I can't take money from people.
That's just how I am.
So I was sued by my employer for having a paper out.
Hey, great to have you with me.
Welcome to Night Light.
It is Tuesday night as we broadcast here from downtown Green Bay on this beautiful night in the state of Wisconsin.
Hope you had a great day.
Hope you're in the mood for some good showbiz talk, folks.
A fun question, some good guests.
Let's take your mind off the day, whether it was good or bad, it's good to, as Dan Schaefer says, let's recombobulate.
But not politically.
But that word means a lot.
It can take you places.
And we hope to help you have a few laughs here tonight before you head off to bed.
Great to have you with me.
Conrad is riding shotgun as usual.
Did you have a good day?
I'm so great about it.
Not that I don't
Oh, nice.
What do you do when you work out?
We talked about bench last week.
Do you do like a
thing?
Okay.
Yeah.
Those are expensive.
Yes, they are.
Those trainer, I mean, I think they know their stuff, but I remember when I signed up for bellies, when I was like in my early twenties, my wife and I set up an account and they, you know, we joined and they wanted us to spend like 500 bucks a pop for a personal trainer.
Yeah, so we did because we didn't know we got suckered into the guy had no idea what he was talking about like in
the moment We thought he
did yeah But looking back he would say the craziest stuff I would say stuff like well I got back off the road late last night only had like three hours of sleep He goes well you make sure you go home and get another five hours.
You need eight hours.
I'm like You're telling me to go home and sleep for five hours in the middle of the day like that's the kind of stuff He was dispensing and like a couple years later.
I'm like man that guy really had no idea what he was doing
man at witness.
Oh, I almost said a really dirty word,
rhyme it with fitness just because I couldn't think clearly.
And they were like, you know what?
We'll give you, we'll give you three free training sessions.
And if you still want to leave after that, we're okay with it.
And I took, I was like, well, I'm not going to say no to free training sessions.
So I took them and I was like, all right, bye.
You could quit, rejoin a week later, get three more training sessions and just have this never ending cycle.
Probably not.
Hey, great show tonight, folks.
Actor Robert.
I call him Bob.
I think he goes by Bob.
His professional name is Robert.
We'll clarify that when he's here, because I haven't spoken with him in quite a few years, but I had the privilege of interviewing him on PBS years ago about a movie he made called Water Walk.
Bob Giacchini is a very talented, very successful actor who has just about 100 credits, and he is the latest addition to the cast of The Cleaning Woman.
Cleaning Woman or Cleaning Lady?
Cleaning Lady.
I knew it was Cleaning Lady, but last night I got here and I psyched myself out.
I saw something.
I'm like, is it, wait, is it Lady or Woman?
And you even clarified it was Lady.
And now I'm playing that game with myself.
The Cleaning Lady, Bob has just joined the cast and...
He's been in Godfather III.
I think he was in Chicago or West Side Story.
One of those big musical productions.
I have those on my questions here somewhere.
We'll talk about all of that when Bob is here, but a really, really solid actor.
And he is, I think Michigan based, but he was in Wisconsin about, I don't know, about 11 years ago maybe to do a show I was hosting on PBS at the time.
And that's where I met him.
He did this independent film shot all over Wisconsin.
and was even up at the harbor in Menominee, Michigan, about a mile from my house where I live.
So we'll talk to Bob about some of his many credits and his experiences as an actor and find out what we can expect on the cleaning lady.
Have you watched that show?
either.
Check it out.
like.
To protest the merger?
I don't even, I'm probably getting charged a thousand dollars a month.
I can't
owns what anymore.
And I just see, it's like auto-pay.
So it comes right out of my account.
I need to be better about that.
Then at 720 folks in the second hour comedian, Kristen Lighty will be here.
She's a Northeast Wisconsin based comic.
And she's got a lot of stuff coming up that I can't wait to talk to her about.
Kristen has been on the show before.
You might have heard her with Mino in the mayor in the morning.
But we will talk to Kristen.
She's coming into the studio.
Always love that.
Great to have an in-person guest.
And we'll talk to Kristen at 7.20.
So last night on the show, John Roach was here, director of the film A Road at Night.
We talked to John for almost an hour.
And I really enjoyed the chat.
I went home.
I started watching his film.
He sent me a link yesterday.
It's called A Road at Night.
It's about Howard Moore, former UW basketball player.
He became a coach, horrible car accent, his wife and two kids in 19...
I'm sorry, 2019.
They were driving at night on their way to Detroit, had a terrible accident.
Howard is alive, but somewhat incapacitated now.
And his son is doing fine, but his wife and daughter perished in the crash, as did the drunk driver that hit them.
Great discussion.
Find it on the podcast if you want, folks, because John was a great interview.
I went home and finished the movie last night.
The first part of the movie is all about...
how great the Badger community is in Madison and Wisconsin and these people that just love it.
And they were there for Howard and all this great stuff.
And I went home and watched the last 20 minutes of the movie last night, bald, unbelievably, like so powerful.
I cannot recommend this movie enough.
And I know by saying that I started bawling, it's not something you might look forward to, but trust me, there is a great payoff.
And this guy, Howard Moore was just an incredible, it is just an incredible human being, but.
I highly recommend it.
Hey, we have a really cool contest, text-to-win contest, our latest one here at Civic Media.
It's our break into spring text-to-win statewide contest.
Your daily chance, ladies and gentlemen, to win a Chula Vista getaway Milwaukee Brewer's club level tickets, or a hundred bucks in cash.
What would you take out of those Conrad if you got just a daily win?
You ain't sitting in no club level seats, though, brother, when you go on the 19th.
Are you in the Uker seats, or what did you guys, what did you spring for?
Well,
I hope you don't get beaned.
a privilege to get
Brewer game with that kind of chair.
Every entry, folks, puts you into our grand prize drawing.
Even if you win a daily prize, you're eligible for our grand prize drawing.
And it's a brand new queen size mattress set, not just a mattress.
You following me, Conrad?
following you.
All right.
You get the whole set from Verlo.
That's where I have my mattress set from.
I have a king, but I love Verlo.
They're so great.
They were great to us when we went in there.
It includes a mattress, sheet set, mattress protector, and pillows.
You get the whole nine yards.
That's the grand prize.
And all you have to do is for the text to win is get the daily word.
and log on at, you have to use the app.
So if you haven't downloaded the Civic Media app, make sure you do that, but it's 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m., text in the daily word, and you are eligible for the daily prize, as well as the grand prize.
So download that app, listen at those times, and go to town, folks, and good luck.
It's a great contest, and we are not eligible, but I already have a Verlo mattress, so I don't think that would be, even though that's the grand prize, I think I'd go Chula Vista.
or brewers.
It's fun.
We had our Christmas party there last year, but you didn't see the need to go.
You sat that one out and stayed back and hung out at one of your dive bars.
So it's a great contest.
We hope you win.
Good luck.
And, uh, we will see you at the grand prize, ladies and gentlemen.
So we have this, uh, all right.
So here's what we're going to do tonight as well.
Let's do, we have kind of a different thing we're doing for the question.
So let's get to the question of the
question.
Okay.
Question.
Question.
Should I grow a beard?
Should Pete grow a beard?
I'm at that transition stage where I'm overdue by one day to shave.
And I don't know what to do.
Because if I'm gonna grow a beard, I can't look back.
I gotta go forward and be uncomfortable for a few days.
You ever had a beard?
you in facial hair?
I don't
I can't
fact that I don't remember I
Don't do
that I Don't know I don't I'm not a beard guy.
I've had a beard once I've had a mustache once during COVID, but I don't know what to do I don't know if I should just do it for fun
But that's tonight's question, folks.
It's nothing too crazy.
I just want your opinion.
Should I grow a beard or not?
Should Pete grow a beard?
Should Conrad grow a beard?
You can chime in on that too.
I wish.
What are your thoughts on facial hair?
Share those two.
And we're doing a thing here too.
Last night, as I mentioned, we had John Roach on in this great documentary we were talking about, and I realized I picked the question of the day earlier in the day, and it was about your favorite cocktail.
Well, the film deals with drunk driving, so I kind of bailed on the question last night.
It just wasn't appropriate.
before John came on.
So if you want to continue that tonight and tell us your favorite cocktail, you can do that too.
It's a free-for-all with the question of the night.
And I will read some texts that came in last night that I just didn't feel were appropriate to read when John was here.
So let's get, how far, we got a steady eddy text right as I left.
And the last part of the show last night was prerecorded with Ezekiel Drew's.
So we couldn't do that.
Tom keeps texting bands.
Have you noticed that?
Tom from New Berlin.
tonight.
He says, Tom says, Tom's in the 414.
He says, Pete, do you have a ponytail?
I wish.
Tom says, Pete is pinching yourself knowing human empathy.
Tom, what are you saying?
Sorry, these or these texts are coming in Conrad and you're not eligible for the For the contest at this hour.
Is that correct?
Yeah, the times again I'll read them again are 7 a.m.
11 a.m.
1 p.m.
And 4 p.m.
So you're not eligible if you You just texted ensue so good luck though text into those times and We'll get out so I'll read a few texts from last night regarding the favorite cocktail we said if last night's question
was if you could have one cocktail, one more cocktail in your life in honor of National Cocktail Day, what would it be?
So you can weigh in on that too.
I'll read the rest of those texts from last night when we come back.
But tonight's question, should Pete grow a beard?
I don't know what to do, folks.
I either need to shave or grow a beard.
We're coming right back.
It's night
Welcome back tonight like I am your host peach wabba Love that you guys are with me wherever you're joining us from in the state We are doing kind of a funky question thing here tonight.
I think I here's my guess Dom was talking about bands From the 70s or something because Tom keeps sending bands.
I'm not sure what if those were meant for us, but I think the I think
Tom you were aiming those at Dom who's probably aren't in his car.
You think Dom's home yet?
I don't know.
I don't know how close he looks to the studio exactly So you're welcome to chime in folks our question last night was what is your if you could only have one more cocktail?
What would it be?
I'm gonna read some more of the responses we got last night, but also tonight's question should Pete grow a beard I don't know what to do either have to shave or You know let this keep growing
Maybe it looked more distinguished.
You think beards are distinguished?
Yeah?
You would?
I wouldn't shave it.
Would you have like a Todd Michaels pre-charity beard?
Yeah, maybe that's what I should go for.
The Todd Michaels special.
Well, that's that's our question folks.
That's our question for tonight Cindy.
Yes, you're right We just got a text from Cindy the phone is not working at the moment.
We saw that you were trying to call Conrad reset the system.
Hopefully we are Hopefully we're gonna be good to go here soon, but either keep trying, please or send us a text Chris from sock County.
That's in the 608 says no beard a beard would age you okay Yeah, I want to look older Thank you
Chris, I appreciate you weighing in.
Anna from Madison says, Hi, Pete and Conrad, I think you both should grow a beard.
Great interview with John Roach.
Love that guy.
Thank you, Anna.
Thank you for listening.
Yeah, John was fun to talk to.
And then Tom said, Pete, you have a ponytail.
I can't get through all the bands.
So last night in response to our favorite cocktail if you could only have one more cocktail Jameson in Pennsylvania said at food service Working my whole life started as a host done everything even general manager than a chef a chef That's completely unacceptable his drink whiskey sour whipped with egg white top, but a good beer to relax with is great So I'm gonna James and I'm gonna say whiskey sour if you're listening tonight
because I'd rather have a whiskey sour than a beer, personally.
Jim from Appleton says, I think I would enjoy a well-made Long Island iced tea.
Oh, yeah.
I forgot about the Long Island iced tea.
They will.
They are dynamite, though.
They taste fantastic.
Bridgette last night said, I would like a cup of hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream.
Interesting cocktail, Bridgette.
Takes you a lot of those to catch a buzz.
I'm just going to say that right now.
But I respect that.
I haven't had a drink in a while either, so I'd probably join you.
I might have a nice cup of coffee, but we're doing cocktail.
Steady Eddie says, Pete, when people ask me, what would you like to drink?
Steady Eddie.
I usually, they call him Steady Eddie in his real life too.
I usually say a spotted cow sounds good, or maybe a gin and tonic, or sometimes if I'm in a festive mood, I say, how about a brandy old-fashioned?
Adding, because I'm Wisconsin nice, if it's not too much trouble.
Well done, Steady Eddie.
He says, all delicious and worthy.
and delicious adult beverages.
But for my last drink, give me what my heart and taste buds silently long for, a Brandy Alexander.
Brandy ice cream chocolate with a sprinkling of nutmeg.
Heavenly.
Boy, that does sound good.
He says, let me slowly sip on a well-prepared Brandy Alexander friend and I will die happy.
Boy, that was an escalation steady, Eddie.
We're not asking you to check out after your drink, just saying if you could only have one drink.
left in your life.
I guess I could see where you would take it there though.
Daniel from Masha also is texted last night, what was Ezekiel's favorite song parody in the musical Ed Gein?
Unfortunately, Daniel, that was a prerecord, so we did not see your text last night.
Are phones working Conrad?
Cindy, how are you?
you?
I'm doing great.
I'm glad you were finally able to get through.
Sometimes our phone lines are funky here, so thanks for sticking with
us.
Yeah.
Anyway, I will have a Southern comfortable fashion suite and a really big glass with lots of
ice
extra bitters a cherry and an orange
Delicious
And and if women don't have to shave their legs in the winter you don't need to shave your face women don't shave their legs in the winter Hell
no, what is this world coming?
That's a great answer.
Thank you, Sydney
Have a great night.
I'm glad I have Cindy's permission.
So Cindy says, I should grow a beard.
There you go.
That's what I took out of that.
Last night, also on the stream, PJ said, not your father's root beer float, frosty mug, add a heavy scoop of vanilla ice cream, and a shot or two of rum chata, and top it off with a bottle of not your father's root beer.
Is that a brand?
Yeah.
It sounds really good, like an organic root beer, maybe.
Thanks, PJ, for the tip.
I think we got through all our texts from last night.
And Steve in the 920 says, Pete, I think it would do your face a service by giving the everyday shave a break.
Go for it and grow a full beard and ponytail.
What is with the ponytail?
I don't think the ponytail was part of the question.
you go with the beard, you got to let the hair grow too, right?
Well, you don't have to.
But maybe I should, I haven't considered a ponytail.
Steve says, you will fit in not only in Wisconsin, but also the Florida Keys.
Wow, okay.
On another note, I wasn't able to grow a full beard until my late 20s, so there is hope for my son Conrad.
You got that to look forward to.
I don't know, we'll see.
Tom from New Berlin says, Pete, six to eight weeks of growth to determine if it's distinguished or annoying.
Yeah, that's a great point.
I grow a pretty full beard.
When I've done it in the past, it was pretty full.
But I'll tell you this story.
Okay, here, I do actually, I did have a ponytail.
I think I've told this story before on the show.
When I first moved back to Wisconsin, I had really long hair.
And my daughter was goofing around.
She's like seven years old.
She put barrettes in it.
She put a pink and a lavender barrette in my hair.
And I'm just watching TV, having a couple cocktails, so I let her do it.
Well, then I take a walk.
And I go through...
This area of Marinette called Minnicani, where all the tough bars are.
So I'm walking, it's a beautiful summer night.
I had this huge ponytail, and I have a lavender and a pink barrette in my hair, and I walk past these dudes out in front of the cactus bar, it's called, and they were smoking, and I nod at them, and they just kind of look at me, not bad.
I was like, I don't mind.
So there you go.
But they didn't give me any trouble.
And you know what Conrad?
It's a good thing.
Because as you know, I'm a muscular six foot.
Melissa from Madison says, Guinness and a vanilla ice cream float.
Yes.
That sounds great.
All right.
Should Pete grow a beer?
That's tonight's question.
You can chime in on last night's question too, if you want.
If you have one cocktail left in you for your whole life, what would that cocktail be?
We're bringing it back.
Just share anything that's on your mind, folks.
Bob Chiquini coming up next.
Great actor.
Can't wait to talk to him.
It's been years.
We'll have fun hearing about his new show, The Cleaning Woman.
It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Jackson says, beard equals itchy.
Yeah, that's my biggest fear.
Steve in the 920 says, when all is said and done, any cold cocktail or frosty beer tastes good after a long, hard day's work.
Jimmy Buffett was truly a man ahead of his time, realizing it's five o'clock somewhere.
Well said, Steve.
Welcome back to Nightlight, folks.
I'm Pete Schwabba.
We have Kristen Lighty will be here in person, Northeast Wisconsin-based comedian.
She's got a lot of stuff coming up.
So we figured it would be better if she came by in person and we had to sit down and she could keep us informed.
Our question of the night is, should Pete grow a beard?
I met that transitional point, folks.
Either I have to shave or keep this train going.
So let me know your thoughts and you can weigh in on facial hair in general too, if you like.
Right now, I'm very excited to welcome my next guest.
This is a guy I met about 12 years ago.
When I first moved back to Wisconsin and I got to interview him about a film he made called Water Walk and we will talk about that and many other things because he just joined the cast of The Cleaning Woman, Cleaning Lady.
What does the matter with
me?
It's kind of your fault Conrad.
Sorry, my bad.
You don't even know why I'm saying that.
You're just apologizing.
Either way, he's a phenomenal actor, and he joins us now on the stream from California.
Bob Chikini.
Bob, should I call you Bob or Robert?
Bob,
call me Bob.
I thought so.
Yeah, I mean, the professional moniker is Robert, but I feel most comfortable with Bob.
Okay.
I do remember you saying that years ago, call me Bob.
So it was in my head.
I can't get woman or lady straight, but I have, I did remember Bob.
So the cleaning woman will talk about that, Bob, but it's good to see you.
How are you doing?
I'm doing great.
I'm doing great.
How are you, Pete?
I'm doing very well.
Thank you.
I saw this, I think it was in the trades.
It was in Variety or Hollywood Reporter or something that you would join the cast and I'm like, oh, that's awesome.
I got to have Bob on the show because you don't pop up that often on Facebook.
Are you not very active on Facebook or do I just not see your post?
I'm just an old codger who doesn't really, you know.
participate as much as he should.
Well, I
don't know if you should, but be nice to hear what's going on with you from time to time.
Well, you know, the prevailing zeitgeist, I think is I should probably, if I'm going to be on there, I should be on there.
Right.
Just, you know, I just changed my photograph from this, you know, 15 year old picture.
That's a great headshot, by the way.
Thank you.
My good friend, Chase, you took that.
Yeah.
Outstanding.
You might remember chase you because.
when he starred in Waterwalk as my son, he was called Chase Macer.
Oh my
gosh, that's right.
Yeah, and Chase is a really fantastic multimedia artist now here in LA.
No kidding.
Let's start there, Bob.
Okay, because this is how I met.
I found out that I had this new gig when I moved back to Wisconsin, hosting this show on PBS Wisconsin about moviemaking called Director's Cut.
And Bob was one of the first people I interviewed.
You and the author of the book that Waterwalk was based on,
whose name escapes me.
Steve
Faulkner.
Steve Faulkner, okay.
And the three of us got together and had a beer at State Street Bratz.
It was
cold.
It was like January 3rd.
The students weren't even there.
And I had just
moved
back to Wisconsin and I was freezing and I'm like, oh dear.
But yeah, but it was fun hanging out with you the night before I got to interview you.
And I love that you shot Water Walk all through Wisconsin.
It was this little
indie
film.
You shot up near where I live in Marinette at the Menominee Harbor.
What is going on with that film?
Can people see it anywhere?
I think you have to contact Roger Rappaport, the producer.
Oh, Roger produced it.
Yes, Roger produced it.
And he's gone on to produce a few other films, all of which were shot in Michigan and Wisconsin.
I directed another one of his films a few years later called Coming Up for Air.
Yeah, that stars Deborah Staples, who is now retired from acting, but she was a very well-regarded and well-known Milwaukee theater star for a long time.
Deborah Staples.
Yeah.
I didn't realize, I've interviewed Roger a couple times on Director's Cut, and he was on
this
show because he had a book out about the kidnapping of...
Patty Hearst
and
he's a great guest and such a fascinating guy.
Yes, I love to that you shortly after you were on that show and I noticed you had Richard really in your film Who's in every movie?
Great guy.
He and I became friends and we did like three projects within a year together
And I was like, I'm just like, I love this guy.
But it was like, I met him through Roger, and then he was in this film I was in, and then this.
Did you cast him?
Or did you already know him?
Or did you make him audition?
How did that work?
No, we already knew him.
And we were just trying to find a spot for him, hoping he would say yes.
Yeah.
He's a great Wisconsin actor.
I mean, he's been in LA for years, but he's been on this show several times too, and just a great guy.
Yeah, he just works nonstop, and he's a great guy, and he just has a marvelous gift of bringing his true spirit, his true nature to all the parts that he plays, you know?
Definitely.
Yeah, so it's great to work with
him.
So I noticed, Bob, I was on your IMDB page today.
And it said, you have 99 acting credits, which is incredible.
But your next gig you book will be a milestone, my friend.
That's the big one.
The big 100.
If that's even accurate, maybe you've surpassed it already.
I think I've already surpassed it.
I've taken a peek at it.
And there's some obscure stuff that for some reason didn't make it on there.
So I've passed the century mark.
That's great.
All right.
So tell us about.
the cleaning lady this show it's like in season three you just joined the cast i think you play a lawyer but tell us about your role
yeah it's uh it's the cleaning lady um originated on fox it's gonna premiere tonight season four will premiere tonight nice on fox um and you can also stream it on various platforms hulu uh i think uh hbo max um so if you wanted to start from the beginning you can do that and stream it from season one uh
Yeah, and it's a very cool show.
And I think the conceit of the storyline is very, very clever because it manages to blend two very popular TV genres, hospital and crime.
And it does it in a very, very clever way.
So it's not at all contrived.
And yeah, I'm joining the cast for season four.
My first episode will be episode four.
And I play a guy named Joel Herman, who's an assistant district attorney in the city of Las Vegas.
He's a really fun character to play.
I love playing the part.
And I think the character was conceived by one of the writers and producers, Helen Childress.
You know, there's a little tiny bit for those of you of a certain age of a Colombo-esque-ness to this guy.
Oh,
nice.
Yeah.
And just a touch.
But he's very clever.
He's disarming.
He's got a wonderful sense of humor.
He's got a way with words.
But he's also extremely devoted to his job, to the idea of justice.
And he's a dogged...
investigator, and he is a lawyer.
But sometimes he feels more like, you know, a PI, you know?
Okay.
But yeah, it's been a lot of fun.
I think the the character is colorful and and not doesn't fall into a stereotype of what you think of as like a television crime drama district attorney, you know, right?
He's a real person.
And, um, yeah, he's fun to play,
which I'm sure for you as an actor, you don't want to play a cliche.
You don't want to play a character that's been done a million times.
You want to bring something colorful to it or something unique.
Sure.
Yeah.
Even if the part is written as a cliche, which this one is not, as an actor, you're always looking for another way in, you know, right?
Make that person my
guess.
My guest is Bob Cicchini, also known as Robert Cicchini professionally.
He is one of the newest cast members on the hit show, The Cleaning Lady.
We're talking to Bob.
Bob, I have so many questions for you, because I think your body of work is so great.
But let's stay on The Cleaning Lady for now.
How is the cast, like when you come onto the set as a new hire, are they welcoming?
Are there other actors you already know or that you want to work
with?
There weren't any actors that I already knew.
And I loved working on the set.
You know, I felt welcome right from the very beginning.
You know, from producers through the cast, through the crew, all the way through, you know.
So it was a nice feeling.
You know, that doesn't always happen that way, you know.
but I felt a strong sense of flow throughout the process.
The cast members are super talented, super good at what they do.
Elodie, Santiago, Martha, I had an opportunity to work extensively with all three of them and just really gifted, gifted, generous
actors.
Do you have a, like when you started, Bob, did you start in theater?
I think you're from Michigan, right?
Yes, I'm from Detroit, basically.
I did start in theater,
yes.
The first on-camera work I did was at Wayne State University.
I was a student and a couple of film students.
One of them was Bruce Schermer, who has worked on Waterwalk.
He was the DP on Waterwalk.
was a film student and he saw me playing Renfield in the Passion of Dracula.
Sweet.
Yeah, at the Bonstell Theater in Venerable Old Theater in Detroit and asked me to do a film with an actor named Mark Korkins.
Mark is also a very well-known actor in Wisconsin now.
He worked at Milwaukee Rep for a long time and he lives in Milwaukee.
So it's funny, you know, like I have these roots that kind of found their way
back to Wisconsin, even though I'm not from there.
And yeah, that was the first film I did at Wayne State University.
But, you know, for the first book of my career, I was a theater artist.
You know, Wayne State, New York University, I went to grad school.
And then after that, I started working, you know, in equity, well, prior to that, you know, non-equity shows and then finally equity shows.
And then I got a big break when the Godfather III
was cast.
And that was my first, you know, big film.
I'd done a couple of student films before that.
And I think a walk on, pardon, like a movie of the week or something.
But yeah, but the Godfather was my first like, you know, real solid film experience.
And how about
that?
I was going to ask you about that anyway, your first big film.
is the Godfather, part of one of the most famous franchises ever.
And Coppola directed it, right?
Were you nervous?
You must have been thrilled, but
kind of nervous too?
Yeah, I guess so.
I mean, absolutely thrilled, like seventh heaven thrilled.
And yeah, I was nervous, but it wasn't an overwhelming nervous situation.
I felt, you know, I felt
like I had the appropriate amount of adrenaline put it that way.
But that for me, I don't think for most actors, that never really goes away.
There's always that feeling of you're taking a risk.
How did you feel when you wrapped on that movie, Bob?
Like it's your first big film, huge director.
Did you feel like it went well?
What did you take away from the experience?
I felt like it went really, really well.
I had gotten some good feedback from the first a couple of times.
And that was very helpful to me because I was so green.
I didn't know how to judge things.
And like you say, when we wrapped, to me, there was a party that I went to.
But it just, it didn't dawn on me at the time that like, this is a tradition.
This is how it works.
You know, I was just kind of, you know, playing it day by day.
Every day was a new adventure.
You know, when I first got that part, Pete, I was told, you know, you're, you're, you're co-starring in The Godfather with Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, and Andy Garcia.
That's what the words were.
I heard from the late great Fred Roots.
Then a few months later, I was told by one of the casting directors, really sorry, but it looks like your character's only gonna be around for maybe like a day.
Oh man.
You know, so that was like, yeah, Bob, that was a big shock.
Let's pick up right
there.
We got to do a really quick break and we'll come back and hear the rest of this.
Bob Giacchini is here, folks.
We're coming right back.
It's Nightlight with Peach Waba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
This is Night Light, wherever you're joining us from around the state.
It's great to have you on this Tuesday night.
Conrad's mom says, grow out the beard.
I like beards.
If you don't like it, you can always shave it off.
Your mom might live in Florida, but she's got the Practical Wisconsin philosophy.
I like that.
That's great.
Thank you, Paula.
My guest is...
His lab gets too hot.
Yeah, really?
Are you a beard guy, Bob?
You ever have a beard?
Well, I just got my little goatee happening, which I've had for seven months now.
But every time I've tried to grow a full beard, it just gets too itchy, and I just can't go through it.
That's exactly what I
kind of bail with.
Down here, it gets just miserable.
Yes.
It's just awful.
Hey, I want to ask you about
a role you just did recently, not as big as Godfather III, or I know you were in War of the Worlds and Dreamgirls.
But the George Foreman movie, Big George, I
think it was
called, you played Angelo Dundee.
That's a cool role.
Were you excited
about that?
Oh, God, I was so excited about that.
And oddly, I came super close.
I mean, this is the classic actor story, but I came
just within a hair's breath of playing Angelo in the Will Smith Michael Mann film, Ali.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, I tested with Will and, you know, Ron Silver ended up getting the part, but I was told that, you know, when Michael was making his final decision, there were two photographs on his wall.
One was Ron and one was me.
And
You know, uh, I went in for a final, um, a final audition with, with Will and, you know, Michael put his arm around me and walked me down the hall and told me what a great actor I was.
And so I kind of knew then that.
Oh no.
But, um, anyway, it came back.
Angelo came back.
That's fantastic.
Well, I'm surprised.
Ron Silver was a great actor, but then that's like, I would think just on looks alone.
You would get the nod there, but I know he's pretty big name.
Maybe I don't know.
Yeah, he's a big name I wasn't and I think what I was told was that what it came down to is he was the older version and I was the younger
okay,
and Michael was trying to decide Which way to go?
Because the younger version would have had to have aged, you know and Anyway, yeah, that was a great script
But yeah, it came back.
And when I originally auditioned for George Tillman, I read for the part of Howard Coasell.
Oh, no kidding.
Oh, that's
great.
Yeah, so I kind of did my eyebrows a little different.
I combed my hair.
I did the whole Howard Coasell.
And I worked really hard on it.
Did the audition.
Didn't hear anything.
feedback I got was, we want you to read for Angelo Dundee.
And I was like, yeah, you probably should have said that at the very beginning.
And then it worked out.
It worked out really well.
And I got to play Angelo aging from his early 50s to his late 70s.
So I put on a bunch of weight, shaved my head, totally grayed up my sides.
Yeah, it's basically unrecognizable when you see the shift.
I enjoyed being able to do that.
I can imagine.
It's such a great role.
I would have seen you in that, but I started to watch that.
I've been a George Foreman fan a lot of my life.
I liked him when he was younger.
I remember watching him fight Ali and Joe Frazier.
he just hit so hard.
And he was kind of an angry guy when he was young.
And then he became this jovial fun.
And I've read about him.
Like I remember reading that when he was growing up in Houston, he was beating up 18 year olds when he was 12.
Like this guy was like, but that movie, I started watching it
and I,
there's a scene I think where he doesn't have enough food to eat early on in the movie.
And I'm like, I can't watch this tonight.
I'm just wasn't in the mood to watch a kid.
being treated like that.
So I turned it off and now I'm bummed because you play Angelo Dundee.
I'll go back to it though.
Yeah, go back to it.
It's worth watching.
Yeah.
Bob, what is your, when you studied acting, do you have a technique?
Like my daughter's in college and she just became, she just went through the Meisner program.
And I know there's all these,
there's Meisner's, there's Strasberg.
What
was your, did you have a technique that you studied and kind of stuck to?
I studied with a lot of different really good acting teachers and the techniques that I use are basically skills and techniques that I've collected from each of them.
I think it would be fair to say that all of those teachers could probably trace their roots back to the Stanislavsky system.
So when you talk about Strasbourg and you talk about Meisner,
talk about Stella Adler, Bobby Lewis, those actors, those acting teachers that are kind of like the Mount Rushmore of American acting teachers in history, you know, they were all in the group theater.
And, you know, they all studied Stanislavski.
Stella Adler and a couple of the other actors actually went to, you know, Moscow and studied with them, brought back this technique.
to the group theater, which is a politically motivated theater troupe that Clifford Odets was like their main writer and Harry Klerman.
And all those people were in that company and they developed their own version of the Stanislavski system.
And then when you look at Strasbourg or you look at Meisner, Stella Adler is kind of more true to the whole Stanislavski system.
as is Bobby Lewis.
Strasburg focused more on the emotional, psychological realism aspect of Stanislavski's system.
Meisner focused mostly on communication, listening, and receiving.
But if you read the Stanislavski books, those are chapters in his system.
Hey, Bob,
can we keep you for a few more minutes after the news?
All right, let's pick up there.
That's fascinating to me.
Bob Giacchini is my guest.
He is the star, or one of the actors in the new season of The Cleaning Lady.
And we're talking to him here tonight on Night Light.
We'll have more with Bob in a few minutes after Civic Media's news team tells you what's up.
It's Pete Schwabba in Night Light on the Civic Media Radio Network.