Nationally recognized Comedian Michael Palascak will bring more fun to the stage July 25 when he joins eight local celebrities at “Laughter Is the Best Medicine Comedy Night,” a unique new fund-raising event to benefit SalusCare, Inc.
Tickets are now on sale to the event at the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in downtown Fort Myers and may be purchased at www.saluscarecomedynight.org or by calling 239-791-1575. Tickets are $100 each or $500 for a reserved table for four with table signage and include heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer and wine. Other sponsorships are available from $1,000.
Palascak will round out the evening with a grand finale of his humor that connects to the youthful innocence in everyone.
“We are delighted that Michael is willing to come to Fort Myers for a special guest appearance at our first-ever Comedy Night. He has family in the area and agreed to come pro-bono to support our cause of helping children with mental illness and substance use disorders,” said SalusCare Development Committee Chair Mark Atkins.
In the last three years, Palascak appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. He also has performed at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas and was the winner of HBO’s Lucky 21 Stand-up Contest.
He won the Chicago region of Comedy Central’s Open Mic Fight and went on to make his Comedy Central debut on Live at Gotham Season 3. He was one of 12 comedians in America to debut his half-hour special on the inaugural season of Comedy Central’s The Half Hour.
Prior to Palascak’s performance, eight local celebrities will each perform five-minute stand-up routines for event attendees who will “vote” for the “Lee County’s Best Comic” with their dollars. The local celebrities who will exchange laughs for votes are:
Attendees will have the opportunity to “vote” for the best comedic performance by placing cash or checks in containers labeled for each comic.
To help the celebrity comics prepare for the evening, Sam Walch, a professor at Florida Gulf Coast University, will work with them individually and as a group to perfect their routines.
Walch is a former touring stand-up comedian who teaches comedy and public speaking in the Communications Department at FGCU. He has performed in comedy clubs, casinos and cruise ships in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean and is the author of the first online textbook on public speaking.
Funds raised at the event will be used to provide outpatient psychiatry and therapy to children and adolescents in our area whose families can least afford it. One in 10 children has serious mental health problems severe enough to impair how they function at home, in school, or in the community, according to the National Center for Children & Poverty at Columbia University. Left untreated, mental illnesses can lead to more difficult to treat illnesses and to the development of co-occurring disorders.
For more information about sponsorships and “Laughter Is the Best Medicine Comedy Night,” contact Todd Cordisco at (239) 791-1575 or visit www.saluscarecomedynight.org .
