Comedian Michael Palascak provides laughter, awkwardness
Nick Bunitsky
Issue date: 3/27/09 Section: Features
"So what's your mascot here? The angry quaker? What's he angry about? Sin?" joked comedian Michael Palascak. His following set of jokes about living with one's parents, asking for money, and college-themed apathy, led to awkward though riotous laughter in Dana Auditorium on March 20.
Each joke told that evening had an unforgettable tension that was occasionally relatable to a fault. At times a joke made the audience uncomfortable by making them consider themselves in a similar situation.
The subject of each joke was almost always a kindred one, though not something that the audience often chose to face readily.
"He was a funny guy, and a maybe a good friend to tell jokes with, but not the best comedian," said sophomore Damian Romney.
To some, Palascak's buddy-like nature improved the atmosphere of the show.
"It was relatively tense at a few moments because the audience wouldn't participate, but maybe that's just what his brand of humor needed," said Olivia Richardson, former Guilford student and guest.
Of course there were times when the audience did participate to the show's advantage - most notably during a joke about snow in which audience member Neesi Hansen recalled aloud the construction of an 8-foot-tall snow-phallus on the Milner lawn.
"I feel like the energy in his material was really dampened by the smaller audience," said Hansen.
Each joke told that evening had an unforgettable tension that was occasionally relatable to a fault. At times a joke made the audience uncomfortable by making them consider themselves in a similar situation.
The subject of each joke was almost always a kindred one, though not something that the audience often chose to face readily.
"He was a funny guy, and a maybe a good friend to tell jokes with, but not the best comedian," said sophomore Damian Romney.
To some, Palascak's buddy-like nature improved the atmosphere of the show.
"It was relatively tense at a few moments because the audience wouldn't participate, but maybe that's just what his brand of humor needed," said Olivia Richardson, former Guilford student and guest.
Of course there were times when the audience did participate to the show's advantage - most notably during a joke about snow in which audience member Neesi Hansen recalled aloud the construction of an 8-foot-tall snow-phallus on the Milner lawn.
"I feel like the energy in his material was really dampened by the smaller audience," said Hansen.
Be the first to comment on this story