New Movies and Smart Studios(Hour 2)

Hey, this is producer Conrad.

Hope you have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend.

Pete and I are taking time to spend time with our family and enjoy the weather.

So in the meantime, here's a show that includes some of our favorite moments from 2025.

Hope you enjoy.

Great to have you with me on this Tuesday night.

We're broadcasting live from beautiful downtown Green Bay statewide a gorgeous sort of summer night here in Wisconsin We sat on the porch for the first time the other night and it was I needed a coat It was like I was just sitting out there because it wasn't freezing

But it

sucks the weather has been really sucky I would say

it was it was it was nice after that like rain passed yesterday Yeah, after the rain stopped it got it got pretty nice

out

Yeah, it's not too bad, I guess.

All

right, that was one of Conrad Greger's five-day

forecasts.

Do we have Lance?

Yes, we do.

All right, fantastic.

It is my pleasure, ladies and gentlemen, to welcome back tonightlite.

You know him as possibly George Cooper on the hit show Young Sheldon.

He's also been in another film with me called The Godfather of Green Bay.

That's where we met.

And he has many other acting credits.

My pal, the talented Lance Barber.

Guy Pete.

Dude, I am loving that mustache.

How about it?

You know, I did this just for you.

I had a full beer, but I said, you know what Schwabba would like?

He'd like the old tickler.

And so I put the old tickler back on.

One of the funniest things I've ever heard, and we're on radio, I can't say it, but it is

called

a blank sweeper.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I almost went there and stopped myself live radio.

Tickler

was good.

The only time

I've

ever

had just a mustache without the beard was during COVID.

My son and I grew matching mustache.

So that was kind of fun.

And kind of gross, I'm

sure.

It was weird.

I felt like Bert Reynolds, like I was in Smoky and the Bandit.

But that is awesome, man.

That's like a crotch-y dude.

Yeah, I'm trying to go for the full crotch.

I like it.

You

fell out the full crotch.

The full crotch.

Hey, how are you?

I'm good, man.

How are you

doing very well?

I heard that you were sitting I heard that you were sitting on the porch.

I was time has really gone by hasn't it?

Not only were you sitting on the porch, but you got a little chilly.

What happened to us?

Listen dude, I have a favorite kind of seltzer water.

I don't know when that happened It's just not right But I see you could still party because I see you have a banjo on the wall and I love that do you play

the banjo?

Nothing says wild man like banjo music.

This is party animal I Played the jug we

could

next time

we're

How you been man

I'm good.

I got all that, you know, and my kid plays the music though.

He's far surpassed me and all

of

his string instruments.

So they're just up as decorations and he's the one that plays everything.

That's unbelievable.

It's so funny.

Like you and I went a while without talking, not for weird reasons or anything, but like I always think of your kids as being the age they were when we last spoke and probably mine too.

How old

are you?

I think Joe, I think of your kids as being teeny because that's when I saw them last night.

Maybe I saw your son more recently, but yeah.

Are your kids like teenagers now Lance?

Yeah, I got two teenagers in the house and I can't I can hardly tolerate it.

It's um He's almost 17 and she's just turned 14 my daughter.

So

That's actually pretty good.

I welcome the teen years is all the traditional things that come with it which we're tasting some of but It's kind of fun to have them be yeah

to watch those movies together.

It's fun.

Yeah, for sure.

That's what we're doing.

Yeah.

Yeah, so

Alright, so as I mentioned Lance was in a film I did called The Godfather of Green Bay.

We shot primarily here in northeast Wisconsin in a little bit in LA in Vegas, but that's where we met.

I've known you a long time Lance and I was so

excited when you got cast as young Sheldon you were like the guy on our movie set that everybody said it's only a matter of time before Lance has a breakout, you know, it certainly wasn't in the Godfather of Green Bay, but No, but we knew you were gonna have like Everybody and it's not any one of us.

It was just it was kind of a consensus.

So can you talk about what that run was like the last time you were on the show?

I think your character had not met its fate yet, and you couldn't really say much.

The show had an amazing ending and a great run.

What was it like?

That was cool.

I mean, to speak to the ending, it was kind of awesome.

I've said this before, but we all knew it was coming.

Yeah.

And so that was part of my, I was mostly prepared for that, where everybody else was gonna crush cast and audience alike.

And even if they knew it was coming, because they decided to give the

show a beginning middle and end and I loved that they did.

The end came for that program at least was you know when George died and Sheldon went to college and I thought that was mighty cool of them to do that.

And also the fact that I was America's dad on TV that died.

You know, that's pretty cool for a character actors like legacy, right?

Like, you know, we, in our 20s, we're at the bar and we're talking about, remember that show, remember this show, remember that thing?

And some kids are gonna be in college talking about, remember when, you know, young Sheldon's dad died?

Oh

yeah, that

crushed it,

right?

I get to have that like as part of my acting legacy and it's really neat for a character actor to have something like memorable in that way, so.

I would imagine.

I'm super grateful.

And it was, you know, it was a jackpot, awesome job for so many reasons.

It came at the right time in my life and my kids were the right age and it was kids on the show.

So I wasn't gone all the time.

I shot at Warner Brothers.

I was 12 minutes from work

and I

was home for dinner most nights.

And of course, the work itself, the show had such success and I'm still getting Netflix has it out now.

And

It still has a life in the way that it didn't used to before streaming.

And so people are watching it for the first time, right?

And they might watch it for the first time, do a run of the series years from now.

And so, and I get approached by people saying, I just started it and we loved it, you know, that's pretty cool.

And really, it's got legs.

Absolutely.

And it's one of the, like you're right.

I think that's so incredible that I talked to people now that still say, like they just discovered Seinfeld 10 years ago.

Well, it's going to be the same with Young Sheldon.

I mean, especially in a franchise like that, like now there's

a

prequel and it's just great.

And I would imagine you as an actor, you don't even need a reel anymore.

You just plopped down that scene where you got to pass away on national TV.

And that's like a pretty cool thing on your resume.

I mean, great,

great

as an actor, right?

Yeah, yeah for sure for sure.

I mean it got to for for a show that had was a comedy was a network sitcom primetime comedy

Yeah, it

had a lot of it had a lot of those moments that were Heavy enough and had the heart so we get to play those and and I think that's what grounded it and made it popular.

So

absolutely Alright, so what do you do now Lance?

You had this great run?

Is it I'm retired Pete

Wow, I'm done

I'm just here playing the banjo most days.

That's not a

bad life.

It was about a year ago in April.

I think that we ended the show, and then I've just been a family man since.

You know, everybody's talking about the business in Los Angeles being slow, and I can second that.

It really is.

It's different right now.

Things are less than they used to be for local work and auditions, et cetera.

And that's fine.

I

mean, to be gross, I'm going to...

Financial position where I don't have to worry about what's coming next for a minute, right?

And so I'm really enjoying my kids are older.

They're gonna be out of the house soon I'm really leaning into that but I will get restless before too long and want to work, you know for sure I'm waiting for you to put me in a movie so

I'll be ready for that when that time comes.

But I feel like I'm in a position that I never had been before because of the show, because I can say no to things.

I can feel comfortable waiting for the next thing personally and financially for my family.

So it's super lucky.

Yeah, here's a question on the stream from Mike for Lance.

How does someone who does comedy with sock puppets at Rocktoberfest and doing a dine and dash with Joe Keegan

End up being one of the most talented, beloved TV dads of all time.

Also, are you up for a Godfather of Greenway sequel?

Good God.

Mike is always pitching a sequel.

Is

that Desatel?

Is that Mike?

Oh, yeah.

Mike Desatel.

Sure.

You know Mike.

Yeah, of course.

Of course.

Yeah.

Mike's a great guy.

He had my favorite light on the Godfather of Green Bay when he was taking a swat in the woods.

Yeah.

That was my favorite performance of the film.

He had a premiere in Marinette.

He did that line in the place erupted because everybody knows him.

And it's a funny line.

And as the laughter dies down, you could hear Mike's mom say, Michael, I'm so proud of you.

It was just a glorious moment.

Mike has always been good with the bowels anyway.

On camera or

off, I'm told so.

So I don't I don't remember Mike's answer, but I like that guy and how did I I'm just you know, I'm just Brimming with talent Mike.

I don't like what can I say?

I just That was it's one of those things you're born with you can't teach it.

You know what I

mean?

Hey, let's let me ask you that Lance.

We'll be your next

type of role, like let's say network TV came calling again or a really cool streamer, like what would you want to play?

You've already done the cool kind of bad ass dad.

It was a very sweet and also protective and a great role.

What would you want to do next if it was up to Lance or balls?

It was up to me, you know, I get asked that and I just don't know.

It's a very general answer.

Something's so different.

Really?

You know, everybody wants to lean into, I had, I've had, there were two auditions for football coaches.

that have come this year, right?

And different characters, different style, all of that.

I don't want to play a football coach again.

And at least not right now.

And those are things I'm passing on.

Again, having the luxury of being somewhat choosy.

I just

want to do something that I haven't done before.

Luckily, I've done things before this that had a little attention.

I was on a show called The Comeback, and I played a jerk.

And I played The Bad Guy, and so I had to have that already in my...

on the resume and I played an obnoxious character on Always Sunny that I still get recognized for a lot in public.

So I have those things.

I want to do something different than any of those.

And I don't know what that is.

You know, recently I auditioned for Little House on the Prairie.

They're doing a, I think there's a reboot of it anyway.

That is, it's a Western, it's a period piece.

You know, I haven't done that.

I mean, something like that.

Interest me again very generally just something.

I haven't done character wise or Style wise

yeah, what about a like a cop that used a box in the service and that he's referred to as a tough bastard that kind of guy I

like I like I am working on it right now.

Actually the title of the script is called tough bastard, but to you FF.

I love it That's pretty cool.

You also worked with Christopher guest.

What was that like?

Yeah, that's another like feather in my cap that was a dream come true for any of us that you know It was a Christopher guest movie.

I was on screen for you know what 30 seconds or something, but it didn't matter.

No,

the addition was with him.

That's my story about that so you have to like

And it wasn't even an audition, it was just a meeting.

So I just got to talk to the guy with a chewed gum in front of me.

And then I worked one day on that movie and then had lunch with him and Eugene and the guys and got to go to the after party.

That's the story is like I was in their company.

It was in one of the later movies that they did.

It was a dream come true.

Like everybody envied that because it was a Christopher Guest movie, of course.

I mean, I'm so proud to have had that on my resume.

That's for sure.

Lance Barber is my guest.

He was one of the stars of Young Sheldon and he is enjoying his retirement, which I'm sure will not last all that

long.

We have about a minute before a short break, Lance, and then we'll just have a few minutes more.

I know you're busy and you're leaving town tomorrow, right?

You're going to see where you're going?

I'm we are we starting our summer travels.

That's another thing I can do because I'm retired We go home every summer, you know, I'm a Midwest kid like you Great Lakes area.

Yeah Part of my summer travels is a is a family reunion up in near Green Bay I'm going up to my cousin's place who's hosting a big family reunion in Cronin wetter, Wisconsin I don't know if you know where Cronin wetter is but for crying out loud.

It's up north there and

Uh, I'm looking forward to that bunch of people getting together that we haven't been together in a while.

So you've grown in winter folks listening.

We'll be up there.

We'll go to the Google.

We'll figure it out.

We got to do a

really

short break and then we'll come back and I'm going to invite myself to Lance's family reunion, which will be awkward.

It's

peach wabba

and

nightlight on the civic media radio

network.

Every time I think of you, I feel shocked right through and above

all

through.

It's no problem in mind, but it's a problem I find.

Welcome back.

I am Pete Schwab.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwab.

Great to have you with me on a Monday night.

It feels like a Tuesday, but it's still a Monday night.

Our question to the night is, what is your favorite kind of ice cream?

Go brand on this one, folks.

I say the chocolate shop in Madison.

Conrad said someplace in Eden.

Kelly

Kelly's County

County Conrad has dressed like a coach tonight and all things are good Lance Barber is here from the show young Sheldon and many other great credit.

He's been a part of over his Over his illustrious career and he's rocking a mustache tonight Looking good, buddy What?

All right, what am I gonna?

Where am I gonna go?

You said my favorite ice cream.

Oh, we could do that.

Yeah, sure

It's none of your business, Pete.

I didn't mean to get too personal to a guy who calls me balls.

Do you

have a favorite?

I like a butter pecan.

I like a buttery.

That's old school, like butter pecan, pistachio.

I love it.

Hey,

I want

to ask you, you said, you know, when we were texting like a week or so ago, you said the town is dead, referring to LA.

All my friends, many of them who work.

non-stop, say the same thing.

What do you mean by that?

Like, when you say the town is dead, I know there's not a ton of production there, but it kind of perplexes me that a working actor so busy is saying it's dead.

Yeah, I mean, I'm saying it's dead because the amount of, since the new year, since the strikes really, the amount of auditions that are available to me are just...

so limited.

I mean, it's so much less than it used to be.

Pretty, you know, pre-pandemic for sure and pre-pandemic slash strikes, double strikes.

And it is an issue of, you know, work being elsewhere and the industry being slower here.

Like everybody that there's people that I worked with on the show that had a sweet job for seven years and some retired off of it.

Union guys, you know, and all different departments can otherwise, and I'm hearing stories that they're driving Uber to make ends meet because there's just less production going on here, it seems.

You look at all the streaming services and there's, you know, 30,000 things coming out every month, but I don't know where they're shooting them or what the opportunities are.

Right.

Interesting.

How was your time at Second City Lance?

I know you had this great training.

uh for what you do now and I think you you're obviously very naturally gifted but what did a place like second city or if you did groundlings or something like that do for your career did that help

yeah immensely you know I'm glad that I did that I was going to go to like I went to community college and got my associate's degree in the theater arts I'll have you know

And then after that, I was going to maybe go to a four-year school, like Western Michigan University near me in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

I had a nice theater program and I had designs on that, but I started working.

And then a friend of mine, I went to go visit Chicago, took me to see a second city show.

It was called Pinata Full Abyss, Adam McKay and Tina Fey and people like this in the cast.

And I was blown away and I'm like, I never had intentions, but this is what I'm doing.

I thought I'd do theater.

I didn't do any theater in Chicago.

I just did second city and improv Olympics sketch and sketch and improv.

And that behooved my resume way more than like a BA from a university, I think would in Los Angeles.

I came out and sketch was an improv was still huge.

And so it got me in all kinds of doors.

The community that I found in that place in Chicago,

at Second City, the history of the place, just being in the hallowed halls, all that.

Brought so much and I got great teachers.

And then again, the community, the peers that I met are some of my still favorite funniest people that I've met and were an inspiration.

So you go to those places for all those reasons that certainly was, looking back, those were the things that stick out to me was the company I was in.

That's so great.

What are you watching on TV Lance?

Anything you could recommend?

Vinge watch wise or shows you like to watch with your kids?

What makes you think I have time to watch anything?

You said you were retired and the banjo was on the wall.

My wife and I still fall asleep watching the news.

I don't know how many times we've started the fair.

I know.

And like the last two or three years, whatever, I was fed off.

We're dying to watch it.

And then, you know, life happens and we were asleep at nine or whatever.

And the kids have to, we have to run the kids somewhere.

I honestly haven't watched.

I watched stuff with more movies now, as we were talking about earlier.

My kid's going to be 17.

We just opened up a world of things we couldn't watch them when they were little because it's...

Yeah, because we shouldn't.

And now I'm playing the game of, hey, check this out.

We watched Tarantino together.

We watched things he's interested in, curious about old comedies, horror.

He's into horror.

So that's what I'm leaning into is the fun of that.

That's so great.

I love it when too it's interesting you said that because when I would try to get my kids to watch something they've never wanted to watch it but like if I have it on like sometimes I would

be

like manipulative and I'd have it on and I put it to a great scene I knew that was they were gonna gravitate towards and the next thing you know they're sitting there watching and they have no idea I tricked them so

yeah I have to wait for my son now to like hear it from Pierce yeah hey you know about this movie I'm like oh yeah I know about that movie

invited you to watch it because you weren't interested.

But if you watch it, let me know.

I'd love to join.

Join him.

Well, listen, dude, this has been fun.

I appreciate your time.

I know you got a lot going on in the way of family stuff.

I hope you have a great summer with the family.

Keep the tickler.

And we'll look for a look for tough bastard with with Lance Barber, the new cop.

I'll let you know.

We'll plug it on the show when we get it out.

I hope

so.

Thanks so much, buddy.

Good

talk to you.

You too.

All right, that's Lance Barber.

Boy, if you haven't seen Young Sheldon, folks, you've got a whole, what is it, seven years Conrad?

You watched the whole thing.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Yeah, great stuff.

And also, I forgot that Lance was on Always Sunny.

That's probably, I felt last time he was here, he said that was like the next most recognizable role he had, even though he was great in the comeback too.

Incredibly talented guy.

All right, when we come back, we're going to read some text.

We're gonna have, there's more, I got a real brouhaha going here over the ice cream thing and the ice cream thing.

It's ice cream, man.

Yeah, okay.

All right, we'll do all that.

And Heather Heil will be here soon.

I don't know exactly when.

And we're not strict about when.

She can just roll in.

She has an open door invitation.

So

we'll have

Heather here.

We're going to give her a quiz.

We're going to talk about what's going on at the Green Bay Children's Museum.

All kinds of fun stuff.

That's coming up after intermission.

Act two starts soon.

Folks, stick around for the news.

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

Hey, this is producer Conrad.

Hope you have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend.

Pete and I are taking time to spend time with our family and enjoy the weather.

So in the meantime, here's a show that includes some of our favorite moments from 2025.

Hope you

enjoy.

Here's your host,

Pete Schwabba.

That's right, buddy.

Don't think I won't throw you under the bus if I have to.

I think that's the first time you've ever forgotten.

It is the popcorn pick of the week, folks.

It is great to have you with us because now, all right, by the end of this segment, ladies and gentlemen, you're going to have a new movie to check out, either one you haven't seen or maybe one you've seen and forgotten about or one you've never heard of.

We've run the gamut here with this segment that we do every week here on Thursday nights at 6.35.

And here tonight to make the popcorn pick.

and just catch up in general is one of my favorite comedians.

He's a Wisconsin native son, and he joins us over the stream, Mr. Tom Clark.

Hey, buddy.

Hey, how you doing?

Doing very well.

How are you, Tom?

Good.

Now, I've got an idea, you know, for the handshake day.

But this is how to avoid handshakes.

Okay.

Because immediately shake someone's hand.

Smell your hand.

I have to come clean, Tom.

I told them your joke earlier.

I kind of mentioned that, but of course I footnoted because it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen when you do that joke and the way you smell your hand is just gorgeous.

So that's a great one.

Are you all right?

No, I told people also that you I didn't know you were a friend of Rich Taylor Rico's as well.

You probably know him better than I do.

But Rich has been on this show several times.

Great guy.

And we did this fantastic read through of his new script.

I won't divulge any details, but it was over zoom and you played the lead role and you were fantastic, buddy.

Oh, thank you so much.

Yeah, I've known Rich here.

The funny thing I saw Rich perform at Second City like in 1999.

I think Stephanie Weir was in that company at that time and he did this.

They were playing freeze tag and he did this thing where he's sitting down and Stephanie Weir is like this and they say freeze and Stephanie Weir says I'm a ballerina and Rich says that's not going to bring your mother back.

And that line just killed me.

He's like I'll be upstairs polishing my gun.

Oh, man, that's great.

And I told him that when I finally ran into him out here.

And from that, we started to develop a friendship.

And then he took my stand up class, which is actually where that idea for the movie came from was.

Yeah, again, I won't go into the details.

But but I asked people to stand in front of the class and and the class members say, what do you see in this person?

So you look at somebody, you might say, oh, this guy looks like Biff from Back to the Future.

This guy looks like a lumberjack or whatever.

So from that, one of the things he got was how he got his idea for the movie.

That is incredible.

So that was years ago.

And the script is just finally, it's funny.

And that's just what happens with writing sometimes.

You table something or you shelve it and you go back to it.

But yeah, it was a very funny script and a great idea.

Yeah.

No, it was a lot of fun.

I was surprised to see in there.

I didn't realize.

Yeah.

Well, you must know about your movie career as well.

He did.

Well, he said that and he said he remembered me from being a Chicago standup.

And I kind of remember him.

I think he was just starting out in improv, but he and I did some really bad pilot together.

Oh,

that's

where I remembered him from.

And I don't even know if he remembered me from that, but he was just a really nice guy.

And I'm happy to be his friend.

And he's a great guest when he's on the show and really talented.

Oh, yeah.

All right, so let's talk movies and TV snacks, Tom, before we get into some other things you have going on, how do you typically like to watch movies?

What's your approach?

Theater, home?

I mean, now it's all home.

I don't think I've been to a movie theater in five years or six years.

Really?

Pre-COVID.

Pre-COVID.

Yeah, I just don't go at all.

Actually, I did go to see...

What the heck movie was it?

The Deadpool 2.

We were in Vegas and we went to a movie.

This guy wanted to see Deadpool 2.

And it was fine.

I don't know.

It's such a, I mean, the big seats.

And I miss like the sticky floors and the popcorn everywhere.

And I used to like a comfortable seat, you know, go back to the old way.

Seats are a little too comfortable now, I think.

Oh, yeah client and everything that was fun though I remember I remember working the road and going to movies with comics during the day and I missed that that was kind of a fun routine, you know

Yeah, it's everything's on your computer everything you could just watch and you know, I remember This was like probably 1981 or two.

I I was I was friends with this There's like one black family in my neighborhood and

We were friends and they took me downtown on a Saturday night.

We saw Skate Town USA at an all-black movie theater.

It was the most culturally awakening experience of my life because just hearing people yell at the screen and just the interaction

with the

movie.

It was the most entertaining movie I've ever watched.

You go to like, you know, walk a show and watch a movie.

It's so like.

Blanned but there was like it was so active like I felt involved with the movie and like people are narrating stuff I mean, it's the funniest experience of my life.

That's great.

I miss that.

Yeah.

Yeah, totally What do you what is your kind of like what genre do you like to watch time?

Do you have a favorite or a typical genre that you watch in the Clark household?

Usually comedy usually somewhat

poignant his poignant genre I mean sort of we like we like funny, but we also like something that has a little dramatic flair to it I'm trying to remember what we watched recently we watched this movie Thelma about this 90 year old woman who goes on a quest to To get a scammer get her money back from a scammer

with Richard

Yeah, yeah Richard roundtree.

That's right

It was it was good.

It was a little slow paced, but I did enjoy I enjoy a movie with like a good concept like

yeah,

especially like a character that doesn't get used a lot of like an elderly woman and man going out on a quest to to kind of be the idea was like they're doing their Tom Cruise mission impossible

right to

get their money back and they're going around in like a motorized cart and Yeah, I enjoyed it, but it was you know

It's always hard to execute in the execution of it.

Totally.

I have to be honest.

I loved that concept.

When I read that, I was like, I cannot wait to see this.

It got like 95% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Right.

And

it

went and I was bored to tears.

I was like, yeah, this is a real clunker.

And I don't know if like they were.

thinking oh this is so cute this 90 year old woman is trying to get her like that yeah that's great but it just was kind of slow right i don't know

super slow

in

the editing and like i get the idea of like they move slow but it was just uh yeah i like you said i was just like such a great log line but yeah just

died on the screen.

And something we've all wanted to do as well is when we get scammed or go after scammers.

But what do you what is your snack of choice, Tom?

When you watch a movie at home, whether you're alone or with staff or whatever, what's your snack?

I mean, it's popcorn.

It's the standard.

Yeah, or not.

I can't.

I know some people like to

put chocolate in the popcorn or do like Reese's peanut butter cups like I'm just I can't do it anymore I'm just it's it's just gonna I'm just gonna get way too heavy so yeah we do I do popcorn we cook it in our we don't we just cook it in the pot and just do it old-school style a little olive oil on it

love

it

I love it.

Tom Clark is my guest.

He is a very funny stand-up comedian and actor and a Wisconsin native son.

He came from Milwaukee and started his comedy career there.

He's joining us tonight to make the popcorn pick of the week.

I'm with you too about the popcorn.

And I don't mind buying like gourmet popcorn if it's already in the bag and already made, if people really know what they're doing.

Do you have a, and the nice thing is Tom, and maybe you can go back to your.

Movie going days when you did go to the theater.

Did you ever sneak booze in to the theater?

I I did not I went on a date one time and This was not stuff.

This was pre stuff and she decided to buy She's like I want to buy you know Southern Comfort or something and have it in the theater.

She comes in it's a handle of Southern Comfort and

We're sitting in the theater.

I don't even remember what movie it was.

I think it was role models.

And she just I just hear she gets a big large coke.

She I just hear like three quarters of it poured on the floor of the theater, not even like subtle going to the bath.

And then I just hear into the soda glass.

I'm like, Oh, this is like our second date.

Oh my gosh.

And that's not even the worst one.

The second worst one was, went to see Goodwill hunting at the Oriental Theater.

The girl fell asleep halfway through the movie.

It's not even a comfortable seat.

It's the Oriental Theater.

It's like, you know, gum on the floor.

She just dozed off.

I'm like, this is not good.

Did

you just sneak away

that or what?

Oh, I was so tempted to just leave the theater and just let her wake up.

You know, how do you like them apples?

I

was saying was that was that did she pass out after drinking half a bottle of Southern comfort?

Like you probably could have seen that coming.

Yeah.

These are two separate dates.

One was the Southern comfort lady who.

Managed to stay awake and the other was the girl who just fell asleep midway through the movie.

So

yeah,

that was I Don't think it's ever worked out with going with a girl to a movie theater I went with Steph to see I was in a movie called freaks of nature And I was with Dennis Leary.

Oh, yeah, I had a

big scene in the movie and

And then stuff like this was when there was like the shooting at the movie theaters.

And she just panicked.

She couldn't sit in the theater.

So I couldn't even watch the rest of the movie because she had sort of a panic attack with that.

So it's just me and girls at movie theaters just doesn't seem to work

out at all.

Just go to a play next time or so.

Go to a museum, Tom.

Yeah.

What kind of a

What kind of cocktail do you like when you when you watch a movie at home?

Do you have a good old Wisconsin old-fashioned or just a beer?

What do you what do you do?

I wish I had a good answer.

I it's literally like water It's like nothing It's not so not like I've oh my god.

I've cleaned up my act a lot

It sounds like you were affected by that southern comfort girl like you thought I got a fly right and scared straight, you know something like that

Yeah, I can't, you know, I know, yeah, there's nothing really, you know, maybe once in a while, rip your float.

Oh, there you

go.

They're getting fancy.

But, you know, if I'm a good boy.

Yeah, I mistook you for someone who liked to party, Tom.

I didn't know you were from Wisconsin.

I thought maybe I set you up there for a cocktail.

But all right, Tom Clark is here, folks.

The very funny Tom Clark.

We're going to do a very short break.

We're going to come back and get his popcorn pick of the week.

Great to have you with me on this Thursday night.

It's Night Light with Peach Wabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.

This is the Civic Media Radio Network and Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.

I am Pete Schwabba and we are talking Popcorn Pick of the Week here with our guest, Wisconsin native son, Milwaukee native son.

The very funny Tom Clark has joined us over the stream.

We're just about to get his Popcorn Pick of the Week.

Tom, have you ever cried during a movie?

What makes you cry?

You're kind of a big burly macho guy.

What makes the rain come?

Oh

my god, anything, anything.

They totally, yeah, they, they, if you're a, if you're good at pulling at the heart strings, I will, I will let out an audible sob during the movie.

I think I was with stuff and I just, I can't, I wish I could remember the movie off him, but I went, I was just like, and she liked

seeing your sensitive side was at a good.

moment in your

relationship.

Yeah.

She appreciated that.

That's great.

She gave her a lot of, a lot of D bags.

So she is, I think, surprised that I was

audibly sobbing.

All right.

What about like

when you were like, like I said, you're a big guy.

You played football at St.

Norbert's as I understand it.

That's

right.

And I don't think I would mess with you, certainly, mostly because I just think you're a nice guy.

But that aside, like, have you ever been in a theater and people are talking, have you ever shushed anybody or given them a look or threatened them?

No.

This is kind of unrelated, but we're watching the movie Shallow Hal, which is the Jack Black movie where he, you know, he's dating Gwyneth Paltrow is really heavy, but he's only able to see their inner beauty.

And we're about three quarters of the way through the movie in the sky in front of me whispers to his wife.

He's like, oh, he only sees their inner beauty.

I was like.

How are you just getting that?

Like we're way past you realizing, like that was the funniest thing.

I laughed out loud.

Steph and I laughed out loud when we heard that guy.

I think I've told this before on the show, but.

I went to, I don't know if you remember.

Oh, good Milwaukee comic, Mick Lozinski.

I don't know if you ever met Mick.

But yeah, he and I were working Indianapolis together.

We went to see Pulp Fiction during the day.

It was like a one o'clock showing.

And I think it was just the two of us and then these two other guys in the theater.

And it was the scene where Travolta, you thought he had died and then all of a sudden he's alive again.

It's, you know, non-linear.

They're just telling the story

and

jumping around.

And this guy could not wrap his head around that.

So we're like 10 feet.

We just hear the guy go.

What?

Wait a minute.

What's going on here?

Out loud, Tom.

Like, I'm like, are you kidding me?

Like, you don't, you think it's like an editing gaff or something?

Like, trust me, they think they know what they're doing.

Have a little faith, buddy.

All right.

I think it's time to get our popcorn pick of the week from our pal, Tom Clark Conrad, if you please.

That's the night like popcorn pick of the week by Tom Clark Tom.

What can you recommend?

I'm gonna recommend 1984 repo man.

Oh With Emilio Estevez Yeah, I Believe in one of his first roles.

Yeah.

Wow nice pick.

Have you seen that like I probably I've seen it once and I thought it was really cool I probably saw it in the 80s and I have not seen it since

if you've

seen it recently and does it hold up

Um, you know, here's a funny thing.

They would broadcast there was one point on channel 18 in Milwaukee where they would broadcast our rated movies Uncut unedited and we did not have cable in our house.

We didn't have HBO.

We didn't have select TV or any of that stuff so So you could hear swearing and I reap a man has so much swearing.

Yeah, and I was

blown away by it.

And I just thought it was so cool because I wasn't really, we kind of just kind of raised pretty Catholic.

So I wasn't really going to a lot of R rated movies.

So I must, I recorded it off the TV and I probably watched it like, you know, 15 or 20 times.

It has like this punk rock soundtrack and just so many great lines.

Harry Dean Stanton's in it.

And it's just such a bizarre

movie.

I just love it.

It sort of makes fun of Scientology and sort of the end of the world.

And it sort of reminds me of being a comic because it's sort of these low level repo men and their lives, their life sort of repoing cars.

And there's a line in there.

It's like, you know what I hate?

Ordinary people.

They avoid intense situations.

A repo man gets into intense situations.

Like, I was like, that's like a comedian.

That's the same thing.

So I love that

movie.

Great choice.

98% on the tomato meter on Rotten

Tomatoes.

Oh my

gosh.

Yeah.

And it's a brief synopsis because I needed to hear this too.

I knew he was repo'd cars.

But after being fired from his job, Los Angeles slacker and punk rocker Otto, Emilio Sivas lands a gig working for an eccentric repossession agent named Bud Harry Dean Stanton.

This makes me, I had forgotten about this movie and now I want to see it again because I would love to see if it holds up.

That's fantastic.

Great choice, my

friend.

And all the repo guys, they all have beer names.

There's a guy named Bud, a guy named Miller, a guy named Ole, but that's Olympia beer back when that was a beer in the 80s.

So that's a fun thing to watch for.

That's a great thing too.

I remember when we would

You know, and when you first get a VCR, you just want to tape everything you see on TV because you think you're going to watch it.

But like rarely do you actually record something that's great and watch it over and over like this film.

Let's see, Tracy Walter, Harry Dean Stanton.

Boy, not a lot of big stars in this, though.

No, Tracy Walter is amazing, too, if you've never seen.

He's just such a he's like a buddy of Jack Nicholson and he's just this bizarre character in the in the movie and just a bizarre person.

That's

so funny.

In real life,

yeah.

Tom, we're going to do the news, and I'd like to come back and play something you sent me over text, one of your first acting gigs, as I understand it.

Yes.

And we'll talk a little bit about what you have going on if you can spend a few more minutes with us, and we'll get you out here at a reasonable hour.

Sound good?

For sure.

OK, buddy.

I'll be up.

Tom Clark is here folks, the very funny comedian who hails from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, making his home in LA now.

It's always fun to have Tom on the show.

We'll come back and I'm gonna play a commercial Tom did when he was much younger, but still just as good looking.

That's coming up next.

And then we're talking independent film with Grace Painter-Cozelle at 720.

She is the founder of Ruby Red Films.

Fun night here.

Great to have you with me.

It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Hey, this is producer Conrad.

Hope you have a fun and safe 4th of July weekend.

Pete and I are taking time to spend time with our family and enjoy the weather.

So in the meantime, here's a show that includes some of our favorite moments from 2025.

Hope you

enjoy.

And now, a guy who once tore his ACL playing chess, Pete Schwabba.

Hey, and 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.

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 Sunday.

And the whole time there was like, oh, this, this incredible, the worst storm we've ever seen is coming.

It's going to be snowfall for days.

And then it's going to drop to below 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 text 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, 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 Janesville, 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.

He bought a blue check mark 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, Saint Elsewhere.

How do you like that?

I never watched that show.

I don'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.

We read, oh, Civic Media's own Luke Mathers.

Love, Luke.

He says, ER.

Yeah, ER.

Honestly, ER is probably

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.

Yeah, 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 a sopranos

like 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 Manona, 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.