Comedian Michael Palascak is returning to his Midwest roots.
The former Illinois resident will perform a night of standup comedy at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 24, at The Hemmens Cultural Center in Elgin.
“It’s one of the first larger-venue shows of my life,” he said. “It’s exciting.”
That won’t change his act, however.
“It’s a big goal to do a theater like The Hemmens,” he said. “I grew up in the Midwest. My dad started working in Joliet when I was in high school so we moved up here. So it’s almost like a nice little homecoming experience. It’s a little more special, I guess.”
After college, he lived with his parents in the south suburbs while doing standup in Chicago until he moved to Los Angeles.
Palascak has been able to parlay his standup experience into appearances on shows like “The Late Late Show with James Corden,” “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “Conan,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” and “A Little Late with Lilly Singh.” He also finished in the top five on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing.”
“Those shows are very special because you’re doing four to six minutes of material and you’re in someone’s living room,” he said. “And before social media, that was the only way you could get into someone’s living room.
“It’s kind of like graduating high school or college. People get very excited for you and you get a lot of messages. Sometimes my parents will come to the taping and we’ll go out to eat afterwards. I think that’s my favorite part of those things — being able to spend more time with family in a happy, positive environment.”
He’s steadily been releasing specials and videos on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok in addition to touring.
“I recorded a special last year in the town that I lived in as a child – Wabash, Indiana – and that came out in November,” he said. It’s called “He’s Friendly” and the full special can be found on his YouTube channel.
Palascak is clean comedian and takes his material from his everyday life, including his life as a father to a 6-year-old son.
“It’s still stuff about being a dad, but now it’s about being the dad of a 4-, 5- and 6-year-old versus a younger toddler,” he said. “I travel a lot, so that gets in there. My parents are (newly) retired and there are those situations interacting with people who can suddenly give you their full attention, whether you want it or not.”
He was raised in a Catholic upbringing — it wasn’t until he was an older teenager that he heard his father swear — so his exposure to comedians growing up was selective.
“Seinfeld was the only comedian who was available at that time who didn’t really swear a lot,” he said. “He was the only (comedian) I ever really knew of until I became a comedian and I fell in love with the people I fell in love with as an adult.”
Another thing from his childhood that influenced his current standup is that he and his family moved around a bit, he said. It’s why he stays away from making jokes at his audience members’ expense.
“I don’t enjoy crowd work at all. When you’re a new kid you get made fun of, so comedy became a way to be the person controlling (that) rather than being the victim,” he said. “I know most of the time it’s fun and everyone loves it, but there might be a time when someone’s feelings get hurt and what’s the point of doing that to someone who’s bought a ticket? That’s never appealed to me.”
He was never a member of Second City, although he did take some classes there when he first moved to Chicago.
“I did some really fun student shows and then some of my friends got onto the stages,” he said. “I would come by and do standup sometimes during the free improv sets and that became very special to do that. They would do their show and then afterwards they would do a free improv set.”
In addition to touring, he hosts a podcast called “I Just Got My Kid to Sleep.” He’s currently touring through the end of the year, with 90 shows in more than 40 cities. Of course, the big event on his dance card is the date at The Hemmens.
“It’s a very traditional standup show,” he said. “My friend, Jim Flannigan, is going to open the show and he’s from the area. He’s very funny. Then I’m going to do my set and it will be clean, funny and we’ll all have a great time.”
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
