Broadcasting live statewide from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.
This is Night Light with Pete Schwabba, your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.
And now a guy who's had a paper route for 25 years but never collected, Pete Schwabba.
Welcome to Night Light.
Gentlemen Got a case of the Mondays folks.
We have the cure Here's the thing.
I love Mondays.
I'm back behind this microphone getting to talk about the things I absolutely love to talk about with all of you and love it when you guys participate So we'll have some fun here tonight on a Monday with the weather absolutely stunning outside Summer appears anyway to be here.
I still have flannel sheets on my bed and I'm not
feeling that confident enough yet to pull them off, but I do sense it could happen.
It was June last year before I pulled the flannel sheets off, and I wanna say June the year before that, or maybe late May, but I still have them on.
I don't know where you guys are at with this, but I'm gonna hang in there a little longer, and hopefully we'll be off to the races here soon, because the weather has been beautiful.
It was a pretty good weekend.
Conrad, how you doing?
I'm doing good.
It's it was a great day.
You got outside for a little bit.
Yeah, just
enjoy soaked in the sun enjoyed.
Yeah, because you know, you never know what's going to happen the next you know the next week.
You never know.
And it was it was just nice enough today where I should say this weekend where I had to my my one of my presence to my wife from Mother's Day is she wanted this like brush gone from the side of our house.
And she just knows how to trap me and say
You know and get it done because she knows I'm not gonna say no even though I hate doing yard work I would I would rather have weeds and Sort of trim them nicely and say that's our weed collection Rather than go out.
Yeah, so I did that and I had a friend come over and we were kind of BS as we did it and I didn't quite finish it but It was a beautiful day and I actually didn't mind doing some yard work because it was so beautiful outside It's just the reason to be outside, which was great
Um, so hopefully you guys had a great weekend.
Hope all the moms had a great weekend.
It's also my mom's birthday today, Amy Schwab.
She always gets, I feel like people that have their birthdays close to a major holiday kind of get robbed a little bit.
Well,
yeah, they definitely do.
It's like being born on Christmas, you know?
Well, here's your Christmas slash birthday gift.
It's kind of a raw deal.
Yeah, you know, you get, well, what about this though?
You get, you got cold for Christmas, but it's still your birthday.
So you're like, well, it's so.
I get a gift at least.
Wow, that is serious glass half full thinking.
I appreciate that.
Your birthday's in June, right?
Yeah.
Okay, so you're not buying any major holidays?
No, no.
That's not too bad.
Yeah, it's pretty good.
I gotta start gift shopping already for you.
We'll see what we can do.
You can give me a, here's an idea for you.
I
need a new seven iron after this weekend.
How much is a seven iron?
Well, I'm sure you could pay top dollar if you wanted to.
Yeah, it's hard to just get a club by itself, you know?
Really?
Because they just want to sell the full set, you know?
And that's like $1,200, something dollars most of the times.
$1,200 for golf clubs.
That's what golf clubs go for these days?
Around there.
Or a racket.
I know.
Well, I went to a golf lesson this past weekend on Saturday with my brother and sister-in-law.
And when we were just warming up, my seven-iron snapped.
I thought you were going to say it went so horribly.
You took your seven-iron to the golf teacher.
What do you mean it just snapped?
It just broke?
Just broke.
Oh, wow.
The
craziest noise is just metal shattering.
Well, you guys have some power behind those swings, dude.
Yeah.
You know, I've been working out.
You know, that was my New Year's resolution.
I stick to it.
And I guess I didn't know my own strength.
Your golf clubs are paying the
price.
OK.
Well, the bottom line is it was gorgeous.
It's gorgeous now.
And that let's do this before we even get.
to our guests.
Before I introduce the guests, I want to talk about the question of the night because we got a great one.
The weather's great and we need some music to go along with it.
So here is our question of the night.
Let's
talk about the question.
Okay, question.
Question.
Question.
Pregunta.
Question.
Question.
Okay, I have a question.
Questions.
This question.
Domanda.
Question.
Question.
Questions.
What, ladies and gentlemen, is your favorite summer song?
This is a good one.
There are some songs that make you think of summer.
I have a ton of them.
In fact, I started to make a list and then my list got totally out of control because there are so many great songs that make you think of summer.
Lots of obvious ones, but share with us what your songs are.
What, when you hear it, what do you just go, oh yeah, that's summer and you gotta hear the song and it just takes you.
And there are obvious ones.
Don Henley's the boys of summer which really isn't about summer always makes me think of summer for some reason good vibrations by the Beach Boys love good vibrations Do we have some good vibrations?
Yeah I mean the Beach Boys are just
You
hear the Beach Boys.
Even if they're not singing about summer, it makes you think of summer.
I love the song, I Get Around, In My Room, When I Grow Up to Be a Man, all these phenomenal, sloop John B. The Beach Boys are just the summer band.
So that's kind of an obvious one.
You got a favorite summer song, Conrad?
Yeah, and you know, I just found this about two years ago.
And every time I...
I have it in my playlist.
I don't even want to know how many songs are in it.
Probably a thousand plus.
In one playlist?
Yeah.
You just keep adding songs.
Every time I hear a song, I'm like, add it to it.
Every time this one comes on, I think of Summer, I think of me having the windows down and having this song just blaring.
And it's by this artist, Quinn92, who actually saw a concert in Milwaukee.
He came and did our Panther Fest.
Oh,
and you're in college?
Yeah.
Is he a rapper?
No, no, he's, I mean, he's like mixed, he's more pop, I'd say.
Okay.
And the song's called Georgia Peach.
Oh, nice.
It's, it's a, I can play a little bit if you want to hear
it.
Let's hear it, man.
Yeah.
Every
time I hear it, I
just roll the windows down.
How do you access a song, though, in a playlist when you have a thousand songs?
Well, you know, I go to the song.
But
other than that, you know.
That's a great summer song.
I don't know what it is about hip hop that kind of lends itself to summer, too.
I was thinking about another song, too, that I have in my playlist that I think of summer as gin and juice, my Snoop Dogg.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
That's a good one.
So that's our question of the night, folks.
Be part of the show.
Text us.
What do you think?
What is your favorite summer song?
You can stream us if you're watching on X, Twix, Twitter, whatever they call it now, Facebook, YouTube.
If you're watching on the WGBW website or the WISS website, let us know what is your song of summer?
There's another one I love that.
by Daft Punk, the one
they did
with, we have that, right?
Let's play that on one of these breaks.
It's called Get Lucky, and it was Stephen Colbert's song of the summer, and he had legal issues, because they were supposed to perform it, but CBS had a legal issue, and they said no, so he did his own version of it.
It was brilliant TV, and he danced to the whole song and brought in all these celebrities who were filming stuff at CBS.
It was phenomenal.
It was dynamite.
But we'll play that tonight, too.
That's a good one.
But let us know what your favorite summer song is, folks.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5, Civic.
Or you can let us know over the stream.
I just mentioned all the websites or the Civic Media app.
Whatever is easiest for you, it's just great when you guys participate.
Our guests tonight, this is fun.
We're going to do some comedy talk and some movie talk.
And coming up at 635 is someone I don't know, and I love having people I don't know on the show.
We've never met, but we were referred.
We have mutual friends.
Chastity Washington will be here at 635.
She's a comedian, I believe Milwaukee based.
We'll clarify that when she's on the show.
Very funny, very funny comedian.
She's also a teacher, so I'm sure she gets a lot of comedy from that.
My wife is a teacher, and I love hearing what kids say in the classroom.
And she probably learns tactics like when she has to deal with hecklers in a comedy club to deal with, to deal with her students.
So we'll do all that.
Chastity will be here at 635.
And then our pal Matt Miller will be here at 720.
The Milwaukee Film Festival is finally over, folks.
It's a two week extravaganza.
So we will talk to Matt about, we'll put kind of a bow on the Milwaukee Film Festival.
We'll talk about what he's seen.
And we'll do all of that tonight on the show.
It's a great night.
It's a great night for nightlight.
It's gorgeous outside, but don't go outside, folks.
Sit inside.
Listen to the radio.
Let us entertain you.
Let's have a laugh together.
Lots of text.
We got a couple of texts we got to get to from over the weekend.
Did you
notice that?
Yeah.
And bud texted us, right?
Let me see if I can find bud's text.
We need to print these up because they go so far back.
It's like three days back now.
There's bud.
So he's delivering papers on a Saturday at 4 a.m.
Papers got to get delivered guys a workhorse, man And our question what was our question that night?
I'm trying to remember It was
it was um actually I don't
know if you're not referencing the I don't think he's okay He says oh my gosh Pete you made me chuckle with the comment that you were going to go home and try to get your wife pregnant
That would make my wife laugh too, bud.
He says, I am definitely going to drop that line in the most awkward moments possible.
Oh, you're welcome, bud.
By the way, my wife and I are both 61, which makes it even funnier.
Love your show.
But you are much older than me.
Not my wife.
I think we're done having kids.
But did I say that or did I just say that because of the Bluey song?
Yeah, you liked Bluey so much.
I
was going to leave my wife, Mary, another woman who still wanted to have kids just so we could watch Bluey with our kids.
That's what a great show.
The question of the night was, who do you want to have a sleepover
with?
Yeah, OK.
I think Bud wants to have a sleepover with me.
But that's fine.
I'm good at a sleepover, Bud.
Bud says, hey, Pete and Conrad, if I have to listen to one more LFG commercial, you'll see a story about a paper boy running through the neighborhoods of Madison yelling, SFU.
I know what that means.
Ha!
Love the show, Bud from Jamesville.
Thank you, Bud.
And thanks for listening on a Saturday morning.
It's nice to know people are out there listening to the show on a Saturday while they're delivering papers.
That's fantastic.
So lots of stuff.
I saw a lot of stuff this weekend.
I finally got around to seeing BlackBag.
Loved it.
I'm deep in the throes of Mobland with Tom Hardy.
I think I have one episode of that left to go.
But they drop, it's one of those shows where they drop an episode a week and it kind of sucks.
So I got to wait every Sunday night.
I have to wait for that, but it's good.
It's a good mob movie It's not like it hasn't been done before but it's just done.
Well guy Richie is one of the executive producers He's a great director and it's definitely got his kind of fingerprints all over it from the executive producers chair as well It's a really it's a good mob show if you're looking for a mob show Black bag was a great spy thriller if you're looking for something like that good stuff
And what else did I watch of speed racer Conrad?
Yes Taking you to trip down.
That's a trip down memory lane for you.
Yeah, that's I've probably seen that movie Probably 20 times.
Is that right?
I love that movie when I was younger and you know, I had like Lego sets of speed racer and stuff
like that
I absolutely loved it and as a kid I don't I think it was just the colors in it.
You know,
it's very busy.
Yeah
There's a lot going on there.
My son really identified with it, too.
And he identifies with the character and the struggles of the character.
Like, I didn't like all the visual.
It was a little too much for me.
But I love the acting.
There's some really solid moments in it.
Like, just kind of kick-ass moments, you know?
All right, we're going to read your texts.
When we come back, folks, lots of fun stuff here tonight.
Like comedy, movies, texts, songs of summer.
Summer is here, apparently.
We're not gonna let it go.
This is Pete Schwab at Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
That's
a great
song.
It's that great 70s kind of funk beat to it.
What is with those guys?
The crazy helmets, remember?
Yeah, I don't know.
They just don't want to have their bass scene, maybe.
Like, I don't know if you know the radio producer, I guess I'd say Marshmallow.
He's a DJ, I guess.
Okay.
He wears a huge marshmallow helmet.
Okay, so you just want people to see his face?
No one has ever seen his face.
These guys are like pop artists.
Like, wouldn't you want attention?
Like, you're in the spotlight, you know.
You get more recognition.
Like, with the face, you know, when you're not with the helmet,
you know,
go to the grocery store.
It's
a gimmick.
All right.
That's a great song, though.
I love some Daft Punk and Get Lucky, great tune.
We got some
Good answers on the social media earlier when we posted our question Luke Mathers civic media's own every man all things I Bet you don't even know Luke's town title.
Do you he just does everything?
He's he's dollar.
He what would you say?
He's a Swiss army knife.
Yeah, I would just right.
I mean he's just his title is Luke Mathers That's it.
It's just his name and people go.
Oh Luke.
Yeah, the guy that does everything he says summertime
by Mungo Jerry.
Great tune.
That was in, I think, Wedding Crashers 2.
It was.
Very well used.
Love that song.
We'll hear from that.
We'll hear Mungo Jerry at some point.
Sarah Jean Rosenberg.
Hey, Sarah Jean.
Thanks for listening.
She says, Fishing in the Dark is the first one that came to mind.
That is the nitty gritty dirt band.
I don't really know that song that well, though.
But thank you for thank you, Sarah for playing great to hear from you.
Mike Desatelle says 4th of July Esbury Park by the Hollies Which I think that was remade by Bruce Springsteen at some point The Hollies beautiful good.
That's a summer band actually they make me think of summer Daniel Wheeler checks in also on social media says Beach Baby by first class 1974 brings me back to when I worked for the Nina Parks and Rec Department in the summer listening to
the oldie station in their trucks.
I love when people share an actual memory with the song, too.
That's awesome, Daniel.
Feel free to share, like, why you like the song or what was, you know, what you were doing when the song played.
That's awesome.
Monica Hale says, soak up the sun.
Yes, by Cheryl Crowe.
Love that song.
Kind of a summer song by default.
All of Cheryl Crowe's stuff.
All I want to do is have some fun drinking beer over Santa Monica Boulevard.
Great stuff.
Um, let's go to the text line.
Uh, if you want to let us know what your favorite summer song is, 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5.
Civic Brian from Green Bay says, Are you implying that you don't wash your sheets in winter?
Not at all.
I wash them.
Well,
do you?
Dude, religiously.
I can't sleep in dirty sheets.
And my wife and I have a lot of sex.
So we have to constantly wash the sheets.
No.
Is it because you eat in bed and get
a sandwich?
No, I forbid that as well.
Unless it's tied to sex somehow.
No, no, I don't want any crumbs in my bed.
And I do wash the sheets religiously once a week, and I'm not even kidding about that.
I'm not a neat freak.
Like, I don't leave food around or anything like that, but I can leave, I can have a clothes pile or something, but no, not when it comes to sheets.
Nice try, Brian.
Tom from New Berlin says, Pete, it's George Carlin's birthday today.
I'm giving you the seven-word challenge.
Well, I know it easily, Tom.
I know that by heart it was one of the first bits I ever learned.
Unfortunately, I don't think I can say any of the words on the radio.
No, I can't even the even the harmless ones even the word that George Carlin says Or said sounded like an Abisco snack treat snack treat he goes that shouldn't be on the list, but it is I'm not gonna risk it nice try Tom.
I feel like the textures are trying to challenge me tonight You getting that vibe?
Yeah, I feel I feel they are I don't mind it bring it Brian from Green Bay also says golf clubs are not a racket tennis different story.
Yeah
Good point.
Good point.
Brian in Milwaukee says, California dreamin'.
Yes, by the mamas and the papas.
Really anything with California in the title is considered probably a summer song.
That's a great one too.
Annie from Watertown says, Summer in the City, John Sebastian.
And I think his band was the lovin' spoonful, if I'm not mistaken.
But we'll have some of that.
We'll have some Summer in the City.
That's a go-to, Annie.
Great choice.
Annie also says,
Or I'm sorry, Anna from Madison says, Hi, Pete and Conrad, my favorite summer song is Summer in the City by the Lovin' Spoonful.
So I'm pretty sure John Sebastian Bach was the creator of the Lovin' Spoonful.
So they're both right.
So we'll hear some of that for sure tonight.
Barb from Waukesha says, Sweet Home Alabama.
Yeah, that's a summer song too.
Oh yeah.
That's Leonard Skinner, I believe.
Yeah, that's a that's a song I always think of when I think of summer.
Tom from New Orleans says, Tom Petty songs remind me of the summer.
Yeah.
Great one.
Great one, Tom.
And I, Tom, I like the like when I was in, I think it was middle school, the waiting was at the top of the charts by Tom Petty.
And it was the first Tom Petty song I had heard.
And I just always think of it with the summer of like 19, maybe 1980 or 81 was the waiting.
That was my song for that summer.
So thank you for that trip down memory lane Tom from New Berlin Steve in Florida Conrad's dad says great summer song 1984 summer of 69.
Yes Great song and if you're a Taylor Swift fan She sings that with Brian Adams.
He comes out on the stage and they sing it together and they're both rocking guitars a really fun version But that's one of my favorite songs from from growing up and I will say we've talked about this song a lot on this show But the power of love Huey Lewis in the news
Another song I equate with summer because I think that's when Well, that was a summer blockbuster power of love came out back to the future Sherry from work and says good evening Pete and Conrad Aruba Jamaica.
Oh I want to take you.
Oh little Beach Boys newer Beach Boys from cocktail.
I like it Sherry.
Thank you Sherry also says I watched the Pope one and the attorney They were both outstanding
Movies.
Conclave?
Yeah.
Oh, the Pope one.
She couldn't think of the name.
I watched the Pope one.
And the attorney, I think, maybe she means the accountant?
Yeah, the one that you didn't like.
The second one
I didn't like as much.
True.
All right, we're going to get to your text, too.
We're going to do a quick break here where Civic Media's news team will...
Tell you what you need to know.
Great to have you with me on this gorgeous Monday night, folks.
We got comedy and movies tonight.
It's all coming up.
First, though, the news.
It's Pete Schwab in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome
back.
This is Night Light.
I am Pete Schwab.
It is great to have you with me on this gorgeous Monday night here in the state of Wisconsin as we broadcast statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay tonight.
Always fun.
Tom from New Briland says, washing my first car.
That was, is that tied to a song Conrad?
Am I missing the song?
Maybe that's a song.
Maybe that just reminds me of summer.
That's good.
That could be.
I'd write a song called Washing My Car.
It would have to be Summer.
You can't wash your car in the winter.
Not in Wisconsin.
Jack and Diane by Mellencamp.
My friends and I would sing that on road trips in the 80s.
That's Barb from Waukesha.
Great one, Barb.
I think my most current song though is Get Lucky by Daft Punk.
That's my current favorite Summer song.
And then I got to go back to...
Good vibrations by the Beach Boys.
So we'll keep reading your text.
Keep sending them 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5-6-7-5.
What did I say?
8-5-5-7-5 Civic.
That's what I was choking on the C. I was choking on the V. I think you're thinking about the gelato already.
Let us know what your favorite summer song is folks.
It looks like it's finally here Matt Miller is coming up at 720 Milwaukee based film critic We always have fun talking to map it right now.
I'm very excited to welcome a new guest tonight light We have mutual friends, but I've never actually met this comedian, but she's very funny and I'm thrilled to have her here tonight Milwaukee based I think she can correct me if we're wrong Chastity Washington joins nightlight now.
Hey Chastity
Hey, how are you doing very well?
Thank you.
How are you in Milwaukee?
I am I am walking.
Yes.
I you've been all over the place like I was looking at your credits and I'm like I think you either live in Milwaukee now or used to but it's good that you're still there It's a great comedy town, right?
Yes.
Yes, it is.
We've we've grown a lot
Yeah, I saw on your resume that you played the comedy cafe and I have to ask you
Yes.
Did you play the one that was downtown or the one over on Brady Street?
Both.
Both?
Oh, wow.
Both, yeah.
I'm that old.
That's how old I am.
Well, I played the one on Brady Street in the 90s, and
it was
my favorite club to work in the entire country.
I was Chicago-based, but I loved it.
They were so great to me, and I was only, I think, featuring at the time, middle act, you know.
getting like four weeks a year, but it was some of my best memories in comedy were working Milwaukee.
So I assume it's
a good
place to be based from too though.
It is.
It is.
It's been, um, it's been blessed.
I've been able to, to work everywhere and people kind of, you know, and also kind of open doors a little bit.
A lot of times people don't know everybody that's from Milwaukee either.
You know what I mean?
So,
uh,
so it's been, it's been a blessing, you know?
Absolutely.
So.
All right, let's talk about, this is your first time here, so let's talk about, tell us a little bit about when you started and what that was like.
Okay, so, okay, I'm gonna take you back, I'm gonna take you back to mid-90s, okay?
I'm gonna take you back to some of this, right?
Absolutely.
So I started in 1994.
And I made Wisconsin product.
I went to the University of Wisconsin Parkside in Cut Nowhere, Wisconsin.
And yes, and that's where I started my freshman year first show ever in our student union.
Wow.
In a student talent show.
And went from there, I was of course working on my dramatic arts degree at Parkside there.
And from there, started to
do performances in the area and then started working in Milwaukee.
We had four clubs in Milwaukee at that time, which was, which was incredible.
Yeah.
Uh, you know, so.
That's
great.
So you were going to open mics as early as your freshman year in college.
Yes.
That's
impressive.
Yes.
And
that's funny.
We, we have another parallel here because I, I think I was 20.
It was like a student coffee house show.
I went to DePaul University in Chicago and I went
up and did stand up.
Okay, come on DePaul.
Yeah.
Exactly.
It was a very friendly crowd and I crushed and I was like,
oh, this is
easy.
And then you go out and you do the open mics and they hand you your hat basically and send you your way.
But what a fun, fun place to start.
And it sounds like you had a very similar experience in college.
I did.
I did.
I was, I was really well received.
I appreciate it.
Like all of my teammates, I played basketball at the time for the Ranger Paris.
Perk site.
And so all my teammates showed up and my other friends, my best friend, all of us on campus showed up.
So that part was very, very cool.
And then of course, like you said, you got your hat and your booty handed to you when you go to real places.
They look at you like, why did you think that was funny?
Why
did you bring that up?
Who said?
No one's clapping.
So yeah, it was a learning curve, learned quite a lot, but continued to work, started to get some pay gigs in Milwaukee, and then really started to flourish, work those couple of years, and then started to go to Chicago top of the 2000s.
Okay.
2000, 2001 started regularly coming to Chicago.
Okay.
Working through Chicago, working, you know, working the south side, working the west side, working, you know, then eventually got opportunities to start working at jokes and notes in Chicago, which was in Bronzeville.
Okay.
And then getting some, you know, opportunities at some of the other clubs, but not as much.
And then
Uh, things really broke through for me.
I got to do, you know, coming to the stage and, uh, BET's Common View 2001-2004.
Nice.
And that just, you know, opened up, um, other doors, got to, got blessed to do, um, HBO's Def Jam in 2007.
Oh, wow.
Um, you know, and so just really, really, really, really have been really, really blessed all these years, you know, JFL and...
You
know, it's been great.
Oh,
I know what that is.
That's for laughs in Montreal.
Nice.
Yes.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, before everything, you know, shut down within the last couple of years, but I, because I did it back in 2013.
Okay.
Yeah.
Isn't that
funny?
Were you in, were you a new face?
Um, I was a new face.
And then I had a lot of, a lot of showcase spots, which was very cool.
Yeah.
I got to showcase with some, some great folks.
I've been
I've been blessed to work with some folks.
They did a NACA conference one year with everybody from SNL.
You know what I mean?
Oh,
wow.
Nice.
So it's been, it's been really blessed.
You know
what I mean?
I love that the way Montreal does it, they have the new faces, but most of the people in the new faces, when I did it, I had been doing stand-up for 10 years.
And it sounds like you have been doing it for almost 20 years.
So, but you're still the new face to them, I guess.
Uh-huh.
To them.
Yeah.
You know, to the industry folks and folks that have no idea who you are, you know.
Yeah, so absolutely.
Chastity Washington is my guest.
She is a Milwaukee based stand-up comedian.
We're gonna hear a little bit of your comedy now and then I obviously have more questions for you.
Can you sit through your own act?
Can you get through
this?
I can.
I'll be mad at
the end, but go
ahead.
Here's Chastity
Washington.
Hit your face on the window, you sliding out the seat, your friend will throw up on the bus every week.
You hit your face on the seat in front of you, concussion.
Like kids now want to take a Uber, a lift.
They don't know fun, these kids don't know fun.
They know, like recess is different.
Recess used to be everything.
Like at some schools, and you know, I'm from the midway, so it get cold.
Cold midway up there.
It's 1932.
and some schools that can't go outside.
We went outside to be nothing degrees.
We lost in eyes, fingers, toes, somebody would bury you.
They wouldn't find you till the end of the day.
Now they gotta have recess in the gym.
You ever seen recess in the gym?
It's like war.
Got everything.
Tears, blood, throw up.
This kid's laid out across the whole gym floor.
Ducking crawls like bullets.
They jumping off the bleachers.
You ever seen a kid choke another kid with a hula hoop and drag their ass?
It's a different time.
That's Chastity Washington.
She is with us now over the stream from Milwaukee.
I can relate to all of that because my wife is a teacher and has been for decades.
And let's go there.
But first, before we get to the teaching stuff, I want to ask you, when did you know, Chastity, A, that you were funny?
And B, when did you think I can be funny in front of strangers?
Because those are two very different things.
It is.
You know what?
OK.
I knew I was funny young.
I did.
It kicked in maybe seven, seven or eight years old.
I knew, because I would always challenge myself, like, if I could make my teacher laugh, right?
This is it.
Come on.
I don't care what goes on after this.
If I can make Ms.
Doret laugh.
unexpectedly that was my key like if I can get if I can catch them when they weren't expecting the laugh that's what I was looking for nice you know and uh so so I was always I could mimic everybody I you know do everybody's voices in class and impersonate everybody and so and people would have jokes right but I'll figure out a way they get their jokes out and I
do mine at the end and make sure it was funnier than everybody else.
So yeah, so that's what it was for me.
And then it set in probably that night.
I mean, I had always performed, I was always a dancer, if that makes sense.
And so I was a dancer from the time I was a little kid and would always, I ended up like being the host of all of our pep rallies in high school and
I
was a student government and stuff like that.
So it didn't fully set in.
I mean, I was always in front of an audience, if that makes sense.
Yeah.
Even though I wasn't doing stand-up, I was always, for whatever reason, ended up in front of an audience.
Finally joined the drama club my senior year of high school after much convincing by my acting teacher, Mr. Brown.
But I didn't do stand-up, like I said, until I was 18 until that night in the student union.
It was like October of 1994.
I'll never forget it.
It was like, I don't know, something click.
If that makes
sense.
Oh, it totally does.
And there's an obvious parallel between teaching, because you're up in front of an audience, so to speak, and stand up.
But what about basketball?
You said you played college basketball.
Did that
give
you any kind of courage?
Because you're in front of a crowd there, and you're performing,
so
to speak.
Did that help you in any way and stand up?
You know what it did.
That helped me with structure and discipline.
OK.
If that makes sense.
Absolutely.
You have to have a certain level of discipline to be able to do the job.
You have to have consistency.
Yeah, you do have to be confident, but also the practice time.
And just also mindset.
You know what I mean?
I was a player that had to evolve.
That was very, very talented player, but undisciplined.
Right?
And
so my coach had to, oh, I was a hothead.
Oh my God.
I got to put out a practice.
Get out of there.
You know what
I
mean?
Coach Biller, get out of here.
Washington.
I'd be like, what?
Ugh.
You know.
You don't
tell
jokes to an upset coach like you would a teacher.
Not at
all.
Not at all.
Chastity Washington is my guest.
We are talking about stand-up comedy.
She's also a teacher in Milwaukee.
We have to do a quick break here, Chastity, but when we come back, I want to ask you about, you know, things you can draw from teaching and stand-up comedy and who can be a tougher crowd at times.
I'm sure that, you know, you probably treat your students like hecklers sometimes and hecklers like they're
your
students.
So we'll do that after a very short break.
And our question of the night, ladies and gentlemen, is what is your favorite summer song?
8-5-5, 7-5-2, Civic.
No, 8-5-5, 7-5-Civic.
Why can't, it's like so close to my old phone number.
I
can't remember what's going on tonight.
It's a Monday.
But it's a glorious Monday because we're talking comedy and movies.
So it's great to have you with me.
We're coming right back with Chastity Washington after this very quick break.
This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I wanna cry cry
Welcome
back.
This is a Monday night version of Nightlight.
So much better than the other nights of the week, but I will say the same thing tomorrow.
So great to have you with me on this Monday.
I am Pete Schwabba.
Conrad Krieger, the kid Conrad Krieger riding shotgun tonight as we barrel through a Monday night here.
Matt Miller is up at 720.
We'll be talking about, he's going to put a bow on the Milwaukee Film Festival, that is, and we'll talk about some summer movies and what we've been watching, like we so often do here at Night Light.
Right now, teacher, stand-up comedian, former college hooper Chastity Washington is here.
Chastity, it's great to have you.
Let's talk a little bit about...
What it's like as a teacher like what grade do you teach?
Right now I have K4 through 11th grade
K4 through 11th grade.
Oh, that's a wide range.
How do you do that?
That's a crazy range of kids
The the morning is it's all elementary, you know, whichever the mix whichever classes I have that week
Um, and then the afternoons are my middle school and high school.
So I teach physical education, uh, to everyone.
And then, uh, for middle and high school during the week, I also teach drama theater arts.
Wow.
Nice.
Well, that's got a good mix for me.
Yeah.
What do you, what do you like teaching more?
Like you're obviously you have athletics in your past, but also drama
and
comedy.
That's a great mix.
It's you know what I I love both I do love both but the drama does light a fire for me to see the light bulbs come on and kids to see kids Burst with confidence to see them do things that they didn't know that they could do or pull out things that they didn't know they had you know what I mean So that part is is awesome.
That's great.
What?
What are some parallels?
Like, do you try to be funny in front of your kids when you're teaching or are you trying to discipline
hecklers?
I mean, I don't, like, some things just happen.
You know what I mean?
It's not even a try, you know, because nothing with them can be manufactured if that makes sense.
There is no kids see through everything.
They'd be like, oh, what?
You know what I mean?
Nothing if it's if it's faced if it's fake or you trying to do something you weren't you doing too much as they say doing too much working hard You know what I mean?
So no, I don't I got to try some stuff just come And then it's just it's totally organic, you know.
Yeah, so let me ask you this you've been all over the country you've had all these great opportunities Montreal Comedy Festival working in Chicago It looks like you've been on the East Coast as well
How
does it
work with teaching?
Do you have to schedule it around your day gig or is your principal understanding or you just do stuff from
the summer?
Yeah, I try to load up as much as I can during the summer, but I'm grateful.
I thank God that my bosses are understanding.
You know what I mean?
Like I've been able to tour.
I've been doing tour dates this past this year and
and at the end of 24 with, you know, with Charlie Barons and with Roy Wood Jr.
You know what I mean?
So, and those come as they come.
I'm like, hey, you guys, this is an opportunity.
I gotta, you know, and I'm grateful that they are understanding.
You know what I
mean?
Absolutely.
And you get crowds like Roy Wood or Charlie
Barons
where they're paying a ton of money to see these guys and you're opening for them.
Is that...
That's a different crowd, isn't it, than a crowd you might encounter in a basic comedy club?
It's the scale is amazing.
I mean, you know, how they draw is awesome.
I mean, yeah, it might be some folks, some comedy club folks, but the scale of it, you know what I mean?
And it's their crowds, it's their audiences, and it's awesome to see.
You know, it's a great lesson.
I'm watching my puppy here.
You know, it's a great lesson in your marketing ability, your use of social media.
Targeting your audience, you know, like knowing who your clan is, you know what I'm saying?
So that's something I deeply respect about both of them.
They're really, really awesome guys.
I guess too, if audiences are paying 50 bucks a ticket or 75
bucks a
ticket or whatever it is,
They're going
to be
better audiences, aren't they?
Rather than just going to some comedy club where it's 10 bucks a night and a two drink minimum, I
would think the audience
would be much more attentive, right?
Yes.
Yeah.
That's
awesome.
And they're so engaged and it's great.
Yeah.
It's great.
Tell us about
your, you have a comedy special.
That's a milestone for a comedian, right?
I mean, that's
fantastic.
Tell us
about it and where can we see it?
It is.
Hey, come on.
It is, it's called Live at Dandy, Jassidy Washington Live at Dandy.
And I recorded it right here in Milwaukee at the Dandy antique shop and event space.
It was produced by Milwaukee Comedy and directed by Matt Kimple, my dear friend Matt Kimple, and shot and edited.
by traveling lemurs and the executive producing and streaming by EJ Comedy, non-stop comedy.
So it was an amazing experience.
It took us a minute to get it.
It took us like a year to get it and to get it edited, to get it where it needed to be and ready to stream.
And it got picked up right away by Amazon Prime.
And so now it's our Amazon Prime and YouTube and Tubi and Rebel.
And so it's on about seven platforms.
And you can say some YouTube movies real quick if you want to slide on there or if you're a Tubi person, however you want to do.
And it's also, like I said, available on Amazon Prime.
So it's just incredible milestone for me, a long time coming, so many years in the making.
I'm so, so grateful, I thank God, to have
got the opportunity to do it and to self-produce it and to work with, you know, to shoot it right here in the city and work with folks here in the city.
And it's just so meaningful.
You know, it's so meaningful to me.
That is so
great.
Check out live at Dandy Chastity Washington to be prime YouTube.
Can we keep you for a few more minutes, Chastity?
Yes,
you can.
Absolutely.
We got intermission coming up here, also known as the news, and we will get into a little more comedy talk with our guest comedian, Milwaukee based comedian and teacher, Chastity Washington.
That's coming up next on Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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 appreciates a nice hot meal at a fair price.
Pete Chwaba.
Damn right.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome back to Nightlight.
We are about to start act two.
We had a really fun first hour talking about summer songs and hearing a little bit of Chastity Washington's comedy.
She is my guest right now.
Matt Miller will be along at 720.
And if you want to get your answer to our question, and please do it quickly, because Matt's segment was prerecorded, so we won't be here reading texts for the last quarter of the show or so.
So if you get it in quickly, I can still read it.
Right now, we've got a few more minutes with our guest Chastity Washington.
She is a Milwaukee-based stand-up comedian.
and also a teacher and former college athlete.
She probably does nails and practices law, all kinds of stuff.
I don't know what you're up to there Chastity, but you're a renaissance girl for sure.
So let me ask you this, when you were growing up, who are your influences for comedy?
And it seems like
You know, back in the 80s and 70s, there weren't as many black women doing stand-up comedy.
Did you have influences in that respect or were they kind of the same influences everybody had or both?
I had a mix of everything with everybody.
Of course, for me, Whoopi Goldberg was absolutely a picture of, hey, that's what I want to do.
Seeing her one-man show in 1985 for me was, wow, watermark moment.
You know what I mean?
We're like, that's possible.
When you see it, you can achieve it.
So that was that for me.
But I was always like a student, not knowing I was a student, if that makes sense.
So my mom would always have me watch.
We watched a lot of old films.
So I loved.
everything.
I love Bob Hope.
I love Lucille Ball.
Lily Tomlin is everything for me.
Right?
Just her influence.
Jerry Lewis, right?
Yeah, so, so many.
Mom's Mably.
Of course, Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Bill Cosby, even amidst all of the controversy.
Right.
Rickles, right?
Oh my God.
So
I
was a fan of stand-up.
I loved Robin Williams.
I loved Howie Mandel.
I remember even seeing Ellen DeGeneres when I was a kid.
I watched so much stand-up.
I just liked stand-up.
The stuff was hilarious to me.
Not knowing that it was, you know, planting seeds for this possibility for me.
I never even, like I said, stand-up really found me.
You know what I mean?
I just happened to
be.
But I learned something from everyone.
Everyone has little jewels that have dropped on me, if that makes sense.
Absolutely, and I can totally relate to that because long before I ever knew I wanted to go into show business or stand-up comedy, I had Bill Cosby albums,
I had
Steve Martin albums, then
it was Eddie
Murphy, and then I discovered George Carlin when I got older.
Yeah, we take all these little things and it becomes part of our, you know, our fabric, so to speak in comedy.
Who do you like now, Chastity?
Like, who are you looking at?
Like, let's say you're watching TV late at night and you're flipping around and your comedian is on.
Who are you not turning off?
Now, I don't watch a whole lot of stand-up just due to the work to keep, you know, you keep your maintain
your
integrity.
You can respect other people's work, but...
maintaining your voice and your integrity.
But I, who do I just love?
I think Dion Cole is incredible.
A blessed to get a chance to work with him years ago.
I love Jim Gaffkin.
Bill Burr.
Oh, Bill's great.
What about Brian Regan?
Do you ever work with Regan?
Brian Regan?
No.
Okay.
No.
I haven't.
And who else, who else?
I love Lee and Morgan.
Ms.
Pat, I love Ms.
Pat.
Who else?
And there's so many other comics that I'd like know personally, you know what I mean?
That I
think are awesome.
You know, I think Demi Williams is incredible.
I just, you know, just one of the best working like period.
Yeah.
You just gave me a whole bunch.
Kevin Boseman.
Oh, yeah,
yeah.
You just gave me a whole bunch of people I need to research, because some of them I haven't even heard of.
Yeah.
But
Marlin Hill, who is a dear friend of mine, and a brother, Chris Barnes, who I think I'm sure you
know.
Oh, Milwaukee guy.
Yeah, sure.
Yes.
Chris is a master, man.
Just a master.
Yeah.
Just a
master comic.
Like, it's not even... There's another comedian who is absolutely hysterical.
His name is Lavar Walker.
Ali Sadiq.
Lord have mercy.
Hilarious.
Is, uh, is Brian, Brian Regan, Brian Green still doing standup in Milwaukee?
Yes, it is.
All right.
We had a, we had a very, we had a very brief, uh, Facebook exchange like a year ago, but I didn't ask him about standup.
We just kind of settle low.
So if you see him telling him, I made a point not to say hi to him.
No, I'm kidding.
All right.
So we're disagreeing.
Where can people see you Chastity live?
Do you have any dates coming up around Milwaukee or Wisconsin?
I do.
I have my one woman show, which I self-produced for the last 20 or so years.
It will be at the Intandam Co-op Theater in Milwaukee on 10th Street these next three weekends.
So Friday, May 16th, Saturday, May 24th.
and Saturday, May 31st.
All shows are at 7.30.
I'll be at the Milwaukee Improv on June 8th.
It's Sunday, June 8th.
People can go, you can go to my Instagram and pull, you know, tickets, get the ticket links.
You can go to my website, chastitywashington.com.
So yeah, you can do that.
Listen to my podcast.
I got a couple of podcasts.
Wow.
Look at you.
Yeah.
My newest podcast is testimony with Chastity Washington.
Uh, and that is, uh, it's freshly new, uh, fresh out the, fresh out the oven, uh, on Spotify.
So people can also, uh, pull that, that link, uh, from, uh, my Instagram page or from chastitywashington.com.
But come, come to evening of expression at, uh, uh, in tandem co-op theater that.
It's a full stage play and full stand-up.
It's a full show.
People will really, really be blown away when they get a chance to see it, because it's full scale and two completely separate portions of show.
So the first act is really deep and thought-provoking.
And then of course, the second act is great fun and great stand-up.
So
that is outstanding.
Also, check out Live at Dandy on YouTube.
You can check her out on our live show.
Go to our website, chastitywashington.com, follow her on socials.
She's a very, very talented comedian, and I'm glad to have met you tonight.
Thank you so much for taking time to be on the show.
I thank you.
I thank you so much for having me, and bless us to you.
It's great to meet
you.
You too.
We'll do it again soon, and keep teaching those kids.
Don't steer them on the wrong tracks.
Keep them on the straight and narrow.
I will.
I will.
Thank you, Chastity.
Have a great night.
That's Chastity Washington.
Thank you.
Yeah, thank you.
She's got a lot.
You could lose yourself in all things Chastity Washington.
Podcasts, website, her own special and a live show in Milwaukee that is outstanding.
That just shows you how out of touch I am with the standup world.
She's like a legend in Milwaukee doing all this cool stuff and I don't know what's going on.
I used to have my finger on the pulse, Conrad.
Now you just sit and watch TV.
That's how I watch TV.
And you know what?
I actually love
TV.
So I watch a little television and it's a lot of fun.
So all right, Matt Miller coming up at 720.
Let's get to some texts here.
Our song, our song, our question of the night was what is your favorite summer song?
Jameson in Pennsylvania, he's in the 814, says this is the day by the the.
I forgot about that band.
He says it reminds me of summer and being young, careless and in love.
Being out all night with friends and having confidence that life will never suck.
That is very well.
That is what great songs do for all of us.
It makes us just it fills our spirit with confidence and lust for life great stuff Jameson he says or El scorcho by Weezer.
I don't know that song.
I know Island in the Sun.
I like that one.
Yeah Conner is trying to get my attention.
Is there anything okay?
Is there a fire?
I think there's some
information
right?
Jameson says actually I'll
Come start some food in a minute, then talk to her so it's working.
Sorry Pete last one.
He
texted us the wrong text.
It sounded like voice text.
Jameson said, actually, I'll come and start some food in a minute, then talk to her so it's working.
Jameson, whatever chaos is happening in your life, I hope it works out for you, buddy.
Because you're a great listener.
Don't eat some food.
And a great texture.
Yeah, go eat some food.
We don't want to get you in trouble.
Tom from New Berlin says, washing my... Oh, I read that, washing my first car.
Sherry from Hurrican says, so many.
Annie from Watertown says, yes, love and spoonful.
Couldn't think quick.
I think Summer in the City is our big winner so far tonight.
Brian in Milwaukee says, at last by Eddard James.
I assume that's what he meant and not at least, which is...
I assume a typo because I don't think Etta James ever sang a song called at least.
But at last, great song, Brian, love it.
He says it was featured in Pleasantville.
The soundtrack is amazing.
Pleasantville is awesome.
I've actually never seen the whole thing all the way through.
I watched it and I loved it.
All right.
Sherry says, Sherry from Oregon says, yes, in terms, I think she was responding to something else.
For
Conclave and we're,
yeah.
The Pope one and the attorney.
Tom from the 414, listening to Tom Petty.
Yes, I think I read that.
Nick from Marshall says, three little birds are jamming by Bob Marley and the waiters, the whalers, I'm sorry.
Also, I can see clearly now by Jimmy Cliff, happy by Farrell, and here comes the sun.
Here comes the sun, yes, by the Beatles.
Richie Havens has a great version of that song as well.
He says, bet you can tell I'm a big music enthusiast and fan.
Absolutely can.
Thank you, Nick, for the text.
PJ on the stream says, DJ Jazzy Jeff, summertime.
Another great one.
Thank you, PJ.
Steady Eddie, he's in the 608.
We all know Steady Eddie.
He says, Pete, I'm declaring today with the sunshine and 80 degree temperatures in Madison my first day of summer.
Two of my favorite summer songs are the 1967 song Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison and Frank Sinatra's version of Summer Wind.
Another great one, I forgot about that one.
Pete, this is Wisconsin, so I recommend you don't put your flannel sheets away yet unless you're brave and willing to live dangerously.
Yeah, I'm not gonna do that yet, steady Eddie.
No way.
And I'm not gonna eat in bed.
And I will, religiously.
Wash my sheets every I encourage it folks.
You can get like all kinds of stuff from dirty sheets, right?
You know, there's crumbs everywhere on my bedside is Just
wallow in the food of your plated sheets Conrids mom checks in it says anything by the Beach Boys
As usual, I am in perfect sync with Conrad's parents.
Could not agree more, Paula.
Thank you for the text.
And Bridget in the 818 says, summer nights from Greece.
Yes.
I listen to that every summer.
When I hear it, I can hear the waves of the ocean and feel the warm sun just like in Greece.
Awesome, Bridget.
Thank you.
Barb from Waukesha says, Bill Burr has a beautiful wife.
I saw her on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Was Bill Burr's wife on Real Housewives of Beverly Hills?
I mean, if she
was
that sucks for him.
You think it lowers his Q rating or something?
I think he's pretty safe.
That's great.
Thank you, Barb.
Thank you all for your texts.
We have some pre-recorded content.
My interview with Matt Miller that we did right before the show.
It's all fresh.
It's all movie talk.
And you will learn a lot talking to Matt Miller.
He is coming up next after this very short break.
And then, of course, the news.
Join me tomorrow night when we have museum talk with our pal Greg Vadney from the Raw West Museum in Manitowoc.
and Jennifer Cronk from the Biribu Circus Museum.
Fun stuff tomorrow night too.
We're coming right back.
Don't leave.
It's Peach Waba in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
It seems
like anyway summer is Actually here, but who knows maybe we'll get snow in a week, but I think we're in good shape It seems like we've gotten past the the terrible
terrible spring we've had
let's hope
so hopefully exactly hopefully the weather sticks with us all right and what better way to talk about summer with Milwaukee's a great summer town there's a lot going on there so what better way to ring in the summer when it comes to entertainment than with some summer movie talk with our pal and Milwaukee film critic Matt Miller who joins us from Milwaukee over the stream hey buddy
Hey, howdy, how you doing?
Dude, that beard is looking good.
I don't think it was that full last time you were here.
I think it is a combination of the camera and the lighting in here, because
I
swear, I too am kind of marveling at it right now, but it is, it is genuinely not that impressive.
But I will say part of this is, uh, it is the admirals right now.
They are in the post season, the Milwaukee ad.
And, uh, they just, uh, just clinched.
their way out of the division semifinals and they're on their way to the division finals now.
So hopefully this beard just gets even more Smith brothers looking as we go along.
That's great.
You know,
Smith brother, who are the Smith brothers?
I'm totally.
That was the medicine guys, right?
I'm going to look up that reference and make sure I
I immediately went.
I watched a speed racer over the weekend, Matt, from 2008.
Oh,
yeah.
It feels like a lot of people are watching that these
days.
Well, then my son, it's one of his favorite movies, too.
So I had never seen it.
I thought, all right, I got to give this a watch.
So the two of us watched it.
And it's the Wachowski siblings that made it.
Yeah.
And I forgot about that, too.
But what a what a weird move.
I don't know if.
you've seen it or how long it's been.
Yeah, I haven't seen it since it's been reclaimed because people forget that came out the year of 2008.
That came out the summer of Dark Knight, Iron Man, one of the game changing summer movie season.
Yeah.
And Speed Racer was famously kind of the bomb of that summer movie season.
It did really poorly, was really expensive.
Obviously the Wachowskis were still coming off of kind of the Matrix buzz, but and you know now several years later people watch Speed Race and they're like, no, they were doing incredible things with this movie and visually.
the 100% that movie is true eye candy even
I
mean basically 17 years later um I still don't love like it still is uh some of the the stuff was like chimchim and
oh yeah
right that's the the the monkey character and right the tone of that movie like the comedy in speed racer doesn't work for me but if you're going for just pure sensory you know a pure sensory experience uh yeah speed racer
What a trip.
It really was and I had issues with it.
I don't I didn't love it, but everything my son liked about it.
I really like like he loves the family aspect of it and like some of the action scenes, but it was.
chaotic and crazy, like with the the background or CGI or whatever it was, it was like a live action animated film.
So I guess they had to have a monkey in there if they were going to stay true to the cartoon.
But that just kind of took me out of it at times.
But overall, yeah, fun watch.
And I mean, at the time, that was like, I remember seeing that movie in the theater and being like, I'm going to get a headache from this, characters are spinning, the background is spinning.
There's five things going on on the screen at once.
And I think maybe in 2020, maybe
maybe 2025, you know, our brains have caught up to what that movie was trying to do in terms of the amount of stuff being jammed down to the screen in Speed Racer.
The Wachowskis always ahead of their time.
And
sometimes that works out well in the case of the Matrix and other times it doesn't work out in the case of Speed Racer, but time has now caught up to Speed Racer it
seems.
Yeah, it's interesting.
And that's a great point.
And I think to me, the matrix doesn't hold up as much.
Like I don't like it as much as when I saw it the first time.
Like I loved it, but I watched it probably three or four years ago.
And I was like, it seems, I don't know, but I loved bound what they did to the map to put them on the movie, to put them on the map.
And this seems to have gotten a better shelf life with Speed Racer.
It seems like more people are finding it.
And I think that's really fascinating.
Yeah, I still love The Matrix.
I understand like the kind of worldview of The Matrix is very 1999 of like, oh man, the real world.
It's so being an office drone.
Can you imagine a worse life than that?
Whoa.
And I get that some of that stuff hasn't aged well, but I still think watching that movie is still
just a treat.
I
just
yeah.
Yeah, it's way out of its time to I mean who knew we're basically there almost how much we live in the virtual world it seems like so I mean a great film but Conrad just said John and Gordy brought Speed Racer that was their pick for the popcorn pick of the week.
Yes.
Oh, that's hilarious.
All right, so Matt, let's do this before we have to get to a break.
Can you give us an overview or something from the Milwaukee Film Festival that resonated with you?
How much time we got?
Oh, we got to do a break.
Well, we've got about a minute or so.
Let's set that up in a quick thumbnail of the Film Festival.
Yeah, I'll talk a little bit more in depth in the festival itself, but I think a point I really want to drive in people's heads about the Milwaukee Film Festival is there are still festival movies showing at the Milwaukee film theaters, the Oriental and Downer theaters, Secret Mall apartment, which was one of the kind of favorites.
documentary about a bunch of artists who put a secret apartment inside of a shopping mall.
Right now they're showing the Shrouds, the new David Cronenberg movie.
They've got Holy Cow.
I believe they're going to be bringing back their closing night movie, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life.
So if you missed these movies at the film festival, keep an eye on the Downer and Oriental listings.
And then also just in general, keep supporting Milwaukee film.
I don't want to sound like a shill for them.
But you know, in this day and age,
with NEA funding and things of that nature, you know, that movie theater in business is, you know, not exactly one that's, you know, thriving and comfortable.
You know, people need to support these places if we want them to keep existing.
And luckily, they've got great stuff.
Like I've said, they've got the film festival.
They're doing a Gene Hackman series.
I saw that.
Yeah, they're going to have centers and 70 millimeter, which if you can't see it in giant IMAX, you should see it that way.
So lots of really cool stuff, lots of really good reasons to keep supporting Milwaukee film and their awesome theater.
Let's pick up there when we come back.
We're going to do the news right now.
A brief intermission here at Nightlight.
Matt Miller is here, ladies and gentlemen.
We'll talk some more about some movies coming up after this.
It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
Come on, come on, and dance all night.
Just fight the heat.
It'll be all right.
And babe, don't you know it's a pity that days can't be like the nights in the summer, in the city, in the summer, in the city.
Cool town, meetin' in the city.
Just so fine and lookin' so pretty.
Cool town.
Some of those songs make you think summer.
It's a beautiful thing.
This is Nightlight with Peach Waba, folks.
Great to have you with me.
It is finally Monday, so we get to talk about all the things we love to talk about again.
Music, summer music, movies, TV, all kinds of stuff.
And joining us to do so is our pal Matt Miller.
He's a Milwaukee film critic.
You could follow him at A Man About Film on his sub-stack, which he does great work and wrote extensively about the Milwaukee Film Festival.
Matt, you were talking about the Gene Hackman series that you're right, Milwaukee film and with the arts kind of being under attack.
And I can't tell if they're putting the feelers out to see what the reaction to that is, but I feel like more is coming.
So all the more reason to absolutely support.
organizations like Milwaukee Filmmen, and anywhere, or if you're in Madison, like the Cinematheque, just places that celebrate great movies that aren't Marvel, that aren't huge franchises all the time, there's just really solid great filmmaking.
Yeah, absolutely.
We need to support the places that are having these stories being told.
I mean, I saw multiple filmmakers who attended the Milwaukee Film Festival talked about this as well that, you know, when you lose funding to PBS, to the NEA and stuff like that, that means that these documentarians don't have access to resources to make these important films.
The best movie I saw at the Film Festival was a documentary about disabled people and the kind of growing right to die movement that
that many of them are against the kind of
assisted
suicide stuff.
And a terrific documentary, absolutely not a documentary that would exist if there weren't places like PBS, like the NEA, like NIH, you know, these, I believe National Institutes of Humanities, I could be wrong on that, but there might be National Institute of Health.
besides the point.
The important thing is, you know, this is not a movie that, you know, a studio would fund, or even all independent studios would fund, but it's important that exists.
It's a movie that can change people's minds.
And that kind of stuff is being under attack right now, because when you have, you know,
people cut in the budgets of stuff it is always the arts that get attacked first and especially when you have people with as bad taste and with as bad motivations as you have right now kind of working the working the levers in the in the tops of our politics right
now.
You don't sound like you have a whole lot of faith that John Voight or Mel Gibson are going to be the retaining wall here for
movies and Hollywood
pushing in this like idea of terrifying movies and everyone at first was like, well, that seems like terrible news.
And then the thing that relaxed everyone was being like, how is that even possible?
Chipping in crates of these movies.
So I mean, that's a whole other thing But yeah, I'm starting to think that maybe the star of a movie franchise in which you got punched in the face a whole lot You might not be the greatest representative for Hollywood's needs and wants
right All right, so before we move on to some other movies Matt I love that the Milwaukee Film Festival is like two weeks long because it gives you so many opportunities and they replay a lot of films I feel like you and I have gotten like a month
worth of material out of this because we did a build up then we talked during the festival and now it's over and it's it's unbelievable what what was you mentioned a film you said that was your favorite uh give me another one give me a favorite movie and a favorite non-movie event that you might have attended if you did if you had time
Yeah, so I mainly do the movies.
So I will say that.
But I really, like I said, life after tremendous documentary about assisted suicide in the disabled community.
And they're kind of pushed back against these kind of, you know, quality of life arguments that are being made, especially in Canada.
It's mainly a Canadian set documentary.
That was really terrific.
I already talked about secret mall apartment
as
well.
a really charming quirky story that also dives into, you know, the idea of what is art and what is meaningful in these kind of public spaces.
Really liked that as well and a divisive one that I really liked was called Volcan de Zora.
which is this extremely dark kind of buddy comedy about two guys who go on to hike into the woods with a very bleak goal in mind at the end of their hike and things go crazy.
I totally get why people wouldn't like it.
It's a very dark movie.
It's very naturally paced too.
It's not like a funny ha ha movie.
It is
kind of very natural and it's pacing and then it's tone.
Some
deliverance vibes there maybe a little bit.
It's a very odd duck and it's the kind of movie that makes me glad that we have the Milwaukee Film Festival.
And if I'm talking about things I just loved about, I cannot tell you how heartened I was by this year's Milwaukee Film Festival.
Screenings seemed really well attended.
The only one that seemed less than, you know, kind of a desirable amount of people was the life after screening, which was at like 430 on a Monday.
Like, you know, maybe a 430 screening on a Monday of a movie about assisted suicide is not exactly the kind of thing people are looking for.
So but most of my
screenings were full, if not, you know, 75% full, which was incredibly heartening to see the closing night movie, I think was sold out, filled both the balcony of the Oriental theater.
Wow.
I am sure they will deliver numbers sometime this week of you know the total number of attendees and things of that nature.
It might be down from the previous year just because they don't have the last year they had two more screens and last year they had a hundred more movies.
This year was a little bit more truncated in terms of only having two theater locations but I think
This was a really energized film festival this year, which was really, really inspiring and heartening to see they blew through their fundraiser campaign.
So this is all I've been really excited about what happened with Milwaukee film here.
Well, you did a phenomenal job covering it, buddy.
What?
OK, last time you were here, Matt, I had not seen Sinners yet.
And.
You had and you said it has one of the I think you were kind of lukewarm in the movie or liked it didn't love it.
I really liked it.
But you mentioned a shot in the film that you said is one of your favorite shots.
I want a
shot of the movie.
It is.
And I really like that is a top five movie of the year so far for me.
Oh,
OK.
Pull two thumbs up on
centers.
Gotcha.
So can I ask you what the shot was?
So in the middle of the movie, I don't want to, this isn't really a spoiler or anything.
It's been long enough that I feel okay, but in the middle of the movie.
our main character, not Michael B Jordan, but I believe Miles Catten's character, the kind of blues artist
creature boy.
Yeah, he starts singing a song in the middle of this crowd.
And the past and the present,
okay,
the future all start intertwining inside the Duke joint that has opened up and it just keep the camera just keeps following this entanglement of culture now in the future in the past all in this one place that literally burns the
building down to the ground that literally blows the roof off the place and then ends on the vampires looking at all of this, looking at all of this culture and being like, we want to absorb that.
We want to absorb that into us and we are hungry for that.
And it is an incredible shot.
It's all done in one take.
I'm sure there's some technical, you know,
fanciness that they did to make it to make it more than one shot into one shot but it's an incredible shot it is the statement piece of the movie it is it's incredible shot and I think the rest of the movie around that shot is equally as impressive whether it's the southern gothic
gangsters opening a juke joints, energy or the vampires.
I love the kind of old school.
You have to ask the vampires.
Yeah, I love that.
I brought the old vampire lore into this new vampire movie.
I thought that was really cool and fun and a good twist.
Instead of it being like a jump scare, vampires invading movie, it becomes this kind of very smart mind games thriller.
Yeah, sinners rules.
Easy, easy top five.
movie of the year for me so far.
All right.
That's great.
Yeah.
And I agree.
And here's what happened when I went to see it.
It was my wife and I and one other couple.
We went in the middle of the day.
the couple left during the credits.
And before, I know, and I, they were, they were teasing it.
They showed Buddy Guy playing a little bit during the credits.
And I thought, I really liked this movie, but the scene at the end, I'm telling everyone, you have to stay through the credits because that scene at the end made it a home run.
Like I love the movie even more.
I love how they close that movie without spoiler or
anything.
Arguably, that's the one thing I don't like about sinners is that the proper ending of the movie is not the ending
of the
movie.
wait like two minutes into the credits and I'm just like just just wrap the movie up before the credits.
I don't know why they
made that a end credits stinger essentially.
Totally
agree.
If that's the biggest mistake your movie makes, congratulations.
Right.
And he's fantastic, Ryan Cooler.
Matt Miller is my guest.
He is a Milwaukee film critic.
Check out his sub-stack, A Man About Film.
That's Matt Miller's sub-stack.
He does great work there.
And he talks with us periodically about movies and film and all things the arts, which is fun.
Matt, did we, did you see Black Bag?
I did see Blackbex speaking of Top 5 Movies of the
Year.
Okay, I'd love to hear your thoughts.
I just saw it two days ago, finally.
I think that is perfect Hollywood entertainment.
It is
a very fun kind of spy who done it.
I wasn't expecting so much of an Ocean's Eleven vibe.
Right.
Down to the soundtrack, the score of the movie, which I think is still David Holmes who did the score.
iconic score for Motions 11.
I love the kind of darkly funny tone of that movie that is a romantic movie about these people being infidelity or not, you know, or not with others.
I think everyone is just throwing a heat in terms of performances in that movie.
Everyone is so good and so compelling.
And I think that movie is one of the most entertaining things you can see this year.
I really enjoy Black Bag a lot.
How did you land on it?
Same and I it's not what I was expecting based on what I had read I thought it was gonna be more of a James Bond type spy thriller But I liked this even more it was different and it was like this community of spies and they talk openly about their marriages and sex and their missions and all that kind of stuff because it's a safe space But yeah, and I love I liked the love story and I like Michael fastbender Kate Blanchett was great And it's Steven Soderbergh it is best and I just watched
out of sight recently.
I gave that a rewatch.
What didn't hold up quite as well, but I still really liked it.
But yeah, I love black bags.
So I couldn't remember if we had talked about that or
not.
Yeah, I love Soderbergh as a director, partly because he will just make anything like his career is so hard to track.
He's done, you know, spy movies.
He's done heist movies.
He's done romances.
He's done, you know, Oscar bait with Eric Brock, Mitch and and traffic.
He's done horror movies.
He did the presence movie, which is a very good movie.
Just
like three, four months ago that he released as well.
He did Logan Lucky, which is really fun.
His career is just so zicking and zagging, but all that's really interesting.
I love seeing what he decides to do next.
Agreed.
And a movie like Sex, Lies, and Videotape that put him on the map that is just so different too.
So we have to do a quick break in about a minute, Matt, but I don't want to let you go.
We'll keep you for just a couple minutes after, but I really want to hear your thoughts.
I have not seen the surfer yet, and I'm dying to see the surfer.
Tell me it's good, please.
I will tell you right now.
I enjoyed it.
OK.
And Nicholas Cage is good.
Oh,
it's very cagey.
It's very cagey.
All right.
What do we have?
We have about a minute.
What was it you liked about it?
Was it was it more conventional because I very much not
very
much
not conventional for those who don't know this is an indie movie about Nicholas Cage returning to his kind of hometown in Australia where he wants to take his son surfing
Um, and the locals don't let him surf because they're like, you're not from here.
You don't get to surf here.
And he starts having a mental breakdown.
He starts losing his mind in
a
way that you're not sure if he is even who he says he is.
And I love the kind of weird psychedelic seventies wicker man tone of this movie where it's like, you know, this man is falling apart and you're not, you're not sure if he's ever been the person you've been watching this entire time.
And it's doing all these really interesting camera things that just make it feel even more psychedelic and even
more.
Oh, wow.
It is a movie that feels fried in the best way possible, like, sun fried.
Um, we have map part at the end, but cage is going full commitment in this movie in the best way.
He's playing a good character, but is also doing insane cage thing.
That's
awesome.
I recommend probably won't be around much longer.
So if you get a
chance to check it out, we'll have a couple more minutes with Matt.
I'm going to tell you, or he's going to tell us how Holly was screwed up mother's day.
That's coming up next on
nightlight.
some fun here tonight talking summer music and we talked with a comedian Chastity Washington and now we got Matt Miller for a couple more minutes before we let him go do a a netty pot or a heating pad or whatever he needs to get himself through this this illness his wife so rudely left with him before
she just put an IV of orange juice into my vitamin C this thing to death
that's great Matt hey do you have a favorite summer song Matt
Ooh, that's a very good question.
It's not really a summer song, but like Uptown Funk sounds like summer to me, and that is one of my favorite modern pop
songs, so
I'll go with Uptown Funk.
Great choice.
All right, in our text exchange earlier today, you said how Hollywood kind of bungled Mother's Day.
I have an idea where you might have been going with that, but please tell us how this happened.
Yes, also, I just want to say Len steal my sunshine as well for a summer song.
That song sounds like the year 2001 and I love it.
What's it called?
It's called steal my sunshine by Len.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, that's a real moment that song.
So someone asked me, you know, oh, what should I take my mom to see this Mother's Day?
And I looked at the listings and there was truly deeply nothing to take a mother to on Mother's Day weekend.
It was insane to me.
And
yes, mothers can like all sorts of varieties movies.
I'm sure there's mothers out there who would love sinners, who would love, you know, until dawn or Thunderbolts or something like that.
But if you were looking for a nice safe Mother's Day movie, something, you know, a traditional Mother's Day movie.
the closest thing I could find was the accountant to maybe like there was nothing out there.
Hollywood had a whole weekend dedicated to a holiday and they had nothing for families or for, you know, significant others to take mothers to this weekend.
And I just, this is the second time this year, they did this on Valentine's Day too, where Valentine's Day weekend rolls around and a Hollywood released no romantic comedy on Valentine's Day.
And I don't think it
you know, convenient.
I don't think it's a coincidence that these are female holidays, female kind of centric holidays that Hollywood is just ignoring.
And it's just not put in theater movies, movies out in theaters right now.
And then they wonder why they are losing ground to streaming because if you wanted to see a Mother's Day kind of vibey movie this weekend, Netflix had known us the new Vince Vaughn movie with like every good Italian actress also in the movie.
And
I don't want to say, hey, stay home and watch Nona's for Mother's Day.
But what was I supposed to tell people to take their moms to over Mother's Day weekend at the theaters?
I don't know why Hollywood is letting audiences disappear and acting like there are not audiences that want to be served.
Did we not learn from Barbie two years ago that women like to see movies too?
It was frustrating for me to realize that twice in one year, they utterly neglected an audience on the holiday weekend.
That's interesting.
And I, everything, I mean, I always used to hear that women drove the box office for years.
Like, you're right.
Like, you have a golden opportunity.
You're not doing yourself any favors.
Like, there's, on one hand, a campaign to get people back to the theaters, but you're not really giving them, you're gonna take your mom to see Thunderbolts or the Minecraft movie?
I mean, give me a break.
And
again,
like, I don't want to be, you know, basic about this and say that women and mothers can't like these movies.
Like, my mom, she loves Get Out.
She loves The Witch, you know?
You know, mothers can contain multitudes.
But if you wanted like a nice movie to take your mom to, what was the obvious option?
And we saw it with Valentine's Day, where
of the horror movie got a big bump in box office which never happens to horror movies because there was nothing rom-com related out so that was the closest thing literally a horror movie that was like partially a rom-com that made a ton of money for valentine's day because there was nothing else for couples to see and just don't understand why they are just letting these audiences feel like
The theaters are not the place for them.
It is destructive to the theater going existence now and into the future.
That is why you're so good at doing what you do, Matt.
I never even want to notice that, but you're right.
That's insanity.
So we have about a minute left, Matt.
Anything you're hearing about Dead Reckoning or what else other than Dead Reckoning are you looking forward to this summer?
I believe Dead Reckoning is premiering as we speak at the Cannes Film Festival.
Oh, yeah.
I think it looks tremendous.
possible fan.
I think pretty much almost every movie is good except for two.
And even two is at least like a weird bad movie because it's John Woo just getting a Hollywood budget and being like, I'm going all in.
But this
current era has been a thrill to watch.
Fallout is one of the great modern action movies.
And I'm excited to see how they wrap this up.
It looks like every character actor I've ever liked is in the movie
as
well.
You've got some severance.
You've got Hannah Waddingham from Ted Lasso.
You've got Nick Offerman.
You've got all of the galaxy of stars who have gotten into a Mission Impossible movie in the past.
So I'm very excited for that too.
And this one's kind of more for the sickos out there.
There is a comedy coming out, I believe, not this weekend, but next weekend called Friendship.
And if
you
are a fan of I Think You Should Leave and Tim Robinson's kind of weird cringe humor, I am very excited for that movie.
It is Tim Robinson playing a guy who becomes friends with Paul Rudd, and it becomes a hilarious kind of horror of comedy, comedy of horrors after that.
I think that movie looks really funny.
Looks like a feature length Tim Robinson sketch and that is 10 out of 10.
I am seated.
I can't be seated any more than I am seated.
I
love it.
Yeah.
So I'm
excited about that as well.
That's fantastic.
Get some rest.
Great job is always always fun catching up and we'll do it again.
Pete, I'm feeling better already.
I think I think talking movies with you is the cure for what ails everyone.
The cure all.
All right, buddy.
Thanks a lot, Matt.
Follow Matt at his A Man About Film sub-stack.
Thank you to Matt.
Thank you to Chastity Washington and all your texts and calls.
Let's celebrate summer.
It's only going to get better, folks.
And we'll do it all again tomorrow night.
We'll have Jennifer Cronk from the Ringling Brothers Museum and Greg Vadney from the Raar Museum in Manitowoc.
It's all about museums tomorrow, so let's do it up.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on behalf of the lovable producer Conrad.
Good night, Wisconsin.
Oh, say good to your best friend's house.
Mama Lade, we're making out.
Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah.
