Transcript
Comics, Curds, and Comedy Club Tales (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Tue Oct 7, 2025
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Welcome back to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.
We are kicking off act two here tonight.
Great guest.
Jim Flanagan is here.
Asher Brooks will be here in a little while.
Two funny comedians, one from Chicago, one from Dora County.
Asher actually owns a comedy club, too.
So we'll talk to him about that.
They have a fun show coming up tonight, and we will get back to our guest Jim Flanagan momentarily.
Our question of the night is, how do you feel about the Kerter Burger?
Lots of different answers all over the place.
And Tom in the 414 says, duck pin bowling is fun.
So there you go.
When we bring Jim back out, we'll talk about that.
But thank you, Tom.
It is fun.
I've actually done it myself.
If you missed earlier, we had...
We talked about Bad Bunny a little bit, and people are outraged for really not very good reasons in my opinion.
We talked a little Jim Attire, Apple TV raising their rates, which I don't think is fair.
What else, Con?
What else did we miss here?
What am
just want to talk to Jim, so we'll do that.
Let's get back to our guest.
Jim Flanagan is here over the stream.
You can see Jim at the Thirsty Duck in Sussex, Wisconsin, October 24th.
There's duck pin bowling and comedy.
I mean, two things probably we need a lot more of, to be honest, and who wouldn't love some laughs after some duck pin bowling.
So, Jim, it is great to have you here tonight.
Thank you for sticking
around.
ask you about something.
Are you a Brewer's fan, Pete?
You know, I grew up in Chicago until I was 12, then I moved to Wisconsin.
So I had, I maybe, I'm a professionally, I like my Chicago teams, Cubs, Bears, Bulls, and college, I go for the Badgers.
So that's, and that just happened.
I didn't like make a choice.
It just happened that way.
But my first day in school,
in northern wisconsin when we moved here i had packer fans in my face and that is what my life has been like jim coming from chicago so i was never able to make the switch why do you ask
i wonder if it's becoming like bears packers with the way the brewers are beating up on the cubs i'm i'm a third party i'm a white socks fan but like like packers fans are so rude to us and like they don't even they just brush us off because they beat us so often you know what i mean like oh your bears
And I'm wondering if that rivalry is, if it's becoming more of a rivalry with what's happening right now, especially with like Craig Council going to the Cubs.
I'm just curious what that's like.
Well, I think it's, I mean, Conrad could speak to this.
He's had some fun at my expense.
I will say, I think as far as Bears Packers and Con, maybe you could back me up in this when, you know, when it was the height of the rivalry, I would say 90s, early 2000s.
It was still pretty, pretty good.
But now, like, I have Packer fans that have say, oh, I feel bad.
You guys are like, they want the rivalry to be good too.
And it just hasn't been for like 30 years.
And it's kind of ridiculous.
Even Packer fans, I think, they like take pity on you, you know, and you don't want
that either.
That's worse.
Right?
Like, that's I.
The same woman I was talking about who was from Sussex I dated for several years, her at one point goes, you know, I don't even like making fun of you for being a Bears fan anymore.
It's just sad because you guys never went and that demeanor than anything else she could have said to me.
I know it's so bad.
I'm not like, like, look, I've lived in Wisconsin now for I lived here as a kid for like six years and I've been back here for like 12 years or whatever.
And it's
It's a great place to live.
If they want a championship, I'd be thrilled for them, for my friends and the people I know.
And I feel like I've had good sports.
I saw the Cubs end a 108-year drought in crazy drama fashion.
I had the 85 bears, six
bulls.
I can't ask for anything more as a sports fan.
So I would like to spread that love a little bit.
I would love to see Wisconsin team win.
There you go.
Look at you.
No one you're a listenership.
Well done.
Con, am I the same way off the air, though?
Oh, man, you are.
Oh, thanks, John.
Yeah.
Thanks for the backup.
All right.
So, Jim, I want to ask you, like we were talking about the Kutterberger.
Some of my best fast food memories are of Chicago fast food.
We've got culvers here in Wisconsin.
We've got great brats.
But I grew up going to places like Super Dog on the North Side or those little corner places where they have Italian beef sandwiches.
What is your favorite Chicago fast food?
Hello.
Far and away Portillo's and I'm sure you're familiar.
Yeah.
Yeah, I'm sure you know Portillo's it's just it's the greatest They just are doing breakfast this year, which mixed results I don't know if you've ever tried to have a million beef at seven o'clock in the morning, but not particularly the best idea in the world
That's our thing.
That is our thing.
Portillo's, I mean, we're starting to put them all over the country now.
It's hard.
First of all, they're the ones who perfected like the people outside the drive-thru, which I think a lot of things are trying to do now, where the station employees are, which is brutal in the winter here.
I mean,
There are times where it's like negative 20 and the only people outside are like, you know, snowplow driver and Portillo's workers
just
standing in that line, just still out there.
But they've perfected it.
It's the type of place where it's chaos all the time.
You order your food and a guy yells it through a speaker to the people in the back.
And they never make a mistake.
They're more accurate than people who use computer systems.
It's wild.
Oh, that's a great point ever You're right though and I we have Portillo's in Wisconsin now, too But in Wisconsin, I've noticed they don't give you that Chicago fast food tamale, which I grew up on and loved So but we get the beef sandwiches and the the cake shakes and all that kind of stuff and I have a funny story when I was at the Paul University Mike
my roommate, he and I would go back and forth.
I liked Superdog.
There was one on the north side and
he
loved, he worked at the first Portillo's when it was in a trailer in like the early 80s when he was in high school.
And he knew Dick Portillo and we would go back, well, Portillo's is better.
Superdog is better.
But wow, did he win that one?
I mean, Portillo's is everywhere
now.
And it's like, I can't believe how it's taken off.
It's good stuff.
That's a great answer.
It's crazy.
Warren Buffett bought the rights to like company bought the rights to Portillo's outside of Chicago land, which I think is kind of wild that like they Dick Portillo and his family, you know, if he's still with us, but you know, whoever still kind of runs it, who ran it still runs it in the Chicago market.
But outside of there, it is all under when Warren Buffett investing in your fast food company, you know, you're doing something right.
He does his research.
Yeah, for sure.
He knows what he's doing.
We've done the question on this show, like Wisconsin, we've got brats, that's kind of our staple sandwich.
Chicago, you got the beef sandwich.
Philly, I don't know if we've ever done Chicago beef sandwich versus BratCon, but we've done, I've had this discussion.
I think the Chicago beef sandwich kicks the Philly cheesesteaks ass.
Like it's not even close.
I like a Philly cheesesteak.
Mayfark ass, he would not like this.
Oh really?
I'm just kidding, just because I'm swearing.
I was just kidding because you said ass.
I'm sorry.
I meant like, go back to our earlier example.
I meant the
biblical, the biblical sense,
but anyway,
it's like, I try not to eat fast food.
I do like to talk about it.
Um, so all right.
I couldn't read more.
So yeah, Jim, go ahead.
I'm sorry.
I didn't mean to cut you off.
No, it's my fault.
I think I'm out of delay here, but I couldn't agree more I think the Italian beef here in its simplicity is just one of the Finest fast food meals you could possibly get as long and the bear has kind of opened up to other people right that TV show
But they make it feel a lot more gourmet than it really is.
It's not.
You want that.
You want to sit in that beater for weeks on end before it gets to you.
You want it to melt through the bread, right?
You want it to be radioactive to some extent.
That's the best tell
you.
Here's how much I used to love that sandwich.
I was driving around with a friend of ours, Pete Moore.
I think you know Pete.
Maybe you don't know.
He was probably gone before you started.
But great comic.
Good guy.
We stopped at this little joint.
on Cumberland Avenue.
We were both starving.
It was a hot day, and there's this old, huge Italian guy over the grill, and I could see his forehead sweating onto the beef.
I still ate the sandwich.
Yeah.
That's horrible.
You have to.
It's the best salt you can get, you know?
I
would never
do that.
That's the sodium we want.
All right, so.
Let me ask you this one more thing in regard to your career Jim because I think you're so funny Do you write scripts or do you have any desire to write for TV or movies or is that kind of you categorize that the same with the acting?
Yeah, I think I'm more likely to act than write scripts.
I've written, what I like writing for, I'll do a decent amount of corporate work.
And a lot of people don't like doing corporate shows, corporate events, because sometimes you have to tailor for your customer.
But I kind of like that.
I came from the business world and I don't mind, you know, like writing something tailored, writing something for others.
Right now, I'm writing a friend is hosting the Midwest Emmys, which is, you know, it's the same.
The Emmys are regional.
The only ones anyone cares about are Los Angeles, obviously, but they have them all across the country.
But like I'm working on a monologue for that as we speak with some friends.
Like I've always got other comedy writing projects going.
I've written one screenplay that
There's just kind of more for me to get the experience of doing it.
I enjoyed the process But man, I can barely work hard enough to write my own material much less like putting out, you know spec scripts or other things So yeah, it's not something I've I like working in groups on bigger script projects Yeah, but I really I don't mind writing focused long as it's still punchline driven
Well, whatever you do, don't stop writing, stand up.
I absolutely love your act.
And I hope you have a great experience.
October 24th, Jim Flanagan will be at the Thirsty Duck in Sussex, Wisconsin.
It's supposed to be a great room.
He's worked up before.
I encourage all of you to go see his his stand up because it is outstanding.
And by the way, Jim, Vince Moranto left a comment.
I don't know if it was on the text line or social media, but he said Flanny, F-L-A-N-N-I.
So he must have heard us talking about him.
That's exciting.
Awesome.
Well, thanks for having me.
It's always a pleasure to be here, man.
I'm a huge fan of your work, and it's always a pleasure to talk to you.
Likewise, buddy.
We'll do it again soon, and break a leg out there.
Thank you, sir.
All right, Jim.
That's Jim Flanagan, folks.
Check him out.
Very funny stuff.
Google his stuff.
Go to YouTube.
He's got a Drybar special and a Nate Bargazzi special.
Is that what I'm saying?
Is it Bargazzi or Bargazzi?
Just Nate, Land.
Just Nate.
that he's like one of those, he's like Prince, he's becoming one of those one word people now, you just have to say Nate.
At Nate Land.
Where he spews clean comedy as you go down his throat.
Let's get to some, some texts.
for our question of the night, which is, how do you feel about the Kerter Burger?
Asher Brooks will be here in a few minutes.
He is a Dorr County-based comedian who actually owns a comedy club too.
Always fun to talk to Asher and have him on the show.
Tyler from Wisconsin Rapids, he's in the 608.
He says, if I was a burger and I could dream of nothing better than to lie between hot buns under cheese that has been battered.
That sounds really obscene and I don't even know what Tyler means, but.
I expect nothing less of Tyler.
So, okay, Tom from New Berlin said he didn't like our answer Conrad about the Curter Burger.
And he said, why the rage?
Or is he referring to Bad Bunny?
He might be referring to Bad Bunny.
I hope so.
I didn't think I was a hater on the Curter Burger.
I just...
Tom, I'm with you.
I think we know there's a certain segment.
They don't like bad money.
And they complain about that stuff at the Super Bowl.
And I don't care either way.
I just don't watch the performance if I'm not into it.
But I think that's why the rage, maybe.
And Steve from Florida, Conrad's dad checks in and says, Pete and Conrad, I'm sticking by my prediction this past Friday that the Brewers will win the first three games in sweep Craig Council's Chicago Cubs.
Did your dad, he did predict that, didn't he?
He did.
Wow, impressive.
He says, tomorrow's Amtrak train to Wrigley Field has now been named.
The Brewer Express will be epic in which Brewer fans will be talking about for years to come.
Is your dad going to be on that train?
No.
He's in Florida.
John Murray says, you two knuckleheads need to go eat one.
He's talking about the Kutterberger.
I like the word knucklehead.
Thank you for the health advice, John.
He says, this survey is just going to confuse you further.
It is fair food.
Amazing.
Unless you hate curds.
Admit that on the air in Green Bay, double-dog dairy.
I like curds.
It's just not on my burger.
And John's better half, Melissa says, sorry guys, but if you've never tried it, you don't get a say.
That's not true, Melissa.
I've got a microphone dug on it.
Keep those texts coming, folks.
We will be right back on Nightlight with Asher Brooks coming up next.
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I'm Pete Schwab.
This is Night Light.
Great to have you with me.
We are talking Curter Burgers tonight and comedy.
It's all about comedy tonight.
We had Jim Flanagan on in hour number one and coming up in just a minute is Asher Brooks, a very funny comedian based in Door County who also owns the Firehouse Comedy Club.
So we'll talk to Asher in just a moment.
Steve from Florida.
Answering our question says, regarding Culver's Curder Burger, this is the first time I have heard of this seasonal burger, but I like the idea and will have to try it, maybe on the Brewer's Express train.
He says, what I would suggest to Craig Culver to make it epic and memorable is to design the bun, butter burger, and cheese curd patty in the shape of a cheese head.
Thinking into the future, it could eventually turn out to be the official burger of the Green Bay Packers.
Your dad's an
not, right?
There's one more I wanted to read here before.
Chris Casper says, do you know chicken nuggets for me?
I mean the grandkids tonight.
Was he the one that sent the picture?
They are going to go to town.
Look at all that food.
Chris must have like the Brady Bunch over or something.
Oh, where was I?
I just had a great text.
Oh, Nick from Marshall on the 608 says, Curder Burger, call it the Turder Burger.
Love me some good food from Culver's.
But the cheese curds on the burger taste like, and then there's like a poo emoji.
And Nick says Wisconsin can do much better.
That's the strongest reaction so far.
We'll get to the rest of your text in just a bit right now.
I would like to welcome another comedian to the show.
who is one of Northeast Wisconsin's finest.
He owns the Firehouse Comedy Club in Sturgeon Bay.
And he's also a very funny and talented comedian.
Mr. Asher Brooks joins me now.
Hey, buddy.
How are you doing tonight?
Doing very well.
Thank you for joining us tonight.
And you are one of the owners, correct?
Yes.
So I'm the one who runs the show.
I'm the one who I take all the profit and I pay all the taxes.
Mostly just the taxes, actually.
Well, that's comes with the territory, right?
It does.
I really wish I'm looking for some way to reverse it.
So like the customers pay taxes, but I haven't yet managed to figure that
out.
Well, I think you might be honest something there.
And I don't know that anybody's even in those offices right now, so we could probably stick that
check there.
If I file my taxes really early, do you think I can get away with nothing?
Boy, you're asking the wrong guy, dude.
I got an extension.
Mine are doing it like a week and a half.
So I am the wrong guy to ask.
I couldn't even get it together this year.
Your taxes are doing a week and you're talking to me.
That's right.
You have a closet fair attitude about finances, my friend.
This is a lot more fun.
And anything I say to you is tax deductible.
Frankly, so I've got that going.
That's true.
My dad was a CPA for years.
And so I know a lot about taxes, or at least I know a lot about how much he shouted while he was doing our family's taxes.
Let me ask you, Asher, before we get to the comedy stuff, have you ever tried the Kerner burger?
I have not.
I'm from Georgia originally, so we didn't have culvers until I moved up here.
And I'm allergic to bread because God has cursed me for being too handsome and good looking.
So I can't even eat bread.
So I can't eat the Kutter Burger.
Although I'm sure it's great.
I can't imagine you can eat a full one without needing some sort of medical attention.
I
totally
agree.
It just seems so heavy.
Like, I've eaten mozzarella sticks when I was a kid, and it just seems like one massive mozzarella frisbee.
And that's just too much.
Exactly.
Well, let me ask you that.
You said you're from the South, Georgia.
Yes.
What is your food there that you miss?
Like, what's the fast food in Georgia that you go, oh, my God, I'm craving that right now?
Okay, so the thing about Georgia that is so ubiquitous and amazing is Waffle House.
Waffle House is on every exit.
There are multiple...
in every town.
I mean, there are places where you can look left, see a waffle house and look right and see a waffle house.
And you're standing in the parking lot of a different waffle house.
Wow.
Like they're everywhere.
They're diners because like I like McDonald's well enough.
Sure.
But McDonald's is not a place where you want to hang out unless you're a teenager with nowhere else to go.
But like a waffle house, you can like people go there after church.
It was a big thing.
The Waffle House.
be packed around like 130 on a Sunday.
You can be comfortable.
You can have coffee and bacon and eggs, and it's fantastic.
Yeah, they're an institution.
And if I remember correctly, when I would work the South as a standup, when I was in Florida or Georgia or whatever, they're open late too.
Like, I remember-
They're open 24
hours.
Yeah, they said, let's go get chicken and waffles.
I'm like, what?
What the hell kind of combination
is
that?
And then you eat it and you're like, oh my God, I totally
get this
now.
It's fantastic.
Yeah, and being open 24 hours means that they have, like, depending on what shift you're coming in, it's an entirely different clientele, like the 6 a.m.
to
like noon shift is all old people getting their breakfast in and then families.
The late shift, like the 12 to 6, that's all drunk college students coming in absolutely hammered and ordering way too much.
So it's a different vibe whenever you're in at a different time.
I love it.
Now, since you've been here, I know we haven't even gotten to the comedy yet, but since you've been here, have you gravitated towards a particular Wisconsin food?
Have you discovered the brat or the cheese curds or what have you?
Um, I mean, I will say strangely enough, like whenever I come down to Green Bay, Green Bay has a great amount of Mexican food.
George doesn't have a lot of great Mexican food.
There's like one or two Mexican restaurants in every town.
But when you drive to like University Avenue, I mean, you can see like real Mexican food, real Paco truck stuff like that, but.
I don't know, Wisconsin food, I don't wanna crap on it.
You're doing a great job.
You're all trying very hard.
But there's a barbecue restaurant up here that I won't name because I work very near to it and they'll kill me.
But Wisconsin barbecue is not the same as Southern barbecue and it's fine.
It's just you've made meat and I'm proud of you for trying.
But I don't think you should be allowed to call it barbecue.
I think you should be allowed to call it like...
pork with smoke on it.
Maybe that's better.
All right, I think we just need to take a deep breath here.
I don't want Asher to dig a hole for himself any further.
No, I've heard that too.
It's a different animal, but I totally get it.
Asher Brooks is here, folks.
He's a comedian and owns the Firehouse Comedy Club in Sturgeon Bay.
We're going to tell you about a great show coming up after the news.
And we'll find out maybe what he's watching and maybe talk a little more food.
And I want to ask you, Asher, when we come back about the blue collar guys, because they were very Southern identified with the South culture.
So we'll talk about that too.
All that's coming up next on Nightlight with Pete Chihuahua on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
You still have a few more minutes.
If you want to be a part of the fun here tonight with our question of the night, how do you feel about the Kurderburger?
855-752-4842-855-752.
What did I say?
855-752.
4842.
8-5-5-7-5.
Civic.
That's what I was looking for.
We will get to some more of your texts in just a few minutes.
Right now, we jump back in with our guest, Asher Brooks, who was a very funny comedian based in the Dore County area and also one of the owners of the Firehouse Comedy Club.
Asher, let's talk about a big show you got coming up here.
I love how you guys do this because, you know, you do a show once a month, correct?
Yeah, we do shows once a month and we do them on off nights on Tuesdays because Door County, if y'all have ever come up and visited and you should, please come up and visit with us.
We love to have people up there.
But the whole thing is service based, right?
So Saturday nights are bars and restaurants and theaters and trolleys, everything.
And so when you get
people coming up day after day after day.
The people who actually live there, their nights off aren't Saturdays or Fridays.
Their nights off are Mondays and Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
And that's when we do our shows.
And it's allowed us to cultivate local folks that come up and appreciate our shows.
People who come back night after night.
It's crazy.
I've had people who've come
from the very first show all the way to the latest when we did.
We've been in operation for about a year and a half now.
And it's great.
It's like having a little birthday party every month and my friends show up and give me money to see me talk.
Let's talk about that.
OK, you've got a $15 cover charge.
Very reasonable.
Is there a drink minimum or is it just you paying your in?
You pay and you're in.
It's not, I mean, I don't tell anybody, don't tell anybody this, but it's not about scraping as much profit as possible.
What I want to do with ticket prices is make enough money to pay the comics reasonably because we're, you know, we're on the thumb.
We're out in the middle of nowhere and especially Door County being so far out.
If I'm bringing in like, you know, Reagan, Nymehla, and Brea...
Brian Wilks, like I want to make sure that I can pay them for their gas and their time enough.
They could get a hotel if they wanted to stay for the night, although a lot of people just jet back home.
But that's all I care about covering and then alcohol costs.
I mean, I want you to get drunk, but you know, I'm just, I'm just making sure everybody has a good time.
We try to be reasonable.
Reagan is very funny.
I was looking at clips earlier today of her and she's on your October, uh, is it the 28th?
Yes.
She's on the October 28th show.
She's fantastic.
I had her up as a feature.
about a month and a half, three months ago, maybe, and I immediately rebooked her to bring her up as a headliner.
Oh, wow.
Wow, that's great.
That does not happen very often.
That's exciting.
Who else is on the show in October, Asher?
So it's going to be Brienne Welch.
I first caught sight of her when we were doing the Oshkosh's funniest competition.
So she was one of the finalists.
She did really well, went and played the Oshkosh arena.
So that was really great.
I saw her.
She did a great job.
And then anytime I see somebody doing well, I always try and reach out to them and give them a spot just because
You know, it's great to try and recognize people's talent doing well.
I want to bring in people who are pillars in the comedy community, you know, people who've been around for a while.
I always make sure to get them.
But if I see somebody like new and exciting, I try and snag them.
I want to meet them.
I want to have them perform my room and hopefully learn something from them.
Do you have, do you put up like since it's on a Tuesday, you have a three comic show, I assume.
Do you put any guest sets up or local guys can or girls can go up and work out some stuff?
I've done guest spots before, but I don't know.
I'm a little anti-rotentive.
I come from a background in theater.
So once I have a show locked in, I like to leave it as is.
So guest spots.
are definitely doable.
And, you know, if somebody presents some time, like, I had a guy named Jacob Wilson, I believe he was on Wild and Out.
He had done the late show with Stephen Colbert.
He was in town, texted me.
And, you know, with credentials like that, I was like, my man, you can absolutely do a guest spot if you want to do a guest spot.
But, you know, if somebody's in town, they're close by and they've got a good clip to show off, I would love to put them up for a guest spot.
But I don't want to invite people up such a long way.
if I'm only going to be able to pay him guest spot money as well.
You know what I mean?
Sure.
I want to make sure I'm being a responsible booker.
All right.
So tell us again how the name, how the club got its name.
Sure.
The firehouse comedy club.
Well, Door County is built on the ashes of Old Door County.
So the building we're based out of is the old fire station for Door County.
That's where all of the fire wagons were stored.
And I do mean wagons, not trucks, fire wagon.
I love that.
The old boilers and everything.
And so the building has been repurposed.
We're up on the second floor.
There is still the old fire pole in the building.
You cannot use it.
It is not good for you.
But we've replaced it with an elevator.
So it's still in the building and the restaurant downstairs, Door County Fire Company, they're an amazing sponsor.
They do a lot of great stuff and it's great because people can come
eat dinner down below, and then come upstairs, and we've got a full bar waiting for
them.
It sounds like such a great experience, and I love that there's a comedy club in Sturgeon Bay.
I go to Door County a lot.
I love it there.
How do you like it?
Like, I know in the past, when you've been on the show, you've told us how you ended up there.
You could tell that again, but how do you like it based on where you're, or compared to where you're from?
So, I grew up in Valdosta, Georgia, which is the very bottom of the state of Georgia.
last place to use the bathroom before you hit Florida on the way to the new world.
And if you do use our bathrooms, we do thank you for your business.
But moving, I went to Columbus for college.
Columbus is a really big city in Georgia.
Moving to Door County was a little bit like moving home.
You know, to me it was very small.
The people there all knew each other.
I had to start saying good morning to people in Walmart again, which I did not enjoy.
But Dorr County is a little bit like living in Disneyland, if that makes sense.
Everything is beautiful and everything is unique and special.
But you do live in Disneyland and you can only go on Space Mountain so many times.
So, you know, the locals that live up here, when you see each other during the on-season, it's a little bit like seeing another soldier in the trenches.
You just kind of give them a little wave and then hunker down and keep moving.
But in the winter,
It's amazing because you have all these wonderful amenities and experiences.
You got resorts with almost nobody in them.
And so it becomes this really peaceful, quiet, gorgeous place.
So I think it's fantastic.
My wife has been taking gig work.
So surely she doesn't like it very much.
She keeps leaving me for three or four months
at
a time.
But no, we actually really quite like it up here.
And it is gorgeous.
You know what I mean?
We're so lucky to be able to walk outside and see water on three sides.
You're right, too.
It's a place where I've been there in the summer.
I've been there in the winter.
And even in the spring, when it's not its prettiest, you find amazing deals.
And it's like the world is your oyster when you're over there.
So it's fun all four seasons, I think.
Absolutely.
Do you?
OK, so you're from the south.
Do you do you tend to gravitate towards southern comedians?
How do you feel like about the blue collar comedy tour or some of these great comedians that have come out of the south?
Well, I the blue collar people specifically I have big, big memories of.
So when I was growing up as a kid, they were some of the first comedians I was allowed to watch.
So like John Pinnett, I was allowed to watch because he was relatively clean.
Um, and then the blue collar guys weren't necessarily so clean, but they were, you could catch shows where they were.
Yeah.
And I remember listening to Ron White and Jax, Jeff Foxworthy and Bill Ingval and Larry the Cable Guy.
over and over and over again.
And I think all of their comedy is very good.
I remember a Bill Ingval story, whenever I think about writing storytelling comedy, writing about him going parachuting for the first time and he and his buddies brought the igloo they use as their college desk with them because it was full of fear.
Like those stories stick with me.
And my grandfather, who not a big entertainment guy, really likes to sit on his lazy boy and watch hunting shows.
Or being a deer and hunting he took me to see delta force the movie blue collar comedy guys did And if you missed it, that's okay.
I wouldn't worry about it But like he he and I could connect over that and we could we could watch that together So I have huge great memories of them.
I don't know what they're up to now I'll be honest with you.
I think that they're the best stuff is the stuff I remember from when I was a kid I know Jeff Fox worthy.
I think is what riding that uh
Are you smarter than a fifth grader money?
So good for him.
I worked
with him.
I filled in, I was his producer for like a month.
A friend of mine took a leave or something or had a medical thing and I got to hang out with Jeff a little bit in the green room.
And I remembered him from when I was a standup too, but very nice.
All those guys, I worked with Larry the Cable Guy, Ron White.
They were very nice.
I don't think I ever talked aside from Foxworthy with them once they found that niche and man, did they rake it in.
Oh yeah.
I mean, and that's got to be wonderful as a comic because so much of your young years as a comic are finding your voice, finding what demographic you speak to.
And then those guys just to lock it in and just work.
And then Larry, the cable guy, wow, to get one role as Mater as an animated car.
And then just be like, wow, I don't have to work ever again.
Insane my kids loved that movie and loved Mater and I I'll just tell you since you're here Dan Whitney is Larry the cable guy I
met him when
he was Dan Whitney He got me into one of my favorite comedy clubs ever the Milwaukee Comedy Cafe because they loved him there and
We were at Zany's.
There used to be a Zany's in Pheasant Run, way out in the Western Burbs, and Dan and I were working together.
He got me on the show.
He takes out this yellow construction hat, and he goes, I'm trying this new character.
Let me know what you think.
And he puts it on, and he walked up, and the bit was basically just him saying, hey, you ordered a cable?
And it got like a chuckle, and he gets up, he goes, what'd you think?
I'm like, eh.
Asher, within a year, he is selling out arenas with this character, and I couldn't believe it.
Very funny guy.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Absolutely.
People love to laugh at them.
I can't tell you how many people like growing up in the South talk about Larry the cable guy as if he is related to them.
They're like, because a lot of people don't know it's a character and that's fine.
That means it's a good character.
It's a character
so big it's become its own thing.
And how nice it must be for Dan Whitney to be able to go to the grocery store and not wear flannel and then just be able to be himself.
Right.
But yeah, like people, people, my grandfather, again, would quote Larry the Cable Guy at me and in the colloquialism.
So it's art imitating life, imitating art again.
You know what I mean?
Like Dan Whitney's making a character based around people who are like my grandfather.
And my grandfather goes, yes, I will use that in my daily life.
I love that.
That's
absolutely.
I respect all those guys.
Yeah, they were good comics before they, and regardless of what you think of them individually, I mean, they were all pretty solid comics before they got together, and they just found a great niche.
What, name a comedian, Asher, you'd love to have at your club if money were no object.
Oh, my gosh.
If money were no object, I could talk about the people that are really...
killing right now.
Like I mean, there are people who are in the upper echelons like Kevin Hart.
I don't even know what watching Kevin Hart would be performed now would be like, what did he do when he comes to a club?
You know what I mean?
Like, I can only picture Kevin Hart on a stage so large, I can barely see him.
Like, that's all I can think of when I think of him.
But there are some folks that are like, there are some folks out in LA, like smaller comics, I say smaller, that's the wrong word.
But like John Marco Sirezi, Ifi Nwadiwe, people that are doing work over in LA, like the dropout cast members, those guys, I would love to see them perform.
And the thing is,
because the planes, the plane tickets just too expensive.
I don't think we're ever going to see him.
But I would love to bring them up.
Even if my demographic didn't like it, I just sit in the front row just clapping like a seal.
Oh, I'm so excited.
Make it a special event.
Come on.
Absolutely.
All right.
We got about 45 seconds or so left.
What's better, being a comedian or a comedy club owner?
Being a comedian being an owner is mostly putting up posters and sweating about ticket sales and then paying Facebook too much to advertise Being a comedian is about writing jokes and drinking a little too much.
Oh, man Great way to go out.
Thank you, buddy for being on the show tonight.
Best of luck on the 28th.
Check out the firehouse comedy club folks Asher books.
Thank you as always my friend
Thank you for inviting me man.
Y'all have a great rest of your day.
You too.
All right
I keep, I always say, I always, when I have an Escher on, I'm like, I gotta get over there.
I'm so curious as to what that place looks like.
I've heard it's like, just got a lot of charm.
So I'll have to check that out one of these days.
But tomorrow night on the show, folks, let's do this after.
We'll do a break, we'll come back, we'll finish up with some texts, and I'll tell you who's on the show tomorrow night.
You won't wanna miss that one either, folks.
It's Peach Waba and 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.
of comedians on a
Yeah.
My thanks to Jim Flanagan and Asher Brooks for being on the show tonight.
Thank you for all your texts and calls.
We're about to finish up some texts here in just a minute.
Tomorrow night on the show, Sheri Stoko will be here.
She's a nutritionist and a dietitian who founded Wayless MD outside of Milwaukee.
And I wanted to have Sheri on the show because a couple of weeks ago, I read an article about a woman who lived to be 117 years old.
And they kind of broke down on the article how she did it.
from a health standpoint.
So I'll talk to Sherry about that tomorrow night.
That'll be an interesting conversation.
And then our pal Pete Vandoren will be here in the second hour to talk fantasy football.
I need serious help.
I'm in one league.
And it's a league my son invited me to have been with his friends.
I'm the only old guy.
It's just him and all of his 20 year old friends.
And they're like, he's like, dad, you got to update your roster.
Like he's getting mad at me.
And I can't keep up.
So Pete Vandoren is the perfect guy to have here for that.
So we'll
That's another fun show tomorrow night.
Going to the stream here, Sidney says, hello, it's me, Sidney Politics.
They've developed a bromance, Sidney and Dave Kunish.
Sidney says, I have had the Curter Burger and it is better than any barbecue in any part of the country that you can get or any other food there is.
And he says, what up, Dave?
All right.
Well, maybe Sidney, maybe you've inspired your pal Dave to try the Curter Burger because he's
Seems like he's kind of on our side there Alan on social media says I'd rather eat a Spagomlet a reference to the godfather of Green Bay That was an ad libs line by our pal Eric Price a very funny and talented Milwaukee actor Danny wheels says is it better than the KFC double down?
I
that either.
I've never tried that either That looks like two chicken patties with like it's the bun the two chicken patties are the bun Okay
Um, Con, you said I'll stay away.
Jim Denney says, I love them, but one a year is all I can handle.
That's sensible.
Eric, uh, on social media says, not my favorite, did not find it to be as decadent as it sounds, kind of mid actually.
Do you understand that vernacular?
What does mid mean?
I know, but explain to people.
So, so
Stacy Sue on social media says, nope.
One word answer about the Curterburger.
And then let's go back to the text line here.
Lori from Hayward says, Curterburger.
Okay.
I don't know if that's a yes or a no.
But thank you, Lori.
Tom from New Berlin 4014 says, Pete Love.
Thank you, Tom.
Back at you, buddy.
Oh, there's Lori.
We missed part of her text.
She said, hey, Pete, had to look up what a cur...
Curter Burger actually is, saw the picture and decided if they would leave it off all those healthy vegetables and put on another burger patty, it might just be about perfect.
Lori, I cannot argue with you.
You're a woman of conviction and that was very beautifully eloquently written.
Thank you for the text.
Stadietti in the 608 says, Pete and Conrad, I think Culver should add a hot dog to the Curter Burger and call it Culver's Yolo.
Curter and Frankfurter self-murder burger.
I mean, Steddy Eddie's got the floor after that one.
For all the people that were pro-Curter Burger, I'd love to know what you feel now after hearing from Steddy Eddie.
He says, I'd like a large order of crinkle-cut fries and a chocolate shake with that, please.
Steddy Eddie, thank you, buddy.
Boy, the burger itself is 820.
Let's say you throw a dog on there.
That's another 200.
You're at 1,000 fries or what?
4,500.
Custard shake.
I
that day, 2,500 calories, you'd probably keep the weight
Correct.
Sodium.
Bridget in the 818 said.
It says, does not sound good to me.
OK, Bridget, thank you for the text.
She's on her side, Conn.
Tom from Minona says, I would like to try one, but haven't and probably won't.
Tom was all over the map with that text.
I would like to try one, but I haven't and probably won't.
I don't
know why that cracks me up
so much.
Try it, Tom.
Report back.
We'd love to hear what you have to say.
Tom from New Berlin, this is about our Duckpin bowling talk.
He says, a score of 100 is good bowling.
A 300 is overrated in bowling houses.
I don't think that's true.
300 is like a perfect score, right?
That's a perfect game.
That's all strikes, Tom.
But he says overrated in the bowling houses.
I don't know.
I'll defer to Tom.
Barb from Waukesha on the 262 says, I never heard of this Curderburger, so I asked my 33-year-old son.
He said he just had it for lunch and said it was good.
All right.
And then, of course, Chris Casper.
I don't even know if I read his text.
We just looked at his picture, but he says, Dino.
Dino?
Dino chicken?
Dino.
It's Dino?
Yeah, okay.
That makes sense.
I thought like Dino from the Flintstones.
I don't know.
Yeah.
Dino.
Yeah.
It's like candy.
Dino chicken nuggets for me.
I mean the grandkids tonight.
Actually, I think I did read that.
Thank you, Chris.
Good to hear from you, buddy.
Did I get everything?
Yeah.
Good.
Caught up on text.
Well, that was a show, man.
That was fun.
Tomorrow night, Sherry Stoka and Pete Landoren, fantasy football health talk.
Sherry's the perfect guest to have on the next day after we do all this Curder Burger
done and done.
We could do that, or we could bury it in the yard and see if anything on it changes over the course of a year.
listen, it's Culver's.
I'm sure all the ingredients are natural.
And really the worst thing on that for you health-wise is the curd, because it's deep fried.
And it's a
It's a whole patty.
I'd just like to be the guy in the kitchen on curd detail.
You've got to just
John DoubleDog, John Murray, DoubleDog there at us, Con.
We'll have to take him up on that.
Hey, thanks for being part of the show tonight, folks.
Loved your texting calls.
On behalf of the lovable producer Conrad, good night, Wisconsin.
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