Michael G. Polk Jr. is an American comedian, actor, TV commentator, and newspaper columnist, known primarily for his sketch comedy and viral videos.
Early life and education
Polk was born in
Warren,
Ohio. After being raised in
Newton Falls, Ohio, he attended
Kent State University as an undergraduate and earned a degree in communications and psychology in 2002.
Career
Polk created the YouTube series Runaway Box / Man in the Box. His work has also appeared on
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
,
Cinemax and
TNT's ''
Inside the NBA''.
He sang his
YouTube song "One Semester of Spanish - Love Song" for
Kim Kardashian on Spanish television channel
Telemundo. That video has received over 9.4 million views on
YouTube. He thanked his viewers as "Spanish Mike" when the video hit 2 Million views.
Some of his other work includes "Ooh Girl!" - An Honest R&B Song", "The Great Office War", "The Factory of Sadness" and two different versions of a "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video" all of which have about 20 million views combined on
YouTube. The tourism spoof video actually prompted Cleveland's convention and tourism bureau to solicit other videos in a 'counterattack' to Polk's not-so-flattering work. Segments of the Cleveland tourism videos were also featured in the
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore (born April 23, 1954) is an American filmmaker, author and left-wing activist. His works frequently address the topics of globalization and capitalism.
Moore won the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for ' ...
documentary film ''
Capitalism: A Love Story''.
In 2012, Polk became a weekly contributor on ''The Rizzo Show'' - a Sunday night sports/comedy program airing
WJW channel 8 in Cleveland (the local
FOX
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelv ...
affiliate). Polk also contributed to the sports section of the nightly news broadcast with ''Browns Hangover'', a recurring segment providing comedic commentary after
Cleveland Browns games.
Polk has also worked for
Funny or Die and his current comedy troupe Last Call Cleveland.
In 2016, Polk became a writer for the
Cleveland Plain Dealer, doing periodic columns about pop culture and humor.
In 2019, Cleveland
NBC affiliate
WKYC channel 3 hired Polk as a feature reporter and contributor, that same year - with the
2019 MLB All-Star Game
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
occurring in Cleveland -
ESPN solicited Polk to make a third "Hastily Made Tourism Video" for Cleveland, which he released on July 9, 2019.
Awards
Polk was named as one of Cleveland Magazine's Most Interesting People of 2010.
In 2013 readers of ''Scene Magazine'' voted him to be Cleveland's Best Local Comedian and Best Local Author for his book ''Damn Right I'm From Cleveland''.
in 2022, Polk won three
Lower Great Lakes Emmy Awards in various categories in his role as commentator/host on
WKYC.
53rd Annual CGL Emmy Awards Recipients - Great Lakes Emmy Awards
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Bibliography
''Damn Right I'm From Cleveland'' (2012 )
References
External links
*
* https://www.youtube.com/user/mikepolkjunior
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polk, Mike G Jr
American male film actors
American stand-up comedians
American male television actors
American male voice actors
Kent State University alumni
Living people
Male actors from Cleveland
People from Warren, Ohio
People from Newton Falls, Ohio
Year of birth missing (living people)