I met some really talented comedians there -- Denise Ramsden, Brian Hicks, Ken Schultz, Brian Aldridge, Todd Glover, etc. They really helped guide me and helped me get work over the next couple years. All the shows I ever got were because of connections they made for me. That summer I also took Level A of improv at Second City.
As for was it a plan to pursue stand-up? I knew I wanted to do comedy/acting/writing -- The winter/spring of '02 down at college, I did my first play and sketch/improv show and I really enjoyed it and wanted to do it for a job. So when I came home for the summer I enrolled in the class at Second City. And then one night that summer I was at Borders and saw a book on stand-up, bought it, and did my first set a couple weeks later. And I realized that was something that I really wanted to succeed at. Then when I finished college and moved home, I realized how hard it was to get on stage as an actor/improviser -- like you had to audition and be good. But as a stand-up, you didn't have to be good. You just had to show up and you got to go on stage. And if you were a decent person, or even just not committing felonies on site, then the next time you came back, you got to do it again. And I really liked that. Like having the control to get on stage and grow as a comedian. So I realized while I may do other things, I would always try to keep getting better at stand-up.
How would you describe your style of stand-up?
I would describe my style of stand-up as "really funny."
What's a typical week's schedule of performing like for you?
Hopefully at a booked show Thurs-Saturday. And then at open mics the other nights. Or at showcases like Comedians You Should Know or Chicago Underground Comedy, if they'll have me. And then Sunday late nights there's an open mic in my living room. It's a nice non-comic my mom crowd.
What sort of representation do you have right now, and what steps did you take to get different representation?
I'm with Ambassador and Iris Talent for on-camera. I'm with Bass-Schuler for colleges. I got my on-camera agents by sending/dropping off headshots/resumes and then an audition. In the Ambassador audition, they really liked it when I performed my various farm animal noises for them, that's totally what got me in with them. And then with Iris, I had to audition with a monologue. So I put together a character monologue using my stand-up material about graduating college and it went well. Like I didn't do them as jokes as a stand-up, I did them as if it were a character in a play.
As for Bass-Schuler, my friend Stolie, a very talented singer songwriter, check out her music open mics -- www.stolie.com -- recommended me. So one of the agents and some interns came out to see me at a Mikey O Show and that went well and then they came again to Comedy Central Open Mic Fight Showcase at Zanies and brought one of the co-owners -- Chris Schuler of Bass-Schuler, and that went well. They really liked that I was funny, clean and relate-able to college kids. And they started booking shows for me a couple months later.
I just got a manager. I met a couple different managers at The Comedy Festival in Vegas in November. I stayed in contact with them and got feedback on some of my writing samples from them. Then a couple of them saw me at Gotham in March. And then when I went to LA -- as a part of winning the Lucky 21, Rachel Rusch and JP Buck from HBO set up a bunch of meetings for me with studios, casting people, and managers in L.A. -- I met with all of the managers I was interested in and picked one of them.
You've been kicking ass with the online comedy contests. Can you tell us about the Lucky 21 jackpot, that big bag of money you got, and what your secret strategy is for success with contests?
As a prize I won money, and they set up meetings for me in L.A., and I got a TV spot -- I think that was Gotham but I'm not sure. As for the money, well, according to my parents, I need to buy a new car, but I think they're biased. The one I'm driving right now works fine but I think they want it back soon.
I don't know really how I won. I think it was the result of me being really nice to people for 25 years. I know for the first round of Lucky 21, my parents voted a lot. Especially my dad. I also had a lot of help from friends and relatives and friends of friends and relatives of relatives. And then for the final round Ryan and Kevin Manno from The Manno Program at Q101 invited me to come on their radio show and promote it and that really put me over the top.
Local figures like Zanies' Bert Haas have high praise for you, and seem to expect good things from you. What would you like to do over the next, say, five years?
The next five years? Well, this Thursday May 8th I'm having a staged reading of my sitcom pilot: The Michael Palascak (Pal-a-sack) Show. The reading is at the iO Theater (ImprovOlympic) in the Del Close Theater at 7 pm. iO is at 3541 N. Clark St. in Chicago. Right by Wrigley Field but there's no Cubs game that night so parking should be available around the theater. Everyone is invited -- It's free! I'd love to hear what you guys think! And anyone coming to the reading is welcome to stay for the other improv shows at iO at 8 and 9 pm upstairs and downstairs for free, so come on out! So, yeah, one goal would be to have the reading go really really well and have it turn into a TV show on NBC in between The Office and ER or whatever medical drama exists at the time. But that's just like a short-term small goal. Five years from now I want to host a talk show on Jupiter, the planet. Ten year plan -- intergalactic. Fifteen year plan -- I want to be a really good stand-up and write novels in a house I own.
Elizabeth McQuern
Hannibal Buress in the Tribune: "Comedian Hannibal Buress is on his way...Buress' 'Live at Gotham' set was an emphatic success, another rung up the ladder for this native of Galewood on Chicago's West Side, who appeared last fall on CBS' "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson." 
Robin Williams was in town to make an appearance on the special Chicago set of the Ellen Degeneres Show (
