In Loving Memory of Michael Jakovich 1960-2003

Michael— To assemble our thoughts was not an easy thing.

For the Michael we remember was but a boy himself and not a father, a husband, a wonderful and respected teacher.  Sadly, this part of Michael we did not know but can only envision by reading about what others thought.

The Michael we remember was mischievous, full of personality and he could charm just about anybody.  We remember a Michael with whom we traveled to Israel, along with his family to celebrate his brother Roberts Bar Mitzvah.  We remember him absorbing the sights and at the same time having fun.

He and Robert  bounced a basket ball throughout the entire trip. 

We remember Michael as a warm human although but a boy.  He was an actor, putting on many a show for our amusement.   We could not foresee the impact that he would have upon so many young lives.  We are grateful that we could share in the early years of his life.  We know that he will be long remembered by those whose lives he touched.

Back in 1997 or 1998 or so I lived in the Harris Music Loft Building on Clematis Street in West Palm Beach, FL. I was working full time as a standup comedian. A guy moved in down the hall from me. It was Mick Maxwell. That’s the name he went by at the time. His name, as I later found out, was Michael Jakovich. Mick Maxwell was his stage name – kind of. He told me that he was doing a little bit of comedy those days too. He said that he was going to start promoting some local comedy nights. And I’ve heard a lot of people over the years say similar things so I really didn’t think he would follow through on it. Well he did. Before I knew it there were about three local restaurants / bars that were doing one night a week comedy. It was because of Mick. He called his shows Mick at Night. Over the course of the next year or so I had so much fun doing the Mick at Night shows. They were generally low-pressure gigs where it was encouraged to try out new material. But the local group of comedians that did these shows became a very tight knit group. And through doing these shows I got to become real good friends with Mick. I knew that his real name was Mike but by now I knew him as Mick so that’s what I called him.

And I know that it has taken me a long time to write this to the website but I know that Mick wouldn’t mind a bit. He knows that I’m a chronic procrastinator and perpetually disorganized and behind on everything. That’s one of the things we really had in common and bonded on. And he got a kick out of it, because he was the same way. We used to compare notes on it and laugh about it. It became one of many running jokes.

We both had a touch of Attention Deficit Disorder. I recognized it in him and he recognized it in me. And we joked about it constantly. I think he was more easily distracted than me. But he seemed to know a lot more about it. He recommended a book for me to read. It was called Driven to Distraction. I STILL haven’t even gotten past the first chapter.

Mick knew everybody in the building. And everyone knew and loved him. He was such a character - and such a nice guy. He had so many different interests. We also bonded over the fact that we were both Bob Dylan fans. In fact, in March of 1998, we went to a Bob Dylan concert in Miami. It was general admission standing room only show and we were pretty far in the back. But the end of the show (for the last two songs), Mick encouraged our group to work our way up toward the front. At one point he had a front row view on the balcony just to the right of the stage. It was about 20 feet from Bob Dylan. He knew that I was a huge fan and for the last song, he waved me over and gave up his spot so that I could get up real close to Bob Dylan. It was as close as I had ever been to the stage at a Bob Dylan show (and I’ve been to many). At some point, in order to thank me for appearing in so many of his shows he gave me a matted Bob Dylan Poster from the Greatest Hits Volume 1 album that probably cost him about a hundred dollars because by now, it was a real collectors item. Both of us were also big fans of comedy. He got me listening to a lot of Lenny Bruce that I had never heard and I got him listening to Bill Hicks (another great comic who is no longer with us). He really took to Hicks and became a huge fan. Hicks had died a few years earlier from Pancreatic Cancer.

My favorite Mick at Night gig was at Spanky’s – a sports bar down the street. When it would come time to leave for the show, a few of us from the building would have to walk the three blocks to get there. Micky could never seem to make it all the way uninterrupted. Something or someone always sidetracked him. We used to walk down the street and I would kid him and tell him to “follow his blockers” as we tried to get him to the show on time.

Across the street from the Harris Music Loft was the newly opened Cuillo Theater for the Performing Arts. They had a huge marquee and just before it opened, they had up on their marquee something to the effect of “coming soon, grand opening of the Cuillo Theater.” There must have been the letter k somewhere in their message because one night, without any of us knowing about it, Mick managed to get up onto the top of the Marquee and change all the letters around. It said something to the effect of “All the Comedy that Fits – Mick at Night.” It just appeared one night. And it stayed that way for a few days before they changed it back. It was hilarious. I still don’t know how he did it. But his easily distracted mind must have seen those letters up there and began thinking of a promotional opportunity and lo and behold, all the comedy that fits – Mick at Night. Talk about creative marketing.

That’s when I started calling him MickFit. He even used it as an email address for a year or two.

He was always finding innovative ways to promote those shows. One of the ways that he did it was employing homeless people on Clematis Street to hand out flyers. To this day, I have never met anyone who treated homeless people with more respect. Micky talked to them all the time and took time to get to know them and treated them as equals. And that’s a lot easier said then done. We tend to look the other way when it comes to homeless people. Micky never did. It was amazing. He even got to know one guy so well that he helped him get a job. I don’t know if the job lasted and I forget where the guy worked. But I remember him coming by one day wearing the shirt of the company he worked for (it might have been a pizza place) and he was clean-shaven and feeling good about himself. And Mick played an instrumental role in the guy’s turnaround. He also used to let a few of the homeless people take showers in his apartment. There are very few people out there who would ever do that. And he did it completely out of the kindness of his heart. He really felt for these people and he sincerely wanted to make their day a little easier. I’ve always tried to treat homeless people with a level of respect as well. But I always kept a certain distance too. Mick’s treatment of these guys was absolutely inspiring. Over the next two years, I too, got to know some of these guys by name and had many long interesting and sometimes perplexing conversations with them. If it hadn’t been for Mick I would definitely not have gotten to know them as well as I did. And by getting to know them, I made more of an effort to help them out financially when I could. It’s a perfect example of the positive ripple effect that someone like Mick can have in this world.

Mick always had a local band at his comedy shows to play us on and off the stage. One night after a show at a coffee shop on Clematis Street, at the last minute Mick decided to have the band set up on the top of the roof of our building. Next thing you know, we have a live band blaring their music throughout the downtown area. The cops showed up of course and there were probably a few people in the building that lost a little bit of sleep that night but for those of us that were there, it was an absolute blast. And it’s a memory I’ll have for the rest of my life.

After I moved to Los Angeles, we stayed in touch by phone and whenever I came back to Florida we got together. Mick started his Mobile Mikes Phone Company. In honor of his A.D.D., I joked with him one day that he should call his phone company A D &D (as a play on words with A T & T). He laughed so hard at this. He had a great laugh and really appreciated when something was funny. We came up with a slogan. “Forget something? Of course you did. A D and D – for all your forgetting mobile needs.” Well, about a month later, he worked that A D & D into his advertising and he faxed me a copy of his ad. I laughed so hard. I still have the ad hanging on my bulletin board. I could go on and on about my good friend MickFit. But I’ll leave it here. To those of you who knew him (and still know him – he’s still with us), you know exactly what I’m talking about.

I didn’t know him for that many years but I will always consider Micky to be one of my best friends ever. I consider myself very lucky to have crossed his path and gotten to know him. He was one of the warmest and most unique people that I ever met. He truly enriched my life.

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