Transcript
Desserts, Directors, and ComedySportz (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Tue Oct 14, 2025
You're listening to Civic Media.
You can tune into any of our live shows on any radio station across the state with the Civic Media app.
Find us in your phone's app store and listen anytime,
We are kicking off hour number two here, the second act of Night Light on this Tuesday night, a rainy Tuesday night here in the state of Wisconsin.
Pardon me.
If you missed the first act, folks, you will know that our question, or you won't know that our question of the night is, what is your favorite dessert?
It is National Dessert Day.
It has its own day.
Conrad and I did a list.
We ranked desserts, what did you call that?
A tier?
A tier list, yeah.
A tier list, okay.
Is that a thing?
Yeah.
A tier list.
I've seen them done before.
Okay.
I learned something new today.
So you can go to Facebook and check out how we ranked various desserts.
Comment if you want.
Tear our choices apart if you feel the need to.
But also let us know what your favorite dessert is.
We will read your text in a little bit.
We also talked about...
Well, we talked about we haven't talked about Pulp Fiction, which dropped today.
Yeah, but
we
And then I complained about my taxes.
That's all you missed in the first act.
Mike Kauth is coming up shortly, folks.
We're going to talk a little Milwaukee comedy sports.
He is one of the coaches there and directors and comedy sports is an institution.
So we'll discuss that with Mike.
They've got some fun events coming up as well.
And right now we are going to get back to our current guest.
He is one of the programmers of UW Cinematheque and the Wisconsin Film Festival.
And his podcasts are Lifers and 70
The films we saw in the 70s.
Check them both out, ladies and gentlemen.
Ben Reiser is back.
Ben, thanks for
coming around.
70 movies.
I don't know what the difference between movies and films are, but there's some subtle difference.
Movies I think are a little bit more working class.
Less
pretentious.
Yeah,
exactly.
So, all right, so let's start.
By the way, this guy Sidney Politics on the chat is saying Quentin Tarantino is overrated and perches better than cod for a Friday fish fry.
I don't know where that came from, but.
Um, I just agree about the cod and the perch, but also Quentin Tarantino.
I don't think he's overrated, but Sydney, who's underrated?
What's it?
Who's an underrated director for you?
I want to know.
Okay.
Yeah, I
don't know.
I just
saw that when you saw that.
So I don't, that is interesting because I feel like Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, like you can't deny the films they make, they take chances and they're great.
I mean, you might not like everything Tarantino does.
I have my favorites and my less favorites, but I totally.
appreciate the risk and the effort and I don't know that's a tough one guys only directed like 10 films
and a filmmaker Said to me recently that if that that a director who doesn't make an occasional bad film is not trying hard
Oh, that's
interesting the best directors all have movies that are that they swung for the fences and missed but that's it's that kind of Spirit that makes their other films as great as they are.
Let's start Ben with
I said friendship, but I want to ask you because I went on kind of a rant lately.
I don't ever need to see Mark Wahlberg in a movie again.
Right.
I feel like they're all the same.
He's done it.
I don't mind him when he's a bit player, like in the departed, when he's kind of a part of the ensemble.
But oh my God, enough with the Mark Wahlberg.
How was play dirty?
It's terrible.
And he's one of the worst parts of it.
There are Mark Wahlberg movies that I appreciate.
Well, we already talked about Boogie Nights.
I'm also a big fan of Ted.
I think that's one of few movies.
where CGI really feels like, oh, this is great.
I believe Mark Wahlberg is talking to a teddy bear.
I really believe it.
And I believe he's getting into a fist fight with a teddy bear.
But I wish he could have brought some of that believability to this movie that doesn't have CGI creatures and it played dirty.
Boy, is it bad.
And he, he, it's weird because he's pretty old at this point, but he seems so much too young for the part he's playing.
Supposed
to
be this kind of grizzled con man thief.
But he just feels like he's playing dress up the whole cast does bad movie.
I feel like most
of the stuff I see him and he's acting mugging.
It's just that kind of I
don't know.
I just and it's not like I agree.
I'm not saying he's never made a good film or he doesn't have talent.
It's not that it's just that he tends to make the same stuff.
Everything that comes out from this guy.
I'm like, oh, the last one.
Oh, he was bald and he was oh, we got to see this.
No, it's just they're just terrible.
So anyway.
So friendship, I finally saw this movie and I liked it, but I thought it would be funnier.
I was expecting it to be funnier.
Yeah, Tim Robinson, the guy, the star of that movie, who actually has a brand new show on HBO.
And I just watched the first episode tonight.
It's called The Chair Company.
Yeah.
You know, I think number one, he's an acquired taste.
And also he, yes, he's much more, most of the time, interested in making things uncomfortable than actually
fall off your chair.
Funny, right?
I will say the funniest thing that I've seen him do was the first.
I believe it's the first show that he ever did.
And I think it's on Netflix.
I think it was two seasons and then disappeared.
The show called The Detroiters, OK, where he plays an ad salesman.
He's got a partner who's this great guy.
I think his name is Sam Brown.
He was also in Veep.
But the two of them are partners in Detroit doing advertising.
That show is hilarious.
Everything else that Tim Robinson has done since has been more uncomfortable than hilarious.
And I like uncomfortable.
I don't have a problem with it.
But you're right.
It's not fall off your seat.
Funny.
The moments that were funny were hilarious, but mostly if you're just being a jerk, it's like,
what does this guy's
deal like?
I didn't know if he was mentally ill or...
Yes, he seems unhinged.
It's hard to watch.
Most of his characters do seem unhinged,
yeah.
Highest to lowest.
Did you see that Spike Lee, Denzel Washington?
Oof.
I saw
it.
Did you see it?
I finally saw it about a week ago, and I just thought, you know, Spike Lee has this thing where he...
His movies are more like events.
It's like, oh, now someone's singing.
And now this, I'm like, what?
I never, and it was this way with Black Clansmen.
There were parts of that I loved, but I don't lose myself in his movies, if that makes sense.
Well, this is a remake of Akira Kurosawa's film, High and Low, which Spike Lee claims to be a huge fan of, but man, oh man, I thought it was a disaster.
I just thought, I mean, I liked it at first.
But the crazy plot twists and convoluted climaxes and Denzel Washington's character was so inconsistent.
Like I couldn't, I could not.
Believe how how shoddy the the writing was and
yeah, I agree and I and that's one people can stream right now I streamed it at home because it didn't play at my my local Cineplex as it were right
all
right You're also watching a TV show Ben alien earth.
I watched the first two seasons It didn't really grab me but the first two episodes first.
I'm sorry first two episodes and I I am gonna go back to it because
I loved Fargo so much.
I loved
all
the seasons of Fargo.
I trust the... I can't think of his name right now, the executive producer, but
I am
gonna... Noah Hawley.
Noah Hawley, yes.
And I am gonna go back to this, but should I?
Do you love it?
Well,
I thought, first of all, it's over.
It was eight episodes.
Yeah.
I mean, you can, of course, still watch it.
But yeah, I've seen the whole thing now.
And I do think it gets better as it goes along because it gets a little less pretentious.
I've never seen a show that has so many dissolves.
Like every single scene dissolves from one scene to the other.
And it's like, OK, there was maybe one dissolve in the original alien.
And every episode of this one has like 50 of them.
So it's really, it is a little pompous and it gets less.
So I do love the idea that it's not only sort of.
telling a pretty good story within the alien universe, but is also doing this whole Peter Pan thing.
Right.
It's got this whole other influence of the whole Peter Pan story.
And I like the two of those things combining.
Plus, it just gets more and more gory and really grotesque.
The aliens are really scary for the first time since maybe.
Aliens the second movie yeah, which has been the thing about the movies that I've kind of been bummed out over the last couple decades of the franchise is that Some of the movies are good, but at no point do I really care about the alien anymore, but in this one The aliens are back to being very
very frightening very cool.
All right.
I will go back to that I meant to anyway, but I
It's good that there's
somewhat of a lot out
there.
Now, you tell me because I haven't watched a single episode of this because I saw some early bad reviews, but now I feel like maybe those reviews didn't give enough chance.
You tell me about task.
I really like it.
I
like it a lot.
I like, did you like Mayor from Easttown?
Did you watch it?
Yes.
Mayor of Easttown?
Yeah.
So I felt like when I first started watching task, I liked it, but I didn't think it was on that level, but it builds.
It takes its time, and the story is coming together.
There's only one episode left.
It's one of those that drops every week, but I'm really digging it.
And I would recommend it.
And I'm a little biased.
We had a guest on last night from the show.
My friend Jamie, he's great.
He plays the main bad guy.
But I really do like it.
I think it's great.
So.
Good.
OK.
We've got a texture saying, is this what you're referring to?
Mark's bro is a better actor by far.
That would be Donnie Wahlberg.
of blue bloods fame.
I would agree with that.
I don't know if he's
a better actor.
He's more, he's more tolerable.
Well, you don't get to, you don't, he's not forced on you as much, but he was the guy, Donnie Wahlberg was the guy in new kids on the block.
He was, he was more of a music star than Mark was.
Until Marky Mark and Marky Mark.
The funky bunch.
Yeah.
You found the funky bunch and he never
got back.
Donnie Wahlberg is, is in the beginning of the sixth sense.
He's the, he's the.
he's the person in the first scene who i guess it's i guess there's no spoilers for sixth sense anymore where he shoots bruce willis and he shoots bruce willis in the stomach and bruce willis collapses on the bed and i'm like well this guy can't survive this this injury
And but apparently you're supposed to think that, oh, no, of course he did.
Like, yeah, he did.
He he survived a complete like gut shot with a, you know, close, a close range thing.
And so that six cents never did it for me because I'm like, this guy's dead for the whole movie.
Like there was no twist for me.
I'm like, you really didn't see
that.
You figure that out right away.
Yeah.
It was like such a, I mean, I wish that he had shot that in a way that wasn't so obvious that that was a fatal.
Gunshot.
Sydney politics.
Your new buddy Ben says, I'm sorry, a little herb.
Jeff Nichols underrated.
Listen, yeah, give me shelter is one of the great movies of all time.
But Jeff Nichols is very inconsistent and stop it.
The guy made mud and that's not a good movie.
Jeff Nichols is not underrated.
Jeff Nichols is perfectly well rated.
Just the same as Tarantino.
Yeah, I did.
I mean,
I liked it enough.
I can't talk
anymore.
Is it the Matthew McConaughey film?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There were
things I liked about it.
I watch it when I took a sick day.
Jeff Nichols has made some good movies.
Like I said, Give Me Shelter with Michael Shannon, I think is terrific.
Love Michael.
I Midnight Special is another movie, which I think is pretty good with Joel Joel Edgerton and this kid has got some kind of special powers and run.
Hey,
Ben, we've got about a minute left, unfortunately, but tell us what's coming up at Cinematheque.
We've
got four movies for you this week, and of course, they're all free on Thursday night.
Our premiere night, we've got the new film from Jafar Paham Banahi, who's this Iranian director who's always getting in trouble with the Iranian government and spent time in jail for making movies.
We
have his brand new movie called It Was Just an Accident.
It's a thriller.
It's really great.
On Friday at seven o'clock, we've got
the one of the great films of all time, eight and a half from Federico Fellini.
Oh, yeah.
You've never seen this masterpiece and never seen it in a theater.
Now's your chance.
Speaking of masterpieces, I'll be hosting Saturday night at Cinematheque, where we've got Welcome to the Dollhouse, which I think is one of the great.
Oh, Todd.
Yeah.
Dark Todd Solens.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then Sunday.
And the afternoon at the Chasen, we're showing an idol, a Pino film called The Bigamist from 1953, which also looks terrific.
So I can't great movies all for free.
I cannot coordinate my trips to Madison with the ones the one time I was there and you guys had something that was packed because it was Mary Sweeney and I
didn't bother.
You
said, text Jim.
I'm like, I'm not even going to bother.
Anyway, one of these days it'll work out.
Buddy, thank you so much.
Always fun talking movies.
And we'll do it again soon, I hope.
Great.
Thanks.
OK, you got it, Ben.
And Lil Earth says punch drunk love was worse than my left foot both are terrible Interesting I like when the
Which one punch drunk love
Yeah.
Oh No, big surprise.
right.
We're coming right back Mike how from comedy sports in Milwaukee in the house over the stream It's peach wabbit and nightlight 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.
Nightlight with Pete Schwabba.
Great to have you with me on this Tuesday.
Justin from the 414 says, in response to our question of the night, which is, what is your favorite dessert?
Chocolate chips in banana bread?
Question mark?
Conrad, I think that's directly
All right, wow, that's very scientific.
Gordy from the 608 says, peanut butter pie, Frenchies restaurant in Clearwater, Florida, the best sugar river pizza is a close number two.
I love peanut butter pie.
I think I've only had it like twice in my life.
I'm not sure about the sugar river pizza, but thank you Gordy, great text.
Barb from Waukesha says, my homemade apple pie with cool whip.
Prove it Barb.
Conrad, give Barbara a mailing address.
Maybe you can mail us some apple pie.
Thank you.
Thank you, Barb.
And Tyler from Wisconsin Rapid says, Edwards frozen coconut cheesecake with whipped cream.
And there's a lot going on in that one.
Terry from Cross Plains in the 608 says, warm apple or Dutch apple with a side of vanilla ice cream while watching the brewers win.
So his dessert choice is contingent on a brewer's victory.
There's a qualifier in
Exactly.
Jack from Merrimack in the 414 says, my favorite dessert.
Well, I'd have to list three.
My homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies love that combo.
Chocolate chip oatmeal.
Totally.
I started with the recipe on the oatmeal box, tweaked the vanilla and brown sugar.
Well done, Jack.
Jack says, number two is an old UW Babcock Hall ice cream vanilla chocolate cake.
Three is a banana cream pie.
I eat any one of those anytime, but only one.
Thank you, Jack.
Not all three.
Not all three.
And Jim from the 920 says, desserts too many to choose a favorite warm caramel apple pie with a scoop of butter pecan ice cream on top.
It's very specific.
I love that.
Jim did his homework.
Keep those texts coming, folks.
What is your favorite dessert?
It is National Dessert Day.
You know what else I like is a dessert, Conrad?
What's that?
Talking to my pal Mike Couth about improv and comedy and he joins us right now over the stream from the great city of Milwaukee Repp and his fine city Mike Couth.
Hey buddy, how are you?
Doing good Pete doing real good.
Thanks for having me.
I'm glad to hear that.
Do you have a favorite dessert?
Oh
That's it, you know what I really enjoy blue moon ice cream.
Oh, yeah, that's good stuff kind of forget about the blue moon.
Yeah, there there was
If you look at the history of it, people were always trying to figure out what the flavor of it was.
And I won't say what exactly the rumors were, but it had something to do with a part of a beaver.
You got to give us more than that, Mike.
It involves something that can be excreted from a beaver.
I'll end it there who has
to do the excreting That's that would be my question, but I don't maybe I don't want to know either
Ice cream scientists
that is definitely the maybe the best answer we've had so far so but it's good to see you buddy.
How are you?
Good doing real good having fun here in Milwaukee doing comedy Having fun doing that had a couple Improv shows recently that have gone real well getting people to come out to those obviously comedy sports is every Friday and Saturday 7 30 and 10 o'clock Just having a good time overall
yourself.
Doing very well.
Thank you.
And I just want to say, I don't know if you've been on the show since I went to Comedy Sports.
My son is involved in Comedy Sports.
It was such a fun night.
And I was so blown away by your campus for lack of a better word.
You've got all these great venues.
I didn't realize.
I mean, I know it's a Milwaukee institution, but tell people why they should go to Comedy Sports if what I said just wasn't enough.
I laughed.
I thought it was such a great space.
But what would you tell people that haven't been there yet, Mike?
Yeah, just like you were saying like it isn't just like the one theater.
We have like two theaters almost every night There's something going on in both.
So if you know the fast-paced short-form comedy sports for all ages Comedy isn't necessarily for you
No worries, because right across the way we have a variety of shows always happening, long form improv shows, stand-up shows, sketch comedy shows.
So there's always something there for everybody.
So yeah, that's what I would say.
If you wrote it off thinking like, I don't really like short form improv, it's like, well, we've got a lot more to offer than just that.
No, absolutely.
And all right, so give us, Mike, if you would, I'm familiar with the history of comedy sports, but for those listening who don't know as much about comedy sports, just give us a little background.
Yeah, Dick Chudnow and Bob Orvis started comedy sports back in 1984.
They had taken
Well, Dick Chubb now had experienced something called theater sports, which is up in Canada.
And they're a little more theater based.
They don't have as many, let's say they're not all age appropriate kind of a thing.
So when Dick came down to Milwaukee, he wanted to do something.
Company sports actually started out as theater sports and then broke off into
its own
thing, playing into more of the concept of like,
you know, comedy for everybody.
But also they created, you know, different fouls that could take place.
You know, like we have our out of bounds foul.
So if somebody be in the crowd or on the field, say something a little lewd, crude, lascivious, we call the foul.
Our current foul is the frown bag foul.
So they have to put a bag on their head with a big frown face on there.
And yeah, so they kind of put more of the sports theme.
into it and made it a little more fast paced, competitive improv wise.
Yeah, they put their own spin on it, and we've been here since 1984, so.
It's a
lot of
fun.
It's a great experience.
We'll get more into it after the news, and Mike's going to tell us about some of the things coming up.
And I'm going to tell you, Mike, about a recent interview I did with someone who mentioned Dick Chudnow and spoke glowingly about him.
That's kind of all I've heard about Dick Chudnow, but this is a fun interview, too.
So we'll talk about that after the news.
Mike Kauf is here, folks.
It's Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Right, just move
on the stream says Peanut Buster Parfait.
He's a Dairy Queen
guy.
That's
cool.
I'm not a Dairy Queen hater.
I don't know if it's a real ice cream though, but
Angie in Monroe says pineapple cake.
Okay, that's good one, Angie.
Our guest right now is Mike Kouth, ladies and gentlemen.
We are in the homestretch here and Mike is here repping the city of Milwaukee.
That's a lot of pressure, Mike, and comedy sports as well.
He is a coach and director at what is a Milwaukee institution, a Milwaukee comedy institution.
So, Mike, before the break, we were talking about, you mentioned Dick Chudnow.
I recently had David Zucker on the show, and I said, you know, one of my questions to him was like, how did, you know, he and Jim Abraham's and his brother, David, I said, or Jerry, wait.
Yeah, Jerry Zucker and David Zucker, right?
Okay.
So I said, how did you guys stay together?
They met at Shorewood High School, went to college together, kept this trio of writers together, all had success away from each other too, which is incredible.
And David Zucker made a point to say, and Dick Chudnow, who is one of the funniest people I've ever met, he was one part of our group too.
And I can't remember how he elaborated or if he said Dick Chudnow just wanted to stay in Milwaukee or what, but what a great compliment.
Yeah, that's amazing.
Yeah.
Those guys were all very close and Dick to this day, like we'll have great stories about all of them and nothing but positive things to say about working with them at that time.
Cause they did, he was a big part of like the Kentucky Frank theater when they were doing that.
That's so great.
Did Dick go to UW Madison?
Was he there with them and then just didn't go to LA or was he kind of after high school, he stopped with.
you know, kind of being part
of the
group.
He moved out to Los Angeles.
That's, that's somebody I should, we should have him on the show.
Oh, would love it.
Yeah.
On here.
Yeah.
He would, he would love to do it.
And, but he did go to Los Angeles.
I'll say, I will say that.
And then tune in next time.
Tune in another date to find out.
Perfect.
Let's
keep, keep people in suspense.
I love it.
That's great.
But I
would love to have Dick on the show.
All right, so tell us, Mike, about some of the events coming up.
You've got something coming up this Saturday at Comedy Sports.
Tell us about that.
Oh, yeah.
Aside from the regular Saturday, 7.30 and 10 o'clock Comedy Sports matches, CSD Milwaukee is going to have in the side room a show that I'm a part of.
Great improvised sitcom.
So it's abbreviated a TGIS kind of a throwback to the TGIF old Friday night.
Can't miss lineup
and
it's an improvised sitcom.
So what we do is we have like a little bit of a prompt and we get some suggestions from the audience and then we create a sitcom and Returning audiences will get to see another episode of our continuing sitcom.
So we always have one that is
constantly running and then a brand new one.
And then the audience gets to vote at the end which one they want to see another episode of.
So we always do two episodes and then one of them will continue.
And I think we're on like the sixth episode of what we call Camp 2%.
It's a camp that involves milk.
What a great thing to get people to keep coming back too.
I love that.
Yeah, yeah, because it's like the more times you check it out, like the more the characters develop, you get to kind of be a part of like the development of the sitcom and how the plot grows and all this.
So it's really fun.
I love it.
Talk
little bit about two comedy sports is, for the most part, would you say PG-13 rated?
Yeah, I mean I will say like I have done shows where there have been like four month old babies in the audience At a comedy sports match.
So really anybody can come do a comedy sports show, you know, it's
like
geared
to make anyone from, you know, four years old to 94 year olds laugh.
Um, but you, you know, as you know, it's like, that's, that's not an easy task.
It's not, but I will say four month old, 94 year old.
Those, those two groups are not heckling.
Typically that would be really tough for them to mix it up a little bit.
Yes.
Um, I was going to say you have, I thought you were going to say they have much more in common.
Keep some diapers.
in the bathroom, yeah.
All right, you've got another event coming up on October 25th that you're co-producing a Halloween show.
This sounded really cool.
Oh, yeah.
I'm excited about this one.
This has become a bit of a tradition.
Patrick Schmitz and I, Patrick, he created a theater group called Schmitz and Giggles, and they do a lot of different...
productions around town and Patrick helps me with a lot of the stuff I do and we co-produce a show that's like a murder mystery who done it improv show.
So what happens is all the improvisers pick a card and that's the order in which they are going to die in the who done it.
One person is the murderer and we
Try and figure out like the audience doesn't know and the improvisers only know that like if they pull the Card four they know that they're gonna be the fourth one, but they don't know who else is Gonna die when so they're building these different relationships and what's great about it is the audience Each table that the audience sits at gets like a character that represents them so if they're
Character at their table makes it to the end.
They win three tickets and a prize.
Oh nice So it kind of gives them a little incentive to be invested in what's going on So that one's gone really well and that's a really fun one and then we have a group that opens that does an improvised B movie as well
How do you that seems like a lot of work putting together that who done it like all these rules that like was that a lot of work to produce
a little bit it's honestly like more of the work was on Patrick is Patrick Smith's he's doing something a little bit different this time where he's writing the first four scenes
okay
so it's kind of a hybrid of written and improvised because the moment the first person the first death happens it then becomes improv
So the first four scenes that introduce the characters, those are all written, which Patrick wrote.
And then after that, it just opens up and everything becomes improvised.
So it does, definitely you got to do a rehearsal or two, just so everyone understands the format.
But at the same time, you want to keep it fresh, so you don't want to over practice, over rehearse.
Right.
That's great.
My guest is Mike Houth.
He is one of the directors and coaches at Comedy Sports in Milwaukee.
They've got some great stuff coming up.
It's a great complex, folks.
Go check out Comedy Sports in Milwaukee.
They have different stages.
There's a great bar area.
The bar area you wouldn't even know.
It's almost like a standalone.
It's just a great space.
How long have you guys been in that space, Mike?
Oh, good question.
I think we moved in around 2008.
I could be wrong about that, but I think around 2008, we moved in there.
That's great.
It's been a while.
And like you said, people will come into the bar just for the food, just to grab a couple drinks.
So that's pretty nice.
You're a very good improviser.
You have a lot of fun with it, and you're experienced.
the top of your game, basically, but you're also a coach and one of the higher ups.
Do you ever lose your enthusiasm for performing and just go, well, I just kind of want to do this.
It's easier to teach and coach and kind of run things.
Where are you at with that?
Or is it like comedy where you never get tired of it and you just want to do it forever?
Yeah, I'm lucky in the position that I'm in because
I know how to do a bunch of those things, like you said.
Yeah.
So I don't ever feel like I get drained or bored because it's like one night I might be coaching another night I'm performing one night I'm doing like the announcing or field managing, which is like stage managing of a show.
So I get to do a lot of different things.
So I never get bored.
You know, if I were doing just one thing, I might get a little bit bored.
But as you know, like the moment you get in front of.
a group of people, be it, you know, 10 to 110.
It's just like, it sets you alive.
It's really fun.
Absolutely.
All right, you told me in our text exchange earlier that you had a fun or humorous observation about seeing Spinal Tap 2, which I still haven't seen.
Yeah, so this is more an observation.
I don't know if you've ever run into this.
Went to the movies and I like that first off.
I really liked spinal tap to I'd recommend if you like the first one Check it out.
Yeah, it's a bit of a love letter to the fans And I was excited to see it so I invited a group of improvisers I do a show called hoopla and I invited those people.
I'm like, well, that's all
you know head out see this movie um so a group of us went so i bought tickets ahead of time because you know how you have to buy tickets now for your seats great pick your seat ahead of time so you know not a lot of people are buying tickets that much in advance so i bought them on like on a wednesday for a sunday uh afternoon showing so we were the only people in the theater and then i get there the day of and i look at the screen and i see like where our seats are
And someone has bought another seat right next to me.
So the whole theater is empty except like these six seats.
And this guy bought a ticket right next to me.
I'm like, why would you do that?
You can sit anywhere.
Now you're sitting next to a stranger.
That was so bizarre.
He just wanted someone to
make out with Mike during the film.
Come on.
Yeah, I've
been there.
He got his
way.
I've done that too, where I've gone, not where they picked it out ahead of time, but I'm the only one.
You can sit wherever you want.
It's a horror film, and they sit right behind me.
Next, I am so out of there.
You know, it's just people have space issues and social grace.
Like, they just don't get it.
It's so odd.
Um, and it's one of those like in the Marcus where him and I now have to share and figure out the arm rest situation.
You didn't move.
I didn't move.
I, you know, it's the rules.
You pick your seat.
You got to sit there.
What would you tell people that are curious to try comedy sports?
How would you encourage them and what would you tell them the benefits are?
Assuming they're not, I'm sure you have people there that want to make a career of this and other people who just want to do something for fun.
What would you tell them?
Exactly that.
I always encourage this, and obviously I'm biased because improv is my life, but I think everybody should take an improv class at some point.
Just because, A, how often as adults do you get to just play and have fun?
You get to be creative.
And it's one of those things, especially in a workshop environment, it's kind of low stakes, low pressure.
It's just like, we're all together in this.
We've got each other's backs.
Let's just try something new.
And selfishly, I feel like once somebody gets their first laugh, they're going to be hooked.
Yeah, totally.
That's a great way to put it.
What got you started, Mike?
Where were you in life when you thought, I got to do this?
I want to be on stage.
I want to make people laugh.
I want to do improv.
Well, I was in high school.
I was 17 and we had a media studies program where you could take cameras out and they were teaching you how to edit and all this kind of fun stuff.
really liked that I liked being able to make you know funny sketches and write things and film it with my friends and I remembered when I was
14, I had seen comedy sports.
My family had taken me there and I really enjoyed it.
And I was working at a pharmacy, I was going to high school.
Let's, hey, Mike, let me
just,
let me
interrupt you right there.
I'm sorry to do so.
We got to jump to this break and we will finish this story.
And I'm also going to ask Mike what he's watching on TV.
I know Mike's ready for that question though.
We're coming right back and we'll hear the end of this story on Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,
civicmedia.us.
My friend Mike Siegel will be here.
Mike is a TV host, comedian and host of the Travel Tales podcast.
He'll be here tomorrow night, along with Tim Sowers from the Overture Center, who we always enjoy talking to.
We'll tell you what's coming up at the Overture Center and find out what Tim is watching, love his takes.
And then our question of the night is, what is your favorite dessert?
Edward earlier said, you remember that kind of word?
Spotted dick.
It's
spongy British cake.
Sounds like something you should go to the doctor for, but whatever.
But Edward says it's kind of fruit cake, seriously.
He wasn't making that up.
So we'll finish reading your texts in just a few minutes.
Right now we got a couple more minutes left with our pal, Mike Houth, from Comedy Sports in Milwaukee.
Mike, so where can people find out more information?
You have a website, but it's kind of, it's not comedy sports.com.
There's an abbreviation in there.
So tell people how they can find out more.
Yeah, if they want to get tickets or find out more information, go to CSZMKE.com.
Love it.
So it's the abbreviation of comedy sports, CSZMKE.com.
Outstanding.
All right, so you were telling me the story, and I'm sorry to interrupt you at our breaks.
The computer just takes over, so you would have gotten cut off, and I didn't want that.
So you were talking about that you were at a comedy sports show where you found the inspiration to try it.
Tell us, finish your story, please.
Yeah.
So I remembered seeing that when I was younger and then I'm 17 and I'm making these videos and I'm having fun.
I'm like, I would love to do this like on a bigger level in some way.
And I remembered comedy sports.
So I just called them up, looked them up in the phone book, called them
and
it was like, Hey, how do I get to work there?
And they're like, what, do you want to like wait?
I'm like, no, to be a performer.
And they're like, well, you can start off in the workshops.
That's how we hire people.
But you have to be 18.
And it was the wildest coincidence because my birthday where I turned 18 was the day that they were having the first class of the 101.
So I turned 18.
I was able to hand them a check and away I went.
I bet they loved that.
Like just this eager kid, you know.
probably paid in cash.
No, I'm just kidding.
But like you were probably thrilled.
You know, that's the kind of student you want there, I would assume.
Oh, yeah.
No, I was I was very energetic.
I was very, you know, just so into comedy and just like, you know, probably annoyingly so at that age.
Did you know who is your teacher?
Was Dick Chud now one of your teachers?
It was my first improv teacher was John Palesnik.
Oh, yeah, John Palesnik.
Yeah, he was part of Brady Street comedy sports and Brady.
Yes.
Yeah, okay.
Very funny
guy.
All right, before we let you go, Mike, and thank you again for your time tonight.
What are you binge watching anything you could recommend?
You know what?
I just started watching the chair company with Tim Robinson.
I really like him.
Just one episode.
I tried to watch the monster, the Ed Gein.
Yeah.
But I don't know if you started watching that, but just like, I can't get over the voice.
I've heard.
I've only read about it.
And apparently, I think it's Ryan Murphy is the executive producer, but they're adding stuff that's not true.
And not that you expect it to be totally by the book, but fabricating things outright.
And then I've heard that voice is really annoying, too.
Yeah, I watched an episode and a half and I'm like, okay.
That's all he needed to see.
Not for me.
Folks, check out Mike's work at Comedy Sports.
They do a great job there in Milwaukee.
It's a great space, great shows.
You will leave with a smile on your face.
Just like I'm leaving this interview right now, Mike.
Thank you so much, buddy.
As always, fun to catch up.
My pleasure.
And if anyone wants to follow me on Instagram, it's at K-A-U-T-H-S-H-O-W-S.
Perfect.
That would be good.
All right.
Someday I'm going to come down there and sit in that chair behind you.
We got this whole space here, Mike.
We need some comedy, some improv in here.
So think about that, too.
But if you're ever here on your own, stop in and we'll hang.
It'll be fun.
That'd be awesome.
Okay, buddy.
Thanks,
Pete.
You got it.
That's Mike Calph from Comedy Sports.
Reppin' Milwaukee tonight on Nightlight with Beach Wabba.
We've got a few more texts here we got to get to.
Monica in Mount Horrib.
That's the 608 says...
Crustini sandwiches on Madison has a three layer lemon cake.
Oh, wow.
With lemon curd and whipped cream in between layers with a whipped cream frosting.
It's delicious.
Just reading that sounded delicious.
Monica, thank you.
And then, from the 608, it's a tiramisu list.
What does
that
Could be.
Add it.
Go to social media, add tiramisu608.
We love it.
John from Madison says, dude needs to watch Pulp Fiction.
That is in relation to Sydney politics who said he thought Quentin Tarantino was overrated.
I disagree, but hey, we're all just, we've got our opinions.
John says another one, my God.
See, sometimes people don't get along on the text and not that they don't get along.
They just disagree.
That's okay.
Thank you, John.
And then John Murray also says go see Savannah bananas.
It's got it all Okay,
No,
that seems to be a lot tougher with baseball than it would be with basketball?
How much are tickets gone?
gosh.
All right, we'll check it out, folks.
Amanda Nimmer says homemade cheesecake or pistachio tort.
I've actually had that.
That is really good.
I don't get that sugar fixed, though.
We've got one more text here from John Murray who says, French silk pie is my fave.
All things chocolate, I can't resist.
John, that was the chocolate of text.
Thank you, buddy.
Thank you for all your texts tonight.
Thank you to Ben Reiser and Mike Kouth.
This computer screens off again.
How much time do I have?
20 seconds.
That's it?
That's ridiculous.
We'll be back tomorrow night, folks, to do it all over again.
Go check out our Nightlight Window Fun picture on Facebook right now.
Give us a like while you're there.
On behalf of the lovable producer Conrad, I'm Pete Schwabba saying good night, Wisconsin.
The national news cycle never stops, but it can be hard to find news about your local community.
Civic Media is dedicated to providing quality local and state news coverage across Wisconsin.
With the Civic Media app, you can get notifications about local stories that matter to you and your community.
Find the free Civic Media app in your phone's app store and choose notifications from the menu to tell us what kind of news you want to hear about.
