Transcript
AI vs. Actors: The Great Debate (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Thu Oct 2, 2025
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Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen.
It is time for hour number two here at Nightlight, also known as act number two.
If you miss the first hour, I don't know what to tell you.
You know, it is, it did just happen.
It's in the past.
It is history and we are on the radio.
So we're not lying.
Great to have you with me on this Thursday night, folks.
Conrad, I am without a working computer.
I knew this day would come, but I'm excited about it.
That's the kind of guy I am.
I like a challenge.
I'm a gamer.
I bring my A game.
I'm going to leave it all on the, I'm going to leave it all here on the table of the studio and we'll get through this as best we can.
We've got, what are we doing?
See, here's what I can't, I can't give the recap because I don't know what we talked about.
For lack of a better It is stupid and I could read text off my phone, so we're fine there, but that is our question tonight folks How do you feel about AI creations or performer?
I don't even know how they're performers
Yeah, they're not.
Digital files.
It's weird that you would say that.
So we'll do that.
That's our question of the night.
855-752-4842.
That is our text line.
You're welcome to text us there, or you can drop us a stream comment if you're watching the radio at YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter.
X, whatever they call it now.
You can drop us a comment there, or you can also text us on the app.
And the app is what you need right now, folks, because I'm about to give you the keyword
for our go for the green and gold text-to-win contest.
It is our multi-state text-to-win contest here at Civic Media.
And this is really cool because the prizes this time are outstanding.
We've always had good prizes, but this year, or this go round, I should say, they're even more fun.
200 bucks cash and gold jewelry.
That is what you could win daily if you text the keyword in on the app.
That's the only stipulation.
You have to have the app.
So text the keyword in, I'm about to give you on the app.
You could be eligible to win 200 bucks cash and gold jewelry.
And the grand prize is two club level indoor seats to Green Bay versus Minnesota.
That's a Green Bay home game November 23rd at noon.
It's a noon kickoff and we are throwing in gas money.
A gas card will get you to the game.
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So have fun with it.
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So there you go.
That is our go for the green and gold text to win multi-state contest.
And tonight's,
oh my God,
I haven't even opened this yet, Conn.
What's tonight's keyword?
Ladies and gentlemen, is time.
T-I-M-E.
Time.
Very simple.
Text that in, and good luck, everybody.
Hope you... Well, you're all winners in my book, so it doesn't really matter.
You know.
But go for the green and gold.
There we go.
And we do have a phone call count.
Who's that?
Olly from the Northwoods.
Olly!
Twice in one week Ali.
What is going on?
Are you
okay?
Did you just miss us?
That's okay.
We're glad you called.
What's going on?
I just wanted to answer the question and I also Agree with the gentleman who did the popcorn pick.
I can't remember his name
Vince.
Yeah, I saw previews for that
Wizard of Oz show and is fantastic.
I would love to go that If anybody has a chance to I thought like on YouTube It was just just awesome
Wow, okay.
See I didn't even know about it like oh
But I think it's like if you ever if you ever went to Disneyland and you went to the IMAX theater thing and they had like the
the smoke and smog things going.
It's like that times 100.
No kidding.
So where did you see this?
Well, I just saw my like previews on YouTube.
Okay.
They had like four, at least three or four of them that I saw.
Oh, that's outstanding.
Well, thank, now we have a voucher.
So Ali from the Northwoods is vouching for Vince's pick and we trust your judgment, Ali.
You are the best.
Thank you so much.
And my thing on AI is no, absolutely not.
Who wants to be dreaming of, I'd rather be dreaming of a real actor
than
wishing for a date?
or even spend some time with the AI.
I am totally with.
As usual, Ollie, we are totally on the same page.
Thank you so much for your call.
You're the best.
All
right.
Take care.
Ollie from the Northwoods.
That was great.
She usually calls hour number one though, doesn't she?
Got you.
All right, so we're gonna read some texts.
Our question of the night is how do you feel about AI performers?
Creations, whatever you want to call them as actors.
We read Brett, let's get to Tyler.
We've got Matt from Middleton.
He's got a 512 area code count, right?
You know where that is?
512?
I think that's Austin, Texas, if I'm not mistaken.
But he lives in Middleton.
You can live anywhere now and have a phone call or a phone night.
That's AI.
That's AI.
Matt says, I have no interest in watching AI generated movies.
I enjoy and respect Avatar because I know a lot of artists worked on it for the art and animation, though it could be done with AI in the near future.
I think these AI works will have less overall value.
I agree.
100% Matt and very well said because like I called it animation, but it could even put animators out of business too or make them look for work.
It's just.
You just don't need it.
Steady Eddie in the 608 says, Pete Conrad, around 25 years ago, me and my brother-in-law were partnered up at a Madison golf course.
This is in reference to Conrad's golf story from earlier.
He says, we were partnered up at a Madison golf course with the duo of Dwight and Carlton Armstrong.
The Armstrong brothers were involved in the bombing of Sterling Hall on UW Madison in August of 1970.
That is nuts.
Steady Eddie.
He says the explosion killed a researcher who was working late that summer night The brothers are my brush with infamy so They must obviously they were let go or did time and got out He said 25 years ago, that would be about 2,000 if they went to jail in 1970 Wow That's a great text.
Thank you steady Eddie John from the 608 says AI
So much badness will ensue.
It's going to be like a Godzilla movie.
AI is going to stop all over a whole bunch of things.
Movies are going to be one of them.
I don't like it.
But all the other crazy bad stuff going on in America, we will slowly cave into it all.
Come on, John.
You're more of an optimist than that.
He continues, hoping things can go differently in the long run.
Fingers crossed.
I'm with you, buddy.
John says, love your show.
Thanks, Peter and Conrad.
You're very welcome, John.
We love your text, buddy.
Keep it coming.
Great to hear from John.
Jim from Appleton in the 920 says, AI actors, no thanks.
The studio executives have been ripping off human actors for years.
I'm with you there too, Jim.
When they can put an AI actor on Broadway, I might be impressed.
I hope it doesn't come to that.
It probably will at some point.
I don't think we're close to that yet, but who knows?
Conrad
But you should spell his with a C since he's AI.
your
not only one.
WGBW, listening on WGBW and the 920 is Brian from Green Bay.
He says, Bob Euker drank on the air for 40 years and the FCC never cared.
That's a great point.
So are we bringing
tomorrow?
We
non-alcoholic blue.
You know you can't drive with those You can't I don't think so.
I think they are still illegal to drive with because there's point Five less than point five percent, but there is no alcohol.
I've seen people prank Officers doing yeah, like with I think it's Bush and a and I think it's I believe there's still a little tiny bit But they would like be drinking that going down the road and then the cops would obviously pull them over
And they'd be like, ha, it's NA.
I think that's a stupid prank.
Well, you're just going to piss off a cop as we do.
Then all of a sudden, you get your tail light knocked out.
No, but I don't, I don't know.
Yeah, you probably have more alcohol.
Like if you use hand sanitizer and put your fingers to your mouth, then there isn't any beer.
But for whatever reason, you still can't drive it.
Yeah, it's good stuff.
Tom from Numerla and the 414 says, that's funny.
That was 29 minutes ago.
What do you think he was referring to?
Maybe Vince Moran or I guess, but wait to put yourself ahead of the guess.
WMDX in the 608.
Dave says, Tilly.
Oh yeah, he put a picture of her con.
Do you have that picture?
I can't.
I've been looking at pictures of her all week in the beats and she looks.
I mean, huh?
What did I say?
Wait, did I pull a con red?
What did I say?
If you said I've been looking at pictures over a week.
Why don't I do the beats?
The Hollywood beats.
Get your head out of the gutter.
Tilly is gorgeous.
She's just not real.
And who knows?
And they even give her an AI coffee in this picture.
If you're watching on the stream, you can see Tilly Norwood.
Look at her neck.
Look at, she's got like those things down by your, I don't know, the clavicle area right down here, but then it's all smooth.
Yeah, it's very robotic.
Yeah.
Did you share any of her posts?
All right, that a boy.
Ross from Crawford County in the 608 says, AI actors would be okay as long as they're sci-fi sidekicks.
Yeah, that's kind of how I feel too.
Ross, am I caught up here?
What did I have after Dave's text?
I'm using my phone, folks.
Bear with me here.
I had a computer meltdown.
Well, we got a lot of entrance tonight in the go for the green and gold.
I love it.
Look at that Conrad.
There must be thousands of... Yeah?
You're gonna have to find a text after Dave.
I'll go back down here.
I don't want to miss any, and I'm using my phone because my computer is malfunctioning tonight, so we'll get through this.
We'll do it, folks.
WGBW920.
Star Wars did well with AI versions of Peter Cushing and Carrie Fisher, so it can be done respectfully.
However, 920, oh, they signed it GBLAM.
I've heard of this guy.
It's kind of like a local celebrity, right?
Yeah.
Hello Lama, come on the show sometime.
Was it Jim Schmidt's pal?
I think I've heard I've heard of the Green Bay Lama.
Thank you for the text though Yeah, it did under those circumstances, but they were just like quick visual images.
They weren't like acting Thank You GB Lama John from Madison again says AI holograms on Broadway.
Oh my god.
Sounds like a bad sci-fi horror movie that it does John
Totally with you.
Eric in the 608 says, no art, no human touch.
AI may have use, but not for this.
Totally, totally agree with you, Eric.
Great stuff.
Are we caught up?
Oh, John Murray also says, what is the keyword for the content?
So I'll give you that again right now.
Conrad, make sure I'm getting it right.
Time.
T-I-M-E.
is the keyword.
We'll give you that again later in the show.
Right now, we are going to take a very quick break and come back with our Pell.
Rob Thomas, our Madison-based film critic, who I love talking movies with and all things Madison.
It's Rob Thomas coming up next.
It's Nightlight with Pete Chihuahua 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
Our question of the night, folks, if you want to get in on the fun is how do you feel about AI creations?
I call them.
Some people call them performers.
I don't really see that.
Replacing real actors, 855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic.
You can text us on the app.
or if you're watching the radio on the stream on Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube, you can drop us a stream comment and we will read it on the radio.
Great to have you with me on this gorgeous night in Wisconsin.
We're talking about everything we love to talk about in life, folks.
And now, to help us further facilitate the conversation about all things entertainment, is our pal.
He is a Madison-based film critic and the CityCast Madison newsletter editor.
He does great work there, too.
Our friend Rob Thomas.
Hey, buddy.
Hey Pete, how are you man doing very well?
It's been a while.
I
know I felt that way to me too.
I just realized that
okay good I would have hated to have said it's been a while and you go really it seems like I'm on here all the time so that's That's reassuring.
Thank you How you doing?
I'm
doing good.
I feel like like every week There's new movies opening that I want to see that I'm not gonna get to like I it's really they go in and out so fast some of them that
I just have to make a note and say, I guess I'll catch it on streaming.
Yeah.
Yeah, I hear you.
You know, it's interesting.
I don't know how you get access to these movies, but you have reviews on your sub-stack.
Follow Rob on his sub-stack.
He does movie reviews there.
Not that Rob Thomas sub-stack.
Google that and you'll get to Rob's page.
Where do you you get sent these screeners?
I think what you told me like they they give you a code and you unlock it and you get to watch them but some of them aren't even released
Yeah, usually they give you a heads up
Like this is coming out October 3rd.
Do you want to watch it in advance?
They send it, you know, a link.
Like the one I watched last night had my email address blazing right in the front of it.
So it wasn't like the most pristine viewing experience, but it is pretty nice.
And that way I can sort of let people know the day that it opens, whether it's worth seeing or not.
Well,
you've got to
go
ahead.
Sorry.
That's for smaller movies.
Like I don't think I'm gonna get Avatar 3 on my desktop.
That wouldn't be the movie to watch in your desktop anyway.
Probably
not,
though.
Let's start with one you just reviewed.
Play Dirty.
I said earlier on the show, I just don't need to see Mark Wahlberg in any more movies.
I just feel like we've seen it and he keeps doing it over and over and I think he's a serviceable actor, but I just don't need to see him anymore, Rob.
I had kind of the same feeling like I'm like some people really hate him.
I don't hate him.
Yeah, but I don't
hate him like like I think I said in my review this felt like The third of four action movies.
He was shooting this year.
He was
kind of getting
through it Which is too bad because I think there's a lot potentially to offer in this movie play dirty, which is a Amazon Prime video exclusive I think it just
okay
dropped yesterday because the writer director is
a guy named Shane Black, who basically invented R-rated blockbusters in the 80s.
He wrote Lethal Weapon, Long Kiss Good Night, Last Boy Scout, like all those things.
And then he directed a couple of really good movies, Kiss, Kiss, Bang Bang, which basically revived Robert Downey Jr.'
's career 20 years ago.
And then we'll call The Nice Guys with Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe a few years ago.
That was also a lot of fun.
Oh,
yeah.
And this one is fun.
It's based on an author I really like.
He makes his, Donald D. West, like he makes his series of novels about this thief called Parker.
So it's like a heist film.
Okay.
Um, so there's fun stuff, but like in the center of it, Wahlberg is just sort of like, you know, doing this thing.
I mean, I mean, I don't even have to tell you what it is or your audience knows exactly what it is because he does it in every single movie.
And it just kind of a grind after a while.
Yeah.
He had an incredible career.
The first time I ever heard his name, I remember he was like right out of USC film school or something.
And I think Lethal Weapon was his first, maybe if not his first script, his first big hit, but then the guy, he's part of the crew and Predator is one of the Army guys.
I'm like, he's just like this darling of the industry.
People love the guy apparently, like Woody Harrelson or something.
But overall, would you recommend Play Dirty?
I
think.
You know, since the bar is like, do you have Amazon Prime?
Then just free to you.
I would give it a shot.
There's fun stuff in it.
If you like heist movies and you like action movies, it's just kind of a, it's just doesn't, isn't quite done with the right amount of style that I was kind of hoping for.
And, you know, there's some fun supporting characters.
Keegan-Michael Key is very funny and is one of the, one of the crew.
But you know, I was just disappointed.
I think given Shane Black's name and liking the books that it's based on, I was expecting more.
I think Conrad may or may not agree with you.
Well, it's so funny because they say, he says, like, I only kill people when necessary.
It's necessary a lot in that movie.
There's more people he meets and kills than he meets and doesn't kill, it seems like.
Sounds like a Mark Wahlberg movie.
There you go.
Rob, we got to do a break in about a minute.
We'll pick up with some more movies.
But how do you feel about AI?
Our question of the night, AI is performers in movies.
I mean, were we running out of actors?
Were we running out of actors?
It seemed like there were plenty of them.
So I understand what the problem we're solving here.
And it's an issue.
It's a bone of contention with the unions.
Who can't you just call them AI?
Or I'm sorry, animation or some type of animation?
It shouldn't even be an issue, it seems like.
No, and like even the worst actor is a human is going to bring something to the screen that a computer program world.
Yeah, even Mark Wahlberg.
Even well, okay.
I may stay corrected on that one.
Rob Thomas is here, folks.
We're going to do a very short break for the news, and we'll come back.
And sometime in the next segment, I'm going to give you the keyword once again for our Civic Media Go for the Green and Gold text-to-win contest.
Rob is here.
We're going to talk some more movies.
We're going to talk about what's going on in Madison.
Some scary stuff, too, in the month of October, which should be fun.
This is Pete Schwabba at Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
having fun on this Thursday.
Let's go.
Ladies and gentlemen, we are in the home stretch and what better way to spend the last quarter of this show than with our pal, Rob Thomas, who is a Madison based film critic.
Follow him or check out his reviews at Not That Rob Thomas and his sub-stack or read his work at CityCast Madison.
He does great stuff there too.
We're talking movies.
And I will give the keyword to the contest in just a few minutes.
I'll give it one more time before we get off the air here.
So stay tuned for that as well.
Rob, I want to ask you about two other films that you recently reviewed, too.
They look really interesting.
Video Heaven.
I love the term.
And I haven't heard this before until I read it in your article.
You said physical media.
Yeah.
So tell us what that is.
DVDs.
Yeah, I love it.
DVDs, videotapes.
And I think, you know, a lot of people ditch their DVD and video collections with the rise of streaming, obviously, right?
Right.
But there is this niche of people who still love DVDs.
I'm still, I'm one of them.
Same.
And, and this documentary, three hour documentary is about, it's very niche.
It's about.
the rise and fall of video stores looked at through how they were portrayed in movies and TV shows.
And it's really cool.
First of all, it was like revisiting all these movies that.
I had forgotten about.
And it was interesting and how like you sort of walked through like, you know, when video stores were first introduced, people were a little nervous about the technology.
So
there was a lot
of horror movies set in video stores because it was like, oh, it's a scary place.
And, you know, and there's that curtain in the back and what's back there and all that stuff.
And then it became kind of a mom and pop store thing.
And then you'd see more romantic comedy set in video stores.
And the thing that's funny is people would always be renting like, you know.
Hitchcock or breakfast at Tiffany's.
They wouldn't rent the real movies that people were renting in the 80s, which was like Die Hard 2 and Major Pain and stuff like
that.
Dawn of the Dead, yeah.
Dawn of the Dead.
Right, right.
It was always these, you know, erudite things.
And so I thought it was really interesting.
The Cinema Tech here in Madison, the free film series on campus, showed it last night.
It was the Madison premiere.
Oh, nice.
And I
was really...
Yeah, I missed it a file or a movie lover.
So I was really into it.
So it was really fun to watch.
And, you know, the filmmaker Alex Ross Perry really chronicles like how they're everywhere.
Now, if you see a video story and a TV show or a movie, it's to tell you this is set in the past, right?
This is set in the eighties or nineties, like strangers things.
Oh, that's great.
Don't, don't you miss like.
And I can't even believe I'm saying this because it's so convenient now just and I'd like to I love the ability to stream something without leaving my
home Yeah, I
do like that, but I do miss and when I drive around Marinette I have these like melancholy feelings when I'd see the first video store closed and it's just nothing now was like so much fun to go and pick out a movie
Yeah, we're lucky in Madison because we actually still have a thriving.
Yeah
for our video which co-sponsored the screening at Cinema Tech and
they have a great selection and it's it's very much that vibe where like they'll help you find something and they'll recommend stuff and um I love that so I watch this movie I gotta go I gotta go check something out because I feel the same way it's like it's so easy to get something at home but but usually if you're like I want to watch this movie you can't ever find it you know what I mean right you turn on Netflix and just watch something if you want something specific it's really hard sometimes to find it
Absolutely.
And I'm totally with you.
The other one I wanted to ask you about is dead of winter, a Minnesota like snowy thriller, it looks like.
I love a snowy thriller.
I was
thinking this, like, like this, I predispose to like a Fargo.
Yeah,
simple plan.
Just, you know, um, and this one, I really liked it.
And it's funny because it's set in Minnesota, but it was shot in Finland.
Hmm.
Apparently because it was one or two winters ago when there was no snow in northern Minnesota.
That's that was the cover story.
Oh, wow.
Could have been.
Yeah.
But it looks great.
And it starts Emma Thompson, who is not from Minnesota.
Right.
Probably
though.
Right.
But affects a pretty decent Minnesota accent.
I thought Minnesotans may disagree.
And she plays this widow who is going up to her husband's favorite ice fishing lake in northern Minnesota to bury his ashes.
And she stumbles across a kidnapping plot right in the middle
of
nowhere.
And Judy Greer, who is an actress I always really like.
And she usually plays like the best friend in a movie.
She's the bad guy.
great.
Like she's really, really good at it.
And in a role I've never even considered her in.
So it's like one of those thrillers where it's like cat and mouse and, you know, these few people out in this remote area trying to outwit each other.
And I really liked it.
I thought it was really
good.
Oh, that's so cool.
I'm going to have to check that out.
Where is that stream?
That's to stream, right?
I don't think that's in the theater.
I
saw it in theaters last week.
Movies are coming going so fast.
I'm not sure if it'll still be in theaters tomorrow, but it's worth checking.
Okay.
One more here that I want to talk to you about, and it's at UW Cinematheque, The Hitcher.
I remember seeing this when I was at DePaul University, they would have student movies, and I was at, it was Rucker Howell, right?
And see Thomas Howell?
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it was just really creepy.
And I don't know how it reviewed back then, but it seems like when I saw you writing about this, I'm like, oh, I wonder if that's still good.
What did you think?
You never know.
Yeah, I mean, I have not seen it.
Oh, this is coming up.
Yeah, I'm sorry.
Yeah, uh, since I think I priced on HBO in the 80s.
And I
remember a pretty, pretty gruesome scene involving involving several semi trucks and an unfortunate
girl.
Yeah.
Yeah,
that's the one.
Yeah.
It's pretty rough.
Yeah, it is.
Uh, I can't remember who the guy is.
The C Thomas Howell was the, I
thought it was C Thomas Howell.
He was like the boyfriend or trying to help the girl.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it was pretty grim.
Yeah.
But I think, uh, I don't think Ebert liked it back in the day, but, um, I mean, the eighties were such a great time for horror movies.
I just rewatched, uh, I wrote about this too.
Um, did you see the original Fright Night from 1985?
I
was going to bring that up too.
Um, yeah, that movie in April Fool's Day.
I don't know if you remember that, but Biff from, uh, back to the future was in April Fool's Day.
And he's fun.
I don't know why that guy never took off more, but those are both like horror films that had good laughs in them.
And right now it was great.
Chris Sarandon, I think.
Yep.
Yep.
Playing the vampire.
Roddy McDowell is fantastic as this sort of washed up.
kind of Christopher Lee like actor turned late night host who ends up having to face a real vampire after facing fake ones.
And I agree with you.
Like I, the hitter I probably wouldn't have seen in theaters because it was really grim and scary.
But I liked, I always liked commies with a good deal of laughs to them.
And Friday night really held up.
It was so much fun to watch again.
That's fun.
So where did you see that?
Was that in a theater?
I just watched it on 2B.
I was just like,
I think I saw maybe there's some 40th anniversary screening, like a new 4K.
And that was like, actually, I'd like to catch that.
And 2B, man, there's everything on 2B.
I know.
I love 2B as well.
Rob Thomas is my guest.
He's a Madison-based film critic and writes for CityCast Madison.
We love talking movies with Rob.
You said you have not seen one battle after another.
Very anxious to discuss that with you.
I know.
What are your thoughts overall on Paul Thomas Anderson?
Are you a fan?
Oh, I'm a huge fan.
I think
I've loved, like, loved every one of his movies, except for inherent vice, was the one I just could not get into, the one with Joaquin Phoenix.
Oh, yeah.
He saw that one.
He's kind of like a...
It's
a stoner
detective stoner detective and like late sixties early seventies Los Angeles and I got to rewatch that one because I saw in the theaters and I I could not follow the plot
right
after like you're not supposed to follow the plot so maybe I had the wrong maybe I was too straight when I watched it but I
you
know
But that's the only one of his that I didn't love, like Phantom Thread, Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love.
Of course, there will be blood, I think is a masterpiece.
So I really, it's what I really want to see, but it's one of those movies where my wife wants to see it too.
So now it's like, now we got to try and align our schedules to see it together and that's making it.
Harder, right?
Yeah.
Yeah, that's one of those you have to save.
I will say I haven't seen Lickers Pizza somehow, but I also like hard eight a lot.
I thought that was a really solid film.
You know, I haven't seen hard eight.
Yeah, I didn't go back and catch that one.
This is the first one,
right?
I...
Don't know I saw it after boogie nights.
So I'm sure it probably came out before boogie nights.
So I would imagine yeah, but a really good film and Alright, well, we'll have to discuss that after you see one battle after another.
I really liked it So we'll I'll look forward to that conversation, but what else is I'm gonna ask you ahead.
Oh you had this great as usual in city cast Madison you cover Madison so well and I know it's not just you but
What is going on?
I love the scary stuff for kids.
If your parents are listening in the Madison area, there's some really cool stuff happening in October.
Can you give us some clues, Rob?
Um, scary stuff for kids.
Yeah.
That's, it says, oh, you know what?
If this was not one of your articles, I apologize.
We can move on because I have many other things to ask you.
I thought there was, uh, the best things to do in Madison in October and you had scary stuff kids slash pass, um, the brew fest of the exorcist, like all the, and the hitcher was part of it
too.
Yeah.
The exorcist is not for kids.
That was that was a sometimes I put jokes in the news for myself, Pete.
And that was a reference to the STTV, the late night host.
Dr. Do you remember?
Do you remember that skit?
The Count Floyd?
Oh, yeah.
Sure.
Yeah.
Again, just for me.
Yeah.
And stuff.
So I apologize.
No, the extra system is not for kids.
I pray
that's hilarious.
Yeah.
But yeah, I was running down like there's so many horror movies playing in Madison in October.
I
mean, everywhere, I'm sure.
I mean, there's something about watching scary movies.
And there's everything from, like I said, the Exorcist to Hotel Transylvania, which is for kids.
And I think they're showing Dracula, the original Dracula and the original Frankenstein as a double feature.
Right.
So I mean, literally something for every.
every taste.
And you've got Ghostbusters, too.
That's a
great movie.
I remember that screening so well, seeing that in theaters when I was 16, that Friday night, late night screening, and that theater was nuts.
People went ballistic for that movie.
Yeah.
Rob, I recently had the pleasure.
It's a place I didn't even know was there.
I love finding things.
I never got to eat at Smokies in Madison, and I may have discussed this with you.
I may have brought this up.
Stop me if I have, but I did get into the tornado steakhouse, and it made me think of you, because you guys did the best new restaurants in Madison.
That is not a new restaurant, but have you eaten there?
No.
Yes, I took my dad.
He was in town about a month ago, and I took him and my brother.
to the tornado uh tornado room tornado club
tornado club
yeah yeah yeah um and it was great uh very old school place classic cocktails yeah big old steaks
booth the booth the vinyl booths or leather booth the
vinyl booth uh the servers were great i mean it really is like uh
You've got to go there if you visit Madison, I think.
I mean, especially if you're sure people are from out of town, because
it's
just so, so Wisconsin to me.
Yeah.
All right.
So let's do this.
Before we let you go, Rob, we're going to do another very short break.
And then I'm going to ask you, you wrote about sports bars.
Maybe you could give us one or two sports bars you liked for the article and one new restaurant that will be fun with Rob Thomas coming up after this very short break.
Once again, folks, tonight's keyword in our go for the green and gold text to win contest is.
Time, T-I-M-E, time.
Good luck, everybody.
We're coming right back.
It's Pete Schwab in Nightlight 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.
Conrad, Jr.
Conrad, Jr.
Conrad the
either
That works.
None of it makes any sense, like AI.
So, our pal Rich Talarico said, in response to our question being posted on social media, did AI write this?
Oh, that's brutal.
How would you say Rich's name in his own key and peel skit?
All right.
All
close it up with some of your texts, folks.
In just a few minutes, right now, we've got a couple more minutes with our pal, Rob Thomas.
He's a Madison-based film critic.
And is the CityCast Madison newsletter.
Check it out.
Really fun publication.
And he does great work there.
Rob, you did something on sports bars.
Do you have a favorite Madison sports bar?
I have two, I would say.
Like if it's Badger Game Day and Regency, where all the bars are.
I love Jordan's Big Ten Pub.
because it's a great sports bar, lots of TVs, but the food is like and actually the beer list is way better than it needs to be.
Yeah,
really good food.
And then if you're just like on the east side looking for a dive bar players, which is kind of around the corner from the Barrymore Winnebago.
Great bar.
And also one of the best burgers in town.
What's
it
called?
Dive bar players.
Oh, players.
Okay.
Yeah.
Yeah.
That is such a, like in 80s, like, I love those bar names from the 80s, like, Chasers and Foxtrot.
And it's
completely preserved from 15 years ago.
Like they haven't changed a thing.
Yeah.
I love that.
Um, I had one more.
Okay.
Best new restaurant.
Give us a restaurant in Madison that you guys have talked about that you could recommend.
Well, okay.
This is not, not a restaurant and not in Madison, but the thing that
Really tickled me when I wrote the monthly list the best new restaurants is that there's a Norwegian Food cart truck in Stoughton and it's like it's like the first one the United States but it would make sense It's in Stoughton because that's they have a big Norwegian second Norwegian chain and they've decided to break into the American market in Stoughton and if they make baked potatoes with like
all these crazy topics on it.
And I want to go down and try it.
It sounds really good.
The funny thing is like some of the topics are kind of like spicy.
Like there's like a, you know, one of them is like the cowboy, Norwegian cowboy one or whatever.
On
their Facebook page, I see all these Norwegians are like, oh, I don't know, it's spicy.
It might be, you know, I like a little blander.
So I think there, I think there might be a little bit of a culture clash there, but I just love the idea.
of a food truck serving baked potatoes.
I love that too.
So, all right, so one more thing.
Con, do we have a text for Rob?
Is that what you're trying to get my attention for?
No.
Oh, okay.
False alarm.
Rob, sorry about that.
I'm so excited.
You got your fans though.
I know.
But mascot theory, you reviewed their album too.
We had Eric on the show last time I was in Madison.
I just love this band and really love Eric's story.
I've only heard three songs off the album.
I haven't gotten around to listening to the rest of it yet.
What can you tell us about mascot theory?
It's great.
If you know their story, Eric was writing this album about his father's passing in the middle of recording, discovered that he had a brain illness that required surgery.
Crazy.
And the album's incredible because it sort of like combines those, you know, there's really traumatic things and, you know, the surgery was successful and it's no longer life-threatening.
But also, like, for them, they're sort of, to me, like a good rock band, but this album is very like, I guess they're inspired by like Pink Floyd and stuff.
Totally.
There's a lot of like, really cinematic sounds and like found sounds putting in.
There's even a snippet of...
Eric and his dad playing a Beatles song together when he was, Eric was like in college.
Really good album.
So they're gonna be in Appleton Friday, I think, and then Madison on Sunday.
They're such a fun band.
Very well done.
I enjoyed the interview.
Check out CityCast Madison newsletter.
Rob is the newsletter editor there and follow him at, not that Rob, Thomas Substack.
Rob, always fun buddy.
Thank you.
Let's talk after you see the new Paul Thomas Anderson.
Yeah, I can't wait.
Okay, buddy.
Have a great night.
Thanks so much.
Thank you, man.
You got it.
That's Rob Thomas.
All right, let's catch up on some text.
Tomorrow night on the show, folks, John Sabo is going to be here in the studio to talk about First Tea.
They do a lot of charity work with kids and underprivileged kids with golf.
Conrad, you should enjoy that.
Oh, yeah.
And Terry Barr will be here because it's a bar band Friday night.
That is what we do here on Fridays.
Steady Eddie in the 608 says, Pete, I'm more against...
AI than I am for AI.
It might work in some situations, but I want to see and relate to real human actors.
Last night, I was scrolling on YouTube and came across a George Carlin audio only comedy routine.
I could tell pretty quickly that it was an AI generated George Carlin.
Interesting.
Something was a little off.
I was just not, it was just not the same.
I turned it off.
Huh.
Great stuff, Zeddy.
Thank you, buddy.
Michael from Madison in the 608 says, Hey guys, AI creations may be the most unsettling phrase I've heard all day.
Totally agree.
He says, I follow the US world news.
That's something anyway, I think AI is okay.
As long as there is transparency, the slow, steady march to our collective dystopian AI dominated future is inevitable.
Oh no.
Also, Ali is the absolute best and must be protected at all costs.
How sweet is that?
Michael wants to protect Ollie from the Northwest.
Totally agree with you, buddy.
And then Michael adds his signature smooches.
We'll take some smooches.
Conn, what am I, oh, I'm on your, did I get all the text?
Are you missing?
Are you sure?
It's not that I don't trust you.
I just want to make sure we got everybody here.
Mark from Prairie to Sack in the 608 says Captain Marvel, when she first returned to Earth, she crashed into a video store.
Oh, that's kind of cool.
Thank you.
You too, John.
Rich Luccasio in response to the question tonight says, nope.
Conrad says, no thanks.
Jay Campbell says, I bet they do all their own stunts.
And Harpal Fallon says, absolutely not.
I am with you, Fallon.
Outstanding stuff tonight, folks.
Thank you to Rob Thomas.
Thank you to Vince Moranto for making the popcorn pick of the week.
It was, what was it, Conrad?
it a vase?
Was it a vase in sphere?
Outstanding stuff.
And thank you to Rob Thomas.
Thank you for all your texts and calls.
Always so much fun.
On behalf of the lovable producer Conrad, I'm Pete Schwabba saying good night,
Wisconsin.
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