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 Warren most commonly refers to: * Warren (burrow), a network dug by rabbits * Warren (name), a given name and a surname, including lists of persons so named Warren may also refer to: Places Australia * Warren (biogeographic region) * War ...

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

. After being raised in

Newton Falls, Ohio Newton Falls is a village in southwestern Trumbull County, Ohio, United States. The population was 4,557 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Mahoning Valley, Youngstown–Warren metropolitan area. The city takes its na ...

, he attended

Kent State University Kent State University (KSU) is a Public university, public research university in Kent, Ohio, United States. The university includes seven regional campuses in Northeast Ohio located in Kent State University at Ashtabula, Ashtabula, Kent State ...

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 pay television service, 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 based a ...

Cinemax Cinemax is an American pay television network owned by Home Box Office, Inc., a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched on August 1, 1980, as a "maxi-pay" service to complement the offerings of its sister premium network, HBO (Home Box ...

and

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

's ''

Inside the NBA ''Inside the NBA'', branded for sponsorship purposes as ''Inside the NBA presented by Kia'', is the halftime and postgame studio show that aired for ''NBA on TNT'' broadcasts from 1989 to 2025. The show has been hosted since 1990 by Ernie John ...

''. He sang his

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

song "One Semester of Spanish - Love Song" for

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the celebrity sex tape ...

on Spanish television channel

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...

. That video has received over 9.4 million views on

. 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 32 million views combined on

. 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 is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author. Moore's work frequently addresses various Social issue, social, political, and economic topics. He first became publicly known for his award-winning debut ...

documentary film '' Capitalism: A Love Story''. In 2010, Polk coordinated a group of local celebrities in order to record "Please Stay, LeBron", a parody of the charity song "

We Are the World "We Are the World" is a charity single recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones for the album '' We Are the World''. With sales in excess of 20 milli ...

", in order to persuade NBA player

LeBron James LeBron Raymone James Sr. ( ; born December 30, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "King James", he is the NBA's all-time leading scorer and ...

not to leave the Cavaliers. 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 ("brush"). Twelve species ...

affiliate) hosted by local sports media personality Tony Rizzo. Polk also contributed to the sports section of the nightly news broadcast with ''Browns Hangover'', a recurring segment providing comedic commentary after

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...

games. Polk has also worked for

Funny or Die Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007. The website contained exclusive material from a regular staf ...

and has performed in a local comedy troupe called Last Call Cleveland since 1999. In 2016, Polk became a writer for the ''

Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily a ...

'' newspaper, doing periodic columns about pop culture and humor. In 2019, Cleveland

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

affiliate

WKYC WKYC (channel 3) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Tegna Inc. Its studios are located on Tom Beres Way (a section of Lakeside Avenue in Downtown Cleveland named after the station's lo ...

channel 3 hired Polk as a feature reporter and contributor. That same year – with the 2019 MLB All-Star Game occurring in Cleveland –

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

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 The NATAS Lower Great Lakes Chapter is one of 19 regional chapters of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The Lower Great Lakes Chapter (formerly Cleveland Chapter) was founded in 1969. In addition to granting Emmy® Awards to pro ...

in various categories in his role as commentator/host on

.53rd Annual CGL Emmy Awards Recipients - Great Lakes Emmy Awards
/ref>

Bibliography

''Damn Right I'm From Cleveland'' (2012 )

References

External links

* * https://www.youtube.com/user/mikepolkjunior {{DEFAULTSORT:Polk, Mike 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)