
Transcript
Posters, Punk, and Punchlines: A Wisconsin Extravaganza (Hour 2)(Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Tue Jul 22, 2025
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.
Welcome.
Tonight, light everybody.
Great to have you with me.
It's Tuesday night, folks.
Right smack dab in the middle of summer, a gorgeous night throughout the state of Wisconsin.
Hope you're having a great day.
Whatever your day was like, I hope it has led you here and that we can, if you need some picking up, I hope we can pick you up.
And if you just need a nice transition into the evening, I hope we can do that too.
Wherever you're listening in our beautiful state.
Welcome.
Welcome tonight light Conrad Krieger is in Green Bay running the board.
I am in Madison again I will be here all week always fun to do the show from civic media headquarters As it is from our amazing station in Green Bay Conrad.
How are you tonight?
I am fantastic and as you can see
that hat I can't see that through the stream.
I was just about to say it's a Milwaukee Brewer's hat because I'm celebrating 11 straight and now the first place in all baseball
You think they can keep that up?
Oh, yeah, they're
hot 11 in a row.
You think they can keep that up
12 in a row tonight 13 a row tomorrow.
I'm thinking about just sweeps all around the board, you know
Wow, well, it's good to it's good to aim high.
You're certainly doing your part wearing the hat and sharing your team on I applied Well done
Hey, this is a fun show tonight, folks.
As I mentioned, I'm in Madison tonight.
That means Aaron Zomers, as he is always such a champ, helping me out, get set up here.
Aaron, how you doing, buddy?
Doing well.
It's always good to be here.
It's always great to have you, and you move the mic and the picture.
Conrad, does it look different tonight?
It does.
I don't think I have a best side, but I like turning this way better.
So Aaron is on it.
I asked him, he came through and we're partying tonight, right Aaron?
I don't know.
I guess you could say that.
Conrad, you know, it's probably a two hour drive.
If you got in the car right now, well, that really wouldn't work, would it?
But I don't think so.
Dude, you can make it.
Do you think if Conrad got in the car at eight o'clock and went to wherever we're hanging out, he could make it there and we'd still be there?
Don't know I don't think we're gonna go super crazy.
I mean Todd's got the the civic media conclave tomorrow So he's gonna be busy all day.
He wants to get some good sleep for that.
He should not
have started drinking an hour ago then That's
all I'm not
okay.
Have kidding.
I'm totally kidding.
I don't even know does Todd even drink I have no idea not like heavily, but yeah Is it not cool to talk about someone's drinking habits on the air when they're not here, it's probably okay.
No
That's awesome.
It's going to be fun.
We'll hang out tonight.
I hear there might be a pet crite low sighting.
Is that true?
That is what I've been informed.
All everybody descending on Madison for the civic media conclave, as you guys call it.
That's fantastic.
So we'll do that a little later.
Thank you again, Aaron, though.
You're always awesome about helping out when we're here, getting us set up and all that kind of stuff.
We have a great show tonight.
We had to do a little, as I call it, a switcheroo.
We had two awesome guests from The Lion's Mouth Bookstore in Green Bay.
Lion's Mouth, right?
Am I saying that right?
Yes, it's Roar.
Okay.
The Lion's Mouth Bookstore.
My first question for them was gonna be, what does that mean?
The Lion's, like Roar something?
I don't know.
We'll have to wait, though, because they had to reschedule.
They had a conflict.
So my pal, Ben Reiser, is going to join me here tonight to talk about what they have coming up at Cinematheque.
And this is kind of cool, because tomorrow night, folks, at Cinematheque, if you're in the Madison area, they're showing Mulholland Drive, David Lynch film.
And one of the, or the editor and one of the producers of the film, Mary Sweeney, is going to be there, I believe, doing a Q&A right over at Vilas Hall at Cinematheque.
And we just talked about Mary yesterday with my guest, John Roach, who wrote the straight story with Mary that David Lynch directed.
So she is a mega talented editor, producer, writer.
She will be there tomorrow night.
And it's such a great program.
It's free.
And we'll talk about that with Ben.
And Ben is always up on all the movies.
I love his takes on what's in the theaters and what he's watching.
So we'll do all of that.
It'll be really fun at 635.
And then at 720, we'll have a few laughs with our friend Green Bay comedian, Kristen Leidy.
She's coming on the show to talk about GB UFO Conrad.
Do you know what that means?
You're in Green Bay.
It's a UFO convention, right?
Alien convention?
Not really.
Oh, it's it's a little deceptive because and we'll ask Kristen this but it's a bookstore in a museum and it's a musical event But remember last year when we were doing the show there were people walking by the window dressed like aliens.
Yes.
Yes, I was a little freaked out So we'll talk to Kristen about that She's got a lot to do with that and she just opened for a great comedian We're gonna talk to her about that too and you'll find out what comedian she just opened for a comedy legend and Kristen is always fun to have on the show
and hilariously funny.
So two great guests tonight, coming to you live from Madison, we've got a great question we'll get to in just a minute.
I have to tell you, I saw this, well, first I want to start out, a friend of mine texted me, he's trying to get an apartment, okay?
He's moving and he's trying to talk the landlord down and he shared this text with me today.
He said, have you given any thought to coming down a little bit in the rent?
I'm on a bit of a time crunch.
might have to resign with my current place if I don't hear back.
And then he followed up again today, just curious if you've heard anything.
And the woman overseeing this whole issue says, sorry, not yet, I've been running poop.
Interesting.
That's for text back.
Obviously it's a typo,
but what
do you think she was trying to say?
Sorry, not yet.
I've been running poop.
Point?
Yeah, but I feel like it should be an excuse for why she hasn't gotten back to him.
Yeah, point makes sense, but sorry, not yet.
I've been running.
No word goes with that.
Yeah, the only word I could think of is running point.
That's it.
Unless she means what she says.
I don't know.
But that cracked me up, and it got me looking at all those great.
There's so many of these on the internet when people are texting back and forth and they get the wrong word, especially when parents do it to their kids.
It's so funny.
I also saw this on Twitter today or X, whatever you want to call it.
This is what is the site called Conrad?
You said you follow it Midwest against everyone.
Yeah, it's a fantastic X page, Twitter page.
Do
they post stuff
like this every day?
Yeah, every day they post some really funny stuff.
And yeah, I follow them.
This
is great.
Yeah, I found this today.
It was a map of the Midwest, and it says states that can be identified, Midwest states that are identified by one word.
And I'll let you go first, Conrad, Wisconsin.
What word comes to mind if you hadn't seen this list?
Well, you know,
cheese.
Cheese or Packers.
I think the Packers almost are more synonymous with Wisconsin.
Like, I think people, well, it's probably a toss-up.
You know, a lot of, I would say...
People would say farms as well or like cows
dairy.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's fair Yeah, Wisconsin could have gone I believe like three different ways But some of these other states are hilarious the states with really big cities like Illinois and Michigan are just known for you know, Chicago That's what you think of when you think of Illinois.
You're like, oh Decatur isn't Decatur there, you know or Detroit Grand Rapids, whatever it's Chicago when people think of Illinois they think of Chicago
People think of Michigan, they think of Detroit.
Uh, Ohio was weird.
I didn't know this.
Spaghetti with chili.
I, I, that's, I believe that's skyline chili that, yeah.
And skyline chili offers those long noodles with chili.
That's right.
They had a place called Chili Johns in Green Bay years ago that also served chili that way.
And I didn't, is that what you think?
Like, I know skyline chili is there, but in all of Ohio, that's what.
I don't get that.
That's kind of a novelty.
That's
something that should identify a state.
You know, honestly, I would have thought like LeBron would have been the number one.
Or a Buckeye or Cleveland's River Catching Fire or something.
Indiana is race cars.
That makes sense.
It does.
Iowa is Caitlyn Clark.
That's good.
It's kind of new.
Minnesota, cold.
That's a good one.
I would have said lakes probably yeah lakes
beautiful state South Dakota Mount Rushmore spot on and then what's below?
Is it Nebraska?
What's below?
I don't even know what's below South Dakota?
Well, yeah, yeah, that's that's Nebraska.
Yep.
It has to be Nebraska corn and then what's below Nebraska?
Isn't that a
home?
Yeah, no, it's not Oklahoma.
It's um
Missouri?
No.
This
is terrible.
Whatever's below
Nebraska on this map, it just says nothing.
And Missouri underneath Iowa says nothing.
And North Dakota, and I agree with this one, nothing.
I have done stand-up in North Dakota years ago.
I used to go up there once or twice a year.
Lovely people, really a fun place, but man, it is like driving through.
It's like driving through the wasteland in Mad Max, but it's cold.
So you don't even get the warm air.
I kind of agree with that.
South Dakota is not much better, but it's a little better, a little greener.
I don't know if you please find out what is below Nebraska.
It's Kansas.
Kansas, yes.
So nothing for Kansas.
I really like this is funny.
If you just scroll through some of the comments, they do get some more, like, you know, some people posted what they thought.
And for yeah for Kansas they put barbecue in Missouri arch
Okay And a couple things in Missouri that surprised me that that was a nothing state
and still North Dakota this this guy put I still got nothing
So there you go at least we got off easy cheese is pretty good.
Yeah, I'd say so Dairy, okay
We're contributing to the overall greater good with our food.
But I'm surprised Packers too, because they're kind of a worldwide brand, you know.
But either way, that's a fun list.
I'm gonna have to follow them.
That's great.
All right, let's time, I think we gotta, do we have time to get to the question of the night?
Or we
spend too much time on the nothing states?
All right,
here's our question of the night, folks.
Let's talk about the question.
Okay, question.
What
poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
What poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5 Civic, let us know.
We all had them.
You can also text us on the app.
If you don't have the Civic Media app, I highly recommend you getting it.
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And if you're watching on the stream, you can leave a stream comment.
If you're watching on X, Facebook, or YouTube, and give us a like or a follow if you're there, folks.
Always nice to be appreciated, and we certainly appreciate you listening.
What poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
I have two.
This is kind of weird because when I was in, I think I still lived in Chicago.
I had a Farrah Fawcett poster and it was like a groundbreaking edgy poster at the time.
And all the older kids in the neighborhood had one.
So I asked my parents if they could have one, if I could have one.
And I don't think they were real crazy about it.
I hadn't even been through beauty yet.
And I'm asking for a Farrah Fawcett poster.
And she was in this gorgeous red swimming suit, beautiful smile.
When I got older,
I had a Walter Payton poster and I had a Daisy Duke.
I had the actual Daisy Duke, Catherine Bach on my wall.
So there you go.
What about you, Con?
So when I was growing up, I had kind of like a sports room.
And I had a Prince Fielder fat head on one wall.
So I had like a baseball wall.
The other wall was basketball.
I had a bunch of Kevin Durant stuff.
And then the other wall was Packers.
Weren't really into the girls back then,
huh?
Just a bunch of sports Honestly, I still have a lot of I still have a lot of sports posters.
Do you really?
Yeah, do you have a framed at least now?
I do have some frames the sports illustrated ones that I've kept.
Okay,
that's acceptable
All right, let us know, folks.
What poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
Ben Reiser coming up at 6.35.
Kristen Lighty at 7.20.
Great to have you with me.
I'm reading your texts next, folks.
It's Peach Waba at Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
Welcome
back.
You've got nightlight with each wabba.
on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I am Pete Chihuahua, broadcasting live from Madison tonight.
Great to have you with me.
Hope you're having a great day and an even better night.
Our question of the day, what celebrity poster was on your bedroom wall growing up?
855-7524-842-85575 Civic.
So you had sports posters.
I had one sports poster.
I had Walter Payton and then I had...
Catherine Bach, who was Daisy Duke, and Farrah Fawcett.
Before I even really knew, I knew she was visually appealing, but I think I was even too young to really know why I had this poster on my wall.
But let us know, share some of yours, folks.
We've got some great responses here.
What do we do first, Conn?
Go to the social media, do you think?
Yeah.
Hey, how about Ozzy Osbourne Dian?
Yeah, that sucks.
He passed away today.
I gotta tell you, whatever.
Whatever celebrity dies that I wasn't really a huge fan of.
It's not like I was not a fan, but I just don't know.
I knew we started Black Sabbath.
I think he's the first person to die from Black Sabbath of all those guys.
He was 76 years old, but I don't, I know Crazy Train.
I know a few of his songs.
I know he had a reality show, but I never was a big Ozzy Osbourne fan.
And whenever celebrity dies like that, that I didn't know a lot about and I see all the tributes, I kind of feel left out.
It's a weird feeling.
I kind of want to be part of the team But I just don't relate So I'm doing my best, but if you're an Ozzy Osbourne fan Sorry for your loss.
He was certainly an icon and You got to have crazy tranqued up at some point.
I assume con.
Oh,
yeah.
Okay
Let's go to the social media responses for our question of the night.
What poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
Monica Hale says the gap band.
Oh, that's a great one.
You could have stopped right there, Monica.
I love the gap band.
Sylvester Stallone and Robert Hedges.
I think it's pronounced haze.
Correct me if I'm wrong.
He was Epstein from Welcome Back Cotter.
She says had a crush on him.
Wow gap band Sylvester Stallone and Robert.
I was not expecting those responses tonight.
That's fantastic Monica.
Thank you Heather Alba Heather Alba Probably a relation right con.
I think so.
We'll have to go.
We'll have to ask the team and She says Michael J. Fox and Brian bloom.
Who's Brian bloom?
Orlando blooms dad
Sure, we all had a poster of the bloom parents
On our
wall.
I'm just kidding.
I have no idea.
No, I know you're kidding.
Conrad says, oh, there you go.
There's your Prince Fielder Fadhead.
Yeah, it was pretty cool.
Where did you get that picture?
I just typed in.
Did you have that picture?
No, I just typed in Prince Fielder Fadhead.
Oh, that was from your actual
bedroom.
There's not many of them, so, you
know.
Hey, you're a huge sports fan.
For all I know, you kept that.
You got a catalog of all the
pictures
of your bedroom
wall.
I really wish I could have kept it, but, you know, once it's stuck on the wall for a lot.
Years and then
it came with the house Wonderfully Wisconsin our buddy Paul Vandenplatz this Conrad Krieger had the same one in my man cave Okay, it's Paul that much older than you
I Don't know but everyone looks young
to have a man cave.
Yeah Daniel Wheeler Dan Haggerty aka Grizzly Adams.
That's an interesting poster to have in your wall
Wow, I'm the only one that has like the pin-up girls, I think.
Oh, Rob Smitka, my old buddy from the Paul University.
Christy Brinkley, 1983.
Now you're talking my language.
That's Rob Bobby Utah Smitka.
I don't know, he added the nicknames between college and now.
I don't understand that, but I'm gonna go with it.
Rob's a great guy.
Thank you, buddy.
Luke Mathers, fallout boy, all the way.
Now, do you think Luke means when millhouse got the part of fallout boy on the Simpsons?
Radioactive man's sidekick
for sure.
Definitely that
yeah, I hope so Either way Luke you can't go wrong.
Thank you, buddy Mike Desitell on the social media says it was all Joe Namath until Farrah Fawcett came out with her swimsuit poster.
Yeah That was kind of a game changer.
I'm with you there Mike See Mike was a lot older than me.
I think he had that poster.
I didn't even understand why I had it up
But I had one because I wanted to be cool.
Robert Bro, Bob Bro, Mike Destin told my brother John had this one in our room along with other stuff that our black light would glow.
That's a total 70s bedroom.
And then Rob responds, Robert, I still have mine.
Lisa M. Hale says, Sean Cassidy, that's a big one.
The girls loved Sean Cassidy.
Conrad, do you think you could find a Sean Cassidy for some of our listeners, a Sean Cassidy song?
Yeah, I'll try to find it.
I'm gonna message you on, I think we can
come
on before the end of the show.
There's some great ones.
So that's our question of the night, folks.
What poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
On the stream, Dave says Larry Zanka.
Wow.
A lot of sports posters.
Maybe I should have been more into sports.
I could have been a great athlete if I tried just a little bit harder.
Our buddy Aaron Zommer says, my question of the night answer, I didn't really have celebrity posters up, but I did have these wall clings from Toy Story everywhere.
I suppose in a way, I had Tom Hanks and Tim Allen.
That's a great one, Aaron.
Thank you.
Rob from Green Bay says, Alyssa Milano in a hockey jersey.
Wow.
There you go, Conrad.
You're combining the best of both worlds.
A gorgeous...
Person in a sports jersey.
That's something you probably could have rolled with.
You know, I could have done Kate Upton with Justin Verlander
Yes, you could but you have to be careful because they made some not so
yes,
yeah Not
so family friendly
They got hacked right Yeah, that was that had to have happened.
She's not
the type that would just put that out, right?
No, definitely got hacked.
I
think nobody puts that out like hey everybody look at me and my crazy orgasm face
Anna from Madison says hi Pete Conrad and Aaron the poster that was in my bedroom was the Beatles Well, that's a good one too.
You can't go wrong with the Beatles See if we can get one more here Everett from Sun Prairie says led Zeppelin houses of the holy album cover blacklight poster Mid-90s still up in my basement Oh, man, the couch potatoes are bringing it tonight.
Yes, they
are
Some great text.
Keep in common, folks.
We'll read them throughout the course of the show.
When we come back after the news, Ben Reiser will be here to tell us about a really cool screening tomorrow night at UW Cinema Tech here in Madison.
And we're going to talk movies.
Some are movies.
It doesn't get any better than that.
This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.
I am Pete Schwabba, Conrad Krieger working the board back in Green Bay.
I'm in Madison.
I just wrote an intro.
I was over at PBS today doing, introducing independent lens movies.
And there's a movie called Porcelain War coming out that'll air over the next couple of months.
The director was in LA.
And one of the directors was in LA, they had co-directors.
And the other director was in Ukraine.
He was a special forces soldier.
And he stayed in Ukraine during the Russian occupation and painted porcelain figures because he thought art was more important even than picking up a gun in a time of war.
They directed this film 6,000 miles apart and met for the first time at Sundance where they won the grand jury prize.
And it's Oscar nominated.
I mean, what a cool story.
I'm talking to you.
I haven't even introduced you yet, Ben.
That's all right.
I'm not even on camera.
I'm like where are you Ben?
I'm the hedging one
camera.
So what do we do Conrad?
How do we get Ben on camera here?
I'm
supposed
to move.
Yeah.
Scooch a little bit.
There we go.
That's Ben Riser, folks.
If you're watching on the stream.
The extremely photogenic Ben Riser.
Yeah, you're photogenic, buddy.
I mean, I have no slack on the mic.
All
kinds of
heck break and lose here.
There we go.
Is that better?
Well, yeah.
Sorry.
You can see half me.
Conrad, is that better?
He's not looking he's not even listening.
He's not like left
the building.
He's got a sports program to deal with.
Conrad's a Hagermeister Park right now.
He's hanging posters on his
wall.
All right, that's a little better, Ben.
I'm glad we could see you.
Sorry, I'll wave from time to time.
Yeah, that's the voice of Ben Reiser, folks.
He's the programmer at UW Cinema Tech here in Madison, a fantastic program.
And I'm saying that even though I'm probably, I was gonna go tomorrow night, but it sounds like I'm gonna get shut out because you guys are, it's such a popular.
A, the program is amazing, but tomorrow night you have a great guest and what's happening if people do want to get there early enough and tailgate or something.
I would say like get there 6 p.m.
to 4070 Vilas Hall.
If you want to get in, we're showing David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, which it was recently like a New York Times list of the best hundred films of the 21st century.
So that's 2000 and newer.
Is that right?
Yeah.
Is that right Conrad?
Early 90s.
Green Bay?
He's got the Google.
Um, and, and Bon Holland Drive was number two on that list of top 100 films of this century.
This, again, this century meaning.
2000 to 2025.
Second best film.
Second best film out of those 25 years.
How do you feel about that?
Why wasn't it number one?
And what is number one?
I don't even know.
I've heard Jim Healy repeat this.
in the last couple of intros that I've seen him do.
So you call me the programmer UW Cinema Tech.
Every time I'm on the air here, I say things that I leave and I'm like, oh my God, I'm going to get fired tomorrow.
I am a programmer.
Jim Healy is really the main programmer for Cinema Tech.
I just I'm like, you know, a glorified assistant.
I get to I get a couple of picks a semester and mostly I'm there to just sort of do my sort of stand up shtick.
every once in a while before a movie, but I just sort of bask in Jim Healy's shadow.
Well, I wish I'd known that before I invited you on the show, Ben.
Well, you invited Jim too, but he, of course, is
too busy
for
this nonsense.
He's got too much going on.
All right, so while we're on the subject of that, and I love David Lynch, second best movie, and I have to say, his stuff is beautiful.
I didn't know what the heck was going on and like you I've read about it afterwards.
I don't know and I don't want to insult anybody But how can that be the second best movie when so many people left shaking their heads?
What's the deal there?
Maybe that's the point of art is to make people shake their heads.
I don't know But let me just say it's a 35 millimeter print in case in case you're not already excited enough to see It seems like every time we show a David Lynch film even before he died
We had packed houses, but since his death, you know, we showed Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me at this year's film festival, and that sold out almost immediately.
And yeah, we showed a program of some of his short films a few weeks ago, and our special guest that night was his partner in film, his editor for a long time, and his one-time wife, Mary Sweeney.
was our guest, and she's coming back again tomorrow night to talk about Mulholland Drive, which she edited.
So the question is, what happens in the last 30 minutes of the film?
You could really say, what happens in any minute of any David Lynch film?
What are these movies about?
And as Mary said a couple of weeks ago, David made films, and the point of these films was for the audience to supply its own interpretation.
for it to mean whatever it means to the audience.
And so anytime anybody would ever come up to David Lynch and say, here's what I think Mulholland Drive is about.
Tell me if I'm right.
Whatever they would say, Lynch would be, yep, that's it.
And I don't think he was being a jerk about it.
I think that was his point.
He, I think that he, you know, these things came from his dreams, from his subconscious.
And he put them out there without thinking too much about them.
I think they, I think they all have meaning for him.
I think he knows what they mean for him.
But I think his whole credo is it's more important about what it means to everybody who watches this film more than what I, what it means for me.
Who cares what it means for me as a filmmaker?
It's what it means for you.
That's like so gutsy though to do that, to say that, I mean, he was David Lynch already by the time he made Mulholland Drive, but so he can get away with that.
But like, I can't even imagine giving an answer like that, like in a room with studio executives or producers or whatever.
Um, and I, you know, I remember the first film of his I saw was blue velvet.
I was probably 17.
I don't even know if I was supposed to be watching it.
No,
it was weird, but I followed it.
You know what I mean?
Where did
you?
Yeah.
Yeah.
But what's
it about?
Really?
What's really going on in blue velvet?
I mean, I haven't seen it in about 30 years, but you got Frank Booth.
Right.
Whimsical guy.
Yeah.
Uh, I mean, there's abuse and people working through stuff and I'd have to go back and watch it again.
But as my point is like, as a late teen, I was like,
This is really out there, but and some of it's twisted, but I am following it.
Whereas Mulholland Drive, I was completely lost.
But if you'd seen Mulholland Drive when you were 17, you might have had a clear idea.
I think when we're younger, where you don't think we're dumber.
No, I think we're more open to like figuring things out and having a wider spectrum.
Now, what was I going to say?
Well, anyway, David Lynch,
brilliant.
Absolutely.
And how exciting to have Mary Sweeney there too, because I just had her writing partner on The Straight Story on the show last night, John Roach.
And I think it's fascinating to me that Mary Sweeney was an editor and became a writer-producer.
And I'm not saying that's never happened before, but you don't see a lot of editor-producers.
And director.
She made a
film called
Baraboo, which is pretty good.
And I've never...
Understood that because editors are amazing storytellers.
They have to be yeah, but it seems like very few cross over into that whereas writers do more so
that's true That's interesting.
That's true.
There are a few directors scattered throughout history that started out as editors but but most of them weren't like established editors the way Mary was before they took a leap and became directors
My guest is Ben riser.
He is one of the he is an underling programmer.
Yeah, is that fair?
Yes, underling programmer, but you're a serious contributor to cinema tech and the Wisconsin Film Festival.
And I love talking movies with Ben.
He's here in the studio tonight.
Now, let me just say one thing about straight story.
Uh, Mary, because Mary talked about that the other night as well.
That's
exactly where I was going next.
So well done.
Yes, absolutely.
Uh, and she said that that it was, you know, because it's a film that's not like any other David Lynch film.
Yeah, it was rated G. That was put out by Disney.
Um, and yet.
She said time and again that it seemed like for David, it was maybe his most personal film and the film that touched him that he had made the most deeply.
That's amazing.
And when John was here last night, he said, David Lynch being the director was probably enough to not have it be a G rated film, which I thought was a great line.
But I just rewatched it this weekend.
It's going to be my classic movie pick of the week for Newisco weekend.
It is an absolutely marvelous movie.
And, you know, it breathes, it takes its time.
There is nothing not to like about that movie, including Richard Farnsworth, who just gives an incredible performance.
So you guys showed that.
It
showed it a couple of years ago, maybe last summer or the summer before, again, with Mary Sweeney in attendance.
It was a beautiful screening.
Yeah.
Farnsworth is amazing.
He didn't make that many films.
He was a stuntman for most of his career.
So I guess he made a lot of films, but not that you would know who he was, which guy riding a horse he was.
But he made some wonderful films in the last couple of decades of his life.
I would seek them all at the Grey Fox.
It's a terrific sort of almost a Western.
He plays like a bandit who's like on the run in I think the Pacific Northwest or maybe in Canada.
It's a Canadian film, but terrific film.
So if you are planning on going to see.
Mahal and Drive tomorrow at Cinematheque where it's free even on the night like when you have Mary Sweeney there.
Right.
What time should people get there at six o'clock?
Yeah, the movie starts at seven.
We open doors around six twenty five six thirty.
We might open them a little bit early.
I only say this because a couple weeks ago when we showed the short films of David Lynch, the theater was full basically by six fifteen, six twenty.
Wow.
We opened it up a little early and people just poured in and we had to turn away quite a few people, quite a few, quite a few people.
What's the biggest event you ever had there in terms of people showing up?
I would say, you know, I have seen us turn away 20, 30 people in the past.
This other night, it seemed like we turned away 50, 75, maybe a hundred people.
We showed one of these Werner Herzog documentaries, Cave of Forgotten Dreams and 3D.
I remember that one being one where we had to turn a lot of people away.
You know, and there's some sometimes I wish we could show films more than once, but we have a pretty tight schedule.
over at 4070 Viles Hall.
There's classes during the day and there's other things happening other nights of the week.
So we really don't have the bandwidth to be able to show films more than once.
I was just trying to remember when you said Warner, he was in a movie I just saw where he was the bad.
Yeah,
it was a Jack Reacher movie.
Yeah,
it was a Jack Reacher movie.
It's so good.
That's ridiculous.
He's like
the only good part
of that Jack Reacher movie.
Yeah, I liked both.
It's weird.
I
like the
second one.
Really?
People don't like.
Is that the one where it starts where he's in the counter and he says the
phone is going to ring?
Yeah,
yeah.
I liked them both and I like the show without, like they're so different,
but I
like them all.
I just think their, the stories are just compelling.
Yeah, I read all the books.
The books are great.
Did you?
Yeah.
Oh God, I wish I could read a book.
But that guy, I know.
I can't anymore either.
Again, when I was 17, I read a little bit.
Yeah, okay.
I was a big reader.
By the way, Sylvester Stallone, the Rocky poster was my...
bedroom.
Oh, I was going to ask you that.
You had Rocky.
That
was a great poster.
I'm an old guy.
Is
it the one where he's like this in the tank top and he's holding the chin up?
No, it's more like a full like a close up of his face like beating.
You know, he's got the black eye and I think it's like a black and white almost.
Yeah,
great poster.
What else do you have coming up at Cinema Tech this
summer?
And we had the greatest screening last week.
We were showing two martial arts films, two kung fu movies, for lack of a better term.
And last week we showed one called The Mystery of Chest Boxing, which apparently is a big part of the Wu Tang clan's lore, that hip hop group.
They wrote songs about that movie, one of the people in the group is named himself Ghostface Killa, which is the name of the villain in this Mystery of Chest Boxing movie that we showed.
But apparently there's only one...
35 millimeter print in existence of this movie at this point and and RZA another guy from the Wu Tang clan Who actually scored kill Bill for Quentin Tarantino?
Are we hearing are you kicking me off again?
No, no, no, I know but anyway, we we showed this film was so great We had the best time it was a packed house people were laughing and cheering from this first frame to the last It's one of those rare screenings that I'm like this is like a once in a lifetime
opportunity to be with this group of people enjoying the same, we're all on the same wavelength here.
We couldn't be loving this movie anymore.
It was really, it reminded me why it's fun to go to the movies sometimes.
It's a great program.
If you haven't checked out UW Cinema Tech, it might be too crowded tomorrow, but definitely do it in the future.
Put it on your agenda, folks.
We'll be back after this very short break with more with Ben Reiser.
We're going to talk about the, did you see Superman?
Oh yeah.
All right, we'll talk about Superman next.
This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.
I am looking at my IMDb picture, Ben.
How do you like that?
I got a mustache.
That's COVID.
I've never had a mustache.
Just a mustache without, like, you know, the goatee or a beard.
You could have
gotten a role in like a B movie.
Yeah, who's the actor that's it?
John
Hitman.
Not
Oates.
What's his name?
He's got a stash.
He's got a stash.
No, who's the guy?
He's in a lot of like he plays like he's always the guy like with the cigarettes rolled up in his sleeve in a movie, John.
Oh, wait, the
guy from Deadwood and a million other things.
Joe knows this guy.
He's
bound and down.
He's
the he's
the brother in law or the brother.
I'll
find this
out.
Conrad Google John see what you come up with John Hawks Hawks.
Yeah, that's
it.
I love that guy
Yeah, I'm rattling off his biggest roles and you're like,
huh?
That's a ring of bell been
but
yeah, right.
He's in that movie.
He's in that movie with Jennifer Lawrence like where she's like a mountain.
Yeah
I just rewatched something he was in.
I just love that guy.
I like looking at that guy.
He's just got a great look, you know.
Yeah, you got a great look in that picture.
I look like a... So you never got a part?
You didn't get a
part with that look?
No, and everybody, my kids, like, chat.
Dad, what are you doing?
What's with the mustache?
I'm like, I'm horsing
around.
I couldn't even work
anyway.
I don't like the longer hair that's
being greased down.
You look like, yeah, you look a little strung out.
I should have a pack of cigarettes
in this sleeve.
Oh, there we go.
Yeah, there's John.
Look at that.
Okay, can you put my Facebook picture up there next to him?
I'll
send it to you, buddy.
I can make that happen.
Ben's like, can you put up that Farrah Fawcett post?
I drove downtown for this.
Hey, let's talk about Ben.
I want to ask you a couple more things about
You want to talk about narrow margin narrow margin you guys
are showing that when is that and how can people that's it's got to be in a couple of weeks We're almost we're winding down our last screening is August 1st.
So it's got to be sometime between now and then I think it's not I think it's next Friday Okay, it's a week from Friday
now.
How will that if somebody wanted to go to that are they fighting crowds?
No, okay,
come on Because
there's no weathers fine just come right on 6 30.
There's no there's no Q&A
no
I'll answer questions after the movie if somebody wants.
I'm
hosting that night.
I've seen the movie a couple of times recently because I had to write it up for our calendar.
It's directed by Peter Himes, who I think is, for a long time, I was like, yeah, Peter Himes, but he's underrated, I think.
He made one of my favorite 70s conspiracy thrillers, Capricorn
One.
You know what that is?
Where
the astronauts are supposed to go to Mars, but there's something wrong and they
They pretend to go to Mars, but they don't want anyone to know that they didn't really go to Mars.
So they plan on killing all the astronauts and saying that there was a crash in space.
It
starts.
James Berlin is one of the astronauts.
Elliot Gould is a reporter who is uncovering this conspiracy and also OJ Simpson is one of the astronauts.
Oh my gosh.
It's a
great, great thriller.
It's
a Simpson vehicle.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
Yeah.
As is naked gun.
All right, so let's let's pivot here because I'm curious.
I'm kind of in the minority about a few films this summer.
OK, I'm taking the riser stance.
All right.
I did not love Superman.
The parts I liked about it, I really liked, but I don't think it's a great movie.
Yeah, I don't know that it's a great
movie either, but it's a good movie or good enough.
I was, first of all, I went to see it in they're showing it once a day in IMAX 3D.
I was like, well, OK, that's cool.
If it's available, I'll do it.
I mean, not for most movies, but like Superman.
Sure, I'll do three and I'm asked for sure because the screen is brighter and bigger.
So I get there and so and so the Monday afternoon was like 15 people in the theater.
I got a seat in the center, but all the way towards the back.
I get there and there's a guy sitting not right next to me, but one seat over.
He looks like he's at least as old as me, maybe 60, maybe older.
He's in a full Superman costume with the cape and everything.
And he's by himself.
This guy's come to a movie on a Monday afternoon by
himself
dressed from head to toe with Superman.
And which I was like, okay, I don't want to be careful with this guy, but cool.
Right on, dude, whatever floats your boat.
What killed me, though, was two times during the movie.
And by the way, if you're listening guy, this guy reaches into his Superman cape and pulls out a cell phone and starts texting.
I'm like, dude, Superman can't text during a Superman movie.
What are you doing?
But I didn't say anything at the time.
I was like, God knows what else he
has.
He's
probably a virgin.
So
you
don't want to mix
it
up.
No, no, no.
No, I didn't want to mix it up, but I really was kind of taking it back.
That's really strange.
Yeah.
To go by yourself, I get where you'd make it an event.
And hey, let's all dress up and have fun and be silly.
But that's really strange.
I sat next to you.
Remember basic instinct?
The Sharon Stone scene?
Yeah, somebody didn't have their panties on.
Well, I don't know what this guy was doing, but I was working somewhere doing stand-up.
In the middle of the day, I'm going to admit a matinee.
Conrad's telling us he's going to cut because I said the word
panties.
No, we can say panties.
Can we say underpants, Conrad?
You could say whatever, undergarments, you know?
He's like a
regular
FCC.
Edible panties, whatever
you want.
But what Sharon Stone?
when that scene where she opens her legs or whatever, and we think we see what we, I don't think anybody really knew exactly or could tell, but maybe they could, I don't know, but this guy
goes.
Well, you could, you had that Farrah Fawcett poster on the wall.
Conrad thought it was a baseball or something.
But this guy, this guy's sitting a few seats away, he goes, oh yeah.
I was kind of under his breath.
It was beyond creepy.
It would have been better if he said, yeah, at least don't hide your jubilits.
All right, so you've seen, basically, you said most of the big films.
I love The Dog and Superman.
That was enough for me.
All right, let's pick it.
I don't feel like we did Superman and Justice.
So pick up there.
We'll talk F1.
We'll talk Jurassic World.
And if you guys have seen any of these films, you're welcome to weigh in and share your opinions on.
What are supposed to be summer blockbusters and are pretty good for the most part.
Very entertaining films.
Ben Risers here.
We're going to do intermission and we will come back for act two.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media.
Hold on Conrad.
Hold that music.
Our question of the night, what poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
Get in on the fun.
It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight.
Civic Media Radio
Network.
Can't take my eyes off you
Broadcasting
live statewide from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.
This is Night Light with Pete Schwabba, your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.
And now a guy who gives edible undies as gifts just because they taste good, Pete Schwabba.
Welcome back folks.
I've only done that a couple of times, and there's- If you can say edible on these, you can say panties.
We're no unsatisfied customers.
They're delicious.
We're going to talk about a snack Ben just shared with me, but first, I'm going to give you a quick recap, folks.
Our question of the night is, what poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
We've got to catch up on some text.
We'll do that in a bit.
Kristen Lighty will be here at 720 talking about GBUFO, this really funky, cool festival they have in Green Bay.
And Conrad and I were doing the show last year at this time, and we saw all these people dressed as aliens walking by the studio.
And it was pretty insane.
But it's a music festival.
They do some comedy.
And Kristen is very involved in this year's festivities.
So we'll talk to Kristen at 7.20.
And what else, Conrad?
What am I missing?
Does that cover everything?
Well, we did have some good posters, you know?
We did have some good posters.
I got a play catch up on some of those texts.
She would bang couple those out.
You're late.
Let's uh, all right, Ben, what did you say your poster was?
Rocky.
All right.
Oh, yeah, Rocky.
I also had, I don't know if you guys are hip to Peter Gabriel.
Well, yeah.
Well, you know, he had that third album that had like the melty.
Yeah.
I had, I had a poster of that for some reason.
Oh, that's a cool poster.
You know, I had a poster when I was in college of the Bodines.
And yeah, and they're melting face.
No, but it was like a kind of a blurry poster and they were on a breakwater in Lake Michigan.
It was overcast and the wind was blowing and they were playing.
It was one of the coolest posters I've ever seen.
So I guess I did have some some posters in college, but I've graduated Conrad has a sports museum in his bedroom as an adult, which I think is is fun.
You know, it's all that stuff's going to the man cave when I get a house.
So
you got it stuck to way just exactly.
Everett and son prairie says led Zeppelin houses of the holy album cover blacklight poster mid 90s still up and did I read that text already I Don't think so.
I don't think so, but then we had never it seems like like eight people have mentioned black lights tonight So maybe that's why I'm I'm confused.
He says mid 90s still up in my basement Fantastic ever.
Thank you, buddy.
We missed a call from Ali.
I see Khan.
That's terrible.
Love Ali
MT from Minona the Grove.
She's in this or he or they are in the 608 wall posters when I was a kid included Metallica's black album two pack and Terminator two movie poster.
What's some serious poster firepower?
Were you a fan of Metallica Ben?
Not really no.
Yeah, you know what I've kind of
Become more of a fan as I've gotten older and as they've gotten older.
They
just
seem like cool guys They do seem like I never really listened to them though back back in the day.
I know that
Pete we actually got Ali on the phone right now.
Oh, we do.
Yes.
Okay, put put Ali through
Say
hi
to Ben riser.
Hey Ali.
I'm Ben.
How are you?
Good.
Thanks.
What's going
on?
I Didn't have we weren't allowed to have posters
of rock stars or anybody on our thing.
We
had to have pendants of all the tourist traps and states my parents took us to.
Oh, nice.
Well, that's kind of cool.
That's
something
different.
And we enjoyed them.
But I wanted to say also, you talked about Richard Farnsworth.
He played in Anne of Green Gables and he was the...
The older gentleman, brother of the lady that took them, took Anne, Anne.
It
was wonderful in that movie.
He's got like so much soul or heart in every line he says.
He's fantastic.
Thanks so much for the call, Ollie.
Much appreciated.
Have a great night.
Okay, guys, have a good
night.
Bye-bye.
Thank you.
So, I could not agree more.
Steve from Florida Conrad's Dance is my poster on the wall growing up was...
and B from the Andy Griffith Show.
That's great.
He's joking.
He says, just joking.
Posters on my bedroom wall were the now famous Farrah Fawcett poster.
I'm with you, Steve.
And the 1966 Green Bay Packers Super Bowl one team poster.
All right.
That's some pretty good poster firepower.
We'll continue with your texts.
Let us know.
Be part of the fun folks.
You can text us on the stream or the app or the text line.
Ben Reiser is here.
We have a few more minutes with Ben.
We were talking about Superman.
So we're both kind of, it was fine.
I thought it was
fine.
I thought it did the job.
I'm a big James Gunn fan.
I really love those Guardian of the Galaxies movie, Guardians of the Galaxy movies.
I really liked that HBO show he did.
What's it called with John Cena?
What is it?
The Peacemaker?
Yeah,
Peacemaker.
Love that show.
I even liked the movie that he did for...
I guess it's DC, right?
Suicide, his version of the Suicide Squad,
which is a
total bomb.
Everyone hated it.
I like it.
So good for
him.
Good
for James.
I
think it's weird, though, when you bring those crazy elements to Superman that I don't
know what
they need it.
And
here's another thing.
I love Wendell Pierce and the sports reporter for the Daily Planet and the girl with the blonde hair.
I don't think you needed any.
Wendell Pierce had like five lines.
I do feel like there's a whole other movie that was probably shot with those three.
Like when the Blu-ray comes out there probably like two an hour and a half of footage of them because it really feels like Wendell Pierce like wound up mostly on the cutting
room probably that makes sense Otherwise why even
it still feels it's very overstuffed.
It's chaotic But I still would take it over those Zack Snyder Superman movies.
Yeah, which are just so solemn and boring and just
so serious All that
justice league crap come on man.
Yeah, give me give me ask crypto the dog
and chaotic stuff with Nathan Fillian and all that other stuff.
I'll take that over that Zack Snyder
stuff.
That's the voice of Ben Riser, folks.
He is one of the programmers of UW Cinematheque and the Wisconsin Film Festival.
But
I've loved almost every summer blockbuster I've seen this year.
I don't know, I'm really in sync with this year's offerings.
F1, I thought
was a lot of fun.
Okay.
You didn't like that
one either.
No, I kind of feel the same about F1 and Jurassic
Park.
As I do about Superman, there's a lot that like Jurassic Park, for example, CGI is great.
I really, there was some jumps in there that
I was,
but give me a character that is somewhat interesting.
Like you've got Scarlett Johansson, not interesting, but Maharshala Ali.
And I said, I think I said this to Rob Thomas.
I wanted like a guy from Jaws.
the grizzled guy who had been fighting the dinosaurs for 30 years.
Something interesting, not these characters with these lame backstories, because the dinosaurs are great.
And I felt that way about Formula One.
I'm kind of the same on all these movies.
Like, there were really cool moments.
The racing scenes were cool, but it was basically a video.
It didn't, I don't know.
Yeah, I get that.
You have valid points there.
I didn't care.
I didn't go to any of those movies thinking they're really characters I'd enjoy.
And I was happy that I had a dog I liked.
In Jurassic World, I liked that little girl.
I thought she was funny and she named her dinosaur Dolores, which
cracked me up.
Speaking of Jaws, I did with my kids when they were home.
I watched that again.
And Ben, I probably haven't watched that in 25 years.
How
is
that not an every year experience?
I know
it should be.
And I was surprised.
It was different than I remembered it.
Like, I forgot how quickly they got into the story.
I mean, obviously with the girl at first, but then right away, it's a pandemonium and it was just a, yeah, it's a really excellent
movie.
Forget everything, forget all the Jaws stuff in Jaws.
That first, after the first sequence, all that stuff that takes place in Amity, all the stuff of Roy Shider running around, grabbing the paints and the posters.
taking
that
ferry out to the thing.
All that stuff paints such an amazing, it's such a great world building thing.
All those, all those supporting characters, the old guys, everyone yelling at Roy Shider for one thing or another, his wife, his kids.
It's so great.
I mean, forget the whole thriller part of it, just kind of a wonderful like, Hey, this is life in a small town.
And then, you know, I was amazed too that they didn't overdo it with the shark.
Like there
was
just enough of a shark, but we couldn't get it to work.
They couldn't get it to work.
But even when they like it still looks great, you
know,
50 years later, it's
like,
okay, I believe that
even give me that
over CGI.
Give me a rubber shark over.
Definitely.
Um, well, let's get to a couple of, uh, I have to ask you, I saw this, uh, James Ronde was on recently and he told me, he said, you're kind of into film noir.
And I said, yeah, I'm gonna, I was on a film noir kick at the time.
Yeah.
He told me about a movie called detour, which I had never
seen.
Oh yeah.
What a great movie.
Yeah.
I, I
It was so good in the end, the way everything came together.
Why don't more people watch Film Noirs?
I don't know.
I
mean, there's a lot of them out there and there's a devoted following.
I have the Criterion Channel because, you know, I'm one of those
hipsters
and I've been catching up.
There's a bunch of... All I do on the Criterion Channel is find out what's leaving at the end of the month and just try to
watch as many
of those as I can.
And this month, at the end of the month, all these Argentinian Film Noirs are leaving.
There is like five or ten of these movies that were made in Argentina in the 50s.
They're so great.
So amazingly directed, wonderfully acted, brilliant plots.
There's one called The Beast Must Die.
There's one called If I Should Die Before I Wake.
So great.
But yeah, Detour, Edgar Omer.
Edgar Omer, who also directed this crazy movie with Bars Karloff and Bella Lugosi called The Black Cat.
He was a great B movie director who unfortunately didn't make as many movies or have as big a budget as he probably should have, but he made the most with the least detours.
Like every shot in that movie is like, wow, this is a really cool shot.
That diner, the first couple of minutes of the movie, I love them.
I'm such a sucker for a movie with a great diner at night.
Even in a small town, it's open and weird characters come in there.
It's just like a place you could lose yourself in.
And the aesthetics,
Almost a hundred years later and some of these are fantastic.
Yeah, you know And the killing I just watched too and that
night diner.
Yeah with I just pulled it up sterling.
He was sterling him from Captain McCloskey.
Yes, the godfather.
Yeah, like bugger me Let's get a couple TV things in here before you leave to Ben
white
lotus season three thoughts terrible
Really?
I didn't like season two either.
I'm a season one and done for
White Lotus.
I
love season
one.
It's still my favorite easily, but I like all I just like Mike White, you know,
I love Mike White.
This is my least favorite thing of his as it progresses.
But you know, Walt and Goggins, I'll watch him in anything.
So it's not like it didn't have its pleasurable moments.
But for the most part, I was like, why am I watching these people?
I don't care.
Right.
They're all just rich jerks and most of the time.
Um, what about department Q?
We both watched that.
I
did not.
Oh, I thought you saw
it.
I can't wait.
Okay.
That's, that's, that's on my list of things I have to get to.
All right.
We'll have to talk about that next time you're here.
Um, did you ever, did we talk about the diplomat?
Yeah.
Okay.
I watched the
first season
and I said, you have to watch the second season.
It's because it's better two
seasons.
Yeah.
It's even better.
All right.
I'll go back to that.
I did like it.
I don't
know why season
three coming up.
I started a show on HBO called love and death.
with Jesse Plemmons and Ashley Olson.
Oh, I don't even know that.
It's about these two churchgoing couples in the 70s that have an affair.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, and the music kids
are playing like, they're giving each other eyes and like the Bee Gees are playing like it's a really cool.
And I'll go back to that too.
I'm great at watching one episode of something just to see if it resonates.
Well, I'm really enjoying speaking of shows where you don't have to watch the whole thing.
It's Poker Face.
Oh, yeah.
Peacock, those are great.
And they're all like standalone.
It's like old Colombo episodes.
But does it bother you at all?
Like, I do like the show.
Yeah.
But she just happens to end up in a caper every week, wherever
she
goes.
I have trouble with that a little bit.
I hear you.
I think season two, there's like, season two to me feels more like, do you ever watch that show High Maintenance on HBO?
No.
About the guy who sells drugs in Brooklyn?
Uh-uh.
Oh, you got to check that out.
Every episode is like a short story.
You know and the guy just sort of drifts in and out of those stories and that's kind of what happens on poker face, too It's like
you get
like a nice standalone story with characters you're never gonna see again And then she kind of wanders in solves the mystery which is the least interesting part of it right wanders off But it is cool.
It has like a better call Saul.
I like the way they kind of
start each episode is really cool.
Ben, thank you, buddy.
Thanks for filling in short notice.
You're the lefty out of the bullpen, man.
This is huge.
Hey, I can walk
to this studio.
Let's
do
it here all the time.
Must be nice.
Ben Reiser, ladies and gentlemen, check out Cinematheque and look for more news coming from the Wisconsin Film Festival, which is right around the corner.
Oh, sure.
Be honest.
Thanks,
Pete.
Thanks, Conrad.
You got it.
Kristen Lighty's coming up next.
It's Pete Schwab and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Coming
to you live from beautiful downtown Madison overlooking State Street on a gorgeous summer night here in our state's capital Conrad holding down the fort back in Green Bay
Conrad's dad had a poster of Aunt B up in his bedroom.
I found that very humorous, Conrad.
That finds something new about my dad every time he takes it.
Something you don't need to know, really, too.
Monica from Mount Horrib, she's in the 608 says, Cincinnati chili.
Chili with spaghetti is a thing there.
Skyline is known for quantity over quality, I think, but we were there last year and ate at Camp Washington Chili.
It's a diner that's been there over 75 years and it was cheesy and delicious.
Just went to North Dakota two weeks ago.
Your comment is spot on, but you could say Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
We saw a whole herd of bison there.
I would think more people would think of Fargo for the woodchipper incident in the movie.
Yes, that is what they should have said for North Dakota.
Fargo, the movie.
But they went with nothing it makes them think of nothing when they think of North Dakota David from Richland Center says he had Charlie's Angels on his bedroom wall a poster David's in the 608.
Thank you, buddy Tom from New Berlin says if vinyl album covers count I had Led Zeppelin I had Zeppelin Floyd, etc mid to late 70s groups faucet rocked dads loved it I Mean your dad's coming in and pervin on your posters
Great stuff, Tom, as always.
All right, this is exciting, folks.
We were supposed to have my next guest in studio, but we did a little switcheroo at the last minute here.
Pardon me, and I ended up doing the show for Madison this week, so we still wanted to have her on.
She was still gracious enough to share her talents with us tonight and her time.
She's a very funny comedian based out of Green Bay.
We've had her on the show many times before, and she's one of our faves.
Kristen Lighty joins me now over the stream.
Hey, Kristen.
Hello.
Welcome to my house.
Hi.
Do you have any posters on your wall?
You know, I have a framed photograph of the old Fort Howard Mill and a bunch of comedy posters.
Oh, okay.
No Hasselhoff or Sean Cassidy or anything like that.
No, I'm not big on the hearthrobs, I guess.
Unless your hearthrob is Heritage Hill or whatever you just said there.
That's a good.
Who are your comedy posters, Kristen?
They're mainly shows I've been in and festivals I've participated in and places, shows where I had a really good time.
So I'll save the poster and kind of frame it for sentimental reasons.
That's excellent.
Let's start there because you just opened for someone you know a comedy legend at a local club there in the Fox Valley Tell us about Bobcat Goldway.
How was that week?
It was amazing Bobcat is one of the nicest most down-to-earth Thoughtful people I've ever met in comedy so I always really try to make a priority to get to work with him But you know, I know a lot of people want to so yeah
But it's so amazing to get to work with people that you want to sit and watch every night.
And you'll notice all the differences, all the nuance, the way he'll interact with the crowd a little differently each night.
It feels really lucky to be there.
How how is he doing these days?
Like he's he's still working, which is great He's so funny.
He's such a talented guy.
He's made movies.
He's done walk-on roles Where is he at?
I don't know if your friends with him or not Or if you get to talk to him or what is your sense at least of does he seem happy at this point in his career?
Cuz I have a lot of respect for him
Yeah, he seems really happy.
He's got a great relationship with his daughter who has done amazing things as well.
She does a lot of costuming She did the costuming on Bridget Everett show and that would be my old ass and then Bobcat's working on a few different projects in term I think he mentioned like a new film and you know, he Reunited with a former love and got married and moved to Ireland.
So he's very happy I'd say
So he lives in Ireland and he's coming to Northeast Wisconsin to do a club like I would thought I thought he would be like still at theater stage, you know what I mean like A thousand seats 500 seats or whatever.
It's kind of cool that he's still working clubs.
I bet he has a blast with it, you know
He does and I I just feel really lucky that people do come to Appleton, you know, and We can we can see their acts.
Yeah, you know, I think he comes for like a month or two at a time
and does shows and then heads back home.
Okay.
I tried to get him.
I host a show on PBS Wisconsin called Director's Cut and I tried to get Bobcat and Joel Murray on years ago because Bobcat made a film called God Bless America about gun violence.
And it's so great.
And I was like, I really, we just couldn't work it out like the company that owned the rights to the movie weren't.
really willing to play ball, but I was literally salivating at the idea of getting to interview Bobcat because I thought he would have made such a great cast because he's.
He's
so
funny and genuine.
I think my takeaway from the weekend was I found it hilarious the way my father pushed me out of the way to get a photo with Bobcat.
Did he want you in the photo too?
Not at first.
one of my relatives said we could all be in it and my dad was like oh yeah yeah yeah okay
I guess if you insist yeah um we're gonna get into uh GB UFO after the news but tell us first before we go to break what do you have what else do you have coming up Kristen you're a very busy uh comedian where are you performing next or where can people see you
Yeah, so besides the Fest in August I'm gonna be doing a few shows with Brian Posein in Minneapolis and Eau Claire Which I'm very excited about and then I'll be featuring for him here in September at the skyline comedy club
Very nice
Yeah, and then you know a few other local shows around town
Oh, and I'll be at the Blue Whale Comedy Fest in August in Tulsa, opening for Hannibal Burris, which I'm very excited
about.
Oh, he's so funny.
Oh, wow, that's a great show.
Yeah, so that's
a great show.
They're lucky to have you on the show, too.
You're so funny, and I love having you on the show.
So when we come back after the news, we're going to talk to Kristen about this great festival in Green Bay that I still fully don't understand.
So Kristen is going to fill us in, talk about what she's doing there, and tell us where you can find more information because it looks like an absolute blast.
We'll do that, and we'll read your texts when we come back.
Stick around, folks.
It's live, nightlight, live from Madison.
I'm Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Your future or your future pain Cause nothing will be the same Just another moment
Great to have you with me on this Tuesday night as we broadcast live from downtown Madison Conrad holding Holding on the fort back in Green Bay our current guest Kristen Lighty was supposed to be in the studio But I'm not there tonight.
So I appreciate your flexibility Kristen.
Thank you for joining us anyway over the stream.
Great to have you here Yeah, anytime always fun what tell us about GB UFO
Because I think I said earlier last year, we saw everybody walking by the window dressed like aliens.
And I thought it was like an alien fest or something, or maybe that was a different festival, but this really has nothing to do with aliens.
It's a music festival, right?
Yes.
So it's named for our local record shop, which is the Green Bay UFO Museum and Gift Shop, which...
You know, we have bands play their comedy shows there and you can get all your local music on vinyl there So it's a it's a festival that Tom Smith and Pierre Jacques and I put together
Wow, okay, so
I don't do they do the bulk of the work
But you said you're curating a show there tell us about that
Yeah, so this will be the second year that I'm bringing comedians from my record label from all over the country in We got folks from Austin Chicago Phoenix Bloomington, Indiana And they'll be doing like probably a half hour 45 minutes of comedy each day and then so they'll get a taste of these comedians and then Saturday night I'm doing a standalone show at the Mad World artists collective which is on Mason and
and all the comedians in the festival will be able to do a longer set there.
So if you like what you see, you can come to the longer show Saturday night.
Yeah.
Oh, that sounds like so much fun.
So are there not people dressing like aliens that I have my festival with?
No.
I'm thinking of Fringe Fest, I think.
Does that make sense?
Fringe Fest is like a collection of different acts from all over the country.
I think there might have been a Comic-Con happening at the rest.
Yeah.
I just see aliens everywhere I look.
Okay.
So how did this festival start?
It sounds like so much fun.
I was looking at the Facebook page before and it just seems like great vibes, you know.
It is.
It's, you know, just a celebration of all the bands in Wisconsin and the Midwest that make our scene so fun and exciting.
We're gonna have Holly and the Nice Lions playing Saturday night.
Boris the sprinkler is reuniting Friday night and they're doing Saucer to Saturn, the full album.
Giant's chair is reuniting.
And the statics are flying in from Seattle.
So, you know, some bigger names
too.
Wow.
Nice.
So how did this start?
How did the festival start?
Yeah, well, I think that is Tom's creation, Tom Smith, Time Bomb Tom.
He's been running shows in Green Bay since I believe the 80s, I want to say.
Like he started the concert cafe shows and that was like an institution for me as a teenager.
I shudder to think who I'd be without punk rock in my life.
And yeah, it was just kind of the scene grew and everyone's kind of stayed in touch.
And this is sort of a statement on that.
That's so cool.
Why isn't there a comedy club in Green Bay, a full-time comedy club?
I don't know.
I would like one as well.
You know, we have Comedy City and The Peer.
They do a lot of improv and some stand-up sometimes.
And The Meyer has been booking more stand-up, which has really excited me.
I run pop-up shows called Don't Tell and those are kind of like based on the premise like the location is a surprise and you can BYOB which I think people love more than the comedy but you know but those always sell out so I feel like there is a market for comedy here.
Yeah, I it's never like I know Frank Herman's he and his brother when I was a stand-up in the 90s I worked their club It was right down on Washington Street down the street from WGVW But for whatever reason and I think a funny bone came to town briefly, but that didn't make it It just seems like there should be a club there and I know that's easier easy for me to say that but it seems like it could certainly sustain itself I would think
yeah, cuz I feel like people from Green Bay don't go to Appleton
So I don't think it would infringe on Skyline and Appleton.
Yeah.
Well, we could put our heads together.
I'm sure we'll think of something there.
Somebody pay me to open a club.
That's the voice of Kristen Lighty, a very funny comedian based in Green Bay.
She joins us periodically here on Nightlight, and we're talking to her about Green Bay, the GB UFO Fest.
Tell us about the venues.
I was reading about the venues.
They sound really cool.
Yeah, so Friday we're gonna be at Badger State Brewery Which is amazing phenomenal space and they're always doing cool community events there so it's awesome to partner with them and then Saturday we're gonna be at Riverside Ballroom, which is Such an honor to be on that stage like so many huge names have performed there You know I saw Fugazi there when I was 16 that absolutely blew my mind So my punk rock teenage self is very excited about that
And then the later show I'm doing is sort of, it's a new venue.
It's called the Mad World Artist Collaborative, and it's across the street from Happy Joe's on Mason, and it's so cool.
They have local artists with all their work and wares on the wall, and they do a weekly open mic for folks.
They do music shows.
You know, the Uncanny Bazaar does a lot of the artwork there, so it's very, like, horror-centric and fun.
It's really unique, and I hope it really takes off.
It's a great place.
That's so cool.
Here I see, too, the key feature, Boris the sprinkler, as you mentioned, performing Saucer to Saturn.
That's another thing.
There has to be a UFO motif here.
I don't think I was that far off with some of this.
I just got confused.
It's quite cool.
We just don't talk about it.
All
right.
GB Green Bay UFO takes place this coming weekend, folks.
July 25th and 26th.
Kristen Lighty's fingerprints are all over it.
So check it out and what do people need to do?
Where can they go to find out more information?
Is there a cover charge?
How do they take the next step?
Yeah, so you can get a two-day pass to the GBUFO Fest and you can, it's kind of fun because you're buying tickets in real life.
There's no internet purchase for this.
You
can get them
at GBUFO in Green Bay, Irving Place Records in Milwaukee, Mad City Music in Madison and Eroding Winds in Appleton in Oshkosh.
And if you want tickets to the late show on Saturday, 8 p.m.
at the Mad World Artist Collective, you can just type in on Eventbrite, Mad World Artist Collective, and the tickets will come up.
That's so great.
Kristen Lighty, we have a clip of your stand-up.
Can we play this?
Just a little-
Oh, sure,
yeah.
A little
show that people might experience if they go see you at GBUFO.
Here's Kristen Lighty doing comedy.
So, yeah, sober dating.
Wow.
Ooh, I'm glad I got a boyfriend, because that was rough.
Yeah, I joined soberandsingle.com up in Green Bay, and it was just
me.
Con, that's all we have?
Yes.
It's like seven seconds of comedy.
You got the real thing right here.
That's all right.
We left him wanting more.
That's so funny.
And now you talk about that in your act.
How long have you been sober?
Over seven years now.
It was seven years in January.
Good for you.
It's
two and a
half years for me, and I don't know if I like it.
I'm going to be honest.
I just kind of quit on a whim, and I'm loving it.
Kudos to you, though.
That's impressive.
Congrats to you, too.
I would say not making a hungover is pretty great.
That was the big thing.
I never would drive really like, but I would have a couple glasses of whiskey.
and play video poker at night and wake up and just be like, I can't do this every night.
And then I just kind of tried it and I liked it.
Now I'm here.
I don't know if I'll quit forever, but that's impressive though, seven and a half years.
Have you gotten funnier since you've been sober?
Or is
it easier
or harder to write jokes?
I think it's easier because you're more present and you feel more confident.
And the reason I quit drinking is because it was just taking too much time out of my life.
I was wasting too much time either getting drunk or being hungover.
And I love my day job.
I love doing comedy.
And so trying to maintain two full-time careers, there was just no room for being
hungover.
Right.
Right.
You still have things you want to do in your life.
It's
like, you
know, if I'm 80 and want to kick back and have a couple drinks, I'm not really missing out on the scene, but, you know, it's different when you're, when you're our age, you know.
Um, I, you just mentioned your day job and we talked about this a little bit last time.
Can I ask you about that again?
Are there any new developments?
Uh, you are the director of the Wisconsin education association council.
Which gig is more work stand up or that?
Um,
I would say definitely being an organizing director is is a bit more work, you know comedy is my creative outlet and You know working I've done union work for nearly 20 years now and my go-to line is no one ever calls us when they're having a great day so To bear witness to every bad thing that's happening to people and learning not to marinate in it took some time But you know it is
It's challenging in a good way.
Like I love that my work is something different every day.
I'm always working with new, cool people.
Yeah, I really love it.
And I'm asking this for purely personal reasons, because my wife is a kindergarten teacher, but are teachers responding to the unions again?
Because I was surprised back in, and I don't really get into these topics too often, but because it's close to home, I couldn't believe how many teachers were in favor of what happened 15 years ago.
Like this affects you.
You know, it's it's crazy that must have made someone like you crazy
Yeah, I was just kind of starting I was living in Chicago when act 10 kind of crashed into the political scene here
And it is disappointing how many people voted against their own self-interests and values.
But I think now we're seeing the uptick in response to that.
New educators coming in are pumped about their union.
Even though
there are
some
restrictions with the law, there's still a lot we can do in terms of collective action and turning out to meet the demands that are what students need and educators want.
So I feel like it's an exciting time, but I couldn't earn out about that all day.
Well, my wife still pays her dues every month and I'm proud of her for that.
But I also, it is crazy when I remember people say, well, we've got to do our part.
Like you're being swindled.
Hey, here's some money that you only value yourself as much as you value yourself.
Well, and essentially like with the savings they created that last surplus we had on the budget was like seven billion and Then they gave it back to citizens and it turned out to be like 125 bucks a month which Take that from me fun schools, you know
Yeah, right exact, but that's how I am too.
I'm always like I like knowing you know, nobody likes to pay high taxes, but I'm
I'm happy to know that teachers or firefighters or whatever, this is doing good.
Parks, libraries, I know people have a mentality that it's just like, you know, it's crazy.
Yeah, we need to lift each other up, not tear each other down.
And just because someone else has good benefits doesn't mean we should all not have good
benefits, you know.
Well, keep doing the great work you're doing both in your day job and your nightclub job They're both outstanding and you're great obviously at both of them.
So thank you for being on the show and next time you're coming in to the studio We'll do that again.
That was always more fun when you're there in person
Thanks for having me.
You got it anytime check out GB UFO and check out Kristen Leidy
Follow her on her socials and go see her do stand up, folks.
She's very funny.
All right, we're coming back.
We're going to read your texts and wrap this thing up.
And I will tell you who is on the show tomorrow.
You don't want to miss that either.
Because I'll also be in Madison.
Where are you going to be tomorrow night, Conrad?
In the same seat.
OK.
You wearing that same hat?
At the brewer's one tonight.
Fair weather.
Otherwise, I haven't been wearing it at their streak.
So if they lose tonight, I'm throwing it away.
Oh, you're one of those, uh, one of those, uh, yeah, I get it.
All right, this is Peach Waba at Nightlight.
We're coming right back and we're gonna finish up with your text.
Don't miss that, folks.
It's Nightlight with Peach Waba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome
back.
When people think of Wisconsin, they think of cheese, according to Midwest versus everyone's Twitter account.
This is Pete Schwab at Nightlight.
Welcome back.
That was interesting because I do think non-as unexciting as North Dakota is.
And I've been there several times back when I used to do stand-up.
As I said, the people are really nice.
And I always had a good time going there, but there is nothing like in the topography or anything that just makes it stand out.
But I am surprised Fargo, because of the movie.
That seems like it should replace nothing for North Dakota.
I don't know.
I would say maybe also their college football teams.
I feel like a lot of people will go crazy for them in North Dakota.
Yeah.
But I mean, don't you think they do that anywhere?
If that's all you have going for you.
Cause
they know what
I mean, like
they don't have a, you know, they don't have any pro, any pro anything.
They don't even have high school sports.
That's what makes college such a, no, they're the bison, right?
Yeah, the bison.
Yeah.
But they don't have any professional teams.
No, I know.
They're probably all like Minnesota fans or something.
But Kansas got a nothing.
Illinois got Chicago, Michigan got Detroit, Indiana got race cars.
Iowa got Caitlyn Clark, Wisconsin got cheese, Minnesota got cold, South Dakota got Mount Rushmore, Nebraska got corn, Kansas got nothing, Missouri got nothing, that's harsh.
Yeah,
I
mean- What do you think of the arch?
I think that maybe the author of this is Wisconsin, you know, kind of a Milwaukee British fan, because how much we hate the St.
Louis Cardinals.
Yeah, that could be.
Because it's like Midwest versus everyone.
Well, those are all Midwestern states.
You should be.
I
saw a lot of comments on that saying that they really don't think those two bottom states are really Midwest.
Oh, that's interesting.
Yeah.
I mean,
Missouri could be the south.
Yeah.
Well, let's finish up some text here.
Our question tonight was what poster was on your bedroom wall when you were growing up?
We've got some great responses tonight.
Conrad's dad is a big fan of Aunt B. You covered that.
You're going to keep going back to that, aren't you?
I love that.
Because I bought it.
I'm like, oh my god, was there an Aunt B poster?
But why wouldn't there be?
She was a wonderful person.
Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids.
He's in the 608.
He says, my poster, how's Susan Day grab you?
Hot Partridge.
If there's going to be a sexual innuendo tweet.
or response.
It's going to be from Tyler in Wisconsin Rabbits.
From the 920, Elvis and Evil Can Evil.
And oddly enough, my guidance counselor high school was Evil's cousin.
Hey, that's kind of a cool bit of trivia.
Pardon me.
From the 920, Annie says, Bobby Sherman was much bigger than Sean or David Cassidy, especially if you had a friend named Julie.
That's probably like an inside thing that I don't understand.
I'm sure that's like probably one of his songs or a partridge family like plotline or something.
I'm sorry, Annie.
I would love to run with that text, but I don't think I follow you on the friend named Julie Thing, but Bobby Sherman recently passed away, Bobby Sherman.
Thank you as always, Annie.
From the 608, then Mark from Paul R, then Mark from Paul R and the Raiders.
Now Kevin Costner, ND Mark Ruffalo.
Does that make any sense to you,
Conn?
Kevin Costner and Mark Ruffalo, maybe forgot the A. But it's capped,
like ND, like North Dakota.
I don't know.
Well, Mark Ruffalo is awesome.
Sorry, 608.
No, he's not.
But give us some clarification, if you would, if you're still listening.
I'm sorry, we just didn't quite get that.
Jim from Appleton says, Charlie's Angels was my poster.
Kate Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Jacqueline Smith, the heavy three.
There you go.
Some heavy hitters from the 70s.
Thank you, Jim.
I knew somebody.
That's the second one, second text we got for the Charlie's Angels posters though.
Ah, Ollie, we talked to Ollie Bridget from the 818 says the outsiders.
My mom framed it for me.
See, that's the difference between girls and guys.
My dad never would have framed a Farrah Fawcett poster or Daisy Duke, Catherine Bach.
That would have like encouraged.
nefarious behavior or something.
He would have thought he was condoning my crushes on TV idols.
Thank you, Bridget.
Ross from the 608 says, Lon Chaney, werewolf and a Yes Songs album cover poster.
Well done, Ross.
Very nice.
Lon Chaney.
I didn't know they had a Lon Chaney poster.
And our buddy Chris Casper in the 608.
Pete, we're in a fight.
How are those cubs doing?
I'm not fighting Chris Casper.
He's like twice my size.
Uh, I think, you know what though?
I think I could take him, Conn.
I hit him fast and I hit him low.
Don't
underestimate me, dude.
Don't let
the collared shirts fool you.
I can throw down.
You are a mountain of muscle,
compare.
I am a mountain of muscle, that's true.
Uh, Casper says Skull.
He's a big Viking fan.
We don't have to do that.
So he's with you on the Brewers.
He's giving me a hard time with the Cubs earlier.
Listen, I'm not a brewer hater.
I if they weren't in a neck and neck thing with the Cubs here I'd probably cheer for them But like and I'm being serious when I say this for them to sustain what they're doing is gonna be very tough But the Cubs could have a falloff too, I mean, I don't know it's it's gonna be interesting
But
it's fun.
Yeah, it's fun at this time of year to have a race.
You know what I
mean?
Yeah,
and this is when I get into it the baseball season Folks, thank you for your text.
Thank you to Ben riser for being on the show tonight and the always
Funny Kristen Lighty too great guests tonight and great text everybody brought it with the poster question Tomorrow night on the show.
We've got our pal Frank Anderson from Wisconsinology.com.
He is also a writer producer Director he is a show biz Renaissance man.
Ladies and gentlemen Frank will be here tomorrow at 635.
We're gonna talk about the Daniel.
It's a no Davey Crockett's connection to Wisconsin That's one of the many things I'm gonna ask Frank about and then
Conrad, you know who's coming at 735, in person, in the flesh.
Kaelin Cole.
Kaelin Cole.
And we are getting a sneak peek of her new song, or sneak listen, I should say.
Her new song drops in two days.
We're getting a sneak peek tomorrow.
A sneak listen tomorrow.
That'll be fun.
That's all on Nightlight here, live from Madison.
Conrad will still be in Green Bay.
Lots of fun still to come this week, so don't go away.
Tune in every night and be part of the show.
Always more fun when you guys participate.
On behalf of the lovable producer, Conrad,
Hey, are you going out?
Are you coming down to Madison?
No, I'm going.
Right now?
I'm going home eating some food
and then watching some tea.
These guys are all going to be drunk.
And I'm going to be drinking club soda.
You know how many of those it takes to get drunk?
A
lot.
A ton.
All right.
Good night,
Wisconsin.