Network Dramas (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 man barely six feet tall, but a mountain of muscle, Pete Chwaba.

All right.

Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

It is Wednesday, June 4th, as we creep ever closer to what is supposed to be summer.

Kind of a nice day today.

Hope you're having a great day.

Glad you're with us here to forget the cares or the concerns or stresses of the day.

And let us help you ease into your evening here at Night Light when we talk about some movies.

We got some stand-up comedy on TACT, on TAP.

Wow.

Need a roadmap to get to that one Talk to our pal A fellow a civic media colleague who is always fun to have on the show got a fun question anxiously looking forward to reading your texts about said question and Just all kinds of fun stuff tonight Conrad.

How are you?

I'm doing good.

You know, it's it's a nice day out.

I got outside today I went I went did a little nine holes in the morning

So

that was fun.

And I had one of the best feelings.

This group of four let me play through because I was just a solo.

Oh, wow.

And I absolutely smashed the ball in my drive.

And they looked at each other and said, damn.

Wow.

That made me feel really good.

What do you do with that, though?

It means I'm getting better.

It just makes you feel good temporarily,

right?

Because on the other side, the worst feeling is when they let you play through.

And you get the ball.

Shank.

Not even five feet.

Right.

That's awful.

Yeah.

So I had the good side of that today.

So it made for a good day.

That's all

you needed.

That's all I needed.

All right.

Well done.

Well, we had, like you said, it's a great day.

It's good weather today.

I did nothing.

I was inside all day.

And I tried to get out a little bit.

every day, take a walk, do something.

But today, I just wasn't feeling it.

I knew I had to be here early because we recorded an episode of the Dr. Kristen Lyreley show, which I'm excited to be on.

And we had to record my stuff for Newisco Weekend.

I've got a great classic pick this week.

Have you ever seen Dazed and Confused?

Yes.

And I mean,

even when you

said, I said, what is your classic movie?

Dazed and Confused.

I'm like, oh, thinking about Summer.

That's just

perfect.

It's a Summer movie because it takes place on the last day of school.

You know, it's funny.

I was watching parts of it last night because I haven't seen it probably in about 10 years just to kind of re-familiarize myself with it, even though I've seen it five times and I could write the thing in my sleep.

But it reminded me of like these high school kids that adore, idolize, whatever, rock and rollers, because that's the life they want.

They want to smoke dope.

They want to drink beer and party.

And that's...

encompassed by the music they listen to.

Like the main character in the film is Pink Floyd.

I forget it's Jason London plays the main character and his name is like Jeremy Pink Floyd.

They nicknamed him Pink because of Pink Floyd.

And it took me back to the late 70s in my neighborhood in Chicago.

We were hanging out at a public school just sitting there.

We played fast pitch against the wall.

We had a little strike zone drawn and we used to play fast pitch.

So

I always hung out with older kids when I was younger.

And some of the older kids, they were like these guys in Dazed and Confused.

They worshiped Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd and Aerosmith.

And it was like, you know, when you don't really relate to that, I don't even think I like girls at the time.

I was probably like 10, you know, but I'm listening to these guys talk and someone wrote on the side of the school.

It was graffiti.

They wrote Pink Floyd.

It's spelled.

I can't remember if it was Pink or Floyd Rong or something, but this idiot couldn't even spell the name of his favorite band before he wrote graffiti on a school.

And one of the guys in the group I was with said, Conrad, he was so serious, it was impressive.

He said, whoever wrote that doesn't even deserve to own a pen.

And I just remember, like that line stuck with me my whole life.

Like, I thought it was, I don't know if I thought it was funny or didn't realize it was funny until I got older, but the fact that you're drawing a line in the sand to defend your band, and how do you spell Pink Floyd wrong anyway?

It was probably some stoner who wrote it.

I mean, everything about it was funny to me.

Doesn't even deserve to own a pen.

And he didn't even write it in pen.

It was obviously spray-painted.

Pink Floor, but oh my god, it was funny.

And that movie, Days in Confused, reminds me of that moment.

I think when I first saw Days in Confused, that's probably when I recalled this moment from my life, from when I was so much younger.

But such a great film that will be on this weekend's New Wisco weekend, hosted by...

Lisa Hale here in northeast Wisconsin.

You can catch it on this while you can find it on the civic media website, correct?

That is true.

Yeah, under

shows.

Yeah, it's right in there.

And the theme and the theme is summer.

Yes.

Yes, it is.

It's going to be exciting.

And that's why I picked Dazing Confused.

Dazing Confused takes place on the last day of school in 1976 in a small town in Texas, even though they shot it in Austin.

But not much plot, but great characters, and it will take you back.

Even if you didn't grow up in that era, that was a little before my era too, but I relate to everything about it.

Kids just looking for a party, wanting to go where everybody's going, find their way.

It's just so much fun.

And Richard Linklater is an absolute brilliant, brilliant director.

I like everything he's ever done.

And there's a couple I still have to see.

but love his films.

Okay, fun show tonight, folks.

Chicago-based stand-up comic, Brian Hicks will be here at 635.

Brian's been on the show before.

He's always fun.

We have a little clip of his comedy we'll play either before he gets here or during, and he did a dry bar special.

He's lots of fun and a very, very good comic.

He will be here at 635, and our pal Todd Alba will be here.

In the second hour at 720 Todd is always a blast too.

I was the last time Todd was on Was that the popcorn pick of the week when he had the cowboy hat on the scar?

Okay, I hope Todd feels like he doesn't have to Outdo himself because that would be tough to top

Well, he may if he aces this quiz that I curated I think he did outdo himself.

Well, Todd and I are gonna go head-to-head on this yes, and I don't like my chances.

I'll be honest because Todd

He's a Wisconsin guy through and through.

I admit, I'm a transplant.

First as a kid, then as an adult, but it's my home now.

I love Wisconsin.

And Todd, I think spent his whole life here.

So he's probably got the edge, but I do like my chances.

I'm gonna give it my all.

We'll see.

I'm gonna leave it all in the field.

It's called Where Are You?

Is that the name of the quiz?

Yeah.

All right, I asked you to do this, and I hope you didn't skew it towards the host.

Because I do want to face Todd in this.

I feel like I've,

I love a good quiz and sometimes on the show, I give them, sometimes I like to square off against guests, but I also don't like to make guests look

bad.

No, it's very evenly matched.

I didn't skew

it anyway.

Good.

I was going to challenge Norm Kepesky to an arm wrestle, but again, I don't want to make the guest look bad, right?

I think he might pull that off.

Here's what would happen, Conrad.

I'm surprisingly a good arm wrestler.

I know I don't look it, but...

Norm that would be a train wreck either way because he would either destroy me immediately And he would smack my hand down so I break a knuckle, you know something like that or By the grace of God somehow I would win and I'd feel terrible because he's a sponsor

well,

and I don't want that

either I think if he won he just Feel bad for you because

he's

sponsoring the show so he wants to make you

he wants to make me see We both want to make each other so maybe what we should do norm and I should agree

It's like a prize fight where they say, all right, you go down in round three, you go down in round five.

So everybody walks away a winner.

Any

Jake Paul fight,

just like that.

Yeah, right, any Jake Paul fight.

Is Jake the fighter or is it the other one, the other idiot?

I

mean, Logan's a WWE wrestler now.

And Jake is a boxer, quote.

You know what, I got to get this, this Paul taste out of my mouth.

So let's go to the question of the night.

What

is your favorite pre-streaming network drama one-hour drama folks?

What's your favorite one?

And that's before you had access to Ozark or the Sopranos or any of these streaming outlets.

What was your favorite?

pre-streaming network one-hour drama I'm getting kind of specific here They're still out there.

I mean these shows still exist the network is still churning them out They've got the whole I think they're all created by Dick Wolf now.

You got the FBI series

You've got the Chicago what are they called the not the trilogy one Chicago series with med fire police.

You've got the SVU law and order and the one with Elliot Stabler, which is just Not that good.

I've given that a lot of chances organized crime.

It's called But there's a lot of other ones.

There was Grey's Anatomy ER LA law NYPD blue Felicity

All kinds of dramas back before streaming was the bomb.

I'm gonna have to think about this, even though it's my question.

I've literally, I thought about the question last night, but I've been kind of wrestling around with this, and I don't know that there's, my wife used to watch, when I first

met

her, we were in our early 20s, she used to watch Knott's Landing.

And I remember her being furious that they preempted Knott's Landing for the UWGB Phoenix game, because they were in the turn.

My wife didn't care about basketball, she was livid.

So I don't know, I might have to go NYPD Blue as my favorite pre-streaming network one-hour drama.

But what's yours?

Let us know.

855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic or you can text us on the stream.

Reach out to us there, folks.

We love to hear from all of you, regardless.

If it's the stream, if you're watching the radio, if you're listening to the radio on the app, let us know.

We'll read your text on the radio, and we will get that done.

So, Conrad is pointing.

He's giving me the wear number one with the downward finger, which means he's pointing.

He's pointing.

We have a text, I think.

No, I haven't forgotten about the Scani contest.

Thank you for the reminder,

but

I don't have my sheet in front of me, so I was gonna read it after the break.

So we

can do it, we can wing it?

It's the Scani summer civic media text-to-win contest.

Let's see how I do here.

I'm confident.

It's very easy to play.

You do have to have the civic media app.

That's all we ask.

Download the app if you don't already have it and listen for a keyword at 7 a.m., 11 a.m.,

2 p.m.

and 4 p.m.

Look at that.

You aced it.

Take that, Alba.

I'll see you at 7.20, buddy.

Get the keyword, text it in, and you're eligible to win our hourly prize, which is $100 in cash, or club level seats to a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game.

And once you enter the hour...

Every hour that you do enter you're eligible for our grand prizes, which is two summer vacation getaways at Dorr County and in Baraboo two of the most beautiful spots we have here in our beautiful state And civic media is even throwing in gas money.

All you have to do is have the app folks It's very easy to play listen at those times to get the keyword text it in and you are all set.

Good luck everybody.

It's civic media's scony

summer text-to-win contest.

How did I do it, Conrad?

You did great.

Damn, that's at least a B-plus, right?

I think that was an A-minus.

All right, I'll take it.

Lots of fun stuff tonight.

As I mentioned, Brian Hicks, we got some comedy.

Todd Alba and I are going to take a quiz about Wisconsin.

That's going to be fun.

We talked a little bit about Dazed and Confused.

Oh, we've got one of our texts from Bud, and there is a social media clip.

I want to play that clip I heard.

A new show on Apple TV about golf.

Man, we got a lot.

I don't know how we're gonna do this.

We've got eight hours of show and we've got about an hour and 40 minutes left.

I think we can do it.

I think so too.

Godspeed, Nightlight.

All right, we're gonna do all that.

We're gonna read your texts when we come back and I am going to tell you all.

I'm gonna play a clip I heard that I thought was fantastic.

Very uplifting.

You're not gonna want to miss it.

This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight.

Great to have you with me on this Wednesday night on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Great

to have you here at the Civic Media Radio Network hanging out with us on a Monday night broadcasting live from beautiful downtown Green Bay.

Green Bay is one of the, you know, it's one of the cities that's going to be on the Peach Wabba Todd Alba quiz.

Maybe.

What's got to be

it is all right, but you just don't know when it's gonna happen.

No, I

have

you

know, right I think Green Bay is one of the cities.

I've never lived here, but I can

do

here every day Yeah, sure, and I think I know enough about it like do you after Green Bay I might be done

less

Madison's other but maybe Milwaukee We have a great show Brian Hicks comedian Brian Hicks.

He is a stand-up

Chicago Bay standoff comedian will be here at 6.35.

Our pal Todd Alba will be here at 7.20.

Host of the Todd Alba show, which you can hear on specific media every day from two to four, produced by the amazingly talented Aaron Zommerz as well.

So Todd will be here at 7.20.

Gonna be a good time.

What is your favorite one hour?

You just said something during the break.

You don't really remember those shows, but they are still on.

You can pick one.

You don't have to go back to the 90s, you know?

Yes, you know, since I'm 25.

When I was younger, I didn't really watch dramas, and when I was in that age where dramas would be a thing, streaming was there.

So it was hard to, I guess I'd say either One Tree Hill or Degrassi, but I never watched them all the way through on network.

It was just like an episode randomly at times.

So one of those, and I mean, One Tree Hill is...

Brings up your anxiety really bad.

I feel like that show is takes turns like crazy and then to grassy is just terrible TV

And you loved it.

Yeah, I those are the only two I could think of though, so I don't they're not my favorite but those were I would say

yeah, I was going to My pick of the week was almost mission impossible three

and Carrie Russell's in that.

So she was also in a show called Felicity that I wrote promos for kind of in a freelance capacity when the show was on the WB.

That was a really good show.

And J.J.

Abrams was the executive producer.

I think it was the first show he created.

He's the one who came into the Mission Impossible franchise and gave it new blood with Mission Impossible 3 and blew me away.

I was like, oh my god, this guy created this drama about a girl going to college.

And it was a well done show.

I didn't really watch it much other than to write promos, but I thought Carrie Russell was great.

The show was good.

And then Carrie Russell shows up in Mission Impossible 3 and was outstanding.

And goes on to be in the show The Americans, which is a great show.

But yeah, I don't know.

Felicity was well done.

I would have to say probably NYPD Blue.

I was never really a big med or fire.

Not the Chicago ones, but the previous ones like Chicago Hope or ER.

This never did it for me.

But all right, so I saw this clip on Instagram.

That was one of the few times weird stuff didn't come up on Instagram in my reels from some algorithm I

apparently

accidentally touched four

years

ago.

But it's a great clip about gratitude.

And it's from a comedian named Jimmy Carr.

And it's just a nice reflection.

It's like a minute long.

And I love the stuff he says in this.

Let's play a comment.

You get used to how great your life is.

No one had a hot shower until 50 years ago.

So I try and do this thing when you stand in a hot shower.

George Mack, my friend, pointed this out to me, went, well, look, when you stand in a hot shower, just for a moment, just go, well, no one that you admire from 100 years ago had this simple pleasure in life.

And when you look at the world that we live in, we're like, you're doing, there's been 100 billion people ever, right?

We are in the top, top percentile in terms of the luck that we have had.

But the lives, the calorific intake that we just take for granted, the fact that our children don't die in the first year, the modern medicine and our lives and the entertainment that we get, we're living like kings.

And yet, life has never been objectively better and subjectively worse because the nature of humanity is our desires are memetic.

So we've got this thing where we're sort of, you know, how happy are you?

Well, it's your quality of life.

That is

great Objectively and subjectively two different ways to look at something great perspective It really is envy like you look at social media everybody's life seems great And you're like what am I doing wrong?

And I try not to have envy, you know.

But I look at that shirt you're wearing and I want it.

I feel bad and I'm envious and I just don't like you right now.

So it's something that's my cross to bear

in

this life.

But that's Jimmy Carr, a British comedian who I'd never heard of before I saw that on Instagram.

So there are some good things on social media from time to time.

But gratitude, I mean, and that's kind of the buzzword for the last 10 years, practice gratitude, but.

It's easy to say, but we really have to do it, I think.

And part of it for me is just laughter.

I appreciate the ability to laugh every day at friends, other things I see on TV, TV shows, whatever.

My kids make me laugh.

I can't make my wife laugh.

It's really hard to do.

Really?

Yeah.

It's like most husbands struggle with, you know, getting their wife there sexually.

I can't make my wife laugh.

I love bringing up stuff Conrad can't even relate.

He's like, what are you talking about?

He just looks at

me like.

All right, our question.

I'm starting to share more on this show.

I'm letting people in.

Yeah, you're being more open.

I like it.

I

am.

I got nothing to hide.

I'm just a good looking rebel who plays by my own rules, folks.

And doesn't like to toot his own horn.

What is your favorite pre?

Streaming network one-hour drama.

That is tonight's question of the night folks.

Let's go to the text line David in Richland Center says NCIS another.

Oh my god, another franchise.

Yeah, that's been around a while.

Good one, David.

Bron, Bronwyn.

I think I hope I'm saying that right.

Twin Peaks very nicely done from the 505, baby.

Sadly, only one season.

I just started watching that again.

Great text.

Thank you, Bronwyn.

I hope I'm saying that right.

Annie from Watertown says, oh no, NYPD blue.

Thank you, Annie.

That's mine as well Steven from the 262 says Hill Street Blues great show I wonder if they hold up, you know, we should all watch an episode of these to see if they hold up Don Brown in Waukesha our pal Donnie B Hill Street Blues.

I agree Don Come back on my show buddy.

All right.

We're coming right back.

This is peach waba and nightlight on the civic media radio network

This

is Nightlight with Peach Wabba folks.

It is a beautiful evening here in the state of Wisconsin.

We are in downtown Green Bay where there are people walking back and forth, staring into the studio as they shovel gelato.

into their pie holes.

And that, folks, is what summer means to me.

Todd Alba will be here at 7.20.

We are gonna take a Wisconsin quiz.

I am a two-time transplant to our Ferris Date.

Todd is a lifelong resident.

I still like my chances.

Todd is always fun to have on the show.

Check out the Todd Alba show here on the network from two to four every day.

And it's gonna be fun.

So stick around.

Our question of the night is what is your favorite pre-streaming network hour-long drama?

We've got some text to get to, we'll get to those as soon as we can on the stream.

Dave is, okay, Dave Kunish from Marinette, Moonlighting.

Kind of forgot about Moonlighting.

That was a great show.

Sybil Shepherd, Bruce Willis, kind of a different show.

Dave also says 24, and you know what?

I am changing my answer from NYPD Blue to 24.

24 was such a great concept.

The season went on way too long.

There were like three seasons within a season.

But as far as network drama goes, I don't think you can beat that.

It was really cool.

I was going to say the same thing.

I'm changing my answer to 24 because I remember watching that with my parents, actually.

I was younger.

And you

thought there was a terrorist around every corner?

I was 11.

How soon are you going back to Key West?

Right now, I'm very excited to welcome my next guest of the show.

He's been here before.

He is a Chicago-based stand-up comedian and one Haloova guy, and his name is Brian Hicks.

Hey, buddy, how are you?

I'm present.

How are you, Pete?

You're present.

All right.

Well, I was aiming higher than that, but I'll take that.

It's good to have

you.

I'm here.

I'm doing

great.

No, thanks for having me.

That's excellent.

Where are you?

That

looks like

an interesting contraption

there.

I'm not going to lie.

I've got some people who go out of their way for me.

So I'm in the manager's office at Zaney's in Rosemont, Illinois.

Oh, wow.

So is that the club you're running, or I thought it was downtown?

I am running downtown, but I'm also present here, as I mentioned earlier, at the Rosemont location.

So I'm kind of back and forth between both clubs.

Wow.

That's not a bad side hustle for a comedian, right?

Yeah, I wish I could call it my side hustle, but yeah, I guess it is.

Or maybe at this

point, comedy's

your

side hustle.

I

don't know.

Yeah, that's it.

Yeah, it is a great gig.

They treat me very well here, and super excited to be part of their team.

That's awesome.

Do you have a favorite drama, like a pre-streaming, like something used to watch in the 90s or something?

Yeah, I mean, I was listening earlier when you were talking about it.

I'm embarrassed to say, but you know what I really used to like?

Embarrassed that you were listening?

No, I was embarrassed.

I'm embarrassed to be here,

so don't don't don't feel bad at all, Brian.

And I don't even know.

I guess it was a drama, but I used to watch Desperate Housewives every Sunday and it was just like a staple at our house.

And I know it wasn't.

It was a good show.

It was, I thought it was a really good show.

I mean, it was something I got to do with my wife every week.

It was like the one hour we spent together each week.

It meant a lot to

me.

That was it.

That was the only hour and you watched

Desperados.

It's the only hour we enjoyed each other's company every

week.

I'm sorry to hear that.

And

I know, I know you're kidding.

You

have a beautiful family.

I see some of your Facebook posts, your kids are getting bigger.

Are you, when you, okay, when you have kids, like in mine, I'm more or less an empty nester now.

But does it make it easier for you to travel to do stand-up?

Are you more willing to travel now that you don't have the young kids at home?

Yeah.

I did a fair share of traveling when they were younger.

It would certainly be easier to do it now.

But with working at both the clubs, it's just tougher to get away now.

So I'm doing less traveling probably now than I did before.

But it would be easier if I had the opportunity to do it.

But it's easier when they're younger because when you travel, you get a break from the kids, which is

nice.

Yeah.

Well, that's the thing.

Like, um, you know, my wife would get upset because I would be on the road and she's at home with, you know, twins.

We had twins at one point.

So there are two or three and she's like, ah.

I haven't slept and I'm like, you think I sleep good in these hotels?

I had to make it sound

like

I wasn't, you know, napping for four hours each day.

You think I'm living the king's life, hanging out with waitresses till three o'clock

in the

morning

and come on.

I got up at 10 o'clock this morning.

I went to have breakfast.

They didn't have it anymore.

I couldn't get a moons over my hammy.

That's hilarious.

So I went to your website because I was like, we haven't talked in a while.

I'm like, I'm going to check out Brian's website.

And this is how rusty I am, Brian, and how embarrassed I am that I used to call myself a comic.

I thought this was a great joke.

When I noticed on your website, the bio, it said, you were one of the most sought after comedians in America.

And I wanted to say, do you mean comedically?

That's so bad.

And then I look at the next line and you go, no, I'm not wanted by the police.

You were eight steps ahead of me.

And I was terribly

embarrassed.

I knew what you

were

thinking already.

You knew I was going to ask you that when you set up your website.

And I didn't even know you then.

That's right.

That's right.

That's so cool.

Yeah.

Well, thanks for going to my website.

I was wondering who that one click was.

questions are answered.

You get

the notifications.

I saw in your schedule, though, you're in Glenview, Illinois this weekend.

I know we have some listeners in the Chicago area.

Is that the Laughing Academy, it looks like?

Yeah, it's a nice little room.

They teach comedy to kids and stuff, and I think comedy classes in general.

But yeah, it's a nice little room in Glenview.

And yeah, it should be fun.

It's like a Father's Day theme show because of the weekend coming up.

So yeah, it should be a lot of fun.

I've been there a few times.

That makes sense.

It sounded very scholastic, so I'm not surprised by that.

And do you not work the road much anymore?

I remember when I met you, I had just moved back to Wisconsin, and you and our pal, Mike Toomey, were driving through Marinette, and that's how I met you.

I had never met you before, so I think you guys were coming from the UP.

Do you still travel to bring the funny?

Yeah, that's correct.

We were coming from the UP.

I think we had we had done a tour around we went up to Michigan side did a show over in Brimley or something and it came back and did something over in

The other side

the

Wisconsin side and then we came down and obviously stopped and saw you so yeah I do still do some of that stuff Honestly, I probably do more corporate stuff now than I have in the past It's a lot easier and it pays better the shows aren't as great, but you know, I still get my little my fix

Yeah, absolutely.

I it's funny when when I heard you were working at Zany's

As they are you are you like the GM now or do you have

a yeah, okay general manager

So I I know I want to contest there for college kids in like 1989 and I

know

a lot of people Will say oh that downtown room.

It's so cramped and it's I love it

I love

the

character of it, and I have such great memories of going to see Skip Kruperis and Larry Reeve and Jimmy Higgins and all these guys.

What's your take?

And Rosemont, on the other hand, is a state-of-the-art room.

It's brand new, beautifully designed,

very

different rooms.

Do you have an opinion on either one of them?

Yeah, I agree 100%.

The downtown room has so much character.

I mean, you walk in and you just, comedy is just clean to your body.

You're like everybody who's

Everybody who's ever done anything has gone through there at one point

in their

career and some of them even if they hadn't Earlier on they come back just to do it because they've heard so many things about the room

It's definitely wasn't made to be a comedy club.

So that that's what makes it unique where Rosemont was built to be a comedy club.

So they took all the good things about, you know, some other clubs and made it into that.

But I have so many comics that come through and they just say this this room is great.

It's just

you know, it's very narrow and it's very slow ceilings and compact and it's, you know, typical downtown like back in the 80s, I guess, when comedies, you know, used to be downtown Pete and the funny firm, I think had 300 seats and I went there the first time and I was sitting at a table about this big and there were eight of us sitting around it with our drinks trying to

trying to lobby for space on the table.

Yeah, they would just cramp people in there.

It was crazy that they got away with it.

That's hilarious.

So what is it like for you?

Like I'm kind of, you know, a lot of the comedians I knew don't have the capacity to actually run a club.

They're lucky if they can get to the show and collect their money at the end of the week.

Like for you to do what you're doing, you must be one of the responsible ones, I'm guessing.

Do you do you if you had to pick right now, would you keep doing stand up or do what you're doing?

Well, I

I That's a great question and I I started working at a comedy club years and years and years ago I started as a door guy and I was the manager after like two weeks because I think it was just that Pete that the owner was like Oh, this guy seems pretty responsible We should give it more to do so I started managing like just the floor manager of the room back then I think

I love doing comedy still to this day.

I love it as much as I did when I started 25 years ago.

So there's something to be said for that because there's some people in the business who don't love doing it.

I still like writing jokes, even though I don't do it as often as I should.

When I do create a joke and I love it and it works, I'm like, this is why I keep doing it.

But to feed the family, it's tough to make a living on the road.

I mean, unless you're starting comedy now, now it's really easy.

You just get one video that goes viral in here.

a

month.

That's interesting.

I want to talk about that.

My guest is Brian Hicks.

He's a Chicago-based stand-up comedian, but I met him in Wisconsin, which was kind of cool.

He has had his own Dry Bar comedy special.

We'll talk about that because it's great, but I want to stay on the club.

What you just said, somebody gets a video and it goes viral.

I was talking to my friend Mike Siegel yesterday and

We were kind of lamenting what other comics have said that if someone has a social media following, they can get booked in a comedy club and they might not be the funniest person in the world.

But you know, they're going to put butts in the seats.

Where do you walk that line?

Because I've talked to friends of mine here in Wisconsin that deal with the same thing.

Do you do you book these guys, even though they might not be that funny?

Yeah.

So here's what I will tell you from a from a club standpoint.

You know, Zany's downtown used to be.

six days a week, I think it was Tuesday through Sunday, and it'd be the same show all week long.

It'd be Larry Reeve all week long, Tim Walco all week long, Pete Schwabba all week long.

And to get a fill, you know, 120 seats, six nights a week and multiple shows on Friday and Saturday to fill that all week long, it's very difficult to do, right?

So now with the...

The influence or I guess you would call them tick tockers.

Yeah, whatever It brings a new dynamic to it So now on a Monday night when we usually would have 20 people in the room or a Tuesday night 20 people in the room We could book one of those acts and they'll sell it out tonight.

We have two shows

for Christina Marinieri, I might be butchering her last name, I apologize, but she's Kiltony fame and was on Kiltony and went viral with it and sold out two shows on a Wednesday night downtown.

So I think from a club standpoint, it's great for business.

And she's a comedian so that I can take that out of the equation where she may not be funny because she is, but...

on other people are just happy to see who they follow and happy to see who their influencers are.

And sometimes that's what it is.

And most of the people that they bring in have never been to a comedy club before, Pete.

So it's good for business too, because if they come, they have a good time and then they spread out into the other comedy shows.

Well, I don't want to toot my own horn, Brian, but I've got 185 followers on Blue Sky.

So

are

you kidding me?

That is

a sign.

Where's my bonus?

Yeah.

Yeah, we'll start with a Sunday matinee show and we'll work up from there.

I'll do my magic tricks.

So that's interesting.

But it's kind of the same like when I was doing stand up in the 90s, they bring in a guy who was on a TV show.

I remember Mark

price who played Skippy on all and had all the family, but family ties.

And I'm like, well, this guy's not funny, but it's the same thing.

He was on TV.

So people go see him.

So I

guess it's

not really that different.

It really isn't.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Think about back in the day, lots of celebrities would come and just, you know, do a spot and people would show up.

I mean, we still have soap opera stars that, that come.

I didn't even think soap operas were on anymore, but we still have a star that comes to the club and sells 150 tickets on a Saturday afternoon.

So there's, yeah, there's definitely a place for it.

Brian Hicks is my guest.

We'll have a few more minutes with Brian after this very quick break.

Don't go anywhere.

We're going to play a little clip from his Drybar special, too, which is outstanding.

We're coming right back.

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

This is Nightlight.

I am Pete Schwab.

Great to have you with me on this Wednesday night.

Todd Alba will be here at 720, one of your favorite civic media hosts.

We are going to square off in a quiz about Wisconsin.

I've got the chills.

Right now we have Brian Hicks is here.

He is a friend of mine and a Chicago based stand-up comedian and also the general manager of Zanies, a very famous Chicago comedy outfit.

Brian what is it weird that you have you have the same name as a very famous comedian same last name Did that put pressure on you when you started doing stand-up comedy?

Incredible pressure Pete.

I don't even know how I was able to get out of my first open mic There was so many questions like who are you are you bill?

Are you bill your bill right your bill?

Could you ride that a little bit?

Yeah, he's my cousin,

Bill

Hicks.

I certainly tried.

But it was the thing, like I would have people bring me up on stage and they'd ask me my name and then I'd say Brian Hicks.

And then they'd bring me up as Bill Hicks.

And then as I was walking up, they would be like, oh, I'm so sorry.

I go, you're sorry.

Imagine how sorry these people are.

Brian did a Drybar comedy special a couple years ago, and we have a little clip from that here, and we'll talk about it after the clip.

Here's Brian Hicks.

I think me and my wife are perfect for each other.

We argue, but it's not yelling, arguing.

It's all verbal.

It's like a verbal.

It's mind games with each other.

We just go back and forth, try to one up the other one.

And here, I'll be honest, I usually lose the argument, okay?

And I'll tell you why, because my wife cheats in the middle of the argument.

and I never catch it because I'm not listening.

Yeah, that's on me, I get it, right?

But I don't think you should be able to cheat in the middle of the argument.

She switches the argument and I don't ever catch it.

I'm gonna tell you what happened, see if you guys could see.

So we were watching TV and then she fell asleep, right?

So I grabbed the remote and I put the game on and then she woke up like an hour later.

She goes, oh my God, what happened?

What happened?

I go, well, you fell asleep, so I put the game on.

She goes, well, I was only sleeping for like five minutes.

I go, honey, you were sleeping for over an hour.

She goes, so what are you saying?

I'm not allowed to take a nap.

Yeah, that's not what we're arguing about here, right?

Yeah, but I didn't just wake up from an hour sleep.

I was on my game this day, right?

So I said, listen, I'm not saying you're not allowed to take a nap.

I'm saying, if you are napping,

You are not allowed to work the remote control.

That's what I'm saying.

Because if we're being honest with each other, your choice is that they're not that great.

In fact, your last one put you to sleep.

Oh, that's Brian Hicks.

Check out his Drybar comedy special.

Just go on the Google, right, Brian?

Brian Hicks,

Drybar, should take you right there,

right?

You had another, I mean, the whole special is great.

I've seen it, but have you ever actually used Kohl's

cash?

Have I, I think I collect the Coles cash and I give it to my wife and then she, it gives her an excuse to go back to the store within seven days and purchase something else.

I find that intimidating.

The Coles cash.

And real quick, let's go back to the dry bar special.

That is approaching one million views.

Oh, no way

got 986,178 views and I'm not keeping track But I just have to know that number off the top of my head So in a world that I came up, you know, we didn't there was no Crazy internet media that stuff To be coming up on a million views for me is very exciting time as you can imagine

dude.

That is fantastic.

I you know look

Best case scenario, we'll get you to a million tonight just from the listeners, but I

hope we can

cut into that a little bit.

That's really, were you nervous when you did that?

Like I didn't stick around long enough to even have an opportunity to do a half hour special, but a lot of my friends did.

And I feel like I would have been terrified.

Were you scared?

Yeah, that's a great question.

And I'll be honest with you, every time I would put a camera on me to record, I would

Crap the bed, right?

I would just it would be a horrible set.

So when I book that you fly out to Utah.

It's one night two shows and I just I had in my mind I like put it in my mind I go

Once I get there and I do the set, it was like 20 or 25 minutes, whatever it was each show.

That's the easy part.

I do that five times a week.

I

go, the hard part is the getting up, traveling, get to the airport, checking to the hotel, rest enough, get a rental car.

So I looked at it and I go, that's the hard part of this gig.

I go, when I'm on stage doing it was the easy part.

And it really was.

I usually get, if somebody does really well in front of me,

It really gets into my mindset.

I'm like, yeah, they're gonna hate me, you know So the guy in front of me was doing really well and I left I left the building because I didn't want to hear the crowd when he got off the

stage

So it worked for me because I left and I came back in before they announced me and I didn't have any I was like, yeah, he did good, but I know I could do good too So I did and it was it was probably the best filming I've ever done in my life So I was happy that it turned out into that

Well, closing in on One Million Views, that's pretty fantastic.

So I'm sure you'll get there.

That's great.

Were you always clean?

Because I know Drybar, you have to be clean to do a Drybar comedy special.

Did you have to clean up your act or were you already in the perfect situation?

Yeah, no.

My stuff, even when I started, I don't know, I just naturally kind of wrote clean.

I wrote dirty jokes too, but I don't know.

I was always just a cleaner comic.

Comics who would come to the club that I worked at they would know that and see that and then I got a lot of work with them because they'd see I was clean and they go I could bring this guy and he can open for me So I was uh, I was just clean so I didn't really have to change a lot for dry bar There were a couple jokes that I I stayed away from or kind of just tweaked them a little bit But for the most part it was pretty just me doing my setup there.

That's fantastic Can we are you in a hurry?

Can we keep you through the news and for a couple more minutes?

Yeah, sure.

I got a couple more minutes.

You got your wardrobe laid out behind you hanging on the door there, I can see.

It's very spiffy.

That's my Doug Stanhope jacket

that I like.

Oh, I like that.

That's my

homage to Doug Stanhope.

Fantastic.

All right, Brian Hicks is going to stick around for a few more minutes.

I'm going to ask him what he's watching and who his influences were.

comics he's looked up to.

We'll do all that after intermission folks.

Civic Media's news team is about to tell you what's up.

Stick around for that as well.

I'm Pete Schwab, but we are coming right back on the Civic Media Radio

Network.

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay, this is Night Light with Peach Waba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now, a guy who once tore his ACL playing chess, Peach Waba.

Hey, welcome back.

This is Nightlight Folks.

I am Pete Schwabba.

We are kicking off act two here of this evening's broadcast.

Great to have you with me.

Our question of the night is what was your favorite hour-long drama before the age of streaming?

What show did you watch?

Conrad and I both changed our answers and said 24 after someone on the stream mentioned 24.

I had totally forgotten about the show, but as far as network shows go, I loved that show.

So we've heard some great ones.

Please share yours and be part of the fun.

We will read your text on the radio.

We talked a lot with Brian Hicks, our guest in the first hour, who has agreed to stick around for a few more minutes.

Brian is a stand-up comedian based in Chicago and also is the general manager of Zanies in Rosemont and downtown.

Two great comedy rooms.

Brian, have you worked Wisconsin much?

Yeah, I got about one minute and then I got a shoot out of here.

Oh,

okay.

No, that's okay.

You're fine I got Yeah, I'm back Wisconsin.

Honestly, Michigan, Wisconsin the whole Midwest It's really my favorite area to work.

It seems like the crowds are so friendly and they're really accommodating I haven't done a ton of stuff elsewhere, but the people in audiences seem a little bit different, but the Midwest

Wisconsin, especially in Michigan.

They're grateful.

Like

you

talked about being grateful earlier.

They're grateful that you're bringing comedy to where they're at, which is cool.

Absolutely.

Well, before we let you go, and I totally get it, do you have a quick road story you can share?

Should we save that to another time?

If you've got a comedy drama happening there at the club and need to go, we totally understand.

Well, I do remember one time I was doing the Funny Bone in Columbus, Ohio.

It was Thursday through s time there was like, oh, th the worst storm we've ever going to be snowfall for

20 degrees and I watched the news all weekend long as I was doing these shows and I was supposed to do a show Sunday night and I texted the manager, I go, Hey man, I got to go.

I go, something happened at home.

I got to get out of here and I wanted to get home before the storm hit and I started to go and I made it to Lafayette, Indiana and everything was shut down.

The interstate was shut down.

Everything was shut down and I got stuck there for two days in Lafayette, beautiful Lafayette, Indiana.

Oh, that is so

depressing.

You'd rather be somewhere getting heckled than be in some hotel.

Well, listen, dude, this is fun.

Great catching up again.

And go run your club and bring the funny to the people.

And let's try to talk again at some point.

Great having you on.

Thanks

so much, Pete.

I appreciate it.

Thanks, Conrad.

You got it.

All right.

That's Brian Hicks.

Check out Brian Hicks, funnybrionhicks.com.

And you can check out Brian's dates if you're in the Chicago area.

And he will keep you.

apprised on his website of where he will be performing, but a good dude and a great comic.

So there you go.

Conrad, all right, so we have a text from last night.

I don't like to miss texts.

So we had Bud, and I think I brought them in here.

I printed up the text because it's easier for me to keep track.

This is Bud, our friend from Jamesville, who texted us at 4.15 a.m.

Bud is out delivering papers in the Madison area and says, hey, Pete, it's nice to be approved.

See, here's the problem, Conrad.

I don't remember when people send a text.

It's hard to remember what we were talking about when they're commenting on it.

Does that ring a bell for you?

I've been trying to think about it.

It doesn't ring a bell.

You think he bought a blue checkmark on Twitter?

Is that what he's going after there?

I don't know.

It sounds like something you'd say, though.

He says, love it.

My sense of humor loved the show, Bud from Jamesville.

Bud, we love that you listened.

Thank you for texting.

Again, our question tonight is what is your favorite hour-long drama?

Like, network drama, folks.

Think before streaming was the thing.

Because now there's so much, and this goes to show you, like, there are a ton of great TV shows on.

There are episodics you can multiple, many in some cases, on all the platforms.

that are really well done.

And now think back to the 90s or even the 80s, God forbid, there were three channels.

And I hate to say this, but like the shows that are on now on the streaming platforms are so much better.

They take more chances, they're better written, they're edgier.

They make those shows look so lame and thank God we didn't know that at the time.

Like even 24 well done a thriller for a network show that would be eight episodes and it would be so tight because I will say when I gave 24 a rewatch about six years ago There was a lot of streaming available.

It was hard to get through even though when I first watched it I thought it was a great show But it just goes on too long seasons should not be 24 episodes Or even 22.

I love the way the British shows do it

Annie from Watertown says, St.

Elsewhere.

How do you like that?

I never watched that show.

I didn't even know that was a show.

It is.

Another medical drama.

Thank you, Annie.

Tom from New Berlin says, Conrad, that's the joy of golf.

You would have been just happy.

You struck the ball clean.

So there you go.

That's a text for Conrad.

Oh, Civic Media's own Luke Mathers.

Love, Luke.

He says, ER.

Yeah, ER.

Honestly, ER is probably, if there was, if this was a contest tonight, if this were a contest, that would probably win if it came to like Emmy wins.

Annie from Watertown says, after ice skating, we settled in and watched the first episode of NYPD Blue.

The ending was, oh my, and she says hooked.

I gotta be honest, Annie, I don't remember what that first episode was, but I remember there was some incredible TV.

and some incredible writing on that show.

The scene where Jimmy Smith's character passes away and he's holding his wife's hand, who I think is Kim Delaney, and they lost a baby.

And then they show him in the afterlife kind of holding his baby's hand.

Oh my God, it was very powerful.

In fact, I had the pleasure, this was fun.

I wrote promos for Army Wives, a show Kim Delaney was on.

And I brought that up to her.

We just had a moment offset and she said, oh yeah.

And I was like, oh yeah, that was like maybe one of my favorite network drama moments of all time.

And it was a gig to her.

Not that she didn't love it or throw herself into the role, but she had worked on so many shows, she barely remembered it.

And it was a pivotal moment in my life.

Anna from Madison says, my favorite pre-streaming drama was the Sopranos.

See, I would put Sopranos in the streaming category, but I guess you're right, Anna, that was...

You know what I'd love to see?

Like, if I...

back in when Sopranos was streaming is how it ended.

I'd love to see that how that actually happened on TV when it just went blank.

So, oh, so you have seen it though.

Yes,

I'm saying but like instead of streaming

it first time

watching it week to week

and

then seeing it just blank out at the end and just

nothing.

We should do a thing about that because that was a pretty comfort or you know, that was a

you know, I don't know.

I

liked it.

The first episode of Family Guy this season.

They remade it and it's the funniest it's it's a sopranos

like they

they remade the ending with Well, you got it I gotta share you the clip and just watch it because it's hilarious But they do it with a like a animated character kids character

It's hilarious.

Yeah, sure it let's play it if we may play it tomorrow night or something, but yeah, definitely share it with me But that was controversial I remember that love it

We'll have to have a talk about that some night.

And then Tom from Minona, he's in the 608.

He says, loved Freaks and Geeks.

Another great show.

I kind of forgot.

Love that.

I didn't watch it when it was, you know, when it was out, obviously, but I did watch it on Hulu where it is now.

Is

it on Hulu now?

It's only one season, but I think it's hilarious.

So.

Wait,

was the whole show one season?

Yeah,

they didn't make

a second season.

I wish they would have though.

Yeah, yeah.

We have a call.

Yes, we do.

Ali from the Northwoods.

Oh, Ali, how are you?

I am doing good.

You guys are great tonight, and I love your comedian.

Oh,

Brian.

It's nice to hear something that you can actually hear without having to cover your eyes.

Or in this case, your ears on radio.

Well, it's our pleasure, Ollie.