Performers from the 2009 Missouri Southern talent show gather on the stage of Taylor Auditorium Tuesday night after the winners were announced.

An evening of free entertainment was presented to the public March 3 in Taylor Performing Arts Center. The Campus Activities Board presented the MOSO Annual Talent Show, which was hosted this year by stand-up comedian Michael Palascak.

“I just really enjoyed the show. I thought all the acts were really good, and the crowd was really supportive of everybody that was performing,” Palascak said. “It was just a really, really fun thing to do.”

Palascak, a native of Wabash, Ind., began doing stand-up comedy about six years ago, performing at open-mic nights in Orland Park, a suburb of Chicago.

“The first time I went on-stage, I was 20,” Palascak said.

He said Jerry Seinfeld and Bill Cosby have been influential on his career. However, Palascak said that he first became motivated to pursue comedy as a career after he first heard a CD of the late comic Mitch Hedberg.

The show included 14 acts. Ten of these were individual performers, while four were groups. All of the acts this year were musical or dance acts.

Individuals and groups were judged separately. The judges this year were Monique Canada, MSSU alumnus; Floyd Hackett, owner of Hackett’s Hot Wings in Joplin; and Elisa Bryant, alumni relations coordinator.

There were four winners chosen from both the individual performers and from the groups. The winners were all awarded a different amount of the cash prize, depending on whether contestants ranked first, second, third or fourth.

Melanie Epperson, secretary of student activities, said Palascak was chosen to host the talent show after some members of the CAB saw him perform at a conference.

“I just wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was really happy with what went on,” Palascak said. “It was really fun and I thought it was just a really good crowd.”