Comedian Michael Palascak to Perform at SalusCare Comedy Night

FORT MYERS, Fla. - May 13, 2015 - PRLog -- 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:

●  Michael Harris – News-Press Planning Editor

●  Larry Hart – Lee County Tax Collector

●  Gwendolyn Howard-Powell – owner of Gwendolyn’s Café

●  Doug Molloy – former Chief Assistant U.S. Attorney

●  Steve Russell – State Attorney for the 20^th Judicial Circuit

●  Marni Sawicki – Cape Coral Mayor

●  Mike Scott – Lee County Sheriff

●  Dr. Glenn Whitehouse – FGCU Associate Dean, Planning & Assessment

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 .

About SalusCare, Inc.

SalusCare, Inc., is the largest, most comprehensive mental health and substance abuse treatment program in Southwest Florida, serving 17,000 people per year of all ages from seven locations in Lee County.   The non-profit organization offers crisis stabilization, detoxification, outpatient and residential treatment as well as prevention programming and an Employee Assistance Program for about 50 area companies. The majority of programs are accredited by CARF, the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

SalusCare services are not free.  Fees are charged on a sliding scale, based on family income.  In many cases, private insurance is accepted.  SalusCare is a United Way partner agency.