No Packers, No Life(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 never leaves the house without wearing a cup, Pete Chwaba.

How old is that one?

You gotta get rid of that.

I mean, I still do it.

I'm just saying.

I think we got better material.

Hey, welcome to Nightlight, everybody.

Great to have you with me.

It is Tuesday election day here in the state of Wisconsin.

Hope everybody got the chance to get out and vote.

If you didn't, you still have time.

There's a little less than two hours until the polls close.

Did you vote today, Conrad?

Did you get out there?

I did?

Yeah.

I'm just not rocking my sticker like you are, you know?

I had the sticker on, yeah.

I accidentally took two and then I felt bad.

I went and voted right when I woke up this morning and I was kind of in a haze and I forgot what district or what ward I was in and I got the wrong line and the lady gives me my whatever checks me in.

I go over and get my ballot.

Shout out to Marinette poll workers because they gave me the right ballot.

There

you go.

Even

though I was in the wrong line.

And I thought, oh my God, I'm gonna have to go back and say I'm an idiot.

I need a different, but it worked out just fine.

But be awake when you vote, folks.

You can make mistakes.

Luckily I didn't.

My ballot was perfect.

I got an A plus.

Hopefully you guys all got out and vote.

So important to get to the polls tonight before eight o'clock.

You still have time if you didn't do it.

Welcome to Nightlight.

I am Pete Schwabba.

The voice you just heard before that was Conrad Krieger, the K-man.

Con, riding shotgun.

How are you, buddy?

Oh, I'm great.

You know, I'm excited.

I'm really excited to get this new product I saw today.

Really?

Yeah, it's called the Tell.

It's called the Dude Man 2.0.

Oh, it sounds very kind of sensual.

What is it?

So it's going to hit the shelves pretty soon.

You know, it's a bum hair trimmer

and cleanser.

Bum, you're saying that like in the British style.

Like it's because you don't want to say a swear word or just be risqué and say, but like we do in America.

Yeah.

A bum trimmer.

Yes.

Yes.

So a bum

hair

trimmer or

something that actually trims your bum because I think a lot of us could use that.

We'll see.

Yeah.

You trim the bum hair and then you got a cleanser with it.

A cleanser comes with it, right?

Well, attached to it is a dude wipe.

What's the date today?

Oh, you didn't go out and buy this, did you?

It's not it didn't hit the shelves yet.

I thought

they're taking pre-orders

I just ruined my day now.

I'm sorry man.

Can't you

just have to clean your bum the old-fashioned way with a nice warm washcloth What there was another product you saw too on April Fool's.

What was that?

Well, so remember last year

I had this time and um Well, it came out a couple days earlier.

I think around March 27th or something.

Oh, yeah

Hot dog water.

Yeah, 7-Eleven hot dog water.

It came out before that.

It was like a week or

two

before April Fool's.

It was not fair.

They did a week-long April Fool's joke.

Yeah.

And what the worst part about it is that they had, you know, like, employees at their corporate office, like, pretending to drink the hot dog water.

But it wasn't that.

But so they're at it again.

7-Eleven?

Yep.

They're at it again.

What's their product this year?

The mystery donut.

Ooh, I'm intrigued.

I don't know if I trust a mystery donut from a gas station.

Isn't that kind of a mystery anyway if

you get

a gas station donut?

You know how many grubby fingers seriously are reaching in there?

If you go in there late morning, you probably have a chance at a serious illness

if you're digging

around in there.

So they don't give you any hints as to what's in the mystery donut?

I think it could be hot dog flavored.

Hot dog flavored water.

Hot dog flavored water donut.

Okay, I was hoping not to vomit tonight while

I was on

the air, but who knows?

All right, those are good jokes.

I usually, when I wake up, I'll look at my phone for a couple minutes before I get out of bed and I usually see something on April Fool's where I'll go, whoa, really?

I don't realize it's April Fool's yet.

If it's something plausible, you kind of fall for it, right?

There was one that got me today and I was like, well, it got me for like a second.

I was like, wait a second.

It's April.

It was it was it something Conrad related that they posted it

was sports related.

Okay

a Brewers trade or something.

No, it was It was a basketball trade, which doesn't even make sense because trade deadline has passed in February, so

Bucks traded Yanis for a second rounder and a player to be named later.

What?

That's great Great to have you with us tonight folks if you have not taken part yet in

The civic media break into spring text to win statewide contests.

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

It's your daily chance to win a Chula Vista getaway, Milwaukee Brewer's club level tickets, or $100 in cash.

Plus, every entry puts you into our grand prize drawing of a brand new Queen mattress set from Verlo that includes a mattress sheet set, mattress protector,

and pillows.

Times for text to win are 7 AM, 11 AM, 1 PM, and 4 PM.

So all you have to do is get the daily word and text it in from the app.

Very important.

You have to do it from the app to qualify for all the great prizes.

So if you haven't downloaded the app, highly recommend you do it.

I'm sure most of you already have it, but it's very easy to use.

Check it out.

Text away and you're entered in the daily prize and the grand prize just for sending in the word It's another great civic media contest and I think we found out today.

This this one's a killing it man We're getting a ton of people.

Oh, yeah that want those prizes and just want to be part of the fun That's what I think I would text in even if I couldn't win because texting is free You know what?

I would do I would love to win this contest and say no I want to give it to someone less fortunate

than

me even though I'm not qualified

So good luck folks try it out and after stick around because after nightlight tonight folks civic media is Dan Schaefer and Todd Alba will be live on the civic media from the app or the radio when the polls closed tonight at 8 p.m.

From headquarters in Madison as the civic media news team Will report from across the state covering the election and polls closing like no one else can tune in

Dan and Todd will keep you informed.

Those guys are so great.

They do such a great job and very informed.

You think you're more informed than Dan and Todd?

Oh, I don't think so.

Depends on the subject, really, though, right?

Yeah, maybe

sports.

That's about

it.

Sports or, you know, Conrad's apartment.

They're probably not as in tune with

those.

Yeah, they're probably not as in tune with my apartment.

Probably don't know

what goes in what drawer.

You

know, I think you got

them.

I think you...

We've got our guests tonight, folks.

We've got some good ones.

Craig Benzien will be here.

Craig is a director, actor, and an influencer.

When I first heard influencer like 10 years ago, I thought I was like, what is that?

It's a serious thing.

I wish I influenced people, but no one calls me for advice.

I have no social media platforms where I have any sway.

I'm trying to get there.

I'm up to 130 followers on Blue Sky.

I've got 250 bot followers on X. Did you celebrate

any of those?

What do you mean?

You got to celebrate 100 followers on Blue Sky at least.

I might have missed the window.

That was about a week ago.

I am rapidly gaining followers.

They're all young women who want to date me.

It's kind of

weird.

Nice.

You do get, what do you do?

All right.

What do you do for that?

If you're Twitter or Blue Sky and you get, you know, it's like some kind of, do you accept them?

Do you let them follow you?

So it looks like you have more followers.

No, actually, I don't because I I had one couple weeks ago on Instagram that said that messaged me after it and it's like I Don't even want

to how are

you?

Oh really?

Yeah, it was

like risque.

It was it was no kidding.

I was like, um

Okay and delete that mommy You know I got duped because usually I don't like on Facebook I never accept them Yeah, but I figured Twitter like if I can build my followers.

I'll just never

I'm not gonna follow them back, but if it adds to your follower numbers, okay.

But last about two nights ago, I got a request and this girl, she looked normal.

And she had like 600 followers and she was following like 1,000 usual blue sky starting off numbers, right?

I thought, okay, I'll accept this.

And I followed her back to do that courtesy thing.

Two seconds later, hey, how are you?

Oh, okay.

I was duped again.

So anyway, we're gonna have dinner next week.

Oh, no, he should be fine.

Yeah, but so Craig benzene will be here folks at 635 Craig has a film called no Packers.

No life It's gonna play in the Wisconsin Film Festival on Sunday night at the Barrymore Theater I had the opportunity to interview Craig on directors cut on PBS Wisconsin a couple weeks ago the episode aired last night if you missed it You can check it out online at PBS Wisconsin org The full episode of directors cut is there and all my interviews with directors at this year's festival

including my King and Ben Reiser, who work for the festival and do a great job.

But Craig was on the show, told me about his film, No Packers, No Life.

It's about Japanese packer fans.

And it just sounds so great.

And I thought, I got to have this guy in nightlight.

So Craig is going to be on.

He's got over a million subscribers, Conrad, and they're all real people.

No bots.

Wow.

I think.

Well, that's Craig about that.

But yeah, he's a big YouTube guy and he has a show called Wheezy Waiter that ran for like 13 years on YouTube.

Now we made this documentary.

Craig will be here at 6.35.

Excited to talk to him.

And then our special mystery guest, Luke Mathers will be here.

Civic Media's own Do Everything, Know Everything, Luke Mathers is coming back on Nightlight to take one of our fun quizzes.

That will happen at 7.35.

We're gonna do like a little political election day fictional character.

fictional political character quiz.

We're gonna give Luke that quiz.

He crushed our last one.

He crushed it, right?

He did really well, I remember.

I don't know if it was an actual crushing.

I think he got like three wrong.

Yeah.

Out of like 15.

Out of 15.

That's

pretty good.

And we tried to stomp him a couple times.

Yeah.

But anyway, that, ladies and gentlemen, leads us to our question of the night.

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.

Who is your favorite fictional political character?

So many to choose from, folks.

Who is your favorite fictional political character?

Movies, TV.

What have you?

Name it for us and text us and we'll read your text on the radio.

That is tonight's question.

And that's kind of what we're gonna do when Lucas here at 735.

We'll give him that quiz and see if he can guess the show from which each person we describe is on.

And it's all politically related.

You got a lot of stuff to choose from.

You got scandal, Madam Secretary, the American president, primary colors.

What's the true not what's the one primary colors?

Did I say it?

No, what's the one with Robin Wright?

I always forget this house of cards.

That was a big one before Kevin Spacey ruined everything I want to say I'm gonna say Mayor Quimby From the Simpsons.

He's my favorite political fictional.

That's a good political character What about you?

I always feel like Mayor Quimby is always Kind of scary.

I don't know

Every time it's like, well, yeah, why is he rubbing his hands like that?

I'd say mine is awesome.

I'd be ripping me or Quimby mine is between Cam Brady which is from the campaign Will Ferrell and I would say Bud Johnson and that's from swing vote

Oh, I didn't see that.

That was like the first political movie I think I've ever seen.

All right, we'll talk more about political movies.

We'll read your texts, and we'll get into all things Nightlight.

Coming up next, on Nightlight with P. Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Tonight's question, who is your favorite fictional political character?

It is election day, folks.

Still got plenty of time to get to the polls.

Very important to do so.

Big day here in Wisconsin.

Conrad voted, I voted.

We're not trying to brag.

It's not like it takes a genius to go vote, so all the more reason.

You have no excuse not to, so get to those polls, folks.

And coming up at eight o'clock, right after nightlight, Dan Schaefer and Todd Alba will take over from headquarters in Madison as soon as the polls close and they will give you coverage like you won't find on any other network here at Civic Media.

Our question tonight is, who was your favorite?

fictional political character.

We've got some texts rolling in.

Sherry Markins says, are we going to election stuff, Pete?

Hi, good evening to you and Conrad, but I really want to hear that.

I really want to hear that stuff today.

Uh, I think she's saying she doesn't want to hear that stuff today.

No, we're not going to do, I mean, we're going to, we're going to couch it in a way nightlight would Sherry, we're going to give Luke Mathers a fun quiz about movies, about politics.

so we won't get into candidates, their backgrounds, or political ads or anything like that.

So stick with us.

It's great to have you, Sherry.

Jules from Mosini says, Jed Bartlett, the West Wing.

That's Martin Short, or Martin Short, Martin Sheen, right?

I never watched the West Wing.

I know, that's like, and I've had so many friends.

I had a friend who had the box set on CDs and he gave it to me to watch.

And I never, I still never watched it.

I think he gave it to me right as I was kind of done with network shows.

And even though it's Aaron Sorkin, it's a great show, I just still couldn't bring myself to watch the West Wing.

I know that's kind of sacrilege around entertainment and people who like politics, but I still have the box set of DVDs.

Thank you, Jules.

Al from Jackson says, macho camacho.

What's that?

Kind of be ready to go to the Google man.

I know people are gonna bring in some obscure stuff and That could be an April Fool's joke too.

See that's what happens when election day and April Fool's Day are on the same day So I don't know if Al's up to no good or if that's his actual I remember the boxer Hector Macho Camacho.

That's what's coming up

Well, you know what he might have gone into politics actually Well done Al

If that's where you're going with that, L's in the 262 from the 608 Ross from Crawford County says, Saturday Night Live, comedian James Austin Johnson playing Donald Trump.

He's pretty good, isn't he?

Yeah.

There's one guy that does a Trump.

Who would I?

I saw this recently.

I didn't think it was that great.

Like he was funny, but it sounded nothing like Trump.

But Chevy Chase used to do Gerald Ford and never even tried to get the voice down.

He just talked like he was Chevy Chase and it was still funny.

Thank you, Ross.

Ross is in the 608.

Also from the 608, AJ says, Hi, Pete and Conrad.

There's so many good political fictional characters.

But the one I thought of first was Bill Pullman as the president of the USA in Independence Day.

Mary McDonald also made a great first lady.

Even her story was cut short.

That's right, she passed away in that movie.

Yeah, she was very good.

Bill Pullman is such a great everyman.

He was a good president in that movie.

I don't think it was a great movie.

It's kind of cheesy.

I remember liking it when I saw it and then thinking when I left the theater, I probably wouldn't watch that again.

But it was good.

Fun to watch with a packed house too.

Good thriller.

Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids, that's the 608.

He says, James Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

I knew we were gonna hear that one at some point.

That's a great film.

Great text, Tyler, thank you.

Jules from Hosany says, oh Pete, it's the best.

I know.

I know that and I have no doubt I'll like the West Wing when I finally do start watching it.

And I've got like what, 10 seasons to watch and it's networked.

So there's like 25 episodes.

That's like 250 episodes of the West Wing.

That's 250 hours give or take of my life that I'll probably spend on that show at some point.

Thank you for the recommendation, Jules.

And I have no doubt you're correct.

From the 608 Anna in Madison says, Hi, Pete and Conrad, my favorite fictional political figure is Robert Redford in the candidate.

That's a good one, too.

I don't know that there's a fictional character or politician in this movie, but my favorite political movie is probably All the President's Men.

It's just got those great scenes at the Washington Post where Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman are there late at night trying to get this story done.

They're meeting with people, a confidant named Deep Throat in parking garages.

They're worried for their safety.

Such a good...

Good movie.

And back when newspaper reporting was the thing.

Love that movie.

And I just watched it about eight months ago with my son for the first time.

It holds up.

It's a great film.

Brian from Milwaukee says, the president in the movie, the American president and the president in the West Wing.

I think that's Jed Bartlett, Brian.

And the American president is Michael Douglas.

I don't remember what the president's name was, but I remember liking that movie.

It was a Rob Reiner film.

Little folksy at times.

little exposition-y if I could use a screenwriter word, but a satisfying movie.

And don't you hate it when there are people in the movies or TV and you wish actual politicians could behave like that or say those things or make those kinds of changes because it's hard.

It's a TV show.

You know, the person who writes it creates an entire world and the people in that world and he can get them to do anything he wants.

And it's fun to watch It's not gonna happen in real life though as much as we why I guess that's why we like the movie so much We got a stream comment stream comment Conrad.

Yep.

I gotta get to my yeah, so many remotes here Who's it from?

Hizou Hizou, I hope that if we're if we're mispronouncing your name Apologies, but Hizou says my favorite fictional political character is the governor

in the best little whorehouse in Texas.

Ooh, I like to do a little sidestep.

Boy, I have not seen that in so long.

Vaguely remember that.

I knew we were gonna get some obscure references too, and I love that.

Keep those comment folks, they're so much fun.

Thank you, Sizzu, Sizzu.

Sorry if I'm getting your name right.

You can call me whatever you want, just to make, just to even the score.

You, I wanted to ask you about that scene.

I already

know what scene you're talking

about.

White

Lotus?

Yeah.

We'll have to do that because we're kind of running out of time here for this segment But we got to get to that because I haven't seen it yet and I want to see you tap-toe tip-toe around All right, ladies and gentlemen influencer and movie filmmaker director Craig Benzene will be here next telling us about his new film no Packers no life.

It's gonna be playing at the Wisconsin Film Festival and it's a

story about Japanese Packer fans.

It looks awesome.

He's coming up next.

Luke Mathers at 735, taking our political fictitious movie quiz like Luke can only do.

It's Peach Wabbit at Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Alright,

we have clarification.

It's Chizu is the name, so we'll have to remember that Conrad.

Thank you for clarifying that.

Chizu on the stream.

So wherever you're joining us from tonight, folks, it's great to have you.

Whether you're listening on the radio across the state or on the Civic Media app on the stream, Facebook, YouTube.

What else is there, Conrad?

Twitter.

Twitter.

X. Friendster.

However you're joining us, it's great to have you.

We have a fun show tonight.

Luke Mathers is going to be here in hour number two.

And in honor of election day, we're going to give Luke one of our quizzes.

It's going to be a fictional character.

And Luke did very well the last time we gave him a quiz.

We'll see how he does.

I have a feeling he's going to do pretty well.

He's kind of an informed guy regarding politics.

So I feel like Luke is going to make a good showing.

I hope he does.

We're not out to embarrass anyone, especially not the kid.

Oh, you know what?

That's a great nickname.

I almost called him the kid Luke Mathers.

The kid.

He knows a lot more than I do, though.

Like, I can't fix a computer or radio station.

So

I can't really call him the kid.

You can call me the kid.

Yeah, you're the kid.

You know about as much as I do.

That makes me feel good.

All

right.

Hey, we're going to keep the show moving, folks.

I'm excited to welcome my next guest, his film No Packers, No Life, screens at this year's Wisconsin Film Festival, this coming weekend.

Joining me now is my pleasure to welcome to Nightlight for the first time, actor and influencer and filmmaker, Craig Benzine.

Hey, Craig.

Hello, how are you?

I'm doing very well.

It's great to have you.

Nice to see you.

How are you doing tonight?

I'm doing good.

I had a spotted cow.

I'm feeling good.

That's not going to make you slur your words.

I have every confidence we'll get through this.

Of course.

Where are you joining us from?

Do you live in Madison?

Yeah, Madison.

OK, nice.

Born and raised in the area.

Boy, I got to say, my whole life.

Living in wherever I lived whether it was in Chicago or the second part of my childhood in Wisconsin Everyone said you got to go out and do stuff and go to big cities and to get things done and I'm looking at your IMDB page today You're like one of the busiest people I've ever seen and you're doing it all for Madison.

That's pretty impressive

Well, I did live in Chicago for 12 years.

Okay full disclosure, but yeah, I moved back here when we had our daughter and Been here for like five years now

So

that's excellent.

Well, it's good to see you.

Thanks for being on the show.

You and I met a couple of weeks ago on the set of Director's Cut on PBS Wisconsin.

It was good to get to meet you in person and hear about your film.

Let's before we jump into no packers.

No life Can you tell us a little bit about how you you have such a unique career like you have acting credits?

You're an influencer.

You just made this documentary How did you find this path?

What brought you to this?

Did you go to film school or were you in a theater company or how did you do it?

Well, I did I did go to I was a communication arts radio television film major at UW Madison.

Okay, and I'd always I

I guess I kind of always wanted to get into film, but I never moved to LA, never did the things you're supposed to do to do it.

So I moved to Chicago with my band and was just trying to play shows with my band and see where we could take things.

My band called Driflus Pony Club.

And I

just eventually was like, well, hey, I'm not using my degree.

I'm not using my skills that I have.

So I just started putting videos on the internet.

like right around the time when YouTube started.

And it took a while of, after about three years of making videos before it, it became like my full-time job, making videos.

Wow, on

YouTube.

Yeah.

I gotta tell you, and I feel really stupid, this isn't me a couple, but I remember like in 2006,

I just made a movie and my friend's like, you got to get it out there on YouTube.

It's this new thing.

And I'm like, yeah, okay, whatever.

No one's going to watch this.

People putting home movies up.

And now it's bigger than network TV or streaming or anything.

So tip of my hat, way to crush it.

You have over a million followers on YouTube that baffles me.

I do.

I didn't hit over a million until about 2018.

It took like 13 years.

That's amazing.

It was after making, I never really went like quote unquote viral until way later.

Like it was kind of a slow build of an audience.

Until 2018, my wife and I did a video where we quit added sugar for a month and that video blew up really big.

Wow.

Yeah.

I was already doing it full time, but that's where I eventually got up to over a million subscribers.

I love, I watched one of your videos earlier today where you lost weight and you were like, I'm not a nutritionist.

I'm not a dietitian.

This is just what works for me.

So I want to ask you about that.

And then we could talk about the giving up sugar thing too.

That's great.

But first, let's get to your film, No Packers, No Life.

It shows this Sunday night at 4.30 PM central time at the Barrymore Theater in Madison, right in your backyard there.

Tell us about No Packers, No Life.

okay it's a it's about a group of uh i would say intense hardcore packer fans from japan and they uh so i have this friend who who for business goes to japan every few months and he um on one of his trips he encountered they call themselves the japanese packer cheering team and uh

He he saw a guy with a Packers jersey and he followed him and and all of a sudden he said hi to him and wondering what was going on and a bunch of Japanese people with Packers jerseys came out of the woodwork and they were all meeting To they were all doing there.

It was at the time.

I think it was a weekly meeting Just watching their favorite Packer game from the previous season They just watch they they they would meet in Tokyo and watch a a game a pre-recorded game

And he called up a couple of his friends who live in Green Bay, and he decided we're going to plan to take them to a packer game in Green Bay.

And so the documentary is basically that trip.

And then also I went to Japan and interviewed several of them.

And it's just a really good time.

They certainly like to party as well.

Yeah, that's what I hear.

And I think it's so funny that they watch games that where the outcome has been decided.

Like, that is serious fanfare.

I mean, I watch clips of my favorite teams if it comes up in reels, but to sit and watch a whole game.

But how fun,

you

know?

Yeah.

And they, I mean, yeah, I witnessed them watching one and they cheered as if they didn't know it was going to happen.

They were just, they were just so into it.

That's so great.

Are you a Packer fan?

Yeah, I mean I grew up in Wisconsin.

Yeah, of course I actually don't watch a lot of sports, but I but I do catch football games occasionally

sure So was it how did they react?

Was it hard to convince them to come on camera or that you wanted to make a film?

What was the reaction?

They I think that they were just into it like it wasn't it

I mean, Ty had already told them.

My friend Ty, who goes there, already told them what was going to happen.

So I wasn't a part of the approaching them to say, hey, come on, come on camera.

But they all seemed very on board.

Like they totally got it.

They knew that it was kind of unique.

It was unique that they were so into the Packers.

And so it wasn't very difficult to get them to talk about it because they were so passionate about the Packers.

One of the one of the things that I think intrigued a lot of them about Greek about the Packers was that they were from such a small town that the Packers don't have the the stadium is nearly the population of the town and They don't have an owner they don't have a traditional owner and they were intrigued a lot of them were intrigued by that

It's fascinating.

I can't even imagine.

Do you have in your film their reaction when they first get to Green Bay and when they see the stadium for the first time?

It must have been magical to them.

Oh, yes.

Yeah, there's a They they they the night before that well, they go they spend a whole weekend in Green Bay So they good they do a tour of Green Bay.

They they ride the zip and Pippin They They actually met

They got to see a Super Bowl ring.

They got to hold a Super Bowl ring.

They got a tour of Lambeau before the game, the day before the game.

And yeah, they were.

in awe.

I've never seen anyone so

excited.

My guest is filmmaker, actor, influencer Craig Benzine.

He made the film No Packers, No Life, which you can check out at this year's Wisconsin Film Festival Sunday, April 6th at the Barrymore Theater at 4.30 p.m.

Craig is joining us over the stream right now here on Nightlight.

I love that they watch old games.

That's great.

I also think it's hilarious.

And we talked about this when I interviewed you on TV a couple of weeks ago about how they love the Zippin Pippin.

I mean, I love Bay Beach.

The Zippin Pippin is wonderful, but they're from Tokyo.

The Zippin Pippin doesn't have any loops.

It doesn't have a huge drop.

It's just your basic no frills, fun roller coaster, but they flip for it.

What's going on there?

Well,

I wouldn't say all of them.

did.

I mean, I think some of them really had a good time with it.

I think they appreciated the historical nature of it and that it's in Green Bay.

And one of them mentioned how they were kind of, it was old.

They weren't used to riding a roller coaster, that old, a wooden old roller coaster.

And part of the intensity of it was just how old it was.

But they, yeah, and a few of them didn't ride, a few of them didn't want to ride the roller coaster.

But yeah, but they enjoyed it.

How did these people from Japan, how did they discover the Packers?

Do you go into that or do they tell you like, they're in Tokyo?

I'm sure the NFL isn't as accessible as it is here there, although I'm sure they have access to it, but how did they find the Packers and how did they find the NFL?

Well, it was different for different people.

Some of them had been to the United States previously.

And there was one, kind of the ringleader of the Japanese Packard cheering team, his name's Chepo.

He talks about how there was a period of time where he was coming home very late from his job.

And I think around the time of the Bears Patriots Super Bowl.

Apparently that Super Bowl was worldwide for some reason.

I don't know.

There was something about that Super Bowl, but maybe it was the

Super Bowl shuffle.

The Super Bowl shuffle, yeah, maybe.

Yeah, but I think he caught a game.

He just caught some games late at night because that's when it would show.

And then from there, I think kind of decided who his favorite team was going to be.

And I think the general, that's sort of generally how I think like back in the 80s and 90s, they just somehow caught wind of the NFL.

There was apparently a manga show or like a, it was either a magazine or it was a TV show that was based on NFL, on the NFL on American football.

And that some of them got in

got into football because of that.

And then I think after that, learning about how Green Bay is such a small town and the story, the long history that Green Bay has, I think drew them to the Packers.

That's so great.

What did they think of the film?

Have they seen themselves in a screening yet?

I have not shown it to them yet.

Okay.

I don't know if Ty has shown any of them the film yet, but I plan to.

We plan to have a screening.

Sure.

Will you be at the screening in Madison at the Barrymore?

Are you going to do like a Q&A or something?

Yes,

I'll be at the

Berenor.

Oh,

nice.

Well, that'll be fun.

How are tickets selling?

Do you know?

I mean, people can go to the Wisconsin Film Festival website and get no packers, no life tickets.

I think that, and then they'll take you to Eventbrite.

But do you know if there are still tickets available?

I don't know if there are still available or not, but I'm told it's selling well.

It's one of the better selling.

films at the Film Festival.

It's probably has a little to do with the Packers, I imagine.

No, don't say that.

It has nothing to do with it.

It's your filmmaking.

It's your astute knowledge of the film industry.

Sure, sure,

yes.

My guest is Craig Benson, his film No Packers No Life is the Wisconsin Film Festival playing at the Barrymore on Sunday.

Check it out, folks.

We'll be right back after a very short break.

And I've got some more questions.

Craig's got a lot going on, folks.

We'll get into that after the break.

Luke Mathers is here at 735 to take our fictional political character quiz.

You don't want to miss that either.

A lot's going on here.

Tonight, great to have you with me.

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

Network.

okay so Al from the 262 gives us clarification he says no not the boxer he clarifies Dwayne Camacho Dwayne Camacho president Dwayne

Elizondo Mountain Dew Camacho is the main antagonist turn supporting character of the 2006 American sci-fi comedy film Idiocracy, which I've never seen

I've seen it.

Have you seen it's good, right?

Everybody I know laughs hysterically and says it's great.

That's great.

It's been a long

time, but I enjoyed it.

Yeah, I'm a little I'm a little behind there just 19 years Welcome back to Nightlight.

I'm Peach Waba joining me over the stream is filmmaker Craig Benzing.

He's also

He goes by, you tell people about your YouTube channel, Craig.

My channel is called Weezy Waiter.

These days I do, and it's Weezy with an H. A lot of people will just, will remove the

H. They'll spell it like Weezy Jefferson and not with the, okay.

Yeah.

And lately it's a lot about, kind of about self-improvement.

Like some of my main videos are like monthly challenges.

Like I did,

I did 10,000 steps a day.

I did 20,000 steps a day.

I did 30,000 steps a day.

Different videos.

Yeah.

And I've done quitting out of sugar, quitting the internet, quitting my cell phone.

My wife and I quit alcohol for a year.

just very stuff like that.

And then also there's other, it's basically whatever I want it to be.

Yeah, that's pretty cool.

And you get to do that full time.

You just pick a topic and you just say what you want to, I think that's so fun.

And I saw the one earlier where, well, first of all, you quit the internet.

How are you posting that you allow yourself to post videos?

Well,

I talk about that in the video.

I

mean, I

had, I made an exception where I could upload videos on YouTube, but I couldn't.

I couldn't hang around.

And I did make an exception where I could check my email like a tiny window in the day because I needed to.

But other than that.

Conrad told me just during the break, you were in Amazing Orange, the internet sensation.

Oh, Annoying Orange.

I'm sorry.

What did I say?

Yeah.

That's a different show.

Annoying

Orange,

yes.

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I was on that at least once.

That was a long time ago.

I think I voiced some pecans.

Yeah, so, yeah.

I just wanted to say that before I forgot.

All right, let's get back to Weezy Waiter, because it's so fun.

Like the one I saw was you doing, just giving advice on losing weight and what worked for you.

You did, and like you just said, you did 10,000 steps, you tried that, 30,000, that didn't work.

10 wasn't enough, 30 was too many, you settled on 20,000 steps.

How many calories do you burn?

I was doing 20 for a while, and I'm like, at my age, if I don't eat right, it doesn't matter how much I walk.

Really, 20,000 didn't help?

I dropped about a pound.

Yeah, I mean, so 20,000 for me was the sweet spot, because I mean, I track my calories, and...

At the end of the day, I would have so many extra calories to eat I could still eat quite a bit before I would hit my goal Yeah, and I wasn't that hungry like but 30,000 I was just starving so I was just eating a lot And 10,000 just wasn't quite enough to really do much

It's

not hard to get 10.

It is tough to get 30.

You really have to stay on your feet pretty much all day to get 30.

I think I've done that three times in my life and I paid for it the next day.

Yeah, I did it every day for a month.

I did miss a couple of days because I got sick.

But other than that, there were a couple of days where I had to run before midnight to get the step.

Yeah, that was very challenging.

That takes many hours to do that.

You know, it's funny, because I have a Fitbit, I track my steps, and there have been times where I was at like, you know, if I set my goal at 10,000, I'd be at 9,600, and it's like 11.58 PM.

So kind of similar to you, but I don't even get out of the chair.

I go like this with my arms, like I'm working a heavy bag or something, and my son will be like, what are you doing?

Well, I got to get my steps.

He's like, well, you're not getting your steps.

I'm like, well, it's movement.

It's still, you know.

It is exercise.

It is something, at

least.

Where did you come up with the name Weezy Waiter?

I love that.

Well, at the time, I was waiting tables in downtown Chicago.

I have asthma.

Okay.

And I like alliteration, so we see later.

It's a no-brainer.

We have a clip.

Can we keep you through the news, Craig?

Can we keep you for a few more minutes?

All right, because I want to talk.

You posted a really funny video where you said my wife lists the things that annoy her about you or something like that.

So

we want to play that.

And then I want to ask you about the no sugar challenge because

What I love about your videos is that they're, well, they're fun.

You're a really likable guy and they're informative.

Even if you're telling people what you're doing and you claim you're not an expert, it gets people thinking and trying to better themselves.

So I love your videos because I feel like everybody wins when they watch them.

Oh, well, thank you.

I mean, I try to make it more about my experience rather than me trying to tell you.

trying to teach you anything.

No, I see you as a cult leader in the near future.

I think you could really get a big following and lead people in a good way.

Well, if times get tough, maybe I'll start a cult.

Yeah, exactly.

All right, Craig Benzine is here.

His film is called No Packers, No Life.

You can check it out at the Barrymore Theater, beautiful theater in Madison, old style theater with the stars on the ceiling and a balcony and everything.

It's going to be great and it plays Sunday, April 6th at 4.30 p.m.

No Packers, No Life.

The filmmaker and the driving force behind the film is with us and he's gonna stick with us through the news We'll have a few more minutes with Craig when we get back.

This is Pete Schwabba and night late so good to have you with me folks on this Tuesday night on the Civic Media radio network

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Peach Wabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now a guy who doesn't believe in sex after marriage, Peach Wabba.

Welcome back to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

kicking off our number two here great to have you with me my guest at the moment is Craig Benzene we'll we'll get back to our conversation with Craig momentarily I just want to take a second to tell all of you

about the Break Into Spring Contest we have going on here right now at Civic Media.

It's a text-to-win statewide contest.

Your daily chance to win a Chula Vista getaway, Milwaukee Brewers, club-level tickets, Craig Benzene, I think, qualifies for this, or $100 in cash.

Plus, every entry puts you into our grand prize drawing of a brand new queen mattress set from Verlo that includes a mattress, sheet set, mattress protector, and pillows.

Buy your own bedpan, folks.

That does not come with the grand prize.

The times for text to win are 7 a.m., 11 a.m., 1 p.m., and 4 p.m.

All you have to do is use the Civic Media app to play.

Listen at those times.

Wait for the word and text it in, and you are entered for the daily prize and the grand prize.

Good luck, everybody.

Hey, stick around, too, folks.

After nightlight tonight at 8 o'clock, Dan Schaefer and Todd Alba will be taking over and filling you in on everything you need to know as the polls close.

right at 8 p.m.

They will be broadcasting live from headquarters in downtown Madison as the Civic Media News team reports from across the state covering this election and this big day.

So you still have time to get to the polls.

If you haven't voted yet, please do.

Our question of the night given that it's election day and Luke Mathers is coming by to take our fictional political character quiz Luke does very well on the nightlight quizzes and he will be here to show off in a little bit But our question is who is your favorite fictitious political character?

We've we're a little behind on text, but we'll get to those in just a few minutes But please let us know who your favorite fictitious political characters Craig.

Do you have a favorite character?

Well, I saw your tweet earlier that that was going to be a question, so I actually made a list, but I could give you one.

I could give you my top favorite.

Sure.

Probably.

It's probably Bobby Newport from Parks and Recreation.

He's Paul Rudd's character.

I'm Parks and Recreation.

Right.

I

saw Leslie Knope.

Is that her character on that

show?

Leslie Knope.

Leslie

Knope.

OK.

I didn't watch the show, but I saw it was Amy Poehler.

That's

great.

She's on my list as well.

I mean, she's great, but Bobby Newport is ridiculous.

That's great.

Yeah.

She runs against him.

She runs against him.

Oh, okay.

He's just not all there.

He's just... He's like

a politician.

Yeah.

Yeah, exactly.

Perfect.

Craig, there's one texture.

Contacting us says this is from AJ from the 608 says I'm so excited to see no packers.

No life the movie I think we all need something uplifting.

Thank you so much Craig.

There you go.

Oh Well, you're welcome.

I mean that while I was making it I was like this is I think I'm making something you don't see very often which is just a Fun documentary.

It's just not there's no Conflict really.

It's just just watching people have a good time.

Well everything you do though

is fun, Craig.

And even when I talk to you, if you wanna see more of Craig folks, go to pbswisconsin.org and click on the Directors Cut episode.

I host the show, Craig is one of the guests.

And he was delightful on Directors Cut as well.

And you get a little more insight.

And we even show a clip of the movie, AJ.

So you can see a clip there if you go to pbswisconsin.org.

But everything on all of your content, Craig, is just kind of irreverent fun.

And yet it's informative.

Tell us.

Yeah, you're very welcome.

Tell us about the the sugar challenge.

What was that like?

Well, first of all, I'll say that early videos really there was no point or or you didn't gain any insight into them.

But lately I try to do that a little more.

OK.

The the sugar video.

I mean, I think it was a big change in my channel.

I was doing I was doing like shorter kind of sillier stuff and I decided I'm going to

I'm gonna step, I was trying to do a lot of videos.

I was doing them sometimes every weekday, sometimes three times a week.

And I decided to step back.

I took like a month or two off and we just, I wanted to do something that was a bigger, like a mini documentary, like a long experience.

And the video I think ended up being like 10 to 12 minutes long.

It was the longest video I'd ever made at the time, which is now completely normal on YouTube.

I uh and my wife and I just uh we quit added sugar and I made a video kind of explaining what added sugar was and showing our experience throughout the month and I mean at the time I was probably eating a lot more sugar I mean ever since then I've been eating less sugar because of that experience I think right um so what when you're going from eating a lot of sugar and then no added sugar uh

We both found that around day four we were like we were completely drained We hadn't we had no energy it took it took some time for our bodies to get used to it How long did

it take before you didn't have that craving?

I don't don't remember but it was probably like ten days like seven days and then going back to it or Well, because we could still eat fruit because it's technically not added sugar, right?

so

Things got sweeter, carrots got really sweet, apples got really sweet.

And then I remember we had a celebration at the end of the month and I wanted ice cream.

And I had like a few bites of ice cream and I felt sick.

It was too much.

I'm back to ice cream now for sure.

But I don't, but ever since then, I don't have as much, nearly as much sugar as I, or, and I'm well, I'm much more aware of how much sugar is in everything.

Where can people, do you have keywords handy with you if they wanted to check out that particular episode of Weezy

Waiter?

It's called, we quit, I think it's called, we quit sugar for a month.

Here's what happened.

That's what it's called.

Okay.

So you just search that, or if you just probably search quit sugar on YouTube, you'd probably find it.

That's so cool.

My guest is Craig Benzine.

He's the filmmaker behind No Packers, No Life, which you can see this weekend at the Wisconsin Film Festival at the Barrymore Theater.

There are still tickets available, as I understand it.

So Craig is joining us on the stream.

Craig, we got some more.

Tony Zimmerman from Civic Media here says Bobby Newport is awesome.

Tony also says Josh Lyman from the West Wing.

Did you watch the West Wing?

I haven't

seen it.

I've seen like the first couple episodes.

I never really watched

it.

I know I

gotta get on

that.

And then Cheezoo says, I think the anime Craig's talking about is I Shield 21.

It is.

It's mentioned in the documentary.

Okay.

Wow, thank you, Cheezoo.

One of the people I interviewed brings it up.

All right, so a million subscribers.

I know I mentioned this earlier.

Truly blows my mind.

You're doing this all from well, you started in Chicago.

Now you're in Madison Where where do you get these people?

How do you?

Does your stuff go viral and they're from all over the world?

Are they primarily in the Midwest?

How does that work?

How does I mean, I'm sorry.

Could you ask you just that again?

I'm just kind of amazed that you have a million people.

Yeah, well, I guess I I just

It's just a slow build.

It was just like a slow sort of I started early on the first like three years of making videos.

I had nobody.

It was like I had like 32 subscribers on my hundredth video and I eventually There was there was a blog way back when that someone made that they were reviewing YouTube videos

And I managed to get their attention, and they wrote a video.

They loved my videos, and they wrote an article about me.

Oh, nice.

And that's when the YouTube community kind of found me.

But it was very slow.

It was just a very slow sort of growth of subscribers.

Probably after they found me, it took another year before I got to maybe like, I don't know, 5,000 subscribers.

And then just working other youtubers at the time found me and just sort of collaborating with them and Then they their audience sees me and I know it's just a slow build and it's for its people all over the world.

It's a Yeah

All right, so you've got you've got this great YouTube channel you've got acting credits and now you made a film.

What's next for you?

Well, I'm going to keep making YouTube videos, but I am writing a screenplay.

I want to make a fictional feature film.

And that's something I've been wanting to do for a long time.

I've just never found the time.

And I guess maybe I'm a perfectionist and I've avoided it.

I don't know.

But that is something I'm earnestly working on now as a screenplay.

And I want to make a film.

So hopefully within the next year.

That's so great.

Walt, listen, buddy, thank you for your time tonight.

I wish you luck at the screening in Madison to the Barrymore.

I'm sure it'll be a big hit.

I remember seeing the clip on Director's Cut, and it was just a really fun film.

And for your first feature film documentary, whatever you want to call it, I think hopefully you have a winner there.

Looks great.

Well, thank you.

You're welcome.

And thanks for having me on.

Oh, my pleasure.

Have a great night, Craig, and break a leg this weekend.

All right.

Thank you.

That's Craig Benzine.

Check out his film.

Check out his YouTube channel, Weezy Waiter.

Have you been there, Conrad?

I was just checking it out before.

Yeah, it looks like I have some videos to watch.

A million people, Conrad.

A million people.

I'll add one more to that million.

That's the size of the Quad Cities plus Northeast Wisconsin.

Yeah.

You know how many?

I have eight followers.

I have eight followers, and I have $24 in an offshore account.

I don't see how I can parlay either one of those into a million followers.

And I'm in my early 90s.

So I'm running out of time,

folks.

Early 90s.

Help me

out.

Don't I look great?

Keep those texts coming, folks.

Who's your favorite fictitious political character?

That is our question tonight, 855-752-4842-8557-5CIVIC.

Where do we leave off here?

I'm kind of behind on text.

We did Mr. Smith.

We did Robert Redford, American president.

I am not good at keeping up with these texts.

Okay, Steve from Florida says, great political comedy movie, Robin Williams in Man of the Year.

I did not see that.

I know nothing about Man of the Year.

Conrad, rotten tomato, rotten tomato at Forrest, if you would.

My good man.

Jim from Appleton says,

Here we go again with Macho Camacho.

I have to see Idiocracy.

I have no more excuses.

I've been hearing about this movie for years.

I don't know why I haven't seen it yet.

But Jim from Appleton says, I believe that Macho Camacho is from Idiocracy.

It is, Jim.

Thank you.