Meet Your New Go-To Guy For Funny Michigan Content

If you live in Michigan and have a Facebook, TikTok, or Instagram account, it's impossible for you to NOT have heard of this guy! Online, he goes by "The Michigander," and he has a quarter million followers on TikTok. In real life, his name is Lucas Galganski, a Science teacher from outside Grand Rapids. He started posting hilarious content online that only people from Michigan would understand in 2021, and his comedy videos went viral from there. Why? Because they are hilariously accurate and you can't help but admit it!

He was nice enough to let us interview him for this piece. Must be the Midwestern niceness talking. He downloaded TikTok only a year ago, in July 2021, and he tried to make relatable funny videos about being a dad, but they weren't taking off because there are already so many "funny dad videos" out there. He had to ask himself, “what is unique about me and how can I bring value to others?”

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Then, he posted a video captioned "What people in Michigan say," and it really connected with a strong local audience. People were sharing it to their friends, commenting other funny things that only Michiganders say, and interacting with it big time! It even got him one million views and 50k followers in just a few weeks!

From there, he changed his username to the_michigander, and he was overcome with new ideas: from the ever-changing insane weather, to the way we pronounce Gratiot and Sault Ste. Marie, to Euchre tips and tricks!

Has He Become A Local Celebrity?

According to Lucas, he doesn't feel that way, but his friends and family tell him he is. One day, he was leaving Meijer, and he had left his shopping cart in the parking lot. When a woman found it and started to move it, he told her she didn't have to do that, and she said “I’d be happy to do it, besides I love watching all your Michigan Content!” That was the first time he realized that he was reaching a wide local audience, and real people were loving his posts and finding value in them.

Another time, on the total opposite side of the state from where he lives, some woman shouted at him in a Nike store from about 50 yards away. He remembers it well, "she said 'oh my gosh, you’re the Michigan guy from TikTok!' I laughed and said yes and we talked for a few minutes." It was definitely a surreal experience for him.

His most recent series is an ironic 76-part series on how Michiganders say goodbye. The first video is hilariously accurate.

Good and Bad

Lucas, The Michigander, is always the first to point out that "it's important we own the good and the bad about our state." So, whether it's our beautiful lakes, to our terrible roads, he will joke and make light of all of it. He doesn't like to bash his home state too much, but he also doesn't like to make it seem flawless, because no place is. 

How Does He Deal with Mean Commenters? Any Ohio Lovers There?

Lucas has been doing this for a year now, and he knows what to expect from the comments. One thing he has learned about Michiganders is that we are very particular. He told us, "for example, I remember in a video I was posting about Euchre, I was dealing the cards and not really paying attention to how I was dealing. I dealt each player 1 card at a time when you are supposed to deal 2 cards then 3 cards to each player. A few people called me out on it and would say I didn’t know how to play." That rattled him a bit at first, but he was able to spin it into more videos about Euchre, which resonated well with the local audience.

When asked how he felt about Ohioans, The Michigander had this to say:

There is a quote from 'The Dark Knight' that I think works well for this question.

Batman: 'Then why do you want to kill me'
Joker: 'Haha! I don’t want to kill you! What would I do without you! Ripping off Mob dealers? No! You complete me!'

In other words, without a rival to go back and forth with, there would be no fun.

What do you think is Michigan's most unique stereotype?

When asked this question, Lucas said "I think our most unique stereotype has to be drinking Vernors when you have an upset stomach. So many people swear by it as a cure-all for everything." It's really more like medicine that soda. Oops, I mean pop.

If you don't consider yourself a member of the TikTok generation and you want to keep up with The Michigander's content, he has a Facebook page here. We hope to be entertained by more of his relatable Michigan videos for years to come.