Filmmaking, Fictitious Spouses, and Favorite TV Housewives (Hour 2)

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Welcome back.

This is Night Light with Peach Waba,

folks.

It is finally Monday.

We get to talk about the things in life that make us happy, like movies and TV, comedy, music, all kinds of stuff.

My current guest is Doug Prey.

We will be back to Doug in just a moment.

He is a native Wisconsinite and very accomplished filmmaker.

Joining me at 7.30 tonight will be Joel Murray from Chicago PD.

He plays Commander Devlin.

Just joined the cast this year.

Excited to talk to Joel and have him back on the show.

Our question of the night is, it's National Housewives Day.

Yes, that is a national day.

And my question to you is, who is your favorite TV or movie housewife?

We'll catch up on texts in just a minute here, but let us know.

Be part of the show.

We also talked about, Amanda, what else do we cover?

David Harbour, what a disappointment that

is.

A lot about David Harbour.

Yeah, that's massively upsetting.

Such a likable guy.

He was the Santa Claus guy in the Crazy Killer Santa Claus movie with the violent night.

Thanks.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

That's a real bummer And we also talked about how I pounds of candy like I was 12 years old a few nights ago.

I'm still working that out.

Yeah, exactly So with that in mind folks answer our question and I will read it on the radio and now let's get back to our guest Mr. Doug Pray He is a native of Wisconsinite making his home in Los Angeles now and a very decorated award-winning director and filmmaker Doug do you have a

Wisconsin story in you you would still like to tell and how would you approach that?

Is there an angle for Wisconsin as a director that you think could be interesting?

Well, it's weird because

There's, I mean, this sounds so cliche, but there's stories everywhere.

There's not one state or one town or one household that you couldn't find enough material to make a feature length documentary film.

So I just want to caveat.

That's a great

answer.

I agree with you.

I mean, it's true.

But but I think whenever I, I mean, I spent a lot of time in Wisconsin, even though my home was in LA where the film business has been, I say has been, but that's a different story for a different night.

But.

You know, I think, I mean, I guess like the thing I think about the most when I'm traveling back in my home state is the changing of the farms.

And this would be more like, this isn't a funny, like it's not a comedy kind of thing, but it's

like,

I would do, I think there's a documentary, and there has been some pretty good documentaries about sort of the food industry and everything, but about just the shift from the family farm.

to big ag and the way that happens.

And you'd want to kind of tell both sides because it is happening and it's going to happen.

And I don't think it's big ag isn't going to go away.

I'm talking about like factory farming and kind

of

the different sort of CAFO type feeding operations.

And it's just changing everything.

Like sort of this shift about 10 years ago when you started realizing, we used to see silos when you're driving by.

and now there's these massive installations that are the the granaries granaries and you know and it's again it's not like i mean that's just progress you could say yeah

it's

gonna happen but it's but there's also still this huge you know movement over people like family farmers are saying yeah but the old ways are actually better and healthier and get better meat and there's all these other like absolute truths about like you know it's this mix and i think that is a

Really it's it's a it's a healthy story in the center healthy weird ways it is an amazing conflict because you have things that existed for thousands tens of thousands of years of knowledge and history and farming and.

Understanding versus kind of like big business and it's not like all big business is bad but.

but it's just that is playing out so heavily.

And I think Iowa already has lost whatever that battle was.

Like, it's really like Iowa is pretty much, you know, a CAFO state.

And I just, I just think that's, you know, I wouldn't approach it like as a political film, like, okay, this is the side.

I would really want to approach it as every good film is about drama and about conflict.

And I've always given,

Lent given given credence to people I may not agree with I just think I just think there's a there's a really important conversation going down there and Wisconsin is kind of You know, it's actually it isn't lost.

It's not it's not all going one way, but it's Definitely a really important battle and there's a lot of people hurting and there's a lot of a lot of people out there going hey, wait a minute my

the water's bad here or this or that or yeah but we need to make money in the town's this and you know it it's a classic classic battle and it's playing out everywhere in every realm of industry it's kind of like AI you can't say no to AI it's gonna happen

yeah

but i think that's an amazing story and that's kind of a serious story

absolutely i

have i have a more ridiculous short film that i would immediately make though i want to share with you please

You know, Igor the rat outside of the Fenimore cheese place.

We get the best cheese curds in the entire world.

And I can absolutely clarify that they're the best.

This is not an ad.

I don't know this place.

Do you

know

Igor the rat?

This is like this giant rat.

And every time we go there and get cheese curds, which is, you know, it's an important thing for my family.

The best.

There's

Igor the Rat,

this giant huge rat outside named after Igor Stravinsky in 1971.

And I just think that would be a great short film.

It's all about Igor.

And it's about actually, it could actually be about the first thing I said.

You can actually get, your in is Igor.

And then the movie becomes about like the family farms and dairy farming in Wisconsin.

You know, actually I just came up with a better idea.

Combining this.

Copyright.

That's

right.

Thanks,

Doug.

You know what, Pete?

You can just produce it, please, and then we'll have a movie here.

Anyway, yeah, I digress, but I'm not kidding.

Anybody who's driven driven through Fenimore knows that right outside the cheese store, the Car Valley cheese store right there, there's this giant rat and it's huge.

And I always think about the trap.

It's like a mouse trap besides your car.

to get that thing.

But I, you know, anyway, I was just thinking about different ideas.

But

Doug Prey is my guest.

He is an award winning filmmaker who is originally from Wisconsin.

Joining us here tonight on Nightlight, we're talking about some of his films and his process and all kinds of good stuff.

You know,

What is your favorite part of the process Doug because with documentary films?

I've never been part of the documentary, but I've heard I have a lot of Oh, there you go.

It's

Igor nice.

That's Igor on a trailer.

It's not a trap if

you're watching on the screen new

traps that looks like a trailer

And that's your there's your DV.

Do they still make DVDs?

I don't know.

There's your album cover or whatever The

power of film earlier we actually because we a lot of people

We're into classic cinemas.

A

lot of people still watch Blu-rays.

Oh, I know.

Yeah.

It's great.

We were like, should we even put it out on Blu-ray and DVD?

And we're like, no.

And then we're like, wait a minute.

Actually, it's like vinyl.

It's your fan base.

Yeah, exactly.

People buy vinyl.

That's great.

Have to give a shout out to Mike Mercury, who introduced us, your pal, who I understand you go back all the way to fourth grade.

I met

Mike in fourth grade, literally.

His desk was right in front of my desk in Mrs. Endelman's class at West Middleton Elementary School in 19... I'm not going to say the date, because that would date me.

Yeah, you don't have to go back.

1906.

Was he a smart ass even then?

Kind of.

Yeah, Mike was actually just an amazingly good guy all the time.

And when he became a comedian, I was like, but Mike, you weren't like that quote unquote funny guy in class.

There's always like a class clown who you think is going to be a comedian.

And I don't know if you've noticed this speed over your career, but like.

The people who are the funniest in real life, like an everyday real life in class or just your friend, like in your friend group, there's always one person who's just super funny.

Yeah.

They never become comedians.

Correct.

It's the person who actually studies it and kind of says like, I want to do this and I'm going to learn this.

I'm going to learn the craft.

And Mike did that.

And I got to be honest, like I was sort of surprised when he said I'm becoming a comedian.

And then I went and saw him like a couple of years later because he was in LA, whatever, there was different connections.

I was like, holy shit, he completely, he learned, he learned this and he's really, really good.

And I love seeing him on stage.

So it's just,

anyway, it was, yeah, anyway, yeah, I've known Mike forever.

I've had the opportunity to work with Mike.

I haven't done Santa as a job in a long time, but he was one of the first guys I met and just a great guy.

So before we let you go, Doug, tell me if you can, we've got about two minutes, your favorite part of the process, because documentary filmmaking, there's a lot of editing.

So is it shooting?

Is it finding the topic?

Is it editing?

It's

really the editing.

I mean, even though editing is grueling and it takes like a year, you know, because you're basically writing a script and taking from miles and miles or whatever you want to call it, 600 hours of footage and going, okay, there's 90 minutes in here.

And it could go this way, it could go that way, it could go upside down, we could flip it, we could start with this, we could end with it.

You have just so many options.

So that's daunting, and honestly, it's a pain.

It really is.

There's no editor out there who's edited a documentary.

He's not nodding their head right now if they happen to be listening.

And they're not because they're in the growing, they're in the trenches right now.

But it's just really hard, but it's so creative.

Because you can just like, my favorite part is when I'm

just editing and I'm like oh wow this music with this quote with this scene

yeah and

this picture that works it's just and you hit on it and sometimes it's accidental you'll just throw a piece of music under a quote and you go oh man I just felt something and you know the whole goal is to make your audience feel something whether they're laughing or you know crying or just kind of really interested in the subject and so I guess it would be editing even though I I promised my wife that I would

I wouldn't edit again because my back is screwed up.

Oh, yeah,

that's so fun.

It's so it's so funny how editors there's such You know, I remember working on a narrative project with an editor and I was wearing a different

Clothes outfit and I see he goes I want to put this scene here, and I go you can't do that I'm not where I'm two hours earlier in the story.

I'm he goes no one will ever notice that I go Yeah, right we had test screening nobody noticed it the guy had my full respect from that moment on I

can tell you there's groups dedicated to continuity

I'm sure

Yeah, I'm sure it's true, but

it's also like editing is all about knowing what are people actually thinking about in the moment, right?

And you have to constantly be living what the audience is seeing.

And so whenever I'm talking to other editors or trying to do edit, I'm always like, wait, what's the audience thinking right now?

They know this and they know

this

and they've seen this.

So what's going to get them right here?

In a good way.

I mean, it's very manipulative.

I use that word in a good way, like that you're manipulating time and space and pictures.

It's exciting.

I love filmmaking, and I guess that's my favorite part, even though it's the part that I must stop because my doctor's saying, dude, you got a bad back.

You're going to stop

editing.

Make a documentary on scoliosis.

It just fell right in your lap there, Doug.

Hey, this is so much fun, buddy.

Thank you for being on the show.

Do you

have the copyright to that as well,

Lauren?

We do now.

Amanda, get those fingers going.

We've got to beat Doug to the punch.

Thank you, sir.

It's so great meeting you.

Yeah, keep us posted on what's coming and yeah, don't be a stranger.

No, thank you so much,

Pete.

All right, that's Doug Prey.

Check out his work.

Just go to IMDB, folks.

He's made so many great films, award-winning films, lots out there for you to check out and look for his... What was the rat called again?

It's not mine

Igor well soon to be soon

to be

just go

to phantom or buy some Kurds and tell me they're not the squeaky as best

all right We're coming right back folks Joel Murray is gonna be here at 735.

This is peach wabba and nightlight on the civic radio network You hear me oh hey Doug you there

Yeah.

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.

Really good filmmaker, too.

Joel Murray will be here at 735.

After the news, we're going to talk to Joel about his new role on Chicago PD, which is in its 14th season, part of the one Chicago Dick Wolf series.

Man, how much success has that guy had?

All the law and orders.

Now he's got the whole Chicago thing going.

It's just

unbelievable.

Do you watch any of those?

It's kind of one of those things where you watch it when it's on,

but you

don't seek it out kind of thing.

Same, yeah.

Although I do want Chicago PD, I've stuck with that from its inception just because I have a connection to Chicago.

But it's one of those shows that's gotten better the longer it's been on.

So I'm excited to talk to Joel about his new role, Commander Devlin.

That'll be fun.

That happens at 7.35.

Going to the text line here, our question to the night is, who is your favorite TV or movie housewife?

Laurie from Hayward in the 7.15 says, all right, I started to read this text.

She clarified, good evening, Pete, for my favorite mom, I would pick Barbara Sandwich.

Western Big Valley.

She was a strong, bold woman, raising a family of four.

Sometimes it takes a rough, a tough woman to be a good mom.

Well said, Lori.

But she knew I struggled, so she corrected herself.

And in all caps, said Barbara Stanwick.

That's what happens when using the microphone, and you have a phone that decides willy-nilly to change words.

Oh, you would know that.

I totally know that.

I do that all the time.

There are some messages I get from you, or I have to decipher

it.

I'm like, where's a code?

Where's a coder?

And it's not as bad if you proofread right away, but sometimes I don't want to forget something, so I just say it, and then I go back to it, and I'm like, oh, God, and then I got to clarify.

So I'm totally with you.

Lori, that's great.

608, son Prairie says, the best housewife I think is Eva Gabor in Green Acres.

She always looked great and never complained about living in a dump of a house.

She was always upbeat.

Well said.

Chris from the 773 says, thanks for the National Housewife Day heads up.

You reminded me to pick up flowers for my favorite housewife.

I hope he's married to her.

Loving mother, homeschool teacher and beautiful mind, body and soul of a woman.

Oh, and thanks for keeping me out of the doghouse.

I mean, I almost feel like Chris should send us some money for that, because we did him a serious solid

here.

Who are like cookies or something?

Cookie bouquet.

Do you eat cookies from, you know, I mean, Chris seems like a good guy.

I don't think I'm eating cookies from his house though, do you?

You never know.

You never know.

I mean, it could be great, but.

That's how you build an immune system, Pete.

I grew up with parents that always had to check, you know, if you got like an apple.

at Halloween, like my friend Mike Toomey says, check it for a razor blade on the inside, like someone actually does that, you know?

Lisa in the 608 in Middleton says, Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development is my fave TV mom.

She's manipulative and self-centered.

And I'm glad she isn't my mom, but she makes the show.

Thank you, Lisa.

Well said.

From the 818 Bridget says, Mrs. C, from Happy Days.

Sweet, funny, smart.

Absolutely.

Thank you, Bridget.

John in the 608 says, Barbara Billingsley was the best mom, loving, sweet, attentive to Ward, fair to the boys, great cook, nice Sears catalog figure.

I think you've told someone now that that might keep you poking the chops.

Hey, you've got a real Sears catalog, like you're built like a washing machine.

Did you read the

one from Daniel Wheeler from our Facebook comments?

No, I'm getting to the face.

I haven't gotten to the Facebook text yet.

John says, plus she had the personal security and balls to let the nickname beaver stick to her youngest boy.

Not afraid to take terrifying risks.

As a lad, I was consumed with this dynamic.

And here's the kicker.

I'll be damned.

Turns out she speaks jive.

Who would have guessed?

Of course, from the movie airplane.

Barbara Billingsley.

That's a great one, John.

What did Danny Wheels say?

Carol Brady, because she, Mike, and Alice were the first thrupple on TV.

Ooh, that's a weird, some weird imagery.

What kind of fantasies Danny Wills has going over there in Oshkosh.

What else do we have on the social media?

Oh, actually, I can look at those.

Can you read the stream comments?

I can't see.

They got nothing on the monitor here.

Yeah, absolutely.

So we got...

Dave Kanush, who said

Conrad

must be back.

Sorry.

He said that after the thing went down, too.

That's a total shot at the K-man.

Listen, Dave, I can make fun of Conrad.

But listeners, no way.

I think Conrad's not.

I do ask him to go get the tools quite a

bit.

We got someone who says Peg Bundy.

So, Katie Segal, she reminds me of a childhood friend's mom when I would visit his home that's from PJ, the alter ego, who also said Mrs. Cunningham and June Cleaver.

Wow, he's got a lot of them.

Those two have a conversation.

Is it PJ and Dave?

Yeah,

PJ and Dave,

I

think.

I don't know.

They're commenting a lot.

We appreciate it.

Thanks, guys.

That's awesome.

Two very outstanding listeners.

I actually saw Dave in person this weekend because he's from Marinette, and I was talking to my...

Mother-in-law and a friend of ours.

No, I was walking back from my mother-in-laws with my wife and we were talking to a friend of ours and Dave rolls up.

He goes, hey, Pete, it's Dave from the stream.

I'm like, oh, hey, man.

I don't know where it was awesome.

Tim Baker says, June Cleaver, hands down, all in caps.

Tim is not messing around.

I said, Mrs. C, but I changed my answer to Laura Petrie and Gloria for Modern Family.

Sean on social media says, I got to go with June Cleaver.

Always keeping Ward conscious of the beaver.

Yes, of course.

Thank you, Sean.

Our nightlight window fund picture tonight taken through the window is of six people from North Carolina.

Why are they here?

Well, the game yesterday.

Oh, yeah.

You don't, you don't follow a good, you're not into sports contests.

I'd rather play a sport than, than go watch them on TV.

They're four.

Panther fans and two Packer fans, but they're all from North Carolina two of them used to live here So there's six of them somehow they make it work.

They all get along.

I don't get it But there was no ill will despite the Packers dropping a heartbreaker yesterday to their their friends team so

Check out the Facebook Nightlight window fund for your six people from North Carolina.

Hey, when we come back after the news, my pal Joel Murray will be here.

He is the newest addition to the cast of Chicago PD in its 14th season.

We'll talk to Joel next.

It's Pete Schwabba in Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Welcome

back.

I'm

Pete Schwabber.

This is Night Light.

So great to have you with me on this Monday night.

I wait all weekend for Monday, folks, so I can talk movies and TV and comedy and music and all the good stuff.

We are broadcasting live statewide and parts beyond over the app and stream.

So wherever you're joining me from tonight, welcome.

Dave on the stream said, killdozer.

That was early in the show and I missed it.

That's a Butch Vig band or Butch Vig produced band.

Do you remember what we were talking about?

I have no idea what we were talking about.

That's a Halloween thing.

That is the voice of Amanda Nimmer, sitting in for the K-Man tonight, doing a bang up job.

Are you having fun?

Yeah, I'm having fun.

You know, it's way better than Thursday when everything's not imploding all over the place.

Well, here's another reason it's better than Thursday, because my next guest is a very talented guy.

He's a friend of mine.

He is one of the stars of the new Chicago Triumvirate, the one Chicago family, more specifically, Chicago PD.

And he joins us over the stream, Mr. Joel Murray.

Hey, Joel.

It's good to be here.

It's great to have your segue music man.

You just did so so cool

We try to make it like a high school dance here when we come back from breaks and oftentimes people do slow dance throughout the studio

eight inches apart eight inches apart little room for the guardian angel

I'm talking to a fellow Catholic boy, of course, you know 14 years age jolt 14 years at Catholic school

well adjusted

Yeah.

But I apparently I still need two theologies and two philosophies to graduate from Loyola, Chicago.

Oh, that's hilarious.

Wait, from

high school?

I learned that on set with an English degree.

No, university.

Oh,

I thought you went to Marquette for some reason.

Okay.

I just seemed like I was there.

You behave like I had a few I had a few Vulcan mind melds.

Yeah, I was I was visiting a lot.

You act like a Marquette grad.

That's got to be it.

I don't know.

I went to DePaul and I was the same way, very, very closely graduating, but...

You act like a DePaul attendee.

A blue demon.

Hey, this is great.

It's great to have you.

I want to talk about your new character, Mark Devlin, but first I have to ask you, Joel, do you have a favorite TV housewife?

That I've had in the past?

Well, not that you've had.

Well, I mean...

that I've performed with.

Oh, you could do that.

That's a different angle or just one growing up that you watch on TV, like Mrs. C or Laura Petrie, someone like that.

It's National Housewives Day.

I was a big fan of Samantha and Bewitched.

Oh, nice.

It was a lot there to like.

I mean, I thought I could utilize her so much better than Darren.

I don't know what that guy was doing, either.

You really blew it.

Pretty fine.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I've worked with my wife a couple of times, but I had any wives.

I'm always the guy that lost his wife or divorced or something.

Strangely single guy, the 30 year old virgin I was on one show.

I'm sorry for your fictitious losses, Joel.

That's terrible.

Or wins depends on how you look at it.

Hey, so let's talk about that.

I was saying earlier on the show, Chicago PD, you kind of have to pick your shows.

There's so many Dick Wolf shows.

And I watched SVU for a long time.

I watched the original Law and Order, loved it.

And some of the ones that aren't even on anymore, but like in terms of the Chicago one Chicago group, I have stuck with Chicago PD for 14 seasons.

I'm totally caught up.

And when I saw you, I'm like, oh, this is going to be a really fun year for you because

anyone they bring on.

There you go.

If you're watching on the stream, there's a Commander...

That was Billy Gardell and early Mike and Molly.

That guy's big.

Amanda, come

on.

There you go.

There you go.

That's a great... Okay.

I just have to ask you, this must be so much fun for you, basically a native Chicagoan, to shoot a show in your hometown.

it's

kind of just putting on the stuff was a riot for me and I have an old cop coat that I kind of cherish but uh you know they dress me up and like yeah we don't need you for about 15 20 like oh okay I'm gonna go withdraw some money I'm gonna go get a coffee I'm gonna go get a donut but just like walking around the daily center one day we were shooting and I was just going in stores and just you know seeing if I could get a free donut or not coffee

or make a citizen's arrest or something.

Time just make people paranoid, walk up behind guys that are obviously smoking weed.

Like, hey, hey, still not legal.

That's fantastic.

It was fun.

It was really fun.

And, uh, you know, you pictured Jason, the gay there.

I, uh, I actually worked with him a million years ago on Dharma and Greg and I pointed out to him, I don't know.

We've worked together before.

Oh, yeah, I don't, I don't think so.

I don't think so.

I go, yeah, yeah, you were one of Jen Elfman's friends of the week back in the day.

Oh, back then.

Yeah, no, I've, I don't remember a lot of that.

Don't remember a lot of that.

So.

It's a pretty good

be gay.

That's very good be gay.

Well, you know, it's, he's, he's close to my brother Brian too.

Oh, okay.

You know, the two of them in the room would be kind of a similar conversation.

Two guys.

Anyway, but yeah, it was really fun working on it.

And I did, I was told I had four of the first eight and I went in and auditioned.

I got a costume fitting and the gal was outfitting me with boots and parkas and stuff.

And I'm like, it's 91 degrees today in Chicago.

And she's like, yeah, I do my job.

And so I don't know, I fulfilled the first eight quota.

So we have to see if there's

There's more down the way or not, but according to me, I'm not dead.

So I think, you know, until you kill me, you gotta keep showing me.

My guest is Joel Murray, a very accomplished actor and director, and he is the newest cast member of Chicago PD.

He plays commander Mark Devlin.

Yeah, it's interesting you say that because last year I noticed Sean Hattacy, it seems like whoever they bring in,

locks horns.

Yeah, with with with Voight.

And I assume that you guys are building to that.

I don't know what you can divulge or in terms of spoilers, but how do you see that going?

I'm sure I'm not supposed to divulge anything, but still not dead.

A lot of these shows where you get, oh, yeah, we got a really good episode for you coming up, but you got to go, you got to see John Wall.

first and it's like huh and then all of a sudden you don't get your script in the mail or you know delivered and you have to go in and the producers I could spend great got a great episode and you jump in an ice hole at the end of it and kill yourself and that's how they got rid of me on shameless you know so it's just one of those things but they haven't given me that talk with Dick Wolf yet so I'm looking I think I'm not dead

But I hope it's been fun.

I've been working with the gay.

I've been working with Amy Morton, who's like, you know, one of the the queens of Chicago.

Yeah.

Uh, had the cool husband and, uh, you know, they, they have a cottage up there, Big Sam Lake, Wisconsin up there near North of Phelps.

You know, so they're, they're good people.

Wait,

wait,

Amy Morton's family did.

Yeah.

Yeah.

No husband's family whose name is escaping me.

He's a sound guy, a real cool sound guy did when I did plays at like mains and.

organic and stuff.

He was always a hip sound guy.

And LaRoyce Hawkins, who's been on the whole time, he's got to have met him around town over the years.

A friend, a publicist friend in common

anyway.

Okay.

Were you a fan of the show before you started working on it?

Like, had you watched the show quite a bit?

No, I hated the show because they were never any Chicago actors on it And

then

I found out that like my brother Andy watched it all the time.

I'm like, oh, yeah, I get my fix of Chicago.

It's great.

And so I started watching it and Like now that guy over there.

He's he's Chicago.

I know him Stoltz and Stoltz you know some people but I Saw we were doing a the who's live anyway show I was doing and we were up in Saskatchewan

name-dropper.

And Dermot Moroney texted me out of the blue going, hey, you know, I'm in Saskatchewan too.

Any chance to get a ticket for the show?

I'm like, pretty sure there's a lot of comps available tonight, Dermot.

And, you know, so I sent a couple tickets aside for him and he came back afterwards and we hung out.

And when we got done with the evening,

I said, hey, you know, by the way, I've never ever gotten on any of those and never an audition anything for any of those Dick Wolf shows.

And then, you know, put in a word for me, Leah, and he's, you know, the new fire chief.

Yeah,

fire.

And I goes, well, yeah, sure.

So a week or two later, I'm in Chicago.

I sang the stretch at Wrigley.

And the next day, somebody called and said, my agent called and said, yeah, they want to know if you'd be interested in doing this part on Chicago PD.

Yeah, you know, I don't miss too many who's line shows and if it's good and blah, blah, blah.

And so he called back a little while later, like, no, this is happening.

They want to, you want you to do this thing.

Like, oh, well, that's, they're no more.

Ronnie is powerful.

And so I reached out to him and he's like, no, I had nothing to do with that man.

Thanks though.

Yeah, no, no, it wasn't me.

Do you think he's just

being a swell guy or what?

No, he's been like touring with his band with the.

his brother and he have a band called one for the ditch.

And he's like, yeah, no, I didn't do it.

Sorry.

That's surprising

because most deals are cut in Saskatchewan when it comes to casting and all

that

stuff.

All good.

Well, that's awesome, Joel.

And let's talk about what else you got going on.

This is kind of cool.

I saw that you're going to play Pat Summerall in a movie called Madden.

Yeah, you would think that's a good part.

Oh,

no.

Do you fall out of the booth or something?

What's

going on?

Oh, and an ice hole.

It's funny.

About a year and a half ago, this friend of mine said, you know, this guy wants to play golf with somebody cooler than me.

I've been teaching to play golf and he thought you'd be fun to play golf with.

But it was David O'Russell, the director, and who's done all kinds of things.

Yeah.

except golf.

And so I was kind of teaching him to play golf and he and this guy and my son Gus and I would play a pen mar by the sea here, which is not by the sea, but it's, you know, 30 blocks from it.

But we play out here in California and then we have some drinks and

food afterwards but you really interesting cat and he started talking about this Madden movie and there's there's a part in there for you I'm sure there's some guy you know the NFL guy from Chicago or something like that and then all of a sudden he started going you know look at this video of this you know watch this video and look at this thing yeah I'm gonna send you a wig

Next thing you know, there's like a really cheap white wig in the mail and Yeah, read a couple lines with this wig on for me.

Yeah, okay.

All right Well, I'm gonna send you a blue blazer and so he kept sending me stuff and I wasn't getting the part and all of a sudden my summer all was believable enough for them and They they offered you and this is from Amazon is making this movie, right?

Huge

movie.

Yeah,

and so they offered me to part and it was gonna be basically scale And a local hire so you're gonna fly yourself to Florida There's a note to Atlanta You're gonna put yourself up in Atlanta and you're gonna drive yourself to from the set in the airport and everything every day and you're gonna make you know food money basically and so I I Told my agent after a couple days.

I was like, you know what?

don't know.

And my agent's like, it's bad summer all bad summer all.

And so they came back.

Oh, no, no, no, we didn't mean that.

Oh, you know, not you're local, you're not a local hire, you'll get paid triple scale, you'll get the limousine, you'll get to the hotel in the first class, this first class that like, yeah, see, there you go.

Now we're talking.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But I still have no lines.

And I still have no script.

Oh, man.

So

I went and I'm working and he just wanted me to improvise everything.

Let's, hey, Joe, let's pick up right there.

We got to do a really quick break here.

We're coming back with

the actor,

Joe.

I'm getting played off.

We're coming right back as Nightlight with the

honor just to be nominated.

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.

It's supposed to stand wick from the television show, The Big Belly.

That is the shortest text Steady Eddie has ever sent us.

Thank you,

buddy.

Great to hear from you, Steady Eddie.

My guest is Joel Murray.

You can see him as Commander Mark Devlin on Chicago PD this season.

They're 14th, which is an incredibly good run.

Joel, we were talking about you playing the iconic Pat Summerall, a really cool role.

in the movie Madden.

Nicholas Cage is John Madden.

Interesting.

Yeah.

Yeah, that was supposedly he came in to read for Al Davis, which I could see.

Yeah,

totally.

And he said, no, I don't want to play Madden.

So he does a really good Madden.

And next thing you know, you got Nick Cage as Madden.

and you do

a

really good nicage thereby meaning you would do a really good med so come on

that's there you go but i uh i got to work with him i got to work with some other people that were really fun uh rick hoffman who's kind of the weasley guy on suits was and howard cosel and this kid from canada who's a rapper white rapper uh was playing a young bob costas and uh it was really goofy and we

all at the same time got to see Nick Cage as Madden.

And at the same time, right before we rolled, they put earwigs in our ears.

So we're hearing the director, and the director is, David's telling everybody what to do, and he's telling Nick Cage what to do, and we're all just in this surreal world all of a sudden.

Some people have lines that they audition with, and some people don't.

I didn't know what the hell I was doing, but it was really, really different.

And then when it got to be just this one-in-one stuff with Nick Cage, all I would be saying is like, all right, well, it's this date in Dallas, so that'd be County Stadium, whatever.

So it would be Tony Dorsett, it would be, you know,

two tall Jones, it would be Billy Joe

Dupree.

So, uh, not Stavak, it would Danny White, uh, the right date.

But, you know, so I did that kind of research while I'm waiting, trying to see if they're going to give me any lines.

So I was riffing with Nick Cage.

And so he's got stuff in his ear.

He's being told to say, and I'm just riffing off him and, and setting it up with, you know, a five yard, five, I can't talk five yard out to Billy Joe Dupree.

And, uh,

he would it was it was really interesting and then they you know we have we're in Turner Stadium in Atlanta so you go in this way and you're at you know the Raiders game you go in this way you're at the Lions game you're going this way you're in Cowboy Stadium so that was that was really cool and you know I

I had to say, eventually, you know, I was friends with your, to Nick Cage, I was friends with your cousin, Gio.

And he was a friend, I knew from Italy, years ago, in 1982, 83, and he all of a sudden kind of broke it, just like, you knew Gio?

I loved Gio.

Gio was the best man.

You were friends with Gio?

And so then, you know, he was much nicer to me.

And, you know, I live in Las Vegas.

You should come there sometime.

A lot of people say, you know, weird things about it, but I like Las Vegas.

Oh man, that is gold,

dude.

It was pretty good.

A surreal moment.

But I did that.

And then, you know, back on the bus and back doing the who's line.

been doing the chicago thing i did a goofy another goofy football movie down in tampa for a month called the big game where i won't give anything away on that but this was a small indy movie that i liked the darkness of the script and i uh

Play one of these fanatical Florida fans and you know, it's the big game against Florida State and no

sweet

It gets really weird and dark.

So I got to do that So I've got to take some breaks from the who's line, but I also got to breeze through Wisconsin at one point.

Yeah Yeah, you were on the show

talking about that last time.

Do you have it?

We've got only about a minute left Unfortunately, Joel,

but

any any more who's live coming up here

No, we I said we did the one at the PAPS in La Crosse, which is a fun place to play but Yeah, no, we're not headed back there anytime soon, but I don't know the schedule I'm just trying to get through that.

I'm just trying to get through the holidays man We got a wedding coming up.

You know, it's it's gonna get crazy here.

Wow

I was excited because I'm totally outnumbered here as a Bears and Cubs fan.

And they don't hesitate to abuse me.

And it's fun.

I like being that guy.

But next time you'll have to come on, I'll have to save some more time so we could talk about some of that stuff, too, because it's good to have them.

That was the other thing with the Chicago PD.

I got to go to three-cub win playoff games.

So all three, I went through they won.

And that Bears game Sunday was absolutely phenomenal.

It's the game of the year.

It was incredible.

I mean, I almost broke the TV and then the next thing, you know, I'm just like, of course they win.

Of course.

But I mean, it was the best of times, the worst of times.

It was absolutely insane.

It was great.

It was great.

And that's how the World Series was, too, by the

way.

Oh, it was phenomenal.

All right, we'll have to do this

again

soon.

Phenomenal World Series.

Maybe the best ever.

A lot of people are saying, but we'll.

Yeah, we'll have you back soon.

I'd love to talk about all

that stuff too.

Joel Murray, check him out as commander Mark Devlin on this season's Chicago

PD.

Wednesday

nights.

Wednesday nights.

After the other ones.

The best night

to watch.

I think it's the 13th season, 14th for a fair.

Oh, okay.

Yeah.

It's a great night

to watch Color Teller.

He's wagering on the show tonight.

Thank you, sir.

Have a great night, Joel.

As always,

my friend.

Thank you,

buddy.

Thank you.

Check out Chicago PD on your color television.

We'll be back tomorrow night.

Conrad, we'll be back.

Amanda, thank you so much.

You're welcome.

How are we doing on time?

We got about

30 seconds.

OK, fantastic.

My thanks to Joel Murray and Doug Paray.

Thank you for all your texts and calls.

Always more fun when you guys participate.

We're coming back tomorrow night on behalf of Amanda.

I'm Pete Schwabba saying good night, Wisconsin.

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