Popcorn Pick of the Week with Rich Talarico (Hour 1)

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Pete Chwaba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a guy who prefers to travel by catapult, Pete Chwaba.

Oh, such a somber day.

But we're gonna try to make people happy anyway despite the death of a Hollywood legend and an entertainment business Titan Gene Hackman.

Hackman passed away yesterday at the age of 95.

They found Gene Hackman and his wife Betsy and their dog

all had passed away and they had been dead for a while and they're thinking at least the most recent news I heard was that it was a carbon monoxide issue.

So what a weird, what a weird way to go.

You make it to 95 years old and then that's how you die.

Shocking and it's sad because of that.

And he contributed so much to the world in his 95 years.

So we'll talk about Gene Hackman a little bit.

Lots to get to, a really fun show, despite how I opened it there, Conrad.

You look sad.

Did I make you sad?

Yeah, you made me a little sad.

Sorry, man.

Sometimes you just got a man up, like a Gene Hackman character.

Really fun show tonight folks glad you're here wherever you're joining us from in the great state of Wisconsin Welcome.

Welcome to nightlight with peach wabba.

I am peach wabba riding shotgun as always is the lovable producer Conrad and We have got I'm very excited about our guest tonight.

It's Thursday, which means we're doing our popcorn pick of the week Tonight to make said pick is a guy I've wanted to have on the show for quite a while and

I've had him on before, but I've wanted to get him back here because he's just so much fun to talk to.

Writer Rich Tellerico.

Writer performer, I should say.

Rich is also, he's got a phenomenal writing resume.

Mad TV, Saturday Night Live.

Key and Peel is where he is, I think he probably did his most recognized work.

He wrote the substitute teacher sketch.

the Black Ice sketch, which is very funny.

He wrote a sketch about President Obama meeting dignitaries that is legendary, and Rich will be here.

at 6.35 to make the popcorn pick of the week.

Then we're going to talk about a lot of stuff that he's got going on, very exciting stuff too.

And he's always fun to talk to.

So you won't want to miss that.

At 7.35, Rob Thomas, who you might remember from last night's show, joins Nightlight to discuss Gene Hackman's legacy.

So Rob was nice enough to come back on the show.

And we'll have a little discussion about Gene Hackman and rank our favorite Gene Hackman films.

So that will be fun.

We've got a lot to get to.

There's a lot going on.

In the world, there's new films opening this week.

I almost don't know where to start.

But let's start with our question of the night, shall we?

Let's talk about the

question.

OK, question.

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

OK, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

What is your favorite Gene Hackman film?

You can't really put a question out there like this for most actors because they don't have the body of work he does.

But Gene Hackman, the Poseidon adventure, Bonnie and Clyde, the conversation, Mississippi burning, the French connection, Hoosiers, enemy of the state, the Royal Tenenbombs, the quick and the dead, the guy has got a resume that is just, I don't want to say unparalleled, but pretty close.

He's won two Oscars.

He won for Unforgiven in a supporting role, and he won for The French Connection, his portrayal of Popeye Doyle, the no-nonsense cop, which that phrase was probably, that phrase was probably coined because of his role in The French Connection.

So Gene Hackman, what is your favorite Gene Hackman film?

Very simple question tonight, folks, and there's so many to choose from.

You can reach us at 855-752-4842-855-75CIVIC.

Text us on the app if that's easier.

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Also, let people know if they're watching on the stream, Conrad.

How can they do that and how can they reach us?

Yeah, so if you want to join us on Facebook, it's WISS, WGBW, or Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.

On YouTube it's Civic Media or WGBW or Twitter or X WGBW or Civic Media.

Find us any way you can, just find us.

I would love to read what your favorite Gene Hackman film was.

He is an absolute legend.

Been retired since 2004.

His last film was Welcome to Moose Port and his doctor apparently told him his heart couldn't handle the stress.

So let's see, he died when he was 95.

That was about 75.

He was probably 75 when he retired.

Still a great run.

Four decades of movie making theater.

He was a Marine.

I think he was in the Marines for five years, got out, wanted to learn how to act, met Dustin Hoffman, and the two became friends.

And then they became friends with Robert Duvall, all young actors in New York City, as well as in Pasadena, California.

They got training at the Pasadena Playhouse.

Just a great story.

His second wife Betsy, who they found in the same house.

That was interesting too.

None of them, the dog, Gene or his wife Betsy were in the same room.

Like it just kind of came over them.

It sure seems like it was like a carbon monoxide situation, but we'll have to wait for the official results.

But she was a classically trained pianist too.

So a lot of talent in that house.

That's too bad.

But let us know your favorite.

Let's celebrate him tonight.

Let's celebrate Gene Hackman.

What is your favorite Gene Hackman movie?

That is our question of the night.

Great to have you with me.

Rich Talarico here at 635.

Rob Thomas drops by again to talk Gene Hackman at 735.

I wanted to get to this too because every once in a while I kind of forget about this.

Do you know when we're on overnight Conrad?

I know they play the replay.

Is it at 4 to 6?

4am to 6?

Yep.

Okay, so we got a text like in the middle of the night.

I know some people listen then, if they get up earlier, if they're driving a truck or whatever, but Bud from Jamesville, he's in the 608, he says, hey, Pete and Conrad, hands down, it's trimming my nails.

He says, see what I did there?

Our question last night was what bodily grooming function do you least like to do?

And that was a fun question too.

And Bud says, trimming his nails.

Thank you for listening at ungodly hours, but I hope we make your morning a little more fun.

And I saw this today.

This cracked me up.

I joined Blue Sky about a month ago, maybe a little longer.

And I'm kind of seeing different people in the community.

And there's this girl, Mariana057, MarianaZ.

I don't know her.

But this cracked me up.

This is something she put out on Blue Sky.

It says, if you watch Jaws backwards, it is a heartwarming story about a shark giving out limbs to the disabled.

Oh, that was great.

You could say that about like, like any like horror

film.

I suppose so.

Yeah.

Like a saw.

He's rewarding him.

He's putting the parts back on.

Yeah.

It's very it is it's heartwarming.

That's great.

Thank you Marianna Z Thank you random blue sky user who I don't know but who I'm glad I discovered because she had a lot of funny stuff Now we've already got some text rolling and this is great.

Okay, so Gene Hackman is what is your favorite Gene Hackman movie?

is our role or movie, whatever you want to say is fine.

Bill from Green Bay says, such a movie legend and so, so many great roles.

One that comes to mind is Mississippi Burning.

Bill, that is my favorite.

And part of it is because I like the character so much.

But I agree with you.

That might be my favorite role Gene Hackman was in.

And he wasn't really necessarily, I mean, he was kind of the lead, but Willem Dafoe played the younger clean cut FBI agent who was more by the book.

I loved the dynamic between Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.

Just two great roles.

And the Gene Hackman role was, he was like an old school Southerner who was a, you know, FBI agent who did things a little old school.

Not necessarily by the book, but also got results.

That was a great movie.

Anna from Madison.

That's the 6-0-8.

She says, Hi, Pete and Conrad.

My favorite Gene Hackman movie was Bonnie and Clyde.

He received his first Oscar nomination for supporting actor for that movie.

He sure did, Anna.

That was a great role as well.

That's up there on my list as well.

He played opposite Warren Beatty.

And Faye Dunaway, and I'm his...

the girl that played his love interest is escaping me, but I will figure that out.

But a great film and kind of inspired a lot of other robbery movies and about gangsters and stuff like that too.

So that's a great choice.

Thank you for the text.

Brian in Milwaukee says birdcage and both of the French connections.

That's interesting because I know French connection was fairly well received.

It wasn't like some of these

Some of these sequels from legendary films that don't add up.

I know a lot of people that liked the French connection too.

I think I saw it, but I just don't remember it.

In The Birdcage, I saw years ago, and I feel like all I remember from that movie is Robin Williams.

That's how overpowering Robin Williams can be, an upstage Jean Ackman and Nathan Lanzolaria's too, but I should give Birdcage a rewatch.

Jim from Appleton says, my favorite Gene Hackman film, Young Frankenstein.

God, again, I saw that movie probably 35 years ago.

I need to re-watch it.

Because a few people, I've seen online a few people posting about how funny Gene Hackman was in Young Frankenstein as well.

So keep those texts coming, folks.

These are great.

What is your favorite Gene Hackman movie?

We are trying to honor the late great Gene Hackman with this question of the night.

Rich Talarico is here.

He's a Key and Peel writer at 635 he didn't rich tell us last time Conrad that he His substitute teacher sketch was in the Smithsonian.

I think yeah, they took that because it was so funny and they I don't know.

I guess they wanted to immortalize it and it's great.

So Rich is a great second city trained comedian and actor He'll be here at 635 Rob Thomas drops by at 735

to talk about Gene Hackman.

And you know, I never, so much was going on last night.

I never got to talk about the show, A Grandpa in My Pocket, which is so weird.

And I thought it was really weird because the picture, it looked like he was in like the kid's pants pocket, which is beyond creepy, but it was like a breast pocket type thing.

And the kid could consult his grandpa if he needed him.

It was such a bizarre show from the UK.

And I thought I even had a clip.

I just kind of got lost, right?

Maybe I never sent it to you.

Did

I send you a grandpa in the pocket clip?

I don't remember something like that.

And you would?

I think I would have.

Yeah.

All right, so we've got a lot going on.

Great to have you guys part of the show.

I read a couple texts from the overnight broadcast.

If you listen overnight, that's fantastic too.

Whenever you listen, it's great to have you.

Give us a like or a follow if you're on Facebook or Twitter, X, Blue Sky, whatever.

We need to talk about Reacher.

We're gonna hear a little bit about... We're gonna play a scene that...

Our guest Rich Tolrico was in from the movie High Fidelity with Jack Black.

That's all coming up next on Nightlight with Peach Waba on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Jim

from Appleton giving me some clarification on Gene Hackman's role in young Frankenstein.

He says he was the blind guy who befriended the monster because he was lonely.

That's right.

I gotta watch it again.

Thanks, Jim.

Anna from Madison says, Pete Estelle Parsons.

Yes, played Gene Hackman's wife in Bonnie and Clyde.

She won a best supporting actress for her role.

Thank you for the assist, Anna.

I was completely blanking.

It might have taken me a while to figure that out, but a great text.

Thanks.

Tyler from Wisconsin Rapid says, despite Gene Hackman's mean disposition in the movie Unforgiven, he was one hell of a carpenter.

I'm sure that's an inside joke about Unforgiven, but it's been so long since I've seen that, too.

Please, Tyler, explain if you would.

He played a great mean guy.

And the quick and the dead, he was fantastic.

He played Leonardo DiCaprio's father, and they have a gun battle in this little town.

I've only seen that movie, maybe I've seen that twice, but it's been years.

Sharon Stone plays one of the other gun fighters, and nobody can beat Gene Hackman.

And it's such a great movie, Sam Raimi directed it.

And I'll just say this, Gene Hackman ends up facing off his own son Leonardo DiCaprio in a draw.

And it's great, and it's shot well, and it's a really fun movie, but Gene Hackman played a really good mean guy.

Bridget from the 818 says, Hoosiers, one of the best movies ever made.

Drama, great acting, excitement, the best.

Hard to disagree with that.

Would you agree with that, Conrad?

Yeah, I've seen that movie so many times and it's just a great story, you know

Yeah, one of those movies too that has like well, it's got the underdog thing which is great, but the music is phenomenal Yeah, the acting even the kids like the basketball players you got Dennis Hopper Jean Hackman Barbara Hershey Really good movie.

It's like I believe that's one of the movies that I saw and it's like I want to play basketball.

Yeah That's so funny that that's how it is when you're a kid when you see a movie like that.

It's like

If you see Rocky, I'm gonna start boxing.

See Hoosiers, I gotta play some hoops.

Stacey Sue checks in on the stream, Willie Wonka.

I think she... Wow.

No, I don't think that's right.

Gene Wilder.

That's okay, Stacey Sue.

Willie Wonka was a fine movie, and Gene Wilder was born in Milwaukee.

So we welcome the contribution.

Thank you very much, Stacey Sue.

I saw, I went home last night, I have two films to see before the Oscars.

I have to see The Brutalist, and I am here.

I'm looking forward to seeing The Brutalist, but obviously I'm gonna have to carve out a time that's almost four hours.

So I'll probably watch it incrementally between now and Sunday.

And last year, it came down to The Wire 2.

I saw, was it Stranger Things?

No, that's the TV show.

Ah, what was the show?

What was the movie?

I gotta look that up.

But I saw that film was the last one I had to see before the Oscars and I saw it.

I think they released it on streaming just that morning.

It was the film with Willem Dafoe and Emma Stone.

So it's probably gonna happen this year too.

I still have to see The Brutalist and I'm still here because I saw Nickel Boys last night and I will say,

just a gut-wrenching movie.

Loved the story and there was some really clever stuff.

But it was shot weird.

They used like this first person where the actors look right at the camera and that, I have to say that kind of took me out of it at times.

But really an incredible story and a good movie.

I totally see it's got, it was like made for an Oscar nomination but the director took some chances and it was definitely interesting.

I don't know that I liked all of them but

What do I know?

I did really enjoy the story, and it was heart-wrenching.

Very hard to watch at times.

Not that it was violent, but the way these kids were treated at this reform school in Florida in the Nickel Academy or whatever it was called, thus the title of the Nickel Boys, was based on a true story.

Just crazy stuff.

How many of the films have you seen?

God rid.

Anora.

That's

it?

That's... I can't.

I can't think of any other.

I really want to see Dune 2, but it's the part of me that's like, I don't know if I want to sit down for three hours.

That's a long one too, yeah.

It is entertaining, I will say that.

You'll be entertained.

Poor things, that's the one I was trying to think

of.

I tried watching Wicked, and I just, I don't know, it's just not my fortain movies.

It's

just, we got a comment on the stream that's about Gene, the movie The Replacements.

Where is that?

Is that on the stream?

Yeah,

Brian said let's not forget about the

replacements.

Yeah, Brian

so funny

Okay, I'll add that to the list.

It is is that the Keanu

Reeves.

Yes.

Yeah, they're like strike players or something about football.

Yeah.

Oh my

god.

Nice

That is one of my favorite like comedy sports movies.

All right, so you've seen more than one Gene Hackman movie

And

I've seen Superman.

I forgot he played Lex Luthor.

Lex Luthor, that's right.

Jim from Brookfield says, Hi Pete, my favorite Gene Hackman movie was Gypsy.

I think he means moths, right?

Let's Google.

Moths or months?

I don't remember.

For some reason I'm Gypsy moths.

Yeah, that's what I thought.

Okay, it was just a typo.

Jim from Brookfield says, hi Pete, my favorite Gene Hackman movie was Gypsy Moths.

You could almost feel Hackman pull his tie off as he tells Bert Lancaster to pull his parachute.

Jim from Brookfield, thank you Jim.

That's a great one.

I love when we get the offbeat ones because I'm expecting a lot of the famous Gene Hackman films.

But the offbeat ones are great too, like the replacements and Gypsy Moths.

Do we have time to tease Rich's appearance with that?

Yeah, we could do the High Fidelity Club.

All right, this is our next guest.

He's coming up after the news.

Great sketch writer and writer in general, Rich Tellerico.

He was an actor in the film High Fidelity, and we found this scene that he did with Jack Black years

ago.

They don't seem really great as what they always seem.

They picked up where your precious Echo left off and you're sitting around complaining about no more Echo albums.

I can't believe you don't own this f***ing record.

That's insane.

Jesus.

You don't have it?

That is perverse.

Don't tell anybody you don't own f***ing Blonde on Blonde.

That's gonna be okay.

I think the thing I miss the most about record stores are snooty record store employees that think they know everything about music.

Brilliant.

Alright, Rob Thomas is here at 735.

The Great Madison Film Critic will be discussing the legacy of Gene Hackman coming up after the news.

He's a fantastic writer, folks.

Rich Talrico joins us.

He's written on...

Key and Peel, SNL, MadTV.

You name it, he's done it.

He's here.

Always fun to talk to Rich.

That's coming up after the news.

This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

He sure was.

That's on my list.

I think that tied for fifth.

Just because I was so young and impressionable when I saw the Poseidon Adventure and

I remember him hanging from that wheel, and his hands were like on fire, and he was trying to open something so everybody could escape, and that stayed with me.

That was a great role for Gene Hackman.

He played a priest.

Keep those texts coming.

Our question tonight is, what is your favorite Gene Hackman movie?

Pretty straightforward.

Let us know at 855-752-4842-855-75 Civic.

Always good when you guys participate.

Right now, I am very excited to welcome my next guest.

He is a writer who was written for Key and Peele Saturday Night Live, Mad TV, and he's agreed to make our popcorn pick of the week.

He's a sketch comedy legend, and he joins us here on the stream.

Rich Talarico, hey buddy.

Yo, Mr. Pete, it's so good to be back.

Thank you for having me.

Well, thanks for agreeing to come back.

I get very few repeat customers, so you're on the list, and it feels good to see you again.

My

pleasure, sir.

Yeah.

So let's start with the popcorn pick of the week.

Let's let's ask you, I want to ask you, how do you prefer to watch movies rich?

You like to be in a crowded theater, an empty theater in the comfort of your own home.

What's your approach?

Well, that's such a good question, Pete.

And I'm so happy to chime in.

I think there's, you know, a couple of ways.

I mean, I remember seeing Pulp Fiction in October of 1994 when it came out with a packed theater and.

you know, maybe 200 people in Chicago and everybody was all still geared up from Reservoir Dogs and, you know, the music started and the Band Apart logo came on the screen.

You know, it was just so electric.

And the themes, you know, were knocking us out, the adrenaline scene and, you know, just everything was incredible.

So, you know, that might be my number one, you know, in the theater experience.

Yeah.

But.

Generally, that doesn't happen that much anymore.

And

I'm not a big Marvel person, no offense to anybody that is, but it doesn't really get me going as much.

So I have a projector that I use at home that creates a, yes, you get the blackout curtains going and you make your popcorn.

I do like to get immersed in the movie.

I don't like checking my phone during it.

I want to just watch a great film.

Spent a lot of time on Criterion channel in the last few years, catching up on a lot of the classics that I hadn't seen, and there's still so many more to see, but... Same.

Yeah, it's funny you say that because I'm the same way.

Like, even with Gene Hackman, I'm realizing, like, I've seen all his big hits, but there's so much of his work I still haven't seen either, and if I went to Criterion, it'd be the same situation.

And I want to share a story with you speaking of Pulp Fiction.

I was working the road doing stand-up when I was in Indianapolis when that came out and the other comic and I went to see it and it was Mikhail Zinski and there's like there's like eight people in the theater.

It's the middle of the afternoon and The film goes non-linear After Travolta gets blown away.

I don't know if you remember that he comes back and all of a sudden he's got the gun He's still in the shorts right and we we had seen that he died There's this guy said a couple rows away from us and he goes

What the?

Wait a minute.

What's going on here?

He's saying this for the whole theater rich.

I'm like,

dude,

like he thought they made an editing mistake or something and the print went out.

It's like, come on, trust these guys.

Well, he is Quentin Tarantino.

Well, I went to the, I went to the bathroom during interstellar and I came back.

Everybody in the theater was seven years older.

So I get it when you're confused with the movies.

I get it.

Hang on to your youth buddy.

That's great.

So what's your favorite snack?

Whether you're at the theater or at home and I'm with you I like to watch a movie and I hate I watch it at home, but I'm like you I'll play video poker.

I'll check for texts or whatever But what do you like to eat like what's your favorite movie snack?

I'm gonna be Uncontroversial here, but I like to make popcorn on the stove.

I like to burn it a little bit

You

know maybe with a root beer

And probably something sweet to go after it.

But the mistake I make in the theater is I buy the super big popcorn because I think I'm going to need it for three hours straight.

And after you get halfway down one of those big buckets, it's a different product.

It's just tiny crumbles.

It's all cold.

It's like, what happened to it?

Where's the butter?

Where's the heat?

So it's always, I think I gotta remind myself when I go to the regular movies to get, you know, but I have a friend by the way that does, she brings like a charcuterie board.

To the

movies?

Yes.

Go to like, you know, the grocery store and buy one of those things with like, you know, a hundred pepperonis and cheese and crackers.

And I'm like, that's actually a great way to do it.

And so that might be my next time, but I haven't been to the actual physical movies in a while.

That's because of the restraining order though.

Well, now I was going to ask you how you snuck a charcuterie board.

I can see sneakin' a soda in, but the restraining order is a more interesting question, so.

You have to pretend you're an artist and have like a fake portfolio

or something.

All right, I think we're ready, Conrad.

Drum roll, please.

We're ready to get our guest Rich Tolerico's popcorn pick of the week.

It is coming up after this.

Mr. Tallarico, your popcorn pick of the week.

We talked about a couple of possibilities, but there's a movie that I want to say, because I think a lot of people might not have seen it.

So can I throw out one that maybe we haven't talked about before?

Absolutely, yeah.

I want to pick Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole.

Oh, right.

Which is a Kirk Douglas movie, and he plays as kind of down and out reporter.

from like the big city I think he's from New York or something and he winds up in some small dusty town and you know out in the southwest and he just you know is just getting any job he can get and he starts at the bottom with this kind of tiny paper but then there's a person that gets caught in a cave in at one of the local caves and he starts smiling stories about this and it becomes this

kind of big story for him and he's selling all kinds of stories to the big paper now and there's this kind of questionable thing where he doesn't necessarily and the local town is also profiting off of the hoopla of rescuing the guy that maybe they don't rescue them as fast as they could and you know maybe they're trying not to rescue him that quickly because they're enjoying the benefits of the carnival that's created by his being stuck.

And it's one of these great movies, too, where there's not really a bad guy.

He's kind of the good guy in the bad guy.

So I really love that movie.

I know it's not going to be one that everybody knows, but it was such a delight to me.

And I got on a Billy Wilder kick after that.

So

I haven't seen that.

I love when people recommend films I haven't seen.

Billy Wilder, of course, who did.

I love the movie, Sunset Boulevard.

So off to check this out.

That's great.

That's a great pick.

Did you see it?

Another one

too, Rich?

Well, if I had another pick.

Oh, yeah, I thought you said you were deciding between two, but that's fine.

Well, no, no, sure.

No, I think let's let that stand.

I mean, I also love the films of John, John Huston and Treasure the Sierra Madres, maybe my favorite John Huston.

Come on.

I mean, I could just I want to live in that movie.

Dude, I have been on such a film noir kick lately.

I love it.

I'm just devouring them and they're so great.

And I saw.

Sierra Madre probably a couple years ago after not having seen it for like 30 years.

So that's a phenomenal movie All right, very cool.

Well, this is so much fun having you here.

My guest is rich tell Rico He is written for key and peels Saturday night live mad TV sketch pad Comedy show that was didn't get much pub, but I really enjoyed sketch pad.

I've seen so I saw several episodes

Yeah, I think one of the inaugural episodes of that was an HBO thing, and I think it was the guy that wanted to produce Everybody Loves Raymond before he did that.

And the versions that I did, I think might have been the pilot of it.

They had different comedy groups from all over, so it was like the groundlings in Second City.

Very nice.

Well, you told me earlier, Rich, that you had the opportunity to meet Gene Hackman in Santa Fe in the 90s.

Yes.

Please tell us about that.

I will.

And rest in peace, Gene.

I mean, I don't want to spoil your next guest and go into all of his great films, but

there's

so many.

But, you know, between Hoosiers and Mississippi Burning,

And what's the one he did with Melanie Griffith?

It was her first movie.

I'm forgetting the name of that.

But anyway, big, huge, obvious impression.

So it was 1996, speaking of Second City, and we were touring.

We were in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

And it was right around the time, or maybe it was even 97, early 97, 96, something

like

that.

But the Second City actor, Severin Darden,

who was in some of the Planet of the Eight stuff and had just been, you know, great creator at Second City and one of the founders.

His wife, his widow came to see us.

He had just passed away.

So we're all, you know, after the show, we all go out in the audience.

We're all fawning over the widow Darden, you know, we're like, oh gosh, Severin Darden meant so much to us and this and that.

And then the stage manager comes over and whispers that Gene Hackman is backstage

and

we've left the poor widow Darden in a cloud of dust.

Yeah,

I

was like, sorry.

And we went backstage and I looked, I remember looking into Jean's eyes when we met him and his eyes were just so powerful blue.

And he was so, I mean, I don't really get starstruck and I've worked with a lot of people from SNL and stuff like that, but it was totally starstruck.

I mean, this was Lex Luthor, you know, standing right

in

front of me.

And he was very complimentary.

And then a second city guy named Aaron Rhodes, who lived in New Mexico at the time, was friends with Gene.

Because Gene was not pretentious.

He would take pottery classes and be involved in Santa Fe life.

So Aaron Rhodes walked backstage because he went with Gene or whatever.

And he's just like, hey, Gene,

how you

doing?

It was just very casual.

Wow.

very down-to-earth guy and you know I know he had 20 years of retirement and I gotta say I'm so concerned over these circumstances of his death I hope that gets looked into I just felt like you know the news wasn't really asking a lot of questions

right I I mean I don't I don't know what happened either but it seems like it has to be that right that they they found them in different rooms

in kind of strange circumstances.

Like I think the wife was in the bathroom next to a heating duct and he was in, I forget, I read about it this morning, but I'm like, it was just so odd.

And why would anybody want to bump off a 95 year old Hollywood legend?

I hope there's nothing like that behind this, but the film you were talking about Rich was Night Moves.

That's a kind

of a modern noir and he plays a detective.

I have not seen that.

I'm going to put that on my list.

I might watch that tonight actually.

He's very good like he just does like from zero to a hundred really well.

Yes

explosive.

It's very powerful

Boy, that's a great point.

It's nice to hear he was down to earth too late.

Was he at your show?

Yeah, he came to the

show

But you know like he just lived in Santa Fe and he loved it and he was involved in the community and he did things like I said I think he was in a pottery class with this guy Aaron who we knew from second city.

Yeah, so that's fantastic.

Do you have a favorite film?

of jeans.

Yeah.

If I had to pick right now without really doing a deep dive, I'd probably have to say Mississippi Burning.

Yeah, Sam.

Because the scene, there's so many satisfying scenes where he's like beating up these racists and trapping them the way he traps them.

I thought, you know, spoilers.

I thought that was so clever and just really well done.

And I loved Willem DeFoe in that movie

too.

Yeah.

that scene between the two of them where they come out and they're arguing because Francis McDormand had just been beaten up by one of the racist guys and they kind of fight and you think Gene Hackman is this big tough guy and he is and then Defoe does this move and gets Hackman down and pulls a gun on him and he's like not only do I have the right I have the authority to do this stuff and it's just such a phenomenal scene between two great actors but I'm with you that's my favorite Hackman film

Yeah,

I've heard

that, you know, all scenes are like power grabs and that movie definitely has tons of that energy.

Yeah.

And the film, or in the film too, there's the great, I think he's a DePaul grad, Michael Rooker.

Sure.

Plays the main kind of redneck guy.

Yes.

He was great too, and Hackman and him had a great scene, so that's a great choice.

How much time do we have?

Can I tell you quickly one more thing?

We have a lot of time.

Yeah, we were going to do a quick

break.

Conrad, how are we doing?

Are we OK here?

We've got about a minute till a break, and then we'll come back, and we'll have some more time, Rich.

You're dying your dance floor, buddy.

All right, very cool.

So we're talking with Rich Talarico is here.

We're going to talk about, I can't wait to ask you about Rachel Dratch.

I am such a fan of hers.

And if we can, I'd love to play the Black Ice sketch.

Very funny.

Love that.

And get your take on that as well.

Rich has started screenwriting, doing stand-up.

We got a lot to talk about.

And he's here with us on the stream.

Rob Thomas drops by at 7.35.

It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Hi, this is Danny Slate and you are listening to Nightlight with Eatswaba.

My guest is Rich Tallarico.

Rich is a legendary sketch writer of Key and Peele, Saturday Night Live, Mad TV.

He's an actor, second city alum, and it's always great to have him on the show.

Rich, in our exchange earlier, well, you

wanted to say

something before the break, so why don't

you go ahead?

Oh, no.

Maybe it's the

same thing.

Well, probably, maybe.

You know, maybe not, though, but I was just reminding, because when Michael Rooker came up, and this, you know,

This is just something kind of fun that you know, one of my first experiences in Chicago and you're so nice to say legendary because you and Dwayne Kennedy and Mike Lucas, you know, you guys were the legendary comments of Chicago, you know when I got there and So one of my first experiences in Chicago after I quit my day job and I didn't have the job at second city I got a job being a stand-in on a horror movie called Henry portrait of a serial killer.

Oh,

yeah part part two

Okay, so this was part two, this was part two.

So Michael Rooker was the star of part one, and part two, the star was a guy named Neil Geantoli, who was in Shawshank Redemption, probably most famously as one of the...

dudes in the group of guys, you know?

Yeah.

And he was, he was the star.

He was playing Henry in the sequel.

And at that point, I never even saw the first Henry portrait of a serial killer, which I do not recommend.

It's extremely brutal.

It's like clockwork orange, but kind of worse, you know, it's very, very heavy.

Makes clockwork

orange look whimsical.

Yeah, absolutely.

It makes a clockwork orange look like red lobster.

I mean, it is just.

But, you know, so we're on this movie and I was standing in and the stand is basically you dress like the other actor and you're there for the lighting, basically.

They light the shot with the stand.

And so I was standing in for a guy named Rich Komenick.

And my friend, Neil McNamara, who you might know, an improv guy was standing.

with Stan while Chicago Neil McNamara.

I mean, there's probably a million guys that sound like Neil McNamara, but Neil's terrific.

He was standing in for Neil Giannoli.

So it was Neil and Rich and Neil and Rich.

And we were dressed like these two guys.

And we would just improvise lines and make the crew laugh.

So the mood on this horror movie was so light because Neil and I were just breaking up the whole time.

They had a severed head scene, so we were doing bits with the head.

And I felt bad for the director because there were so many times he would rip off his headphones because we'd have everybody in stitches.

He'd be like, doesn't it ever stop?

So we had a very light, you know, levity filled.

And we also gained a ton of weight because all we did was eat craft services.

Oh my gosh.

You know, we would just stand around and eat and just do the lighting shots.

But I had a lot of fun.

And it's really where I kind of fell in love with filmmaking.

You're just watching a group of people work together and get it done.

I was really kind of, you know, romanced by that whole experience for sure.

That's so great.

I have a, it's this kind of a Michael Rooker story.

I made this film called The Godfather of Green Bay.

And we had Patrick Warburton was scheduled to be the title character.

And he had

to

bail because Lauren Holly was in the film too.

And she changed her dates and we kept Lauren.

So we were scrambling to find a godfather of Green Bay, Big Jake Norquist.

And the producer hands me the phone.

He goes, Michael Rooker wants to be in

the film.

I'm like, OK,

he'd be

great.

You know, he's a really scary dude when he wants to be.

So I'm talking to him.

And he wanted to be a different role where the guy was 25 years younger.

He

was like my

age and I was like, I'm like on the phone with this guy who I really admired.

I'm like, well, um, he could tell by

my

reaction.

He just kind of bailed on the whole conversation.

She's like, yeah, I got to pick up my kid at football practice, but let's keep talking.

I was like, okay.

And he hung up and I never talked to him again.

Wow.

But he's interesting.

Interesting.

How do you handle that?

Do you just say, okay, let's make it work?

I mean, you were right, you know.

Yeah, it just, it would not have worked.

And that kind

of

sucked, you know, because you got to tell this guy, it's like, oh man, I really

like

you, but I don't even know if you read the script based on what you're saying, you know, anyway.

Right, right, right.

So Rich, you talked about Rachel Dretsch.

You guys both were part of the Andy Richter podcast.

This just sounded like such a fun thing.

I love Rachel Dredge.

Debbie Downer is one of my all-time favorite SNL characters.

Tell us what happened.

You said you were given a film-to-novel project where the actor reads a novelization.

You did dirty dancing with Rachel Dredge.

Did I get that right?

Yeah.

The project is called The Novelizers, and I think they're in their third season.

And I believe...

Rachel and my episode will kick off the new season, which I think is going to be March 10th.

And it's Andy Richter's deal.

And basically they give, you know, they take a screenplay and they chop it up into, you know, several parts and they hand off parts to different writers who literally write a novelization as if it were, you know, obviously a book.

And then.

you know, different actors read those chapters.

So I partnered with Rachel, because Rachel and I had worked together in Second City in Chicago.

And we also worked together at SNL.

So I worked with her a few times.

And I will say it, I think other people have backed me up on this, that Rachel was so funny at Second City, like people would be pounding the tables, pounding the stage.

I mean, we all got good laughs, but she would just destroy.

And she really knew how to like hold the crowd in the palm of her hand.

It's just truly one of the great.

comic people of our times.

I'm so glad I get to work with her and this should be a really fun thing and it kind of ties into our movie night too because basically I novelized dirty dancing and it's kind of fun because you basically just do like a mad magazine version of dirty dancing.

Oh very nice.

Andy Richter is an interesting guy like he's kind of a comedy legend isn't he but he was like a sidekick to Conan.

I don't know.

He kind of fascinates me.

But hey, Rich, can we keep you for a few extra minutes after the news?

Yeah.

Absolutely.

All right,

fantastic.

We're going to talk about, we got a lot to get to.

Ken Peele.

We should just make this a mini series, I think.

Rich will be here.

Sure.

I'm

down.

Next couple weeks.

I love Civic Media.

Thank you.

Thank you, buddy.

We'll be right back after Civic Media's award-winning news team keeps you informed.

I'm Beach Waba.

Great to have you with me on this Thursday night edition of Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.