Transcript
Comedians, Anxiety, and Beer: A Night in Green Bay (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Mon Sep 8, 2025
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back, folks.
Great to have you with me on this Monday night.
A beautiful night in the state of Wisconsin.
Hope you are recovering from your weekend and glad you could be with me as we discuss the things in life that make us happy, like movies.
And Rocker's fundraiser, which we talked about last hour at the Crucible in Madison on the east side, three big bands coming together.
It is open to the public from two to seven.
And the proceeds go to a good cause.
Rocker's friend, Big John, who had a leg amputated.
So like I said, when musicians come together for good causes, that is something worth checking out because they bring great music.
And that is the Sunday in just a few minutes.
We will welcome Wendy Loba.
I hope I, you know, I never, I talked to Wendy on the phone.
It was like a zoom thing about this event Saturday night at the Green Bay Film Festival at the Tarleton.
And I never clarified how to say her last name.
How would you say that?
Lobel?
Yeah.
Wendy Lobel.
Yeah.
It looks like that, but then, you know, sometimes people have like more exotic.
Like Conrad Krieger.
Krieger.
Pete Schwabba.
No, there's no way to make Schwabba sound exciting.
exotic.
All right, Wendy will be here at 720 talking about her film.
She made this really cool documentary about the connection between comedy and anxiety, comedians and anxiety.
And it's called The Anxiety Club.
And she is premiering the film Saturday evening at seven o'clock at the Tarleton Theater here in Green Bay.
I'll be hosting a Q&A after the screening.
and it's gonna be just a really fun night over at the Tarleton.
So if you're in the Green Bay area, stop by and say hello.
Check out this really cool film.
Meet Wendy.
Say hello to me.
You can shake my hand.
Conrad, I'm gonna shake hands with people.
I thought you hate shaking hands.
That's a big night.
Well, for special occasions, it's worth it.
I'm not the least.
Do
Every time I shake a hand, I do the old the Squirter Rooney.
People get really upset.
So that's a...
Saturday night, Wendy will be here at 720.
That will be fun to catch up with Wendy and learn more about her film.
We talked about the death of Rick Davies a little bit with Rocker.
I didn't realize that Roger Hudson seems to have written more of the big super tramp hits, but it's good to have a musician's perspective there.
And our question of the night, folks, is what is your favorite kind of beer?
It's National Beer Day.
And we are celebrating beer in the state that made beer famous.
One of them anyway.
I always used to, I thought I recalled that Milwaukee had more beer being brewed there than St.
Louis.
But I don't know if that's still true.
I don't know what the beer capital is now, technically.
it's
tours.
They might not even brew it there anymore.
Yeah,
they
At one point it was Schlitz, Miller, Papst, all the big beers.
But, you know, things changed.
And I don't know, I know St.
Louis has Budweiser and probably a few others, but either way, we're Wisconsin, we're known for beer.
What is your favorite beer?
We've got some great answers.
We're gonna get to some of your texts in just a few minutes.
What else did we discuss Conrad?
We discussed a lot of fun
the best beer.
What was the stream comment Dave said I found Jacob Huckstein?
399 a case.
My uncle loved it.
Not very drinkable.
That's not a quality you need in a beer.
So we have also Conrad and I disagree.
I liked, I talked a little bit about task.
I watched the first episode in HBO.
Very good show.
Conrad told me last week he really liked the paper, the new spin off of the office.
And I watched the pilot and I told him during the break, I didn't
really like it.
I thought it was tired.
It just didn't have a, it didn't have a Steve Carell or a Rainn Wilson.
I was looking at this show during the first episode, which there are a couple laughs, but it's based on, you know, a dying paper company, not paper company, newspaper company.
The office was a paper company.
And, and it's in Toledo and it's kind of this five or six person staff.
It's just kind of tired and sad, which is the state of the newspaper industry.
And I'm like, how are they going to get seasons out of this?
Who's funny on this show?
The woman.
Is he going to be a regular, though?
was a guest star.
He's
Yeah.
Like he was in the office.
Yeah.
He's transferred.
He's still the same character.
Yeah, that was funny.
talk to you.
Stop following me.
It was funny, but it was like a retread.
I'm like, it was good for a one time life.
You know what I did like was at the beginning, how they said they showed Dunder Mifflin.
Yeah.
And they talked about all the companies that have come and gone since Dunder Mifflin left.
And in a weird way, I kind of got not choked up, but I was like, oh, it's so sad.
They were talking to Bob Vance.
Yeah, Bob Vance.
Who's still there.
Vance refrigeration.
Vance refrigeration.
But.
I said it gets
I said, you know, I do think the first episode is kind of slow.
Yeah, you don't get the huge comedy aspect, but you just keep watching it and The episodes get more funny as they go on and the last episode is hilarious.
All right, and Esmeralda, I would say is probably The character that just brings you laughs every episode.
I was a curious choice
to cast her.
She was great and white lotus But she's in Toledo and she's this Italian with the stick Italian accent.
How how did she get there?
And she was a boss too.
A terrible boss.
And she was writing about the stuff we see on like Yahoo Entertainment News, like who uses what fingernail polish?
That's the headline in the Toledo newspaper now.
You know, that was
Well, I'll watch a couple more.
I was not encouraged at all because just because I'm like,
Steve Carell, Rainn Wilson, and then you bring in Ed Helms and BJ Novak, who at the time we didn't know it, but is a very good TV writer.
It's gonna be tough to top that.
Steve Carell was.
Yeah, Steve was.
And Rainn Wilson made a splash.
To me, he was a little over the top, personally, because I'm jaded, but...
He jumped out at you as a comedic force.
You know,
you
right.
The main guy seems like he resembles Jim.
I would Donald Gleason.
the
Oh, interesting.
Looks at the camera, you know, and yeah.
Okay.
Our question of the night, folks, what is your favorite beer?
Jim from Appleton and the 920 says my favorite beer, Lady Luck from Carbon 4.
All right, I have to admit, I'm not a huge beer drinker.
I was always a spirits guy.
So a lot of these beers I have not heard of.
Are you familiar with this one, Conrad?
Lady Luck?
I am not.
Great name for a beer.
Thank you, Jim.
You're giving us something to check out.
This is like a information exchange when we do with TV and movies, too.
So if your beer connoisseurs, I have every reason to believe that our listeners know their beer in the 414 again, but probably Bellican beer from Belize.
Nice.
That's Edward from the 414.
Bellican beer from Belize.
Interesting.
Never heard of it.
Thank you very much, Edward.
Steve Conrad's dad from Florida checking in.
Tell Conrad a frosty mug with spotted cow.
I'm a fan of Lime and Kugel Summer Shandy in a very cold bottle and a Guinness off the tap.
Thank you, Steve.
Did you know that it's an art form pouring a Guinness?
Yeah.
They have to really like teach bartenders how to do that.
Yeah, and you
They know their stuff, you know.
Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids, he's got a 608 area code, the beer that made Milwaukee famous in a frosty mug.
Cheers, burp.
Tyler spelled out burp.
Thank you, Tyler.
Barb from Waukesha says, love medello.
I don't care for corona at all.
Too bitter.
Interesting.
You know, I always thought corona was like a lighter, not like, like spotted cow has kind of a fruit.
taste to it almost at times.
I thought like Corona was not like that, but it was just light.
I don't equate Corona with bitterness, but I guess I could see
Thank you, Barb.
John from Madison in the 608 says, Hi, Peter and Caleb.
Yeah, no respect.
Yeah.
Conrad Buddy, John knows that I'm sure was the type host.
Stella Artois.
Am I saying that right?
Artois?
Artois?
I don't know.
It's Artois.
And Berghoff Bach.
I feel like some of these people could be messing with me.
Just
giving me beer names.
I'm just going to read them because I'm not a beer kind of sewer, but both are simply delicious.
If you are a beer lover with a decent palette for variety, price is right for the Berghoff product.
Both are slightly filling and full bodied.
So a sizer is perfect.
I don't even know what a Sizer is.
It's like a measuring thing.
I think
A little bit.
Yeah,
All right.
Okay, Sixer.
Yeah, I was like, oh, I'm so glad I didn't just like go along with it and pretend I knew one.
gotta have a Sizer with a beer.
Yeah, bring it.
Make sure I have a Sizer on the side, so I don't want them.
Monica from Outhorib and the 608 says, I don't like beer that tastes like beer.
So, Nuglaris raspberry tart and similar sours are the only beer I drank, despite being from Wisconsin.
Monica, you and I are kindred spirits.
I'm not a huge beer person either, but I do like when they get a little crazy.
I like Nuglaris too.
I like what they do down there.
Anna from the 608 says, hi, Pete and Conrad.
My favorite beer is a spotted Conrad, spotted cow.
Cow, right?
It's probably our winner tonight, right, so far?
I would say.
It's a homegrown beer.
Much like Miller was spotted cows, like the Miller of 50 years ago, maybe John Murray says, yeah, back to calling you Caleb.
Sorry.
a six or every show, doesn't he?
By the end of the week, he has 30 cans of beer.
No, that would be 36.
No, five times six is 30.
Woo.
How far away from a commercial are we?
414, maybe this is Edward again, says Jacob Best, born in Germany, died in Milwaukee, found out what would later become Papst.
So he had Jacob's Best, and then he created Papst.
Am I getting
like.
Okay.
Doing my best here, folks.
Thanks for sticking with me.
Mike from Cottage Grove, the 608 says Stella, wow, Stella's coming up on the left of
I spotted Kyle, look at this.
Oh, Steady Eddie from the 6-0-8 says, Pete, a delicious beer that brings back memories for me is Edmund Fitzgerald, a beer brewed in Ohio.
That's interesting.
I drank it after playing golf in a UW Tuesday evening golf league at the Glenway Golf Course at Madison.
I always just had one.
Please drink responsibly.
Sipping a cold Edmund Fitzgerald on the clubhouse patio while swapping golf stories with the guys sure tasted good.
Steady Eddie.
It's a great text.
He said, Conrad, he added a post script.
Yes.
And he says, the Edmund Fitzgerald sank 50 years ago, November 10, 1975.
The legend lives on.
Well said, steady Eddie.
I would think you'd talk about shipping or shipwrecks while you're drinking in Edmund Fitzgerald.
But hey, I don't want to tell you how to live your life.
Nick from Marshall in the 608 says, red stripe, straight from the yard, Jamaica.
I have never had a red stripe.
There was a time in the 80s or 90s where.
Everybody was drinking red stripe.
Like it was getting out of hand.
And I think John Grissom used to put characters in his books, used to drink red stripe.
When they were like in the, well Jamaica probably.
Sydney from Oregon says my favorite beer is.
You jazz.
He's messing with me.
That's.
I caught that one.
He
I'll look it up during the break.
But he could be messing with me, too.
Craig Canett says, Pete, one of my favorites is Newcastle from England.
So good.
Keep those texts coming, folks.
We will read them throughout the show.
Coming up next, filmmaker Wendy Lobel will be here to talk about her documentary, The Anxiety Club.
Fun film.
We're going to tell you all about it.
Coming up next, it's Pete Schwabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
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This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.
I am Pete Schwabba, Conrad Krieger working the board tonight as we barrel through this Monday night, finally back on the air after a long arduous weekend of not being on the air.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome to...
Nightlight, a guest we haven't had on before.
If you're in or around the Green Bay area this weekend, there's a film at the Green Bay Film Festival.
You might be interested in checking out.
It's called The Anxiety Club.
And joining me now to discuss this great film is the film's director and the Emmy Award winning, Wendy Lobel.
Wendy, welcome.
Oh, I think she's muted, Khan.
You might be muted, Wendy.
We can't hear.
We can see Wendy, but we can't hear Wendy.
If you're watching on the stream, we will get this figured out momentarily.
Sydney says the best beer for sure is Phil McCracken.
Now I know he's messing with me.
He says, okay, I'm done.
Thank you, Sydney.
Hey, I think we have Wendy now.
Wendy, are you there?
No, we got teased again.
Conn, let's figure this out.
Conrad is on it.
He's gonna run to the car and get the tools.
We will not keep you waiting too much longer, folks.
Wendy Lobel is here, and I can ask her if I'm saying her last name properly.
Because as a guy named Schwabba, I get where people could mispronounce even a name that looks like it should be easy pronounced.
We'll figure all that out, and we'll talk about the anxiety club as soon as we get things figured out here with our guest, Wendy Lobel.
So the Green Bay Film Festival is this great festival, and they do things a little differently.
They don't have like a...
Full week-long lineup of just movies Start to finish they break it up into separate weekends.
They do something about every three months kind of a different format and Wendy's film at the anxiety club will be playing there this Saturday night at 7 o'clock I'm introducing the film and I'm gonna host a Q&A That Wendy will stick around for we'll discuss the film and she's even brought in a team
of mental health experts.
So we're gonna break down a little bit the comedy in the film, the comedians and how they deal with angst.
It's gonna be a really fun night.
And she's gone above and beyond to have this great discussion following the movie.
So stick around for that.
And I assume they still have tickets left.
We'll ask Wendy that as well, but that is this Saturday night in Green Bay.
So our question of the night, folks, you still have time to get in on the fun, if you like, is what is your favorite beer?
Mike from Cottage Grove chimes in again.
He answered earlier, but he says, my second fave is Modelo.
I'm telling you, Mike, I'm with you.
I want to try a Modelo based on the commercials alone.
Sometimes a commercial can really sell its product and it does that with me, with Modelo.
Just these dudes hanging out that great music.
I absolutely, I will try Modelo one of these days.
Tomorrow night, folks.
A nightlight, we have another great show, Frank Hermans.
Green Bay legend, Frank Hermans will be here to talk about his new show.
He's gonna be in studio.
We'll have Frank for a couple of segments.
I don't know if he'll perform or not, but he will be here in the flesh, and Frank is always a blast.
And then we've got more fun tomorrow night too, because we have a jam-packed show actually tomorrow night, because Sean Hannish, the director of Just A Bit Outside,
The story of the 1982 Milwaukee Brewers will be here at 7 0 5 because he has big news about his film and Sean reached out over the weekend and I thought we got to share this because it's great stuff and Then from the Green Bay Film Festival Nick Whittier will be here.
He's been in studio Several times before and Nick is always fun to talk to so he will give us the the straight dope on a lot of what it will be happening at the Green Bay Film Festival over the next weekend So how we doing with Wendy Khan any luck?
Just need to get her phone.
Oh, okay.
We'll switch this to phone.
She can stay on the stream.
If you're watching on the stream, you'll still be able to see Wendy, but we'll talk to her on the phone.
That'll work.
It's very frustrating because we have Wendy, but we don't have Wendy.
And she's joining us.
all the way from New York.
Wendy was on a show, and I'm gonna ask her about this too.
She's had a long, like I said, she's an Emmy winner, and I wanna say she won her Emmy for Nick News.
Do you remember that show, Con?
Nick News.
It was News Geared Toward Kids that was on Nickelodeon.
And she had like a 15 year run there.
So I'm gonna ask her about that as well.
It sounds familiar.
I still get all my news from Nick News.
That's why I have
trouble
arguing politics sometimes because all my news comes from.
from Nick News.
Yeah, lots going on this week, folks.
We've got a fun show tomorrow.
Then our pal, Heather Hyatt, will be in studio.
We're going to give Heather a quiz.
What did I say the quiz was going to be on?
We're going to give Heather a, oh, John Candy
quiz.
That's on Wednesday with Heather.
She does great with our, with our quizzes.
And then the writer of the threesome.
A movie we talked about last week, Ethan Ogleby will be here.
He wrote this great script that they made into a movie and they crushed it.
It was well-directed.
Zoe Deutsch plays the lead.
Ethan was on the show last April, right before their screening at the Wisconsin Film Festival, and he will be joining us Wednesday night to talk about this theatrical release.
That does not happen all the time.
This independent film that they shot did so well at festivals.
Somebody
I snatched it up and they're putting it in theaters.
And then Terry Barr will be here on Thursday to make the popcorn pick of the week, because I will not be here Friday.
And then Al Petrelli, that'll be FunCon.
Al's a great guest.
He was
Oh, man.
It's just sounds awesome.
It's like spectacular.
It's like a spectacle.
So there you go.
But our question of the night, folks, if you want to get in on the fun is what is your favorite kind of beer?
That's what we're talking about tonight.
And that is our question of the night.
And we have, do we have time to play that clip, the Bob Odin Kirk one?
Now we might be cutting close.
Yeah, we've got a
minute.
Yeah.
All right, we gotta do the news.
We'll get things squared away with Wendy.
I can see her smiling face right now.
She's with us, but she's not with us.
She's here in spirit.
We'll figure it out.
This is Pete Schwabba and Night Light.
We're coming back after Civic Media's news team keeps you informed.
It's Pete Schwabba and Night Light.
You've got the Civic Media Radio
Network.
It's great to have you with me tonight on this beautiful Monday night here in the state of Wisconsin as we broadcast statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay.
Green Bay, the site of the screening of my next guest's movie here at the Green Bay Film Festival this Saturday.
I believe we have everything ironed out now, so it is my pleasure to welcome Wendy LaBelle.
How are you, Wendy?
Hi, I'm good to eat.
How are you?
I'm well.
Am I saying your last
name properly?
Yes, now you are.
It's Lobel.
And you said it right just then.
So thank you.
Thanks for asking.
Excellent.
Yes.
Well, carrying the name Schwab in my whole life, I've had my woes when it comes to people pronouncing my name.
So I'm very sensitive to that.
It is great to have you here.
We are looking forward to having you here right down the street at the Tarleton on Saturday night.
Let's talk about that and get right into the screening.
Tell us a little bit about the anxiety club.
Well, Anxiety Club is a documentary, as you know, and it's funny and it's heartfelt.
It's about the experience of anxiety through the eyes of comedians.
And there are seven comedians, including one who we followed through exposure therapy, which is an evidence-based treatment for anxiety.
And it's a pretty bold move for people who do it, but it can be very effective.
And so it's really, it's looking
at the universal experience of anxiety, but using comedians to talk about it, you know, to talk about a serious subject.
So it's pretty funny.
It's pretty touching.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's,
I have to tell you, I was, I don't know if I mentioned this the other day on the call.
In the nineties, I was a comedian.
I toured all over for only for like eight years, not, not for very long.
And I kind of switched to writing, but my favorite comics and my best friends were always the comics who were a little angst ridden.
Not not the guys who couldn't wait to get up on stage and go look at me It was people that had to overcome something or they were a little bit neurotic because I find that you can mine great comedy Out of those little quirks.
Did you find
that making this movie?
Oh?
Yeah, I mean on one hand the anxiety that the
that the comedians experience is similar to what anyone with anxiety might experience.
But what's unique about the comedians is that they're spending their days and nights, you know, introspective, thinking about their mental health, thinking about, you know, how they see the world from their perspective.
You know it they use it as fodder for their material and I think it's I think it's helpful to them It's not a cure.
It's not therapy, but it's a way that they're able to Kind of work out some of the things that they're feeling and it's just good for the rest of us because we get to You know feel us alone and see ourselves through their eyes and
I don't know.
It wasn't the initial plan for the film.
The original plan was going to be doing a film about regular people, you know, like me, with anxiety.
And it evolved into comedians.
And it's just been really resonating with people because it's very accessible and relatable.
And the comedians are hilarious and vulnerable.
So I feel very lucky that it all worked out as it did.
That's really interesting.
How did that happen?
What made you kind of switch gears and go and add the comedians to this?
You know, it was a long process of looking for the right people.
And at a certain point, my husband who was very into comedy, you know, he said, why don't you maybe include a comedian or an actor or like a compelling host, you know, kind of like a Michael Moore type of a thing.
And I started looking into comedians.
And it was at that point, you know, it was really no turning back because, you know, finding these comedians who were not only funny, but they were they were doing material sketch comedy or stand-up comedy about their anxiety.
And it just was a really great great way to illustrate what what the experience of anxiety is.
So it just kind of worked.
And so it's and I think.
you know, when I think about had I done the original, you know, the original concept, it would have been much more boring.
It would have been a completely different kind of a film.
And I think, you know, anxiety is tough.
It's, you know, people who have anxiety, I have anxiety.
I've struggled with it for most of my adult life.
It's, you know, it's not fun.
And I think when you see people who have anxiety and who are...
putting it out there to the world in a really funny way.
Yeah.
No, it's just really kind of helpful.
This is interesting that you're doing this.
I have another question about the comedy, but I find it interesting.
After the film, you're going to take part in a Q&A.
I'll be there hosting it.
And then you have members of the AT&T Center here in Green Bay joining you to talk about mental health and comedy.
Yeah.
Interesting.
What made you decide to make them part of the post film?
Get
together so
to speak
I really can't take any credit for that because it was the film festival that reached out to me and told me that they wanted to incorporate some psychologists who were local and I was like great I mean it just makes it that much more interesting for a panel you know to participate in a panel when you know there's me the filmmaker but being able to have these other people on
the panel, you know, for a Q&A, it's just a great idea.
And I met them on Zoom for the first time the other day and
they're
great.
And they, you know, I'm looking forward to hearing what they have to say.
I mean, there's one woman who does the same kind of anxiety, the same kind of therapy, the exposure therapy that we feature in the film.
And there are other kinds of therapy that
many kinds of therapy that they practice at this center and four of the psychologists from the center will be at.
at the
I think it should be great.
And I think it'll be an opportunity for people not only to learn more about the filmmaking process, but to learn more about their own anxiety and to be able to ask questions about, you know, their own struggles and hear from professionals.
I think that'll, I'm excited about that.
Absolutely.
My guest is Wendy Lobel.
She is the director of the Anxiety Club, which you can see here at the Green Bay Film Festival this Saturday night, September 13th at seven o'clock.
I will be there hosting a Q&A.
Wendy will be on site, so to speak, as well as a team of therapists to answer all of our questions.
Wendy, you said, it was interesting, you said when you switched and you kind of found direction with comedians,
one of
my questions was, I write all these intros for PBS Wisconsin and a POV and independent lens, and I've seen so many documentaries.
It's hard to get people to talk on camera.
Once you do,
That doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be interesting.
Yeah.
When you decided to use comedians, like how and maybe not even with this documentary, but how do you get your subjects in a documentary so they're just not talking heads?
Like in a narrative, you explain the character on a piece of paper on the script.
How do you do that as a documentary filmmaker?
That must be a huge challenge.
Meaning to get them to get entertaining.
Yeah, to
give
us
some character background and that kind
of stuff.
Yeah.
I mean, first of all, I knew that these people were going to be interesting because I listened to, I watched a lot of their stand up or sketch videos.
I listened to some interviews with them.
I talked to them on the phone or on Zoom.
So I had a sense that they were going to be interesting, but you never know how vulnerable a subject will be when you're sitting there and there's a camera in front of them and, you know, they're being asked very personal questions.
I think
you know in the case of this film they all knew that I could relate to the experience of anxiety so they were talking to somebody who experienced some of the same things that that they have
so that right off the bat I think was helpful um and I don't know I mean I
think it's just like you sit down and you start having a conversation and after a little bit of time it just it just kind of you just go into a different zone or you hope that that's what happens
and I
feel like it did I mean the interviews were probably about 90 minutes each so it's long enough to dive in a bit and you know they also knew I told them all like if there's anything
that they don't want to talk about it's fine it's up to them they're steering the ship um but you know i'm not afraid to ask hard questions and see what happens and they just i don't know it just they were all really great and i think you just you know i've done so many interviews over the course of my career i was in television for a long time as you know you mentioned nicknews i don't know if you used to watch nicknews
I remember it.
I kind
of made
the joke that that's where I still get all my hard-hitting news from, and that's why I can't talk politics.
But I want to ask you about that later, too.
But you have some star power kind of in this documentary, at least in the comedy world, Mark Maron.
How did you get Mark Maron?
And he's got to be, man, when I saw that he was in this film, I was like, he's the perfect guest
or
subject, it
seems
like, for, yeah.
Oh, yeah, totally.
I mean, I felt like...
You know, he was one of the comedians that obviously I knew of him.
I followed him.
And so I was really determined to get him because he's like the poster child for, you know, an anxious comedian.
And so I met him at an event and I asked if I could speak to, you know, I told him about the film and he seemed interested.
And I asked him if I could get in touch with his manager and I did.
It took a little bit of time, it was a little bit of a back forth, but eventually it happened and I went to his office.
Not where he does, not the garage where he did his interviews for WTF.
It was a nice office and I had him for about an hour and a half.
He was great.
He had a cold that day, uh, so he was a real trooper and, uh, he played such an important role in the film.
He's, there's something, there's just like a certain wisdom that he,
has and, and that really came across and he's very different from the other comedians.
Well, it's
got to be
interesting too because just recently he's been going after Bill Maher.
and kind of calling him a fraud and trying to stay relevant.
So Mark Marin has put himself back out there a little bit too.
As a filmmaker with Mark in your film, you must love that, right?
Right.
Well, you know, it's funny that because you just never know who is, I mean, I feel like I've been pretty lucky.
So far that you know, nobody's been canceled or haven't
been
there years.
You just you don't know I I mean there have been some you know, one of the characters got divorced during the edit process and So that was a little you know, I'm such a people-pleaser like oh no, how are we gonna you know, I don't I want to make sure You know, she wasn't gonna be upset.
He's still gonna be in there.
And but of course we had to keep going and so
Other than other than that, it's it's all that's all worked out But I trust that Mark Merritt and he's gonna get himself into trouble, but he has a way of getting out of it
as well Right We have about a minute before we have to do a break and then we'll do a short break and I'll keep you for a couple more minutes before we let you go But with about a minute left I want to ask you what did you learn a about comedy doing this and be about mental health while making this
film?
Well, I mean one thing I've learned about comedy
I mean, it's kind of related to the anxiety because, you know, there are so many people who are surprised, shocked even, that these comedians have anxiety and they're able to go on stage and be in front of all these people.
doing comedy but you know the what's what was surprising is that many of them feel most comfortable on stage you know they have
more
comfortable on stage than they do offstage you know talking to fans so I think that was one thing that was really interesting.
I think also you know I'm sure there are some people who think that you know if you go up there and you talk about your mental health you're going to be fine and that's your therapy but that's not the case I know you have to take a break so
yeah.
We can pick up there on the other side of the break.
That's
great.
And maybe, folks, I'll even ask Wendy what her favorite kind of beer is.
That's all coming up next.
We'll have a couple more minutes with our guest, Wendy, and we'll tell you all about her screening, too, here in Green Bay this Saturday night.
It's Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website, civicmedia.us.
Welcome back.
Tomorrow night on Nightlight, Frank Hermans, the legendary Frank Hermans will be here in studio talking about his new show.
Sean Hannes joins me to talk about his documentary.
Just a bit outside, there is new news and Nick Wattier from the Green Bay Film Festival will be here, which is a perfect segue to our current guest, Wendy LaBelle, who is here.
She is the director of the film, The Anxiety Club, which makes its premiere, Wisconsin premiere anyway.
Have you played other festivals with the film so far?
Yeah, it's screened at about 18 festivals so
far.
Thank you.
That's outstanding.
So you were talking about what you learned about comedy and mental health while making this film.
Please finish.
Yeah.
So I mean, so one of the things about comedians is that, you know, they it's it's not therapy, you know, doing stand up is not therapy.
So I think
It's a way of working things out, but then they get off stage and they might have a little reprieve from their anxiety, but then it comes back and they're all in some form of therapy either currently or were before or using other tools.
So I mean, that was something that's maybe not so surprising.
I think for me personally, I think one of the interesting things I learned about
Anxiety is that it's not like with treatment you can be expected to not have any anxious thoughts anymore So you're gonna have the thoughts it's more a matter of how do you respond to them?
And if you respond in you know maladaptive ways if you avoid things and if you're people pleasing and if you over research and if you Say you're sorry all the time or you know, there are all these kinds of things that we do so that we don't feel our feelings and so it's very much about
Um, I think in my opinion it's about going toward, you know, not being afraid of, of the feelings going towards them, interrupting the, the ruminating thoughts that many people with anxiety get.
Um, but again, it's not that you're going to stop having those thoughts.
It's a matter of what you do with them.
So what do you do after you do this like scientific deep dive into mental health and comedy and the connection, like what do you do next, Wendy?
Well,
You know, I am planning to live in this world for a while meaning that you know, we're doing a long Distribution process and we're doing you know, we still have quite a few festivals.
We're doing a lot of screening Events like community screenings and mental health organizations Comedy festivals colleges and universities So that's something that's going to last for a long time We're you know
It's a slow, methodical rollout, and I plan to be a part of that and try to bring the film to the audiences that need it most.
And at some point, I'll start thinking about another project, but right now I'm as busy as I was when I was making the film.
Oh, that's great.
It's really fun, and it's exciting.
Before we get into Nick News, do you have a favorite beer?
That's funny.
I'm not a big beer drinker.
I mean, I would say that if I had to pick one, it would be Blue Moon, but I think it's just because of the orange slice.
Same.
I'm more of a hard cider person or, you know, rosé or maybe a little bourbon here and there.
It's champagne Coolies all the way with me, but I'm with you on the Blue Moon.
I love a Blue Moon, a little orange.
So you want an Emmy for Nick News.
You worked with Linda Ellerby.
What a great run to have that kind of run.
In show business is incredible.
How did you go from there?
What do you miss more?
Or what invigorates you more?
I should say the daily grind of a TV show or trying to make a documentary, get it out there.
Oh gosh, I mean it just like it really is like apples and oranges.
I mean I was so lucky to have that job and to work with Linda Ellerby for all these years.
The show, Nick News, was an amazing show.
We were interviewing kids all the time about
you know doing these these shows about really important topics sometimes they were serious sometimes they were fun so that was amazing i never felt like it was a grind because it's not like it was a daily news show you
know it was
like we were doing you know an episode
a month essentially and
I wasn't
you know there were other people there were several people on the team so uh so it was great I really I just love that and then she retired and the show uh I mean it's still
on the air in a different form, but I was working for her production company and we knew well in advance that she was going to be retiring and that was going to be it for Lucky Duck Productions.
And so making a documentary was something I really wanted to do.
And I had done an episode for Nick News on kids with anxiety.
And
so that
was really how it all began.
you know, when I had done that and I had filmed with kids who were really struggling and it just kind of came out of that experience.
Wendy LaBelle, it's been great meeting you.
I'm glad we got our tech problems figured out.
I'm really looking forward to meeting you in person Saturday night and seeing your amazing film and it's going to be a great night.
Looking forward to the Q&A as well.
So break
a leg this
weekend and we'll talk then.
Thanks.
We'll see you soon.
Appreciate it.
Have a
great
night.
You too.
Thank you.
That's Wendy LaBelle.
Check out at the Tarleton Theater this Saturday night, folks.
The Anxiety Club.
Very excited to see this movie and to meet Wendy.
Great work and no small task winning an Emmy in the world of TV.
That's pretty good stuff.
Do we miss something, Conrad?
We
kind of
break our share of news here, too.
I mean, we got people relying on us to get the big stories out there, like is David Hasselhoff making a comeback or not?
We do got a couple texts to read.
Oh, we do.
Yes.
Well, we can't, we can't miss those.
Rachel from Milwaukee, she says, how about some NA beer representation?
Lagunatus, Lagunatus.
I
anyone.
Those are great.
Way to represent Rachel.
And I agree, and Blue Moon non-alcoholic is my beer these days.
So I'm totally with you.
But thank you for weighing in.
I really appreciate the text.
And Bridget, our pal Bridget from the A18 says, Lining Kugel, Summer Shandy, a great refreshing summer beer.
Boy, Blue Moon, Lining Kugel, Spotted Cow.
We definitely have our favorites here in Wisconsin.
Hey, we're coming back.
Tomorrow night to do all this again, folks.
Thanks to Rocker.
Thanks to Wendy LaBelle.
On behalf of the lovable producer, Conrad, I'm Pete Schwabba saying good night,
Wisconsin.
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