
Transcript
Popcorn Pick of the Week W/ WheezyWaiter (Hour 1)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Thu Aug 7, 2025
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 wears a bathing suit in the shower.
Pete Schwabba.
Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.
Great to have you it is Thursday night the Christmas Eve of weeknights and a muggy night here in Northeast Wisconsin at least where we broadcast from Hope you're having a great day and hope you can leave the stresses of your day behind and Join us for a couple hours of ass jackery and fun some laughs some good guests We do it all here at night like every night from six to eight and it is great to have you part of the show Got a good question tonight
Lots of chances for you guys to weigh in with your thoughts on our question and some other content we will be discussing tonight.
Really fun show.
Craig Benzine is here tonight, folks.
He also goes by the name Weezy Waiter on YouTube.
He's got over one million subscribers.
Those aren't just people who watch Conrad.
Those are subscribers.
You have to give your information.
A million people have done that.
Well...
You just click a button, and then you're subscribed.
That's
it?
Well, you have to make YouTube count first, I guess.
Well, see, there you go.
And then you can just click the subscribe button.
Listen, I don't know why you're downplaying Craig's subscribers, but I think it's pretty impressive.
Are you one of them?
No.
He doesn't need me.
He doesn't have just like a million and three.
Either he's got like 1.2 million or something like that.
Really talented guy, an actual influencer.
Like, I could say I'm an influencer with my 300 Twitter followers, but, you know, of those, let's say 200 or bots, 40 are wannabe escorts or cam girls, 20 are, you know, people I don't really know.
My point is I'm not influencing anybody.
Craig, on the other hand.
is an actual influencer and he's a filmmaker and he made a film called No Packers, No Life and I've seen a chunk of it.
It's really good and it's really fun.
It's about Japanese Packer fans and he did this great documentary.
These fans are so into the Packers and they watch games that are on, that have been recorded.
They've already happened like years ago and they will just sit and socially watch a pack.
I love my teams.
I'm not watching a Bears game, even from when they were good.
I'm not sitting down and watching that.
You don't want to reminisce about the glory days?
I do that, but I'm not going to watch the whole game.
Would you do that with a Packer game?
Start to finish?
I've watched a couple.
You need to get out more, dude.
Anyway, it's impressive.
It's a really fun film.
Craig is the director, so he is an influencer, a director.
He's also got quite an acting history, too.
So he will be here tonight to make the popcorn pick of the week at 6.35.
Can't think of a better guy to do that.
And then at 7.35, we welcome Savannah Schindler.
She is from VisitBeloid, and she's talking about this really cool tournament they have there.
Remember what it's called, Conrad?
Cube.
Sounds like kind of...
It's not kind
of
elitist when you say it.
Sounds like a club.
We were calling it KUB.
The KUB club.
Right.
The KUB club.
The KUB open.
KUB open.
Sorry.
It's not even KUB.
It's not KUB.
It's not KUB.
It's KUB.
KUB.
Those crazy Norwegians.
Yeah.
That's how they talk.
And it's a Norwegian game.
Yeah.
So there's a tournament in Beloit this Saturday night.
Savannah will join us to talk about that.
That'll be fun.
And God, what else is going on?
There's a lot.
It is really sweltering outside.
Yeah, it was hot.
I went to the Packers practice this morning.
Yeah.
And I was sweating from the time I got out there to the time I left.
You
know
what the
mistake you made
was?
What's that?
You wore full pads.
Yeah.
You should not have done that.
I just wanted to be just in case you needed me.
Crier, get in there.
You played football, you know, you're kind of a, you're a, not sturdy, what's the name?
You're built, you're sound.
I
think they would still kill me out there.
Of course they would.
But how long do you think you could hold your own?
Like let's say you're squaring off against, what's the center's name?
Or the nose tackle?
If you're sitting there or
whatever.
If I'm, you know, a fullback.
Yeah.
You know, I'm charged with protecting that that running back He's he's not getting protected.
Let's do this.
Let's say What position if you had to go in for like let's say five plays Are you least likely to get the crap kicked out of you or to be conscious when you leave?
I would say Give me that quarterback position just so I can hand off the ball to Josh Jacobs and get out of the way But that no no that doesn't count
you got to go like you got to go
Receiver running back line And you got to play offense.
Um, you can't just sit back there in defense and hope nothing comes your way
You know what?
You want else's you know offense a kicker?
Um punter I'm gonna kick not make it definitely not make it, but I'll attempt
all right.
You're obviously dodging the question.
I'm gonna say I Think I would have a better chance as alignment No,
I did no
listen if I get a hand off
pancakes
Right away.
They would just push me aside.
Right?
And I'd go down.
Well, you got to think off the line.
They're going right after you, too.
Trying to get to that.
You're toast.
OK, but
if I get a handoff, I'm probably going to die.
OK.
Or catch a pass over the middle.
Are you kidding me?
I think I'd rather take my chances on the line.
I think you go receiver and say, don't throw it to me.
Just drop it.
Bad it away.
Bad it away.
Play defense.
You guys can weigh in on this if you want.
8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2.
Where do you think, where would you go where you're least likely to get your butt kicked?
I think line.
You take a beating.
You would take
a beating no matter
what.
No matter what position you play, you're gonna get a beating.
But what I like about the line is they don't have much room to charge you.
One step, and that's all they need.
They're getting right past me.
No question about that.
But they can't wind up.
They can't get a ten-yard head start and just annihilate me.
Yeah, I get what you're saying.
It's
all physics, buddy.
Yeah, no matter what, I think you're gonna end up on the ground.
Right, unless they just pick me up and launch me somewhere.
All right, believe it or not, folks, this isn't all the show we have tonight.
I mentioned our guests and let's go to, I think without further ado, we should get to our nightlight.
Question of the night.
Let's talk about
the question.
Okay, question.
Question.
Question.
Pregunta.
Question.
Question.
Okay, I have a question.
Questions.
This question.
Domanda.
Question.
Questions.
Well, it's National Sea Creatures Serpent Day.
So our question is, and this, I'm gonna preface this by saying, water in deep dark water freaks me out more than anything in the world.
I don't like knowing what's under me, even if I could kick its ass.
Even a trout, who I like my chances against, even though they're kind of the jerks of the fish world.
Now, what is below the surface of the water?
It's the unknown.
It's always freaked me out.
So it's National Sea Serpent Day.
What's the creepiest underwater creature, mythical or real, to you?
What freaks you out the most let us know eight five five seven five two four eight four two eight five five seven five civic What is the creepiest underwater creature mythical or real you can text us on our text line that I just gave you or the app?
Very popular the civic media app if you don't have it.
I highly recommend downloading it.
It's very easy to use You can take you all your favorite civic media shows and hosts with you wherever you go and now
Conrad, if I'm not mistaken, you can listen to Oldies.
If you click on WGBW or WISS in the app, you'll get Oldies throughout the day.
Local news and timeless hits.
Local news.
Actually, is it on Oshkosh
or just Green Bay?
Just Green Bay.
WISS is still
primary talk.
So you get an option there.
I like my talker colleagues, but once in a while, you got to cleanse the palette and go with some Oldies that they are fun to listen to.
So download the app if you haven't, or you can drop us a comment on the stream.
And that's today's question.
What is the creepiest underwater creature mythical or real in honor of National Sea Serpent Day?
I did some, uh, I did some research here.
First of all, I know what mine is.
It's a Megalodon.
Megalodons.
There you go.
If you're watching on the stream, that is those things could get up to 75 feet.
I've heard, I don't know if this is urban legend or not, but that on occasion they would get up to a hundred feet, almost as big as a blue whale.
but they're man-eaters, they're sharks, and they pieced one together.
In San Diego, there's a museum, I think just natural history, and they pieced together a megalodon, and it is impressive to look at.
It was just huge, thick and long, and it was crazy, but they've always freaked me out.
I don't like sharks to begin with, but a megalodon would definitely be mine.
And I feel like they're extinct, and the science community,
Seems pretty confident that they're extinct and I tend to believe the science community most of the time But I feel like there could be still be one down there.
How do they know?
That's my point like the ocean is so vast How do you not know how do you know there's there could be a megalodon down there?
Yeah,
I
don't want to know what's yours?
I met this goes back to Finding Nemo Yeah, and
it's hard to infish.
Yeah, it scared scared me when I was younger and it's an angler fish
And later I found out it's a real fish and
yeah,
I got a little picture on If you're looking
on they are
ugly and they have a little lights on their head so they can kind of see In that deep dark water.
Yeah, but look at those teeth Like those teeth are disgusting and that's
deceiving because they get fairly big.
Yeah Yeah, this is that looks like a guppy, but they can get pretty good size
they look even nastier some of the other pictures I saw there were two gruesome I didn't want to
Scare anyone on the stream,
but and here's what it's not even just like saltwater ocean or sea Even lake water.
I don't like knowing what's under me in a lake because oh and I'll even in Wisconsin a lot of these lakes are like You know what a glacier dropped into those lakes, you know
even a sturgeon those things are nasty too.
They are I don't think they can bite you I mean, I suppose they could but they are creepy-looking.
Yeah,
you know, I
I'm looking for this is this kind of going off topic, but I was thinking about the fish fries and was you know in Green Bay and if anyone knows a bluegill spot, please let me know a little bluegill
Thank you for derailing the whole show Conrad because of your wanton lust for a bluegill I
Was just
thinking about fish in Wisconsin you're gonna say a fresh a fish fry even freaks me out.
They're fresh water No, no, but because jaws is based on a story where
A 25-foot great white went in through a seaway and got into fresh water in New Jersey and ate people.
And it lived in fresh water for quite a while.
So water just freaks me out.
I'm not a boatsman.
I'm not a swimmer per se.
But ladies and gentlemen, let us know.
Let's have some fun with this tonight.
What sea creature?
What is the creepiest underwater creature, mythical or real, to you?
It's National Sea Serpent Day.
Let us know we'll read your text on the radio.
I have to say I do I Have a video poker app and also on any sports app.
I used I'm seeing all these ads for guys shaving their chests Check out this life hack and it's these guys with this new tool that shaved their chest.
Have you ever shaved your chest?
No,
I Feel like that's a new thing and I don't consider myself an old-school guy necessarily parts of me probably are but like mostly I'm contemporary if I see a trend I like
I'll go with it.
But these guys, everybody's shaving their chest.
And I'm sick of watching, and you gotta watch it for like 15 seconds before you can click out of it.
I feel like it's messing with me.
You know, this is what I'm gonna let you know, right?
This
is
a little hack from me.
Okay.
If you're on your video poker app and you're sick of the ads, turn down the airplane mode.
You won't get the ads.
No, but I have to.
It's online.
The game is on.
That's a little hack for the game I play.
Why
don't
you
just
stick the bluegill hacks, OK?
It's the Popcorn Pick of the Week.
Tonight, folks, Craig Benzine will be here shortly to make the Popcorn Pick of the Week.
And then Savannah Schindler joins us a little later.
When we come back, we're going to read your texts.
And I'm going to tell you about that show I've been teasing all week that I've been watching.
And I'm kind of addicted to.
That's coming up next on Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
I'm with my boys, I'm with my troops, yeah
Welcome
back.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.
So great to have you.
It is a Thursday, folks.
You're almost home.
The weekend is right around the corner where you get to watch new movies and binge watch different TV than you've been watching.
The weekend just presents so many opportunities when it comes to being a couch potato.
I want to give a shout out to our next door neighbors before we proceed any further.
Rise and grind.
First of all, this has stuck with me for a while.
I love the name.
That is a great name for a coffee shop.
Rise and grind.
Because that's what we do every day.
We all grind.
You grinded today over at the Packer practice field.
Yep, they put me in.
Yeah.
So a shout out to Jocelyn because I was in a hurry.
and she brought my coffee over here and gave me Dubai chocolate, which is the greatest flavor of any, that might be the, that scoop of gelato might be the best meal I've ever had.
It looked pretty good.
It was delicious.
And then the coffee she brought me, it did give her a Civic Media shirt.
Nice.
That didn't cost me anything though.
No, but the coffee she brought me, she put cinnamon in it.
Yeah,
that's
dynamite.
From going forward, that's all I'm going to put in my coffee is cinnamon.
It tastes so good.
And she was nice enough to tell me what, because I thought it was some weird flavor and she goes, no, I just put cinnamon in it.
Her husband said, I guess when she did that, like she needs to serve coffee because she has that kind of a palette, I guess, for a coffee creativity.
It's dynamite though.
Thank you, Jocelyn.
Thank you, Rise and Grind.
Love the name.
And the other night I stopped, I was going to get a gelato on my way home.
There's like a line out the door.
So I thought, well, you know, it'll be dark by the time I get out of here.
So I didn't get it, but really good stuff.
All right.
So our question of the night, folks, you know, first of all, I want to talk about this show because I've been kind of teasing it all week.
And I might have mentioned it, but Dexter, really good show.
The first two seasons are the writing is.
It's outstanding and it's one of those shows that like when you watch it like I love the first season It's about a guy for those of you don't know he's a serial killer But he controls his urges and he works for a police department analyzing blood splatter at crime scenes So he knows this stuff and he only kills people that like get away with horrible crimes.
So he kind of channels his urges
And that's the story.
So most of the people he kills, you're kind of rooting for him.
It's a bit morbid, but the writing is really good.
And in the second season, I had so much faith in the writing of the show based on the first show, I thought, I trust them.
I know this is gonna be awesome.
I don't know where this is going.
And it really delivered.
And I'm in season three right now and Jimmy Smith is, I think they're gonna make him the bad guy.
He's not yet.
But I don't know, but if any of you are watching Dexter or have watched Dexter, I'm very late to the party.
I know that.
Feel free to share your thoughts.
And I know Lisa Hale has watched the show.
We're gonna have her on to discuss the show.
I think she's said she's watched it all the way through more than once.
So we'll have that discussion with Lisa at some point, but she's on vacation this week.
So let me know if you're watching Dexter, if you shave your chest.
What you can also win and whether or not what position if you had to play offense in the national football league And this kind of goes hand-in-hand with our first guest Craig benzene because we'll talk about his movie no packers no life, but What position would you pick where you think you are least likely to take a butt kicking I say the line You don't really say he's a kicker you kind of evaded the question punter Okay, long snapper he can't be touched
Well, you can be touched after he snaps up.
He's getting touched one way or the other I'll
I'll pick long snapper.
All right.
I Feel like after you hike it the guy could just push your head right into the ground.
Yeah,
there's rules
All right our question is what is your Well, what's the creepiest underwater creature mythical or real it's national sea serpent day.
Let us know your thoughts folks.
We'll go to some of our
Social media texts here, we got Conrad Krieger, Angler Fish, very creepy.
Daniel Wheeler, creature from the black lagoon.
That is a creepy creature.
He said, pretty much ruined swimming in lakes for me.
After seeing that, a simple brush of some underwater algae against my leg.
I started crying.
But it gave him a morbid sense of humor, and he is an artist and makes really cool, creepy stuff.
So I would say it paid dividends for you, Daniel, down the road.
It's scared as you might have been as a kid.
I do remember that I was scared of that too.
I say Megalodon.
They could still exist.
Why not?
We don't know what's down there Our pal Mike Destatelle says without a doubt at least in my book the creepiest has to be the blob fish Oh, those are creepy and he posted a picture on the internet.
There you go That looks like a guy looks like a guy who like works at an auto parts store That's
Really
that looks like you know like a cartoon or something like it doesn't look real.
I Just realized what I said could be construed as me ripping on people who work in auto parts stores But if I go in to ask for a car part or I need a new wiper or whatever I Want the guy working at the auto store to look like a blob.
I don't want to go in there and have a guy that looks like Brad Pitt I'll think that guy doesn't know what he's talking about.
He's too handsome
But if it looks like that blob fish you just had up there, I think this guy probably knows auto parts
So this guy knows auto parts
that kind of knows he knows his stuff Yeah, all right And then Mike gave all these soft body flabby skin weak bones and few muscles lack of buoyancy No swim bladder.
So they float with the ocean's currents passive behavior They sit on the ocean floor and wait for prey to drift into their mouths really gross
I take it back, they're the jerks of the sea.
But they know they're auto parts.
Yeah.
Dan Davies says, one of my uncles saw a creepy looking mermaid off the coast of Key West in the early 1980s.
It was either that or a floating marijuana bale.
I think it was probably the marijuana bale.
Just guessing.
There could be a mermaid though.
I'm going to the text line here.
Let's get Conrad's dad's text and Steve from Florida says the creature from the black lagoon.
There you go, Daniel.
Epic movie from 1954.
The cool thing is that the movie was filmed not too far from where we live now in Ocala Silver Springs, Florida.
Happy swimming, Steve.
All right, we're coming right back with the popcorn pick of the week and filmmaker and influencer Craig Benzine.
It's Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
It's time for the Nightlight Popcorn Pick of the Week where we recommend a movie that you'll either enjoy or won't.
Here's your host, Pete Schwabba.
All right, welcome folks.
Welcome back.
This is the Popcorn Pick of the Week.
That must mean it's Thursday at 6.35 here at Nightlight.
Great to have you with me and I'm very excited to welcome my next guest who I wanted to have on the show with or without the Popcorn Pick of the Week because he's got a lot going on.
He is a YouTube influencer who goes by the name wheezy waiter and he has over a million subscribers Conrad not just people who tune in and listen occasionally subscribe They go the extra mile and he is now a director and and goes by the name of Craig benzene and he just made a film called no packers no life We'll talk about that too.
We'll talk about all of it after we make the popcorn pick of the week Craig welcome Hey, thank you for having me
My pleasure, and if I can say this to another man in the most heterosexual way possible, that beard is looking really handsome, buddy.
It looks much better than last time, and it looked dynamite last time.
Hey, well, thank you.
I actually, I put a little beard oil in it before this.
Oh, is that the secret?
I like it.
Well, I also showered as well.
Oh, there
you
go.
I knew it was something.
It all helps.
How are you, buddy?
I'm doing good.
I heard earlier you were talking about shaving your chest.
That's
the thing,
their ads are all over the place.
I
don't know if you've seen them, but yeah, what do you make of that?
Well, I have shaved my chest in the past for charity.
Oh, okay.
And so, friends of mine who are also YouTubers of the Vlogbrothers, they do a thing every year called Project For Awesome, and I shaved P4A into my chest, Project For Awesome.
Oh,
wow.
just to help raise money.
And then after that, I shaved it all off.
And it was terrible.
It was so itchy.
It was almost painful, yeah, as it was growing back.
Is it just
itchy when it's growing back in, or is it just a different thing?
I think it didn't take very long, probably a day before it started to get really itchy and a little painful.
Yeah, so I do not recommend it.
I absolutely do not recommend
it.
I hope whatever charity it was appreciated your efforts and your discomfort.
Before we get to popcorn, Craig, do you have a sea creature that creeps you out?
I also heard you talking about that and I thought about it and I guess, well, I have two answers.
One, if you're in the water,
Anything brushing up against your leg is going to be very creepy.
I don't think it does not matter what it is
true
and to I just got it I Just got to go shark I got to go classic because that I feel like I'm more likely to encounter a shark than like an angler fish or something Under under the water, you know, and it will also murder me so It's
it's true like even when you're in a pool and someone
does a goof and grabs your leg with our hand.
You immediately think fish or killer, even
though
you're in a chlorinated public pool or something.
It's just a terrible feeling.
What you
can't see is most terrifying.
Yeah, exactly.
And that's a great choice.
I think Shark is a safe bet.
All right, so let's talk about movies and movie snacks.
Craig, you're a movie maker now too.
And you may have made movies before that I can't remember.
I know you've acted.
You've been around the business a long time.
How do you like to watch movies?
Are you a theater guide?
You like to watch them at home?
I mean, I will watch them any way I can.
I'll watch them on the phone if I have to.
But theater is the preferred, for sure.
Absolutely.
Theater with a full crowd.
Like, I love the hype.
I love when it's...
When it's when everyone's like really excited about a movie, if it's an opening night, that to me is the best scenario for a movie.
I totally agree with you.
And it's that shared experience.
It's that like when you're all because everybody in there, regardless of their background or whatever, is there and typically excited to see this film together.
That's what's so fun about it.
And even
I got I
thought it was really cool, even like Top Gun Maverick.
I wasn't a huge Top Gun fan, but.
that first time everybody went back into the theaters and Tom Cruise gave that little message, I was like, all right, here we go.
Let's
watch
a movie, you know?
Yeah, and
I thought that was a good movie.
Yeah, I enjoyed it.
And it was a packed crowd.
And maybe that's why I liked it because it was a packed crowd.
I don't know.
Yeah, that can help for sure.
All right, so do you have a typical, like if a genre
you favor, Craig?
Well, I mean, I feel like there's great examples of every genre, but.
If I have to choose, I'm probably going to go with either sci-fi or action comedy.
Have you ever seen The Nice Guys?
Yeah, I've seen
that.
what's another good example like Beverly Hills Cop or something like that.
Like an action comedy to me is the easiest thing in the world to watch.
I will always enjoy that.
I'll always be in the mood for it.
I agree, but I think they're hard to pull
off.
I think they're hard to do properly.
Oh yeah.
Cause they can be
really bad, you know, but the ones that are done well are really good.
And I'll give you an example like lethal weapon.
I think when that came out, I think that was trying to be funny at times, but
I don't know if you've seen it recently or ever seen it, but it doesn't, to me, didn't really hold up.
I was watching it with my son about a year ago.
And there's a scene where, you know, Mel Gibson is under cover.
It's towards the end of the movie.
They're going after the bad guys.
They're in Hollywood Boulevard.
Tons of people around.
And he has his shirt open and like khaki pants on.
And he's carrying like an AR something or other.
And he's like, excuse me, excuse me.
And the cup.
cops were like, let him through.
They don't even know he's a cop.
And it's like, we know he is, but
it's
just the guy walking through the crowd with a semi-automatic.
So sometimes I laugh for the
wrong reasons.
I did actually watch that recently as well.
And I don't think it held up.
Because at the end, also at the end, the bad guy and Mel Gibson
encounter each other.
They don't really know each other, but they for some reason have to have a fist fight.
And the cops, Danny Glover is like holding back the cops.
No, they have to fist fight.
We can't arrest him now.
Let's let them have their fight.
That was really dumb.
I
totally agree with you.
And I remember when it came out in 87, and I was working the door at this club in Chicago, and the head door guy went and saw it and he said, dude, you.
God, I see this.
Like it was his religion.
And I went and saw it and I liked it.
I didn't even notice that stuff.
And now I'm like, what the hell was the matter with 19 year old me?
You know what I mean?
I think, I think at the time it was pretty new and novel kind of idea to have like a violent, funny movie like that.
Good point.
Yeah.
Suicidal cop who's kind of on the edge, you know, yeah, exactly.
All right, so you like theaters, you like, what is your, Craig, do you have a favorite snack when you watch movies, either in the theater or at home, and do they differ depending on where you watch movies?
Well, it's definitely, at the theater, it's Nestle's Bunch of Crunch.
I always go for Nestle's Bunch of Crunch.
Conrad,
who gave
you Bunch of Crunch earlier this week as a gift?
You know, I've never tried it before that, and those, it's delightful.
They were addicting.
Yeah, I'm with you.
Yeah,
sometimes I'm like, I don't need all that sugar.
And I'll just have half of it.
I always eat the whole box because I can't stop.
I love Nestle's Bunch of Crunch.
At home, I don't have Nestle's Bunch of Crunch around.
So probably, I don't know.
It's just whatever is convenient.
You don't keep a candy counter at your home, Craig.
No, but that's
a great idea.
Why not?
Yeah,
I think we eat a little healthier at home, typically, or you could actually make dinner and watch something at home, which is nice, too.
So, all right, you're a director now.
You made this great film.
When did movies become kind of magical to you, Craig, or when did you decide you were in awe of movies?
Oh, very young.
I've loved them.
I don't even know if I remember.
I mean, I think my earliest memory of truly loving movies is probably watching Indiana Jones on TV with my dad.
Oh,
nice.
That was probably, like, I remember multiple times, because my dad's a real re-watcher.
So whenever it was on, like, we'd watch India, and I'd always try to stay up late enough to see the whole movie.
Yeah,
nice.
That's probably one of my earliest memories of watching.
And ever since, I mean, I've always loved movies.
And when I was in grade school and high school, I would
make little home movies and edit them using two VCRs because that was the only way to do it back then.
Right.
And yeah, I mean, so yeah, pretty much my whole life, I've loved movies.
Wasn't it great too when like, when there was only like four channels or maybe a couple of UHF channels too, it was always a thrill when a movie that you saw in the theater was on TV.
It's like.
I get to watch it again.
Like we're so spoiled now.
I can watch anything I've ever seen in my life a couple clicks.
You know
what I mean?
And I still, I feel like back then every movie was precious.
And now I see this array of movies and I'm like, oh, none of these look good.
You know, like so spoiled.
It's another Gerard Butler
movie.
Okay, sure.
Let's go with that.
Do you have a favorite, do you have a movie cocktail that you prefer?
A
drink?
Yeah.
Well, at home, it'll just be the traditional old-fashioned, not the Wisconsin old-fashioned, just the whiskey.
That's something I lived in Chicago for a while.
I grew up in Wisconsin, but when I moved to Chicago, I discovered that in old-fashioned, everywhere else in the world is different than it is in Wisconsin.
Wow,
okay.
Yeah.
There's no soda in it.
It's just whiskey, bitters, and orange.
Sugar basically
it sounds delicious, too.
But what what you sound like you you prefer the Chicago one.
Do you have a preference?
Yeah, I definitely prefer that because I feel like the Wisconsin one's too sweet.
It's too sweet.
Okay, but I'll have it once in a while.
Yeah It's interesting I Chicago is my hometown and I spent years and years there as an adult and I don't think I've ever had that I've only I think I've only had the Wisconsin old-fashioned and now I probably wouldn't like
Anything else,
you know?
I think when Wisconsin people go order in old fashioned somewhere else, they're like, what?
You forgot to make it all.
What are you doing?
And
the
bartender's just scratching his head like, okay.
Have you ever snuck booze or food into a movie theater,
Craig?
Well, are there cops listening?
I think the statute of
limitations is long gone for what it's worth.
I mean, yes, absolutely, I have.
Yes.
Anything in particular?
Probably something like vodka, because it was easy to hide.
Yeah.
Is this
young Craig?
No color.
How far back are you going?
Again, are there cops?
Yeah, younger, younger than I'd like to admit, probably.
OK,
that's fair.
Listen, I still sneak candy in sometimes, like the movie theater.
If I'm at a hometown movie theater, a local Joe with his theater, I spend the money there.
But some of these mega chains that are just trying to bleed, you forget it.
You know, they're shaking
money.
Oh
yeah.
Oh yeah, I will.
Yeah, I'll definitely sneak in sometimes.
All right.
Especially for our, go ahead.
Oh no, no, no, please finish.
Especially for our daughter who might want some.
Oh, there you go.
How old is your daughter?
She's seven.
Oh, so you've seen your share of kid stuff too.
That's
great.
Yeah.
It's a fun age.
Fun age for movie watching when you get.
get down on their level and watch their films, too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, sometimes she has a hard time sitting there the whole time, but we're working on it.
All right.
I
think Conrad, what do you think?
Are we ready?
We have enough information from Craig.
We think we can get an accurate.
All right.
Ladies and gentlemen, Craig Menzine is here, aka Wheezy Waiter on YouTube.
And he is a filmmaker and the director of No Packers, No Life.
He has dropped by tonight to give us his popcorn pick of the week.
And I think we are ready for that pick Conrad, if you please.
Mr. Benzene shoot
Logan lucky Logan lucky.
Yes, and I picked that You know this movie.
I don't think I'm going to the IMDB right now I'm picking it specifically because it's it should be known more than it is.
Oh Logan.
Yes.
This is the Logan run
remake, right?
No, no.
Oh, it's not not a Logan run remake.
It's a it's a heist movie by Steven Soder made by Steven Soderbergh.
Yes
starring Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Seth MacFarlane's in it.
Oh my gosh.
Daniel Craig.
Daniel Craig plays like an American with a Southern accent.
Wow.
I
am watching this tonight.
I don't know how
this
slipped under my
radar.
It is.
So Stephen Soderbergh, the director of... Hey
Craig, hold that
thought.
We'll pick
up.
We
got a really short break.
We'll come back and get your thoughts.
The popcorn pick of the week, ladies and gentlemen, thanks to Craig Benzine.
Logan Lucky, we're going to talk about it right after this quick break on Nightlight with Peach
Wava.
This is NightLatI and Pete Schwabbe coming up in hour number two, folks.
It's 7.35.
Savannah Schindler will be here.
She is from Visit Beloit, and she is their PR person, and we're going to talk about a yard game, a lawn game, if you will, that they're having a big tournament down there.
It's called Kube, Conrad Kube.
Not Kube.
Kube.
Kube.
And it's a fun lawn game.
We'll talk about that if you're up for a road trip, and a lawn game that requires absolutely no athleticism.
We'll do that.
Our question of the night is, what is your most feared underwater sea serpent or sea creature?
It could be real or mythical.
You got to get your texts in because at 7.35, we have prerecorded content.
We already interviewed Savannah.
So we'll have to finish reading texts by the bottom of next hour.
So get those in.
We'll read those right now.
Joining me over the stream is influencer, director Craig Benzine.
Craig just made his popcorn pick of the week.
It's Logan Lucky.
And it's a comedy crime drama Craig sticking with what you said was your favorite genre pretty much
Yeah, yeah pretty much is it's like I would call it kind of an action comedy more on the it's more like a heist yeah film But also pretty heavy heavy on the comedy it's Steven Soderbergh who directed One of the classic heist movies Oceans 11.
Yeah,
and he
black
bag
Yeah,
Black
Bay is his newest movie, which I liked.
Great.
But this is another Heist movie that he did, but this one takes place in Virginia, and it's a smaller kind of Heist.
I mean, it's a big Heist, but it's a smaller feeling film than Ocean's Eleven.
Yeah.
But it's really good.
I don't know how anyone would dislike this movie.
It's just funny and just fun.
This is every once in a while, I get a popcorn pick of the week where I go, I'm watching that tonight because it kind of flew under my radar.
I do remember this movie, but I don't know why I never saw it.
It got outstanding reviews, 92% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes with 288 reviews and an audience score a little less 75%, but still very respectable, which.
probably tells me the ending is kind of cool that not everybody like totally approved of it.
So the audience wasn't quite there with the critics, but that makes me want to watch it even more.
That's a great choice.
Yeah.
I mean, I feel like it didn't get the, the attention it deserved.
So I'm bringing it up.
Steven Soderbergh, great director.
And it's a great choice.
Craig Benzien.
Thank you very much.
So let's, so all right.
If you can stick with us after the news, I'd love to get into, do a deep dive on No Packers, No Life.
But right now, I'm so amazed at what you've been able to do on the internet.
You know, you're Weezy Waiter persona on YouTube.
You have a million plus subscribers.
And as I mentioned earlier in the show, not just like a million three, you're like at 1.2 million, like you're handsomely past one million.
That's very impressive.
Well, thank you.
You're very welcome.
How do you... You do such different videos, like you have your parents incorporated in some.
That's a very funny video.
Your wife, I saw you singing a song about bananas, like, what, where's... Well, that was
many years ago, but yeah.
How did you think of the persona
and what
got you
into
that?
So, I was waiting tables in Chicago back in 2000.
2005 through 2007 issue and I went to school at UW Madison for communication arts radio television film and I I knew how to edit I as I said I grew up like making movies and stuff and and I I just always I felt like I wasn't Using my skills.
I was waiting tables.
I was in a band I was kind of pursuing the band thing Wow, and I thought and then the back of my mind.
I always thought
What if I just Video on the internet was very early.
Yeah, and I was I wasn't even thinking about YouTube I was thinking about just putting video on the internet somehow and And I thought like what if I made a movie every day or something.
I just that was just an idea I threw around and So I eventually just started I just started like making ridiculous things very very early and
Didn't stop for many years just making ridiculous videos and kind of slowly grew an audience through I mean there were several opportunities Lucky breaks and things that happened along the way, but I slowly grew an audience.
I never really went viral early on I just sort of continued making ridiculous things over and over and over again for a long time.
Do you
still do
that?
Well nowadays so like in 2018 there was kind of a shift in my content because the ridiculous things weren't
They weren't paying the bills anymore really Like the internet changed internet video changed the expectation of what it should be changed and But and then I just had this idea in the back of my mind so around 2018 I had up around 500,000 subscribers so after like many years of just grinding you know and
I decided I had this idea in the back of my mind that I was going to do like a longer thing that was like a month long experience that I could like document like round like fill myself periodically throughout the month doing something and then document it, whatever it is.
And I tried the idea that I think it was the second attempt.
Of a longer video I did my wife and I quit added sugar for a month.
Oh, I remember I watched that one.
That was great
and That video is by far my most successful video it has right now it has 12 million views gosh and That that changed everything so after that I I started I did more long-form things like that ever since and Then my channel which was kind of
stuck at around 500,000 for a long time.
That's when it started to grow more and got up to where we are today.
That's so cool that you like changed everything.
and it doubled your, I mean, because it probably could have gone the other way.
So, I mean, tip of my hat to you.
That's incredible.
So, all right, we have to do the news.
When we come back, we're gonna talk about Craig's film, No Packers, No Life.
I got to interview Craig about the film on PBS Wisconsin before the Wisconsin Film Festival.
It's such a fun movie.
There's Packers.
There are Japanese Packer fans.
There's Roller Coasters, all kinds of stuff.
We're gonna talk about that after the news.
And I might have one more question for you about Wheezy Waiter, too.
So we'll get into all that in Act 2.
Intermission is up next.
It's Peach Wabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media, our radio network.
Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay, this is Night Light with Peach Wabba.
Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.
And now, a guy who once tore his ACL playing chess, Peach Wabba.
Welcome back.
Great to have you with me folks on the Christmas Eve of weeknights.
It is Thursday, a muggy hot Thursday in the beautiful state of Wisconsin as I'm not even gonna say summer is winding down Conrad because that would be depressing.
You know, I'm okay with it because with summer winding down, you know what that means.
It's gonna get cooler.
It's gonna be, it's sports time.
You get the MLB playoffs.
Yeah.
Get NFL football.
And you get the start of the NBA season.
And this is coming from a
guy who watched a Packer practice today and was begging to be called up.
And they didn't call his number.
But it could happen, Conrad.
You never know.
Yeah.
You're still putting up.
What are you benched?
$2.75, was it you told me?
Yep.
That's impressive.
Yep.
Just waiting for the call.
You could lift an NFL running back off your chest if you had to.
I could try.
I could
try.
We have a great show tonight, folks.
We are in the middle of it as we start act two in the first hour.
We talked about men shaving their chests.
That is all the rage.
Don't know that I'm gonna jump on board that one, but we'll see.
We talked about cinnamon and coffee, thanks to Jocelyn next door.
That is the most dynamite cup of coffee I've ever had, and I have a new thing now.
Cinnamon coffee.
We talked about Dexter.
What are your thoughts?
We got a couple texts on Dexter, as well as our question of the night.
We'll jump into our text in just a bit, and our question of the night is...
What is the creepiest, I keep saying this different every time, but the gist of it is it's National Sea Serpent Day.
What's the creepiest underwater creature, mythological or real?
Conrad says an angler fish, they're very ugly.
And I say a Megalodon.
Because I still think one could be down there somewhere lurking.
The ocean is just too big.
So who knows?
But let us know what yours is.
It's 8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5 Civic, or you can text us on the app.
Or if you're watching on the stream, drop us a stream comment.
Lots of fun stuff happening.
And at 735, folks, we're going to play my interview with Savannah Schindler.
She is from Visit Beloit.
She's their PR director, and she's going to be talking about a really cool tournament taking place there Saturday called the Kube Open.
I would just say Google it because it's a long game with sticks, and it takes no athletic ability, but it does look awful fun.
And it's not, it's not as
Gross of a name is Cornhole.
Right now, we have a few more minutes with my current guest.
He is a YouTube influencer with well over a million subscribers, I should say.
He goes by the term, or the title, Wheezy Waiter.
And for his filmmaking career, which is, he's going full steam on that too.
His film is called No Packers, No Life.
Craig Benzine is with us.
Craig made the popcorn pick of the week and picked Logan Lucky, a Steven Soderbergh film.
that totally flew under my radar.
So that is one, I'm not even exaggerating Craig, like I probably will, I usually watch something at night after I prep for the next day.
So I probably will check that out.
So that's a great
choice.
I do not think you'll be disappointed.
I think this is an easy call.
I
trust
you.
Before we move on to no packers, no life, I do have one more question about your influencer persona and the videos you make.
I think
a
lot of people think,
Well, they just shoot quick videos and put them up.
But if you really watch the videos you do, a lot of work goes into them.
And you really, even if it's not someone's full-time job, it kind of has to be to do it right, right?
I mean, you shoot, you probably write a script in some cases because you said you'd do more long-form stuff now.
There is
acting
involved and the editing.
What is the most tedious part of it?
Oh, the most tedious
part is probably the Probably well, it's That's a good question probably the writing of it the writing coming up with the ideas Yeah, it depends on the video though.
Some videos are much more experience based so it's just like like if I do a month of I did one about intermittent fasting.
Yeah, so that's
Every day or every so often I will shoot video of and just talk about my experience So there's not as much writing in that so because I just take all the footage I just shot and edit it together figure it out in the editing Okay, but like if it's like purely a writing one Just sitting down and thinking about like how to how to do it the writing of it is probably the most tedious Editing is actually I kind of enjoy it.
So that's not as that's not as hard but
Yeah, I will say that like what I do is very different than what someone who's doing like tick-tock these days I don't do tick-tock videos or you know shorts as much and that's a whole different skill That's a whole different thing.
I think yeah, and I I think that's I think that's also that's also work.
I feel like that's more like Like what I used to do on YouTube, which is like almost daily you gotta you gotta be there all the time you gotta be
putting stuff out all the time whereas now I'm doing longer stuff that takes longer to make.
That's so great though that people stick with you and they seem to like what you do.
Whether you're just being funny or singing about bananas or your wife changing her hair color or intermittent fasting, I think it's so cool that people stick with you because you're like your own brand and that's really impressive.
What?
When it comes to intermittent fasting, we probably talked about that.
I do quite a bit of that.
And I
feel like I do.
Yeah.
And I just completed a 36 hour today, a 36 hour fast this morning.
I had eggs and I was doing great.
And then I got a free gelato and now I'm completely off the rails again.
I feel like I'm dropping like a quarter of a pound a week,
which is a
take, but it's like not, I don't, I should probably hit it harder.
What
is your
fasting?
Wait, wait,
you just you just fasted for 36 hours.
I did
about 34 and a
half actually.
Yeah
Wow, I mean, that's not what I did.
That's not that's that's a lot That's you so you just didn't eat for a day and a half just
black coffee and water Whoa,
and a few
cups cakes.
No, I'm
just No, well what I would what I did was basically like an eight hour window of eating every day, which is yeah, it's just like
you can start eating at 11 and stop eating at seven, basically,
which is
not super impressive, but it does really cut back on late night snacking and just making myself not eat early in the morning.
I mean, I overall enjoyed it.
I felt like it helped.
But what you're doing sounds like you're taking days off,
which is... Well, I
try
to do like...
36 and then I'll just do like a six hour window during the week
and try
to do protein and then the weekends I'll relax a little bit and overdo it but my thing at night my problem was I was eating at night for my meal because I like to get home watch a movie watch some TV and then I'll have you know I don't know a Jimmy John sub and like whatever and then I wasn't sleeping as well so there's like a whole
art
form to eating and fasting and I think what you do the 16 hours
is great because you still stop eating late at night, you sleep better.
I think that's a good, really responsible
way to do it.
Maybe you're going too extreme.
Maybe scale it back a little.
Yeah, maybe
I should.
All right, let's get on to some more important stuff other than my dietary habits.
You made this great film, No Packers, No Life, documentary film.
Tell us what it's about.
For those that didn't hear you the last time you were on the show, tell us a little bit about your film.
So I have a friend who's a
businessman who goes to Japan every couple months.
And one of his trips to Japan, he grew up in Wisconsin.
He came across a Japanese man wearing a packer's jersey.
And he was like, what's going on?
So he followed him.
And then he found a large group.
of Japanese people wearing Packers' Cherries.
And they were meeting for their weekly viewing of a game.
Like, I don't know if it was a game.
If it's off season, they'll view a recording of a game.
Maybe a game they've already watched.
It's crazy.
Yeah, so they met regularly for games.
So he decided...
He wanted to fly them to Green Bay to a game.
And so him and he, he got some friends together and they, they all brought them to Green Bay and they documented the whole thing.
And then, um, and that was before I was even a part of the project.
And then he came to me and, and wanted me to, to put it together basically.
That's so great.
Um, my guest is Craig Benzine.
He is the writer.
Well, director, producer, should I say, of No Packers No Life?
Yeah,
that's probably.
Okay.
Well, I mean, yeah, I guess it's writing.
The editing is the writing, I guess.
Yeah.
Yeah.
When I talked to you about it on PBS Wisconsin, when I interviewed you before the Wisconsin Film Festival, I just love these characters sound so fun and likable.
And they went to Green Bay, you talk about the zip and pippin, they love the zip and pippin
and wrote it
over and over.
Yeah.
But what?
Do you want you ever watch a game a replay of a game?
I mean this would be like me Discovering cricket and liking it so much.
I was watching past cricket matches of my favorite team.
It blows my mind
Yeah, so I for the documentary I did go to Japan I was tie the the guy who started this whole thing flew me to Japan to interview everybody and they met and and viewed a recording of a game
from the previous season.
And they were cheering as if they didn't know what was gonna happen.
When the touchdown was about to happen, they were getting super excited.
Yeah, I don't know.
To me, they were the most excited Packer fans I've ever seen.
What was their experience like as the subjects of the film?
Did they get to watch it?
Have you showed it to them yet?
And do they enjoy it?
I think some of them have seen it, but I haven't.
I haven't been around when they watched it, because they're in Japan.
But from what I gather, they're excited.
They like it.
I really want to figure out how to get a screening in Japan for them and attend it.
Yeah, and your screening in Madison went well at the film festival.
I was doing a screening on the other side of town, I think, and I really wanted to be there because I heard it was great.
Oh, yeah.
I'm not hyperbole.
It was one of the best nights of my life.
It seriously
was like
there was like it was at the Barrymore and There were like 700 people a lot of them in Packers jerseys It was the perfect audience for what I made like I think that's a probably a rare thing for a filmmaker is the first experience I've had showing a film in a theater like that but probably a rare thing to have a large captive audience that's specifically the right audience for this movie, you know and my god
the reaction was great.
Especially since you, I mean, compared to what you do on YouTube, as Weezy Waiter, those are shorter videos and your audience is watching through their computer or their phone or whatever.
I mean, this must have been so different.
What do you prefer?
Was this more rewarding than doing the YouTube videos or vice versa?
I'm not even gonna try to be fair and balanced here.
I'm gonna say, yes, this was better.
The screening was better.
Nice.
Good
for you.
The screening at Barrymore was, I want more of that.
I wanna be in a room and witness people watch the thing.
I don't get to do that with my YouTube videos.
All right, we've got about 40 seconds left or so.
Do you have any news where people might be able to see this soon?
Anything coming as Packer sees in the looms?
There is a possibility of some screenings for my movie, but I can't really reveal the details of it.
All right, you
have to let us know, all right, because we've talked about it twice now, and I can't wait.
I want to tell people
where
they can see it.
It's so much fun.
Craig, thanks so much for your time tonight.
Great popcorn pick of the week.
It was Logan Lucky.
Check it out.
Follow Craig at YouTube.
Be a subscriber.
Weezy waiter.
It's great stuff.
And thank you, buddy.
Thanks
for having me again.
Any time.
Can I be like a regular guest every night?
I need a house band.
You said you played music.
Let's do something.
I do.
OK.
We'll talk.
We'll see what we can do.
Awesome, buddy.
OK.
Craig Benzene, ladies and gentlemen.
We are coming right back.
We're going to catch up on some texts for our question of the night.
It's Pete Schwab and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
It is Thursday night here at Nightlight.
A little muggy outside but 75 and sunny here in the studio as we talk about the things we love.
That was a lot of fun talking to Craig Benzine.
Give him a follow on YouTube at Weezy Waiter.
He does really cool videos and be part of his little army of followers there because he does good work and we will keep you posted on the upcoming screenings or where you will be able to watch his film No Packers, No Life.
It's really fun.
Our question of the night was it's National Sea Serpent Day.
What's the creepiest underwater creature mythical or real?
I say Megalodon.
I still am not convinced they're extinct even though they're supposed to be and Conrad said an angler Because it freaked him out as a kid when he was watching Finding Nemo There are no right or wrong answers here folks.
Just yours.
So let us know Go into the text line here
Oh man, we gotta catch up on some texts.
Monica from Mount Horrib says, octopuses, they can climb up onto a boat, strangle you.
Those suction cups are gross and they have way too many arms.
You don't even have a fighting chance if it has murder on its mind.
That's very well put, Monica.
Thank you.
Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids says, flying Asian carp.
What would freak you out more if they were underwater or fly flying is creepy too, and that's on the other side of the water.
That's I don't like that Thank You Tyler from the 608 Conrad's mom says Loch Ness monster.
Maybe real.
Maybe not
Nessie's a gentle creature.
All right
Yeah, but so are sturgeon like we talked about and those would freak you out like if you opened your eyes underwater and we're face-to-face with a sturgeon
Well, you know be all over they're not as magical
If you saw Nessie, I think your heart would fill
with love.
You'd be okay because you're like, well, I just found a treasure.
Did you smoke
a joint when you stepped
out?
What is going on over there?
Went to the
powder
room, you know.
Took an actual powder.
No, in how I met your mother, Marshall is obsessed with Nessie and all.
And he says Nessie is a gentle creature every time it's mentioned.
We used to watch in Seinfeld.
No,
no.
Come on,
dude.
I did watch your movie.
I got to tell you about tomorrow.
All
right.
Make a note of it.
Don't
forget.
We got as much content as we can watch and share with the fine people.
That's what we do here.
Ross from Crawford County.
He's in the 608.
He says, water boy.
That's the football position.
That's a
great one.
That's a great one, Ross.
Thank you.
Melissa from Willy Street in Madison.
She's in the 608.
Says, hi, Pete.
I so agree with you on Dexter.
Keep going.
It never lets you down the entire series.
I'm glad you said that, Melissa, because I'm in season three and it's a little slow, but I know they're building to something.
Like I talked about that before, how I trust the writers.
And I know there's going to be a payoff, but it helps to have someone vouching for the show who's seen all of it.
So I appreciate that.
Great text, Melissa.
Thanks.
And then John from Madison, I think he knows Melissa from the 608.
He says, mother has dexter in the lineup.
Love some dexter.
John also says, human eyed blob fish.
So creepy.
Is it a blob fish?
Is it an auto parts store worker?
That guy, look at that fit.
If you're watching on the stream, Conrad's got the picture up.
His name should be Cal, and he should have a pocket protector and tell you where to get the right windshield wiper fluid.
I think you just lose the L and it's Bob.
Yeah, all right fair enough Melissa again from Willy Street the 608 says creepy underwater creature has to be sharks you've seen jaws Yes, I have Melissa and I totally agree with you and a megalodon is just a huge shark prehistoric shark although sharks in general are prehistoric the megalodon is like to the 10th power John says scared Crapless for lack of a better word of a giant squid squids are very creepy
John also says big snapping turtles are as dangerous as a shark if you get too close took my dad's buddy's thumb clean off while he was trying to get his hook off a log Turns out it wasn't a log ouch.
Oh man.
That's horrible Can you imagine losing a digit to a snapping turtle?
Well doesn't need glasses because I don't know a snapping turtle.
It looks like a log, but you know
That's a good point.
He might need
glasses too.
John Conrad's coming after you.
Steve from the 920, Conrad's dad says, Pete, I agree.
Dexter is a well-written show about a very disciplined serial killer taking out the really bad criminals of our time.
I have seen all seasons long live Dexter.
That's interesting, Steve, because I know he lives because there are like two more iterations, maybe three of the show.
But I'm definitely going to stick with it.
Thank you.
Tony, the trucker, our pal in the 608 says, Pete caught a mud puppy ice fishing when I was about 12 years old.
That really freaked me out.
I would be the holder for the police kicker.
Yeah, holder's good.
That's a great position.
You probably take less of a beating.
Kind of specialized.
Yeah.
And then Monica, yes, we got your, we know what you meant, Monica, with the suction cups.
Yeah, holder's
good.
Yeah, but like it is risky.
It's risky because if you don't have it right where the kicker needs it Could be a shank.
Well, I'm not saying listen the holding is extraneous.
I'm just talking about the the whipping you would take Yeah, you
gotta know how to
actually hold that's a problem, but I don't know Tomorrow night on the show folks.
We have pre-recorded content coming up with Savannah Schindler.
She's gonna tell us all about the cub
I did it again.
The Coob.
The Coob opened in Beloit this Saturday, a really cool game, and she's a fun interview.
So stick around and check that out tomorrow night on the show.
Mike Clements, our civic media, sports authority.
Mike Clements will join us to talk about Packers training camp.
Did you see Mike out there today?
I did not.
Oh, OK.
Would you yell and be a spaz if you saw him?
Well, he was probably not.
I would probably have to yell across the field, because he was probably, you know.
Closer to the field than I
was.
We'll have Mike Clemens on tomorrow night, and it is a bar band Friday night.
Terry Barr, our Wisconsin music expert, will join us.
She is also the co-host of Max, Inc Radio, which you can catch on WMDX Saturday nights from six to nine.
So Terry will be here with new music and great conversation.
We are almost through one week of just oldies.
Here at
WGVW, which is
kind of fun.
It's awesome.
I've been listening to it.
Yeah, and if you don't like folks, give the oldies a chance.
And if it's not your cup of tea, if you miss your hosts like Todd Alba, Maggie Dawn, Jane and Greg, you can still listen to them on WISS or the app.
But it's good stuff.
OK, so we're going to come back and our interview with Savannah Schindler comes up next.
And we will see you tomorrow night.
This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
This is Nightlight.
I am Pete Schwabba, your host.
Great to have you with me on this Thursday night, folks.
It is the Christmas Eve of weeknights, and we go toward another beautiful summer weekend here in Wisconsin.
Con, do you know about this game, Kube?
Have you played it?
I have not, but how interesting does it look?
It looks interesting.
I played a form of it, I think.
Yesterday I said I thought I played it before.
I think I played a form of it, and...
First things first, we've been calling it Cub.
I
mean, it does look like it.
It's not, it's a
Norwegian game.
Okay.
So it's Kub, as I did my research today.
But joining us now on Nightlight is someone who can speak much more eloquently than we can about this new fun game that comes to us from Belgium, maybe?
I don't know, we'll find out.
Let's welcome it.
It's my pleasure to welcome from Visit Beloit, Savannah Schindler.
She joins us now over the phone.
Hi, Savannah.
Hi.
How's it going?
It's going very well.
It's great to have you here tonight.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Thanks for having me.
Yeah, it's our pleasure.
I've been to Beloit several times.
It's a lovely town.
And I would imagine you don't have too much trouble pitching your town to tourists and that kind of thing.
It's an awesome time here, especially in the summertime.
Yeah, for sure.
OK, so let's jump right in.
You've got this really cool festival happening this weekend.
It takes place on the 9th.
And what is it?
It's the Kube Open, correct?
That's correct.
So yes, we have the Beloit Kube Open, and that's happening this weekend on Saturday, August 9th, from 2 to 10 PM at Pullman Field in Beloit.
Very cool.
So have you
played the game?
I played it once.
I'm not too great, but we'll give another try this year.
You know, it's funny because I love games where you don't have to be athletic and based on the videos I've watched, you don't have to be a particularly good athlete to play Coob.
Would you say that's accurate?
Yeah, so it's definitely true.
We've seen in the past that people that have never played the game before, they play it once and they pick it up with about 20 minutes.
So it's really easy and simple and it's a lot of fun.
So, how did this start?
How did this tournament start?
How long have you been doing it?
And what can people expect?
Yeah.
So, it's a really big game in Northern Wisconsin, but we've been having the tournament here in Beloit for 11 years now.
So, it'll be the 11th year of Kube in Beloit.
But this year, it's the very first year for the competition to be held under the stadium lights.
So, we're super excited.
Wow, that's really cool.
What do you know about the game, Savannah?
How familiar with the game are you?
Kind of familiar.
I know some history about it.
So it first originated in Sweden and has a nickname of Viking Chess.
Yeah.
It's kind of a combination between bowling and horseshoes.
So it is pretty easy to pick up quick.
All right.
How many teams are there?
So currently we have almost 40 teams, but we see about 50 teams that register for the tournament in Beloit across seven states.
So it's a pretty big deal here in Beloit.
That's fantastic.
And what can you tell people like that haven't played yet?
What can you tell us about the game, the rules, that kind of stuff?
So you can find all the rules on our website at visitboyd.com.
There's a short little video, but basically,
There's cubes.
I think there's about five or six of them that get lined up on the outside of the field.
And you throw them and you try to hit the cubes that are in the middle first.
And then once you get all those knocked down, then it's time to hit the king over.
So it's really fun.
And they take about, I would say, 10 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes per round.
And we have seven rounds for sure right now that people can qualify for.
So they'll be in for seven games.
But then after that, we have the elimination brackets that start for the title.
Oh, that's so fun.
And what made you move it to the somewhere where there's light now?
And I think you're playing in a minor league stadium, right?
Where the Boyd snappers play this year.
Yeah, so we have the Boyd Sky Carp, which have a brand new stadium near downtown Boyd, ABC Supply Stadium.
But before the Sky Carp, we had the Boyd Snappers.
So their former home stadium was at Pullman Field.
So we play there.
What made them change the name from Snappers to Boyd Sky Carp?
Was there some kind of controversy we should be made aware of?
No, the team just kind of needed a little bit of a revamp.
So we had a little
I don't know, a fun little thing where everyone kind of picked out which names they liked and then everyone voted on it in the community and this guy carp stuck.
I love it.
Is there a particular muscle you might injure while playing coob?
Like, you know, you have tennis elbow, basketball players roll an ankle.
What muscles are you using the most when you play coob?
Mostly just your arms, but if you're like me, I'm bound to break something.
So like I said, I'm not I'm not very athletic, but it is pretty easy.
You just toss the baton and try to hit the coops over.
So mainly just your arm muscles.
That's so cool.
Now, has the community embraced this game, Savannah?
I mean, you have a tournament.
You moved it under the lights.
It must be gaining popularity, even though you said it's kind of a northern Wisconsin game.
Yeah, so we have lots of people that travel down of course from northern, Wisconsin and other Midwest states But there is a big group of people from the Boy area that like to get on kube as well
That's so cool And how many people are you expecting like to witness or come out and cheer on the the athletes if you will?
I hope a lot it kind of changes throughout the year lots of families bring their
bring people and they come and watch.
There's also food and drinks on site for people to grab those as well.
And people sit out there at their tents and it's a whole lot of fun.
So I'm hoping for a big crowd this year.
Do people tailgate?
Is that allowed?
Not so much tailgate.
They just bring their tents or pop up tents and, you know, there's beer on site.
So they'll sit and have their coolers out and have some beer and watch everyone compete.
Savannah, is there drug testing for the athletes before the CUBE event takes place?
There is not.
Okay.
Thank goodness,
right?
Well, that sounds like fun.
My guest is Savannah Schindler.
She is the rep from VisitBallet.
What is your title there exactly, Savannah?
I am the public relations specialist with VisitBallet.
Oh, nice.
Okay.
So, all right.
So other than CUBE,
What can we look forward to?
What's happening in Beloit?
Like if for listeners that, we're on statewide, so if we have listeners down in that area, what can they look forward to other than this cool tournament?
Yeah, so this summer we have a big event that's coming up next weekend, actually.
It's called the Beloit Taco Takedown.
There's going to be lots of food trucks and taco vendors that will be there.
selling their different taco options and people will be able to vote for their best taco that they've had throughout the day and there's a big competition so there's that there's lots of food and drinks of course live music and that's from 11 a.m.
to 9 p.m.
on the 16th.
That
sounds like fun.
And what about as we head into fall?
Is Beloit kind of a destination for people in Wisconsin?
I've been there, it's a beautiful town.
For people that haven't been to Deloitte, what would you tell them?
What would get them there?
Yeah, so of course there's lots of things to do, even when it's not summer here.
Once we move into the fall, we have a huge Bolloy Autorama, which is a big car show.
Lots of antique and vintage cars come, and that is in September.
There's also a fun fall wine walk.
It's in October.
Sample different kinds of wines throughout the downtown area.
Of course, we have two different boutique hotels that are located in downtown Beloit that are amazing.
We'll definitely enjoy your stay there.
So lots of nightlife in Beloit and lots of fun things for the family to enjoy too.
Are you a lifelong resident?
I sure am, yes.
Nice.
And how did you end up in this position?
Is this something kind of you always wanted to do because you want to talk about your hometown or were you recruited?
How did you end up as sort of the PR person for Beloit?
Yeah, so I've always had, you know, a passion for hospitality and I love the community in Beloit.
So I went to school at UW Stout in Menominee, Wisconsin and studied hotel restaurant and tourism management.
I actually landed an internship here at VisitBalloy during my college years and then I came back full time in 2023.
So I love it.
The community is great.
I love the team that I work with and it's just great to see all the fun changes that have been happening in Balloy lately.
It's a great
spot.
My guest is Savannah Schindler.
She is with VisitBeloid.
She is their PR director.
And she is joining us tonight here on Nightlight to talk about this really cool tournament they have happening this weekend, Saturday, called the Kube Open.
Kube is spelled K-U-B-B.
It's a Norwegian game, as I understand it.
And there will be 49 teams, all skill levels.
What are the grand prizes, Savannah?
Yeah, so there are some cash prizes that will be available to the winners and the payouts have averaged about $1,400 per tournament.
So definitely want to get on that and sign up to play.
Wow, that's really cool.
Okay, and it takes place at a minor league baseball field where the Boyd Sky Car Play.
Sounds like it could be worth a road trip, folks.
If you think you could be good at Kube, check it out.
Have you thought about Savannah giving the sport a more American name?
Oh, I can't decide that.
That's such a professional.
But yeah, it's been, it's been the Beloit Coupe open for a number of years now.
So we're going to keep rolling with that one.
All right,
Conrad and I can give you ideas.
If you're, if you're open to that, we're happy to come up with some new names.
Nothing against
Coupe.
We don't want to offend
our
friends in Europe, but, and I will say this, it's a better name than Cornhole.
It is a combination, but it's more fun.
It's more fun.
And it sounds more fun too.
So there you go.
I agree.
All right.
So let's do this.
What is the best thing about, you could probably answer this question in your sleep, but what is the best thing about living in Beloit?
Oh gosh.
Let's see.
One of my favorite things is definitely the downtown Beloit Farmers Market.
It's amazing.
It's the second largest farmers market in Wisconsin.
There's more than 130 different vendors that participate each Saturday downtown.
And that runs April through October.
Wow, very cool.
And we do every night, we do a question of the night here at Savannah.
So I'd like to ask you, Conrad, you know our question of the night.
I have to tell you, you probably don't celebrate this in Beloit, Savannah, but it's National Sea Serpent Day.
What is the creepiest underwater creature, mythical or real, that really freaks you out?
Oh, that's a hard question.
Gosh, I do like to boat, so I spend lots of time on the water.
This probably sounds kind of weird, but I really don't like spiders.
So if I see a spider in the water, I'm definitely getting out immediately.
I thought you were
going to say a sky carp.
I set you up there.
We like those.
We like those.
Conrad, what was yours again?
It's an angler fish.
It's angler fish.
They're
creepy.
It's the fish that has like a light on its head and has really.
Yeah,
right.
Yeah,
those things creep me
out.
We have to do a very quick break here, and then we're going to come back.
We'll have a couple more minutes with Savannah.
I'm going to ask her what she's watching, and we'll do a quick recap on this really cool tournament that's coming up in Beloit this Saturday.
It's definitely worth the trip.
I have played Kube.
It is a fun game.
It's not too exhausting, and at least it appears there are very few injuries.
So we'll do that coming up next on Nightlight with Peach Wobble.
We're coming back for a couple more minutes with our guest, Savannah Schindler.
you
Welcome back.
Well, this has been a fun show.
We've talked about sea creatures that freak us out.
Mine was Megalodon, because I feel like they could still exist.
The ocean and the sea is so vast, we don't know what is down there.
My creepiest thing is a Megalodon.
You said in Anglerfish our guest currently Savannah Schindler from VisitBeloid says spiders and there are water spiders and spiders kind of freaked me out, too So we have another minute or two.
I'm gonna ask Savannah.
This has been great.
Thank you for your time Beloit is a lovely city and I'm sure it's easy to pitch to people So don't be a stranger.
We would love for you to come back when you have big events coming up In the meantime, I have to ask you because I ask most of my guests that come on the show and my inner my background
as an entertainment.
What are you watching?
Do you binge watch anything you could recommend?
I'm actually super excited that you asked me this.
Really?
So, Beloit actually has a brand new show.
It's called Betting on Beloit.
Really?
It's featured on national television.
Where can we see that?
Yeah, so it's a brand new A&E home renovation series that premiered this July.
And it features lots of different people from Beloit, but really focuses on purchasing.
So the Hendrick's family, Kanya Hendrick's shoe, actually, she's a real estate broker.
And she has been buying up lots of these different dilapidated historic homes in the historic Beloit College district area.
And she's been transforming them into beautifully updated and modern, but yet historic houses.
So it's really awesome.
And they have a few, I would say like six or eight episodes out now.
So I've been binge watching that for sure.
You kind of have to watch that, right?
Yeah,
exactly.
And where can people see it?
Did you give us the network or the outlet it's on?
Yeah, so it's on A&E.
A&E, okay.
Episodes air, yes.
Episodes air on Saturdays, but you are able to stream them the next day.
Oh, fantastic.
Conn, we got to get someone... That's my Sunday night watch.
Oh, that's great.
Let's get someone from that show on Conn.
We got to reach out.
We'll
have
someone help promote the show and promote Beloit a little bit.
Do you watch anything else?
Do you watch any non-related Beloit shows?
I'm a fan of The Bachelor, so when that's on, of course, I have to watch that.
Otherwise, my second pick, when that's on, is the Carcassian, so there's that for you.
I'm
sorry I
asked.
I don't really watch TV, but I do watch Bay down below
it.
Well, good for you, and it's a great town.
Keep up the great work.
Good luck this weekend.
Do not pull a hammy.
Stay safe.
We'll
try.
All right, don't
overdo it on the tailgating.
And don't be a stranger.
Thanks so much for your time tonight, Savannah.
Awesome.
Thanks so much, Pete.
You're very welcome.
All right, that's Savannah Schindler.
Check out, I will say, I love lawn games.
I love when people come up with stuff like, a lawn darts is fun.
I love Frisbee Ultimate.
That's kind of, that's more intense, but like yard toss, some people call it corn hole.
I still have trouble calling it corn hole.
I just have a problem.
It is not, you know, I will say my favorite is probably corn hole.
Corn hole.
The problem with cornhole is I get on like a roll and I'm in the zone and I'm great.
And then I can't beat my four year old niece.
You know what
I mean?
Like it's just,
it's such a frustrating game.
And it's one of the, it's another one like this cube.
It doesn't involve too much athletic, you know, ability, which I like, you know.
I was, the whole time I was trying to figure out what this name of this game is and it's just what it is.
Washer Toss.
Have you played Washer Toss?
Oh, I thought you were talking about Coop.
No, what's Washer Toss?
Well, you throw like little washers and you have to try to get it into the square box.
There's a circle in the middle.
You get points by getting it into the, but you get more points by getting into the circle.
Oh, wow.
It's actually really, I've played it a couple of times.
It's so fun.
When you say washer, you mean the little things you put around like a screw?
Oh, wow,
but they're they're bigger than never heard of that Yeah, they're pretty it's pretty fun.
I don't if you if you can try it I would do it this summer.
Well, so that was fun.
Check out the beloit kube open.
It's this weekend at 2301 skyline driving beloit at the Pullman field, which is where the beloit skycar I gotta say skycarp I might have an issue with why
What does that mean?
That doesn't exactly strike.
The snappers, at least, you know, they snap.
You got to be on your toes, but a sky carp?
I feel like a lot of the bat league has gotten rebrands.
Yeah.
Because I mean, the Rockers, they get a rebrand too, a couple of years going.
I like the Rockers.
That sounds great.
The Rockers
is a great, it's like, again,
it
sparks fear or, you know, instills fear a little bit.
I mean, it's baseball and it's not like you're intimidated, but I don't know.
Sky Carp is okay, I guess.
It's better than that Utah hockey team.
Remember that?
Well, now they're the mammoths or something like
that.
The mammoths, that's exactly right.
Tomorrow night, folks, on nightlight, Mike Clemens will be here.
We will talk about your red hot Milwaukee Brewers.
And Mike will have the inside scoop.
We'll talk about how the Packers training camp is going.
And then it's a barbeque Friday night.
Terry Barr will be here as well.
What do you hear from Packers training camp?
I was are you confident?
Are you as a Packer fan?
What are you thinking?
I was there today You were there today.
Just checking it out.
I woke up at you know Eight o'clock met one of my friends there who drove from West Bend and we went to we got some Really good really good seats there, but
that's
why we went early cuz you know he gets packed
But
it was a
lot of fun today.
Yeah.
I got to see some great passes from Jordan Love.
Tucker Kraft had a crazy one-handed catch.
It was a lot of fun.
I think they, Jordan Love looked really good today.
Okay.
And Kraft is the guy they drafted this year, right?
He was their first, or is that last year?
That was
last, two years ago.
Two years
ago.
Yeah.
Tight end.
I haven't watched football in a couple of years.
That's a lie.
All right, so all good stuff.
We will be back tomorrow night, folks, with more nightlight.
As I mentioned, Mike Clemens and Terry Barr will be here.
Two of our civic media favorites here.
Thank you.
Tonight to Craig Benzine, it was so fun to talk to Craig and a great popcorn pick of the week, and Savannah Schindler from Visit Beloit.
And thank you for all your calls and texts.
On behalf of the lovable producer, Conrad, I'm Pete Schwabba saying good night, Wisconsin.