Transcript
Laughs, Fests, and Bad Hair (Hour 1)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Wed Oct 1, 2025
You're listening to Civic Media.
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That's me in a nutshell, folks.
I am Pete Schwabba.
Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.
It is a Wednesday night in the state of Wisconsin, and it was gorgeous again today.
What is there not to be happy about?
A beautiful day, some great showbiz talk, some current events, the final farmer's market here in downtown Green Bay.
Well, I shouldn't say downtown Green Bay.
I should say on Broadway.
But apparently there's one that's going to happen.
Do you know there was a farmers market on Washington Street?
I didn't even know that.
I must be
And you live here.
I do.
You're in the hood.
Great show tonight.
Great to have you.
Hope you had a great day.
Whatever happened to you today, folks, put it behind you.
Good or bad.
And let's have some fun.
Let's talk about the things we love.
Great movies, comedy, music.
We've got a lot of fun tonight on the show.
We're going to talk about the Milwaukee Comedy Festival with my first guest, Greg Bach at 635.
Greg is a civic media colleague.
He's the co-host of Matt and Aaron Ayer that you can hear every day here on the network.
They do a great job, outstanding radio every day, thanks to Greg and Jane.
He will be here.
Greg is also a comedian.
I don't know, actually, I almost said he's one of the founders.
I don't know that he's one of the founders of the Milwaukee Comedy Festival, but he is one of the producers of it.
So we'll get all the information that you'll need if you're in the Milwaukee area for a really cool comedy contest.
This has been happening for a couple of decades now, and it looks like they've got some fantastic guests coming up.
Pat Noswald will be there this year.
Did I ever tell, are you a Pat Noswald fan?
Yeah,
his stand-up is different.
He's funny I mean he was he and I when Jimmy part of got married I was in his wedding party and Instead of doing like a bachelor party.
They did a roast at this place in LA and Pat Naswald and I were two of the roasters
I don't know why this is so funny, but he kept calling Jimmy Pardo Johnny Pardo.
And that just floored me every time.
He's a funny guy and a pretty good actor.
He was on King of Queens.
I know he was unjustified, but he's going to be at the Milwaukee Comedy Festival.
We'll talk to Greg about that at 6.35.
Always fun to have Greg on the show.
Then my pal, Catherine Lake, who I said this Friday, we tried to get Catherine on Friday.
I think she had a last minute scheduling conflict or phone issues or something, but.
Catherine is largely responsible or played a hand in, I should say, getting Nightlight on the air.
So I'm always grateful for that.
And I just like her so much anyway.
She's a great person and she will be here.
Catherine manages WMDX in Madison for Civic Media and kind of oversees the John and Gordy show.
And they are pals of mine as well.
Catherine will be here at 7.05 to give us details.
What little we know so far.
of the Godfather of Green Bay Screening in Madison, December 4th.
That is going to be for a great cause, folks.
I don't think we've zeroed in on exactly what the cause is yet, but it's not Conrad's walking around money.
It will be for a good cause.
So we'll do that at 7.05.
Katherine will be here.
We'll discuss that and give you more details.
throughout the next few weeks as they come in.
That's going to be fun.
And it's going to be at the Atwood Music Hall, the brand new Atwood Music Hall.
Very excited to see that.
I've never even been inside that, so I'm excited to be part of that and show the film there.
I have not screened that film in many years.
And then it's 735.
OK, so we start in Milwaukee.
We go to Madison.
Then we come up here to Northeast Wisconsin.
And our pal Dan Davies will be here.
He's going to have a special guest with him, too, which will be fun.
And they're going to be talking about independent film awards in Northeast Wisconsin.
Michael Seibel is the director who's going to be with them.
They're giving Michael Seibel a lifetime achievement award at the NIFA awards.
It's the National Independent Film Association awards.
It takes place in Appleton, October 4th.
That's this weekend.
So Michael and Dan will be here at 7.35.
Dan's always fun and it'll be great to meet Michael.
So there you go.
Four.
Kick-ass guests on tonight's Wednesday edition of nightlight Conrad Krieger is working the board furiously right now folks.
How you doing, buddy?
It's your furiously working the board.
It's the only way to do it
I mean you bring it you bring the a game Cubs have a split now.
They're
so that's gonna be a great game tomorrow
So, what did you, was it three games or five?
I can't,
So, did they do yesterday, Wrigley, today, San Diego?
my God, that's huge.
I was wondering about that today.
I'm like, that doesn't make sense that they would fly all the way to San Diego to play a home game.
So, that's a huge disadvantage.
yeah.
But they're still one-on-one.
So who knows if this freeway series will happen or not.
We'll see.
pretty exciting.
I have not watched one inning of it so far.
playing.
I know.
I just couldn't.
And it said like two.
It's perfect.
I mean, it could not be on at a better time.
I just have so much to do.
I can't keep up.
I You know I will say either is a bit of a letdown after 2016 and that huge long wait of 110 years It's kind of like yeah, I mean I'm still excited about it, but it's it's not It's not gonna top that I feel like that was the apex
Well the way they're going although they look better now, but I hope I didn't have to wait 112 years My grandpa lived his whole life and never saw the Cubs win a when a championship so Although the Brewers look the Brewers,
where if you had to pick a Wisconsin team the Brewers Over the Packers even
okay
But is that why?
Like
them had won a championship, who's your favorite Wisconsin
Packers, OK.
The Packers have won two.
know how I can tell you're a huge football fan?
Why is that?
Because you say football.
Football.
Most of my favorite hosts when I'm listening to my sports partner.
The National Football League.
It's not
So I could tell you're a big fan.
Hey, I'm trying to find the text we got last night.
We had kind of a fun question last night.
It was, when you think of a mediocre sitcom, what show comes to mind?
And my friend, Alan Martin, I didn't see this till late last night, but friends.
Very controversial.
I thought Friends was funny.
I mean, it was weird because it took me a couple of years to warm up to that show because they were so cuddly and fuzzy and it just drove me, I didn't like it.
I tuned out the comedy because it was so annoying.
But then the writing just shone through and it was a very funny show.
huge fan.
How I met you.
Then what?
The office.
The office, okay,
it
Alright, I'll give it a look.
You were watching The Office right
You're not, you haven't taken to Seinfeld quite the way you did to the office.
Where are you now in Seinfeld?
Season three.
Okay, that's a good season.
Season four, maybe the greatest season of television ever.
they, the whole season happens and then they call the whole season back.
And it's the whole season is about the making of the show, Seinfeld.
They do a pitch to NBC, Jerry and George, kind of like modeling it after their real experience with Jerry and Larry David.
It's just, I've never seen a TV season like that, so stick with it.
I'm glad you're digging.
the
What's that one?
Oh, wow I don't I thought you're gonna say the one where Elaine was gonna move into Jerry's building.
season three is great, too I I almost like have you seen the one yet where George is dating the woman and he leaves a horrible message on her answering machine and they
I don't think I've ever laughed as hard that and when Elaine is yelling Stella
It takes the muscle relaxers.
It's just brilliant.
So anyway, I think it's time we got to get to our night-like question of the night.
Okay, question.
Question.
Question.
Domanda.
Question.
Are you ready for this, Con?
I am.
What celebrity has the worst hair?
What celebrity?
Has the worst hair 8 5 5 7 5 2 4 8 4 2 8 5 5 7 5 civic you could text us on the app Very easy to do and you're gonna need the app anyway To play our go for the green and gold text-to-win multi-state contest I'm gonna give you details about that soon.
We only have a few more nights left of the Text-to-Win contest, but You'll need the app the app is a great way to get ahold of us here
Text line is fine.
And if you're watching the radio on YouTube, Facebook, or X, you can drop us a stream comment there and let us know who you think has the worst hair.
What celebrity has the worst hair?
It's funny because my initial reaction and I didn't put this on social media was Boris Johnson.
He was the prime minister of...
the UK and he was he is really bad here but intentionally bad he's trying to brand himself it's very obvious and it's just he just looks like a meatball so that was my initial thought I did not go I went with Bon Jovi because I think Bon Jovi he's one of those guys like if you're a metrosexual just own it you know if you're really into your appearance and how you look and everything's got to be perfect like I've always
The people that have kind of driven me the most crazy are the ones who go to painstaking efforts to make themselves look like they don't care about their appearance.
They've got rips in their jeans, but the rips were put there by Calvin Klein.
It's not from bad hygiene or rolling around with a dog.
Bear attack, yeah, that would be cooler.
You know, and I knew this guy once he would spend two hours on his hair to get it to look messy.
And I feel like that's what Bon Jovi does.
And it looks very 80s.
I just Totally soured on their music over the last few years.
I just don't need it He got some good tunes.
I know there's a lot of Bon Jovi fans out there.
I say Bon Jovi Conrad said Russell brand.
Hey, what is he doing cut that?
All right, it's Night Light with Peach Waba.
That's our question of the night.
Let us know.
Be part of the fun, folks.
And when we come back after this very short break, I'm going to tell you about my experience with a wasp.
It's Peach Waba and Night Light on the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
And I'd like great to have you with me, folks.
A gorgeous Wednesday here in the state of Wisconsin.
We are broadcasting statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay.
And just digging this evening.
It is a beautiful night.
So today, I'm sitting on my porch.
I usually start my day with a cup of Joe.
Sitting there, listening to the various tools being used in the neighborhood, leaf blowers, chainsaws, it's always something different where I live.
Slightly rural, but it's in the city.
And every morning, there's like one wasp that hasn't died yet or something.
And it finds me.
And I always go back to someone saying, well, don't swat it, you'll just make it mad and it'll bite ya.
So I try to do or sting whatever so I try not to I try to ignore it It does not go away.
This thing is like persistent and today it landed just next to my neck So I flipped out like I completely turned into a spaz Because it's not supposed to land on you and I don't know whoever
started that whole, oh, don't swat a wasp, just let it be.
Well, okay, it's gonna sting my jugular, but I'm gonna listen to this person from the 1970s.
And I just, when I swat it, they go away.
But today, I was like, all right, I'm gonna try just to absorb this and see what happens.
It was terrifying.
Me either, and I've been stung enough to know, I don't react, you know, I feel a pinch, like one time I had a chain on, because I was that guy.
Yeah And I was on the subway and I thought that one of my chest hairs got caught in the chain and I started moving it around I'm thinking I'm holding the wasp and I bit my finger too and it stings, but it's not horrible I'd rather be stung but like your neck you don't want to get a wasp sting in your neck
I cut into your 40 time.
Yeah
I
so.
That was horrible though.
So hey, you're watching this show.
I cannot leave the Dexterverse.
I'm still, I'm watching Dexter Resurrection.
I have to, I need a Lisa Hale fix so we can discuss this, but I haven't moved on.
I watched last week tonight, a little bit of Bill Maher a few nights ago, but other than that, it's just Dexter.
I'm consumed.
Yeah.
base Glenn Powell.
Yep.
It's based on a little skit that Eli Manning did where he went to a college, you know, dressed you put on, you know, makeup and all that stuff to disguise himself and he tried out for the team and was Eli Manning.
So obviously he's playing good.
The guys are like, who was I remember that.
So based on show is based on.
Yeah.
Well, kind of that's, you know, they made it into a show and
Glenn Paul plays this guy named Russ Holiday, who played for Oregon and he was, you know, in the national championship was going to win, but he, he celebrated too early at the one through the ball.
Oh, that is gorgeous.
Oh my God, live with that the rest of your life.
He's like, what just happened?
Cause he was celebrating the end zone looks over and it's a touchdown for Georgia.
And let's just say the comedy is it's it's it's pretty funny.
The story is a little weird But after that he's watching the The Georgia player run it and this guy goes hey Russ, I still love you Can you sign my kids?
Can you sign my kids ball after that?
Yeah, and the guy goes and Glenn's character goes no Guy keeps bugging him.
So he turns around and knocks him
And it's all on TV, you know, is that true story?
No, no, no, no.
Okay.
No, it's just in the, you know, in the, in Chad Powers and that's, and then eight years later, he's trying to be a football player again.
Try, he's gonna, he thinks he's going to the XFL contract gets canceled.
Here's that a local college is doing tryouts because their quarterback went down.
So he puts his dad works, uh, prosthetics for, uh, Hollywood.
So he puts on makeup and goes to try out.
No one knows it's Russ Holiday.
And the same thing happens.
He gets the ball.
It just looked like it was trying so hard to be funny.
shot.
great reviews.
based on an Eli Manning skit.
56% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics.
57% audience so
I Don't ever watch anything on Hulu.
It's crazy
eight minutes There's two minutes of ads.
Who did you send me a picture?
Is that Jean Katie the former Purdue coach?
Alright, let's go to that text.
I got to find out who this is
That's a bad hair piece Where her text I can't find totally discombined on the stream Dave says carrot top.
Yep.
Definitely doesn't like the ginger's apparently and Kathy Griffin.
Ah, yeah keeping in the Kathy Griffin That's interesting.
She just kind of has well they both have really red hair, but Kathy Griffin just has kind of bushy never thought about her hair
Carrot top is blatantly, I don't know what's going on there.
Edward from the 401 forces, Gene Katie, old Purdue basketball coach.
Yeah, awful, comb over, counter red share.
Put that in there, there you go.
He one time, he one time blew snot during a game.
It was so disgusting.
He was yelling at a player and something came out of his nose and landed on his chin.
And it looked like, I mean, talk about a prosthetic.
It was like swinging around while he was yelling.
It was so disgusting.
It almost made me not a college basketball fan.
It was so gross.
And that's Gene Katie.
That's the first thing.
His hair is the second thing I think about.
Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids says, Fred Flintstone.
Shwabba-dabba-doo.
That's right, baby.
Thank you, Tyler.
Sydney politics.
Dave's stream friend says... I don't know who that is or we're gonna Google that and I'll read it when we come back.
It's Pete Schwabba in Nightlight.
We're coming back with Greg Bach and we're talking Milwaukee Comedy Festival.
That's next on Nightlight, folks.
Don't go anywhere.
We're coming right back on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Hi, I'm Pete Schwabba.
Great to have you here on this Wednesday night, the last farmer's market in downtown, on Broadway.
I gotta keep catching myself, Conrad.
I've never been to the farmer's market here.
either.
It's like $9 for an ear of corn.
You have to cook it yourself and there's no butter.
How is that fun?
It's not, folks, so we're gonna bring the fun to make up for that lack of fun.
That was brutal.
That
Let's just move on.
All right, this is exciting, though.
Things are about to pick up, because my pal Greg Bak is about to join us.
He is a fellow host here at Civic Media.
He is one of the co-hosts of Matt Nair on Air.
He does every day with Jane Matt Nair.
They do a great job talking current events.
They'll make you laugh.
They do it all.
Greg is also a very funny comedian and one of the producers of the Milwaukee Comedy Festival, and he joins us now here on Nightlight over the stream.
Hey, buddy.
Hey, my friends, how are you doing?
Can you hear me?
We can hear you great.
Did you get a haircut, Greg?
I did.
I got a haircut, and I got rid of the beard, and,
yeah.
I'm not entirely sure that's Greg Botconred.
Can you verify?
I think that is Greg.
You never know.
I trust you.
Hey, buddy.
It's great to have you here.
You look outstanding.
Thanks.
Thank you very much.
It's good to be here.
Thanks for having me this evening.
I appreciate you.
My pleasure, and I think there needs to be more comedy.
Anytime there's a festival or a fun show coming up, we have to talk about it.
But before we get there, and maybe this is apropos because you just got a haircut, not saying you have bad hair, certainly, but what celebrity, Greg, our question tonight is, has the worst hair?
Oh boy.
Oh gosh.
What celebrity has the worst?
Hair
I say you could think about it for a while and we can come back.
I said Bon Jovi You know, yeah, it looks like He spent two hours trying to make it look perfectly messy.
It's annoying.
Oh See that doesn't sound like you don't I think you're jealous of that hair peach wob I don't think it's about the the quality of his work.
I think it's more about the Impact and you're jealous of his quaff
And it is quaffed for 40 plus years, and it's always- That's part of it.
It has stayed as relevant as his music has stayed relevant.
Well, we could argue that too.
I don't think it's music.
I have jumped off the Bon Jovi train years ago.
I just find it.
Oh boy.
Welcome everyone to Peach Waba Bean Brave.
But listen, I thought you actually were-
You were actually
speaking truth to power.
I thought you were talking.
I thought you were going to fight me on that for a minute there.
No, no.
Okay.
I understand the impact of Bon Jovi and I understand that people love Bon Jovi and, you know, they have a place in this world and God bless them for doing what they wrote amazing songs that make you tap your toe and take
you back to
middle school dances.
And yeah, so I'm pro Bon Jovi, but I just don't listen to them anymore.
When you say Bon Jovi, and I say Bon Jovi, are we talking about the same band?
I just want to clarify that before.
I
just like feeling a little sassy.
Bon Jovi.
Bon Jovi.
You give love about a name.
He's a very handsome man.
There's no doubt about that.
So we'll come back to you
for your answer.
I'm going to keep that in the back of my noggin here, my brain box here, and try to think of a...
A celebrity with the worst hair.
The other one Greg I
had was Boris Johnson.
That was a runner up because
that
guy's just a clown.
I mean, I know what he's
doing with that hair.
Yeah, that is, it's ridiculous.
The fact that anyone has ever taken him seriously is beyond me.
Correct.
All right, Greg, so let's jump in.
You've got this great comedy club.
Now, did I read this correctly?
You're moving, right?
Are you in
the new
space yet?
Correct.
Not yet.
We have not announced this the new space yet.
We're in the we're in the they're in the the throws of movement and and and Finding and negotiating and all the things but we cannot announce anything yet because we do not have those details to Put out to the world
as soon as
we do we will let everyone know and Yeah, and the the old space we closed that in mid-June of this year last summer or this past summer I should say
And we have been looking for a new spot in Milwaukee because that is where we, you know, we're, we are a Milwaukee club.
We're Milwaukee company because we're Milwaukee comedy.
And so, yeah, with more, with more days that come, we will give more information.
Awesome.
What is, is that old comedy cafe space on Brady Street still available?
Is that, is anything
in
there?
It's gone.
What do you mean gone?
They knocked it down.
They knocked it down.
They, there's an arcade there, arcade bar there.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, it's just gone.
Well, actually, I don't know if you knew this, but.
They were on they were on water street just before you know if you know Milwaukee They were on water street before it became Brady and then they moved to Old World 3rd.
I remember that there It was a nice small room.
It was really fun.
I really
liked that
room The only thing I didn't like is the back walls had mirrors along along it So while you were watch while you were doing stand-up you were watching yourself to stand up which was a little disconcerting But then that one closed I think in 2018 and then yeah, oh God jokers
Joker's closed, I think the following year and that was it.
We were bereft of comedy clubs in Milwaukee, the city, the, you know, that is nuts.
Yeah.
Wow.
For like a solid two years.
So what made you, and then the laughing tap appeared and then problem solved.
So you, what made you want to do that?
Like for a comic to do that, you know, that's a pretty big plunge, right?
Well, I mean, it was the fact that we were already putting on shows around the area and we were for a while, we were purposely putting on shows during the week.
So we didn't compete with the clubs.
We didn't, you know, we, we understand everyone's got to make their money and we didn't want to try to hone in on anyone's territory.
But as we kept doing more shows and the consistency of the clubs, like I shouldn't say consistency, but.
sometimes they'd be open, sometimes they'd be closed.
So we started doing shows on weekends, plus some comics just can't do a Tuesday night.
They want to do a Friday or a Saturday.
So finally just became part of the story of we will build a comedy club or we will open a comedy club in the next few years.
And then it all got hit.
The gas got hit hard because someone offered us a space.
And in January of 2020, we opened the doors in March of 2020.
We closed the doors for four months.
Well, I applaud you.
I think that's so great.
And I thought, you
know,
if I was ever going to own a business, I mean, what more fun could you have than owning a comedy?
I'm sure it's got its headaches.
I'm sure comics
are
difficult to deal with sometimes.
But how much do you make a year, Greg, doing that?
I make exactly 32,000 laughs a year.
That's not counting taxes, which I pay.
I pay my taxes looking at you, most of Congress.
And no, I.
I will say this one thing that we've talked about before amongst us who you know me and Caitlin and Matt we are the three who run the the club is We've been very lucky to never work with any comics who have been massive headaches.
Yeah, everyone's got their personalities.
You know this as well as anybody there's I mean
just because a comic's quiet doesn't mean they're mean or they're rude.
There just might be quite a lot of comics or introverts, a lot of comics when they get off stage.
They're not about going to the bar and whooping it up.
They want to go in the back room.
They want to think about their show.
They want to decompress.
That being said, everyone, I mean, I can't think of a single comic who's walked through the room who we've ever said cannot do this.
They are too...
much personality, too much ego, too much, ugh, don't like that at all, never again.
We've been very lucky in that sense.
Oh, that's excellent.
Well, you kind of
can pursue the ones you want, too.
Absolutely.
The people's reputation sometimes precedes them, you know, so.
Well, that's outstanding.
I look forward to the new space, even though I never made it into the old space.
I will definitely
love it.
You didn't.
Well, listen, I asked for, I said I could do a tight five and you said no crowd work within that five.
And I said, I'll take a hike.
You have your, you know, I've got my standards.
That's in my rider.
Yeah.
Yeah.
All right.
So tell us about the comedy festival, Greg.
It's, I believe it's this weekend, correct?
It starts.
Unofficially starts on Monday with the roast of Milwaukee, which is put on with by Milwaukee record That's happening at the Coopridge hosted by our friend Kristen Brie And it's gonna be Milwaukee comedians roasting Milwaukee like they have been I think this is the eighth or ninth year
very, very fun.
Always a good time.
Always making fun of the fun things about Milwaukee and suburban Wisconsin and things like that.
And then Tuesday kicks off the official event with a partner non-Sherlock who is back.
She's been in movies and TV shows.
She has written a wonderful book.
She will be opening the show at Lakefront Brewery on that Tuesday, next Tuesday.
the seventh and that show is creeping towards sold out.
So if you
want to go to the show,
you want to get tickets sooner than later, you can do that by going to MKE comedy fest.com.
And then the next night we have, we're going to be back at the Cooperage with Sean Patton, who you've seen on all the late night shows and his show, he's a co-star of the show, English teacher, which just premiered their second season last week on FX.
He plays the gym teacher.
He will be headlining the Cooperage that night.
on Wednesday, the eighth and then the ninth.
Actually, I'm going to go to the 10th real quick Friday, Shank Hall, Punky Johnson of Saturday Night Live, formerly of Saturday Night Live will be headlining Shank Hall lover on the 10th.
She's I'm so excited to meet her and to watch her work.
It's going to be a great time that Shank Hall is one of the best rooms, one of the best non comedy club rooms in the city or I've ever been to.
It's just perfect for comedy, intimate, quiet, low ceilings, dark, great staff.
always love working with Shane Cole.
And then going back to Thursday, the eight of the ninth, we are working with our, probably the biggest get my, he is the reason why I do stand up.
We are, we have Patton Oswald.
He will be headlining the Pat's Theater.
All those tickets, you can find links to those tickets at MKEcomedyfest.com.
And the thing is, is that all those shows will have comics on there from the fest, people who have been
admitted in.
They submitted.
We've admitted them in.
They are going to be part of it.
And then throughout the weekend, uh, Friday, late nights, two shows on Saturday, two shows on Sunday.
And we talk more about that in a moment, but they're going to have a lot of great comics from all over the country, doing shows, doing sets.
But those are big, big for headliners at Parnan on Sherilla, Sean Patton.
Punky Johnson, and of course, Patton Oswald.
That is an outstanding lineup.
My guest is Greg Bach, folks.
He is the co-host of Matt and Aaron Air that you can hear every day here on Civic Media on the network.
And he's also a comedian and one of the producers of the Milwaukee Comedy Festival.
And that's what we're talking about right now.
I was telling a story, Greg.
I don't know Patton Oswald.
By the time I had moved to LA, all he had to do was go on stage.
And I remember this vividly.
And he said,
He went on stage and he said, Matt Damon, and people erupted at the anticipation of what he was going to say.
I'm like, this guy's a juggernaut, you know?
And then I was telling Conrad, my pal Jimmy Parno got married and Patton and I were both on the roasting team.
Again,
I don't know
him, but he kept calling.
He kept calling Jimmy Johnny Pardo, and it was the funniest thing.
Like by the eighth time he said Johnny Pardo, I was in stitches.
He's a very funny guy.
He is,
he's very funny.
And he's one of those comics.
Very good actor, great writer, knowledge of movies is wonderful.
He's written a couple great books I've read.
And he is, like I said, the reason why I do stand up, he is
my number one
guy.
And I'm going to do my best to be both a...
professional producer, which I always am, but also try not to fanboy out too much if I have the opportunity to meet him.
And yeah, he's just, what I like about him so much is that he also grows.
He
is a
man who is, I think, knocking on 16.
There's a lot of comics out there.
Headed Sage could do whatever they want or do nothing, but he continues to grow in not only his comedy, but in his opinions of the world.
And it's great to listen to him.
talk about that on stage and be funny at the same time.
That is a great point because I remember, you remember the HBO Young Comedian specials.
Absolutely.
Sometimes they
would have someone on there and I'm like, well, that's a great point.
I'm not really laughing.
It's very
rare that you
can have
a Bill Hicks or a Patton Oswald.
He's become that guy who can say really insightful stuff and be hilarious.
Greg, let's pick it up right there.
We're gonna do a really short break and we'll come back and talk for a few more minutes with our pal Greg Bach about the Milwaukee Comedy Festival.
We're coming right back.
This is Night Light 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.
Our question of the night is, what celebrity has the worst hair?
I'm Pete Schwab, and this is Nightlight.
We will get to your tech soon, and I will give you some more info on our Go For The Green and Gold, a text to win multi-state contest here at Civic Media.
It's really fun.
I'm going to blast with it.
It goes through Friday.
More details coming up in Act 2, and I will give you the keyword shortly after that as well.
So stick around.
Right now, we have a few more minutes with our pal.
Greg Bach, who is one of the co-hosts of Matt and Aaron Error every day here on the Civic Media Network from 9 to 11.
And how are things going there?
Are you and Jane still getting along, Greg?
Absolutely.
We have a great time.
It's really, really fun.
I'm very, very lucky to be doing that show.
I'm really lucky, honestly, when it comes to this network.
And I'm not saying that because I know our overlords are listening.
They're
not
listening.
Come on.
It's radio was something I always wanted to do.
I never thought there was going to be an opportunity.
And then I received one opportunity and then I made like more happen and more happen.
And now I am where I am with the matinee Aaron Aaron with Jane, who is a legend.
I mean, all the time we hear people saying things like, you know, you're with Jamie.
I've been listening to her since I was a kid.
And then I don't tell her that.
Cause then she's like, Oh, people are calling me old.
I'm like, take a compliment already.
Would you?
But, uh, yeah.
I mean, it's great.
We have a really great time.
I think the show was great because.
We talk about important things, things that affect Wisconsinites, things that affect Americans, but then we also do know how to keep some lighter tones in there.
We know how to poke fun at what needs to be poked fun at, revere and respect that, that needs respect.
But we always want to make sure that for ourselves as the people doing the job, it can be a lot looking at the news every single day and trying to decide what we want to talk about, but then trying to involve a bit of
Levity, if you will.
Absolutely.
Greg is also a very accomplished stand-up comedian and comedy club owner.
The Milwaukee Comedy Festival starts Monday, October 6th.
They have a great lineup, Patton Oswald, Punky Johnson, Sean Patton, and Aparna Nanchurla.
Am I saying that right, Greg?
Yes, you did.
Good job.
Oh, wow.
All right.
Look at
that.
We're getting better at this.
So are you going to perform?
Are you MCing or doing anything?
Can people see your act?
No, I don't perform during the fest.
We, we, you know, that's something that I hold very strongly for me.
It's like, I'm not against anyone.
I'm not against producers performing in their own festivals.
If they'd like to, I for myself don't because we have so few slots to begin with.
But every one that I may take is one less that a comic gets.
And especially if they're traveling from around the country, it's just for me and also to
have to think about my set and then also go on and then put on the show and have it.
It's not it's not it's not apt for concentration and good performance.
So I much rather just watch and then enjoy from that point of view.
Well said.
Let me ask you this.
Is there pressure?
I mean, this festival has been around for many years, but
Milwaukee kind of has a reputation of the city of festivals.
Is there pressure to put on a great festival every year?
Do you feel like you do that every year?
Do you ever feel like, oh, the city's watching, right?
Well, I think that for us personally, the pressure that we have is not coming from outside forces.
It's from within the pressure we put upon ourselves to create the best festival possible with the best headliners and the best
people from around the country, from around the world coming through, slotting
the
shows.
I mean, I don't know your experience with producing shows, but putting together a show, in my opinion, is as much an art form as stand-up comedy can be as well, because
you
have to look at the show, you have to look at the time slot, you have to look at the people, you have to say, okay, these people complement each other.
These people have the same style, so we don't want to put them either next to each other or even on the same show.
It's about crafting a show and crafting a festival.
And the pressure really comes from within.
I mean, people have a good time.
They have a great time.
And we get great, we get great, you know, we get great notes and great words.
And we have a lot of great reviews from people, both,
you
know, performers, producers, managers, agents, all the, you know, the only pressure I really ever feel is can we do as well as we did the year before?
And I
don't think, I can't think of a single festival we ever did where I said, let's never do that again.
In fact, you know,
We actually did a festival in 2020.
We did the 14th and a half annual because it was much smaller, less people, less applicants, and we kept it very, very safe.
But even that one was great because it knew what it was in the time we were living and we were just trying to get out and have as much of a good time as we could with masks and no vaccine.
So yeah, the pressure always just comes from within.
And then as soon as we're done, we're like,
And then for like 15 seconds, we're like, let's never do this again.
Wow.
I can't even imagine it.
That does sound like a lot of pressure.
Greg Bacchus here.
We're talking about the Milwaukee Comedy Festival.
It starts Monday coming up at 7.05.
Catherine Lake will be here.
The station manager of WMDX will be discussing a movie screening of one of my films in Madison.
I'm excited about that.
And
then it's
7.35.
And Davies and director Michael Cibley.
Yeah, you going to come, Greg?
They're showing
a film you made.
I'll be here movies more times.
You've been to the laughing tap peep schwaba.
I will come to the laughing tap
as a
show of good faith I want to there you go.
I want to be there anyway It's it's I'm sure you guys are gonna have a great space before we let you go Greg.
We've got about a minute Who makes you laugh?
You're a savvy guy probably a little jaded when it comes to comedy who's out there right now that really makes you laugh
I mean
Honestly, the people who make me laugh aren't even comedians sometimes, you know, or, or people that comedians make me laugh offstage privately.
We're having a good time.
But I would say someone who still makes me laugh this day, who's performing.
Oh God, another one of those.
I would say Kyle Canane.
I say Kyle Canane always makes me laugh.
There's something about him that just sounds.
So conversational, but it's so brilliant the way he talks and yeah, he's and then someone like my friend Maddie Field who always makes me laugh and we're hanging out and he's great comedian But he's even funnier offstage.
I like all these guys.
You've had Kyle at the festival before love Todd Berry Brian Pussain lovely guy Mary Mac.
She's been on the show.
She's hilarious.
Oh,
yeah You guys you know a lot of my friends are on your show.
Oh, well, hey keep sending them.
We love the
comedians.
So it's absolutely
Greg, best of luck.
Crush it with the festival.
Keep us posted.
And I really, truly cannot wait to see your new space.
So keep me posted on that as well.
We'll do, Pete.
Thank you so much for having me tonight.
Okay, buddy.
That's Greg Bach.
Listen to Matt Nair on air every day here on the network from 9 to 11.
Such a great show.
Greg is outstanding on the show, as is Jane.
So we will wrap this up for intermission and be back for Act Two with Catherine Lake.
And a key word awaits all of you folks.
Do not go anywhere.
This is Pete Schwabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
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