Bouncing Through Mosh Pits and Sesame Street (Hour 1)

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,

anywhere.

Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay.

This is Night Light with Pete Chwaba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

And now, a guy who doesn't have 2020 vision, even in hindsight, Pete Chwaba.

Welcome to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

Happy Monday, everybody.

It's finally Monday is what I should say Because literally all weekend All I do is sit around and wait to be back in this chair talking about the things I love to talk about with you Movies and TV and comedy and music and all kinds of fun stuff So it is great to have you with me on this Monday a very cold Monday Maybe our coldest day of the year so far or at least of the fall I should say hope you're having a great day wherever you are joining us from Welcome to nightlight.

I am Pete Schwabba

Joining me tonight will not be the kid Conrad Krieger.

It's the kid Amanda Nimmer, who is becoming, I would say, more familiar with the other side of the glass and having to look at me on the other side of the glass.

How are you, Amanda?

Oh, not too bad.

Not too bad.

Yeah.

For a Monday, at least, right?

I love Mondays.

You know that.

Yes.

Yeah.

And you don't love Mondays.

I mean...

It's it's just a day.

I'd say Wednesday is probably the worst day of the week if I really had to pick one.

Is that true?

How come?

Just because it's just because you're man's land

you're halfway through.

Yeah, I mean you're almost there You kind of made it through.

It's just that limbo.

Yeah area.

Did you have a good weekend?

Um, yeah, actually wasn't too bad.

Yeah

got plans cancelled.

It was great

Isn't that awesome when that happens and you could just sit home

got to play some video games

So what video games do you play?

You have a little guy who's like five?

Six.

Six.

Okay.

So do you play video games on his level?

You have your own video games or both?

We do a mix of both.

So we let the Walrus play like, you know, the Mario cards and Mario Party and whatnot.

His aunt got him into Minecraft.

I never wanted him to be into Minecraft, but

we're here.

Oh, that's a good game, though.

Don't you think?

I don't know.

I just don't get it.

But I mean, he likes the building and, you know, whatever.

It's fine.

It's supposed to be great for kids because of the building thing.

It's like like a modern day tinker toys, you know, or Lincoln Logs.

They get to build and be creative and all that kind of stuff.

I kind of get it.

My son did Minecraft for a while.

And

I mean, he really digs the axolotls in there.

So

the

axolotls.

Oh, sure, the axolotls.

Do you know what an axolotl is?

I

have no idea what an axolotl

is.

It's an animal.

It's

like a blind like fish.

You can actually get them in aquariums and keep them in pets at your home.

You just have to

hand feed them sometimes.

Oh, that's kind

of cool.

Yeah, they're like, they're that, I'll find a picture.

Give me a sec.

Yeah,

awesome.

I would love to see a picture.

Hey, it's a great night here folks at nightlight two great three great guests actually We've got at 635 my pal Mike Schmidt will be here Mike is a very funny stand-up comic and host of the 40 year old boy podcast He's one of my favorites to have on the show because Mike can talk like very few others can and he is a great storyteller too So we'll talk to Mike about all kinds of stuff.

He is a big Quentin Tarantino fan.

We've talked about Tarantino before with Mike on occasion

But tonight, I think I'm going to ask him what he thinks about Tarantino's acting because Tarantino says he is going back in front of the camera while we eagerly await for his 10th and supposedly final movie that he directs.

So we'll talk to Mike about that and many other things at 6.35.

And then at 7.20, my pal Daniel Wheeler, Danny Wheels will be here with actor Jason Bus.

They are going to discuss their film the voice in the vessel This is a Daniel directing effort and he did a great job.

I saw this film a few weeks ago He was nice enough to share it with me and Jason bus provides the voice

in said vessel.

So both those guys will be here at 720 and that film is playing this week at the Why We Got International Film Festival, which we talked about a little bit about last week as well.

So those guys will be here at 720.

Got a great question tonight.

Lots going on.

Before we go any further though, I have to read, we got a text from Bud last Friday night.

Amanda, do you know who Bud is?

I do not.

Okay.

He is a guy that listens to our show.

from four to six on the rebroadcast because he's out delivering papers around the Madison area.

Sometimes he texts us and we get to his texts, you know, the next day or whatever.

But he says, hey, Pete, I waited till the end of your rebroadcast for someone to weigh in with the app I listened to when I'm not listening to your show.

Good caveat, but appreciate that.

He says, unless I missed it, I haven't heard anyone mention Pandora.

I love the Chill radio station, which plays a lot of Jesse Cook.

Johannes Lindsted, am I saying that right?

With a little of Chardet sprinkled in for smooth songs with lyrics.

Love your show, Bud from Jamesville.

Yeah, nobody said Pandora or Spotify.

Any music apps, because that was the question Friday.

What app do you use the most or maybe it was Thursday?

I think when most people hear app, they're immediately thinking social media.

They're not they're not thinking

you're

audible because like there's audible their Spotify I'm shocked someone still uses Pandora

Really?

I truly

am I thought dating himself.

I don't know.

I thought that app wouldn't extinct really

I have never used any of the music apps.

I have like thousands of songs in my Apple iTunes on an old computer and a hard drive that I can't access.

I haven't listened to my library in years.

But they might kind of be bringing the iPods back

or a

little shuffle thing.

They're kind of making that full circle right now.

That's really irritating.

It is.

It's like, oh, your phone's not going to have headphones.

You're not gonna have a headphone jack.

You have to get wireless.

Oh, hey, guess what?

There's this new feature.

We're gonna put wires on your headphones.

It's brand new.

It's never been done before.

That really, literally I am sitting here stewing because Apple, here's the problem.

I have been a loyal Apple customer since the Apple IIe in the late 80s, or maybe it was the mid-80s.

I don't even remember, but I

They're so expensive and they just They're always shaking you down for money with new cords and adapters and all this nonsense like you have all this technology They can make it easier for you if they wanted to but they just want to sell you crap.

I mean, that's just like the gaming industry now when

you buy

the game It's not the complete game

really

no not anymore a they jacked up the prices Insanely so yeah, and you're you're only downloading a part of it and then you have to download all these extras in order to finish the game

You gotta be kidding

me.

Oh, no.

Don't even get me into like couch co-op and how that's basically not existent now.

I won't get you into that because I don't know what that is.

It's sitting down two people

to play the

same game on the same television together without

two

systems involved.

Oh wow, okay.

Well, we're both outraged tonight, Amanda.

I think that's going to make for a great show.

Outraged Monday.

You guys are welcome to share your outrage on whatever it is you're outraged about.

As you know, the phone lines here are always open at 855-752-4842, 855-75 Civic.

I want to go over a couple of things here because we've got a really fun lineup this week.

I'm off Thursday and Friday.

And filling in will be John and Gordy from the WMDX morning show.

Those guys are a lot of fun.

They filled in for me before and do a great job.

And they, I know Conrad is probably more looking forward to working with them than he is with me, which is, that's okay.

I'll take a backseat to John and Gordy.

And I'm speaking for the K-Man, which I shouldn't do, but John and Gordy are great.

They'll be here Thursday and Friday.

I am going to the YWiga International Film Festival.

to see a lot of Northeast Wisconsin filmmakers work as well as my sons.

So we'll be there.

That will be fun on Thursday night.

And you'll be taking pictures and sending them to me so

I can post them to your socials.

I will now.

Please remind me to do that.

You're so good at that.

The award-winning Amanda Nimmer, our social media guru here at Civic Media and WGBW and WISS.

Tonight, I mentioned Mike Schmidt and Daniel Wheeler and Jason Busse are here tomorrow night.

This is exciting.

There's a film in...

Shot in Dorr County called a cherry pie Christmas and the lead actress Katie Leclerc will be here tomorrow night at 6 35 We will talk to Katie about what it was like filming a holiday movie in Dorr County and frankly Christmas in Dorr County Could you do any better than that?

I'm surprised they don't film most of the Christmas movies there, but Katie

to the best of my knowledge is not a Wisconsinite.

So we'll talk to her a little bit about her experience in Door County and tell you when you can see a cherry pie Christmas.

That will be dropping on streaming very soon.

And then Craig, can it will be here tomorrow night?

He's a filmmaker from Northeast Wisconsin.

Right here in Green Bay, he's got a film at Waiwega.

And then on Wednesday, comedian Rob Brackenridge will be here in the studio, Appledon-based comic, one of our favorites, always a blast.

And Craig, I'm sorry, Ezekiel Drews from the Milwaukee Independent Film Festival will be here on Wednesday at all as well.

And then John and Gordy on Thursday and Friday.

You will not be here Thursday and Friday, is that correct?

I will not.

Okay.

No.

Not

that I'm aware of.

Hey, let's go to our night like question of the night because it's important.

I'm getting there.

Take your time.

Take your time.

No rush.

Do you need me to keep talking?

Yeah, I do

because Conrad moved the

button.

Oh, no.

That darn Conrad.

Here, I'll just say, we don't have to.

We don't need any crazy lead in music.

We don't need the bells and whistles, Amanda.

We've got enough content that means something.

So let's just

go right to the question.

It is Sesame Street's anniversary.

The show dropped on this day.

And what I want to know is, who is your favorite character?

Muppet or human?

They all count.

It was a marriage of Muppets and Humans on this make-believe block that I always wanted to live on.

When I was a kid,

And I started watching Sesame Street and the Electric Company and the awesome Mr. Rogers.

I just loved Sesame Street.

I wanted to live there.

And when I got a little older and realized it was supposed to be kind of a makeshift New York street, I kind of wanted to move to New York.

And I've been to New York and a few times and it's not like Sesame Street.

It's fun.

Anyway, I loved Sesame Street.

So...

My question is, who is your favorite character?

Muppet or human?

Have fun with this one, folks.

855-752-4842.

855-75 Civic or you can text us.

Can they text us on the stream?

Yes.

Well, they can comment on the stream.

They can text us via the app.

If you download the Civic Media app and then select your station, you can join the discussion anytime you want.

Outstanding.

And if you are watching the radio on Facebook, YouTube.

Facebook,

YouTube.

None of them are working right now.

They are working.

Well, they are good.

Your

camera is not

working.

My camera is not working.

That's

right.

No.

So

I have a nice picture of your face

up here right now.

I took the

axolotl down.

It looks

nothing like me.

You took it.

But give us a like or a follow if you're on social media, any of our platforms.

And a big shout out again, as usual.

Dan Marcus, our fearless leader here working diligently with the tireless hero at Chris Casper, who is, who rolled into Green Bay to help us with this problem we've been having.

So I'm sure they will figure it out.

Problems.

They always do problems.

We always have a nice laundry list here for Casper when he, when he comes up from, from Madtown.

So, all right.

So let me know folks would love to hear what you have to say about Sesame Street.

And I want to take this opportunity to say this is exciting.

I was on John and Gordy this morning.

because WMDX is sponsoring a showing of The Godfather of Green Bay, a film I wrote and directed and I also act in.

It's going to be December 4th, doors open at 6 at the Atwood Music Hall, a brand new, beautiful facility in the Atwood neighborhood of Madison, a Godfather of Green Bay film screening.

If you attend this screening, folks, some of the proceeds go to the Dane County

I almost said historical society.

They don't go to the Dane County Historical Society.

They go to the Humane Society.

And it's the whole event is being sponsored by the Atwood Music Hall, WMDX, and Doundren's Distilling, a great company that makes great spirits.

So think about that, folks.

If you're in the market for a road trip to Madison December 4th at the Atwood Music Hall, I'll be there answering questions.

We're going to show the film.

It's kind of a fun film to watch with people.

There's some big laughs in it.

And if you can tolerate my acting, you might really enjoy yourself.

So we're going to do all that.

We're going to read your text when I come back.

And I'm going to tell you about a great movie I saw over the weekend.

And that's all coming up next.

Glad to have you here, folks.

It's Monday night.

This is Nightlight with Peach Waba.

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.

Welcome back.

I'm Pete Schwab.

This is Nightlight.

Great to have you with me, folks.

It's a Monday.

And we are back at it talking about really fun stuff that help us forget the problems in life.

Even though we're dealing with a couple problems of our own here tonight.

You know, the camera is not working.

So if you are watching on the stream, you can't see me, but the guests will be there.

It's going to be fine.

It does hurt a little bit because I'm having an outstanding hair day, but-

It's always

on those days.

I know.

I had a virtual rats nest last week and the thing was working perfectly.

So our question of the night is, who's your favorite Sesame Street character?

Human or Muppet?

You can go either way.

This is the anniversary of Sesame Street.

I want to say it's like 55, but it's been around forever.

And let us know.

Favorite Sesame Street character, that is tonight's question of the night.

Mike Schmidt will be here at 635.

He's the host of the

40-year-old boy podcast and a very, very funny stand-up comedian and Daniel Wheeler and Jason Busse, the creative forces behind the film, The Voice in the Vessel, which plays at the YWiga Film Festival this week will be here at 7.20.

Fun guests, great question.

Be part of the show.

Do not waste any more time, folks.

56th.

What is it?

56th.

I was close.

I was doing that from memory.

I was kind of raised on Sesame Street.

It was weird.

Did you know that was considered very subversive at the time when it came out?

I did, actually.

Really?

Mm-hmm.

I find that insane.

Well, I mean, when you're looking back and you're like, oh, Church has banned this movie or this TV show or this book, and you're like, well, I like nothing happened

to it.

Yeah.

It's just, but whatever.

OK.

Elvis

is dancing.

I saw a movie this weekend that was not my typical movie.

Alien.

Badlands, not alien.

Predator, Badlands.

It was good.

Got like 85% critics reviews, a fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

95% of audiences like it.

And here's the crazy thing, Amanda.

The predator doesn't speak English, obviously.

He doesn't speak human.

He has his own crazy language.

So that was subtitled.

Then Elle Fanning plays a robot.

So there are really no humans in the movie.

And then they pick up a side character from this planet he goes to to kill the leader to prove his worth to his father So it's got all these like kind of Joseph Campbell themes going on, but it was good It was it was a nice once you got past the fact that there are no human beings in the film

So it's just aliens versus robots

Yeah, pretty much, but these two team up and then there's a guy from the from that planet who joins them to

a young.

Anyway, there's a couple twists, a nice message.

I really did like it.

And here's what I, and you tell me what you think of this because you have a six year old, the PG-13 rating.

There are heads getting lopped off.

I mean, I know they're robots, but the robots are being played by human beings.

It's very violent.

It irritates me that people flip out over boobs or swearing or a butt or whatever, but this is okay.

It's crazy.

Honestly, it's funny you brought that up.

So I turned on a movie.

It was, uh, it's got Johnny Depp in it.

I want to say it's called Dark Shadow.

I've never seen it.

Okay.

So I turned it on because it said it had a PG-13 rating.

And I'm like, okay, my six-year-old see movies like that.

It shouldn't be that bad.

Right.

And then it started getting a little bit, a little bit too bad for him.

And I'm like, okay, we're just gonna turn this off.

I don't know how some of this is PG-13 anymore.

It's insane.

It's terrible.

It makes me wonder, are they just slowly changing the rating systems?

I think the money influences it too though because the PG-13 rating was created basically by Steven Spielberg because I was at the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies were kind of violent even though they were fun and so they made this kind of in between to keep Steven Spielberg happy.

As I understand it, it might have been a different movie of his, but I know he was very influential, but yeah, I don't get it.

And I, you know, in the movie, I was just talking about that I made, The Godfather of Green Bay, which you can see December 4th in Madison.

Tickets are only 10 bucks.

Amanda, are you looking for a road trip with your fella and your little one?

Think about it.

I'll think about it.

10 bucks.

I'll think about it.

There was some drug use weed in the movie, a few people hitting a joint.

You know, the only person topless in the movie is me, God forbid.

And there's some swearing.

And we got an R rating.

But then I'm watching Alien.

Or Alien.

But did you have

to make changes in order to, like, get to the R rating?

Because there's been

so

many directors who, like, they present that final cut of their movie.

And then it's an NC 17.

And you're like, no, you want that R rating.

We

have to make

some changes.

We didn't have to really do any of that.

No, we didn't.

It was pretty tame.

I mean, it's just a comedy that.

There's like kind of one romance scene in the film between my character and Lauren Holly's character.

You know, that's about it.

And there's not really any nudity.

There's no violence, I guess.

There's a couple gunshots, but it's pretty tame, especially by modern standards.

So anyway, what are you gonna do?

But check out Predator Badlands.

I thought it was pretty good.

And let's go to our, do you see this text comment from, is it Tim?

No.

I'm aga- I just saw the name.

Can you see the text on the

stream?

Uh, yes.

That was because the sound was off before.

But we have sound.

It's been fixed.

Okay.

Yes.

So what is that emoji?

I can't even see this.

It's a monkey holding his

ears.

Oh, that makes sense.

Little monkey.

Very well done.

I'm a good lay.

Um, all right.

And then we've got some social media responses too, to our question here.

Let's get to, uh, I say Ernie and Bert.

my favorite Sesame Street characters, and Mr. Hooper, who was originally on the show.

He passed away probably not that

long ago.

He ran the store.

He ran the store with David.

David was his apprentice, who I think took over the store after Mr. Hooper passed away.

And then David and Maria got together, both very likable human characters.

But I say Ernie and Bert, and I think Bert

It's funnier because he's always tormented by Ernie and he's kind of a sad sack.

I mean,

that's the joke.

It's the joke.

Yeah, it's a little annoying just to

annoy him

Yeah, so I don't know do you have a favorite to assess me see

I always loved Murray and

I don't

I don't believe they actually use Murray anymore, which makes me sad but I want to say like at least 15 years ago

Murray used to do like Murray on the streets and he'd like

run

up and like start asking kids questions asking random characters questions and I don't know I always liked him and wormy and Oscar

All great characters.

Let us know who your favorite Sesame Street character is Muppet or human That's the question of the night Mike Schmidt is gonna be here right after the news folks We're gonna hit on the Brady Bunch the Kardashians Tarantino everything with Mike It's peach wabba in night like great to have you with me on the Civic Media Radio Network

This is night like great to have you with me folks.

It is a Monday night as we broadcast statewide from Beautiful downtown Green Bay on a pretty chilly night.

Would you say this is the coldest night we've had so far Amanda?

Oh, yeah, I actually had to pull out my jacket

Yeah,

which made me really sad because I love to play that game of how long can I go?

But

I mean

I've lost 90 pounds and I am so cold So cold all the

time.

It's a good thing though, right?

It's gonna be cold every once in a while

I'm the same way.

This fall has been way too gorgeous, and I knew it was going to end at some point.

Our question of the night is, who is your favorite Sesame Street character?

Human or Muppet, they celebrate their 56th year since the show dropped.

Trig on social media says Kermit.

Our civic media pal Don Brown says Ernie.

Scott Tom.

You know Scott Tom.

We had Jimmy Parto on recently.

Scott is like the biggest.

Jimmy Pardo fan.

But he says, am I a man or am I a muppet?

If a man that makes me a muppet of a man, also Ernie.

That's so inside, I don't even get that.

But well done, Scott.

Alan says, Zoot, he's so chill.

See, I stopped watching Sesame Street when I was like 35.

So some of these characters I haven't even heard of, Eric Rathsak, our pal from Ask Your Mother says, Bert and Ernie.

Mostly Ernie, Ernie harassing Bert.

See, I said Bert and Ernie too.

Eric, but I think Burt is funnier.

I think I love the sad sack element to Burt's character.

Zoot is apparently a saxophonist.

Okay.

Little Muppet dude.

I don't really like Zoot.

I think he needs a beating.

All right, we are gonna move on here.

I'm gonna welcome my first guest.

I love, love, love when this guy's on the show.

He's one of my very good friends and we met years and years ago doing stand-up comedy and he stuck with it in his...

immensely talented and he is also the host of the 40 year old boy podcast.

One of the best ones out there.

He joins us now over the stream.

Mr. Mike Schmidt.

Hey buddy.

Pete, how are you friend?

I'm good.

You can't see me tonight for reasons unknown.

We're working on it, but I can see you and you look good buddy.

I'm just out the shower.

So I get a little my lettuce is a little askew.

I apologize for that.

I hope we got Amanda.

Is that her?

Amanda is here.

It's filling in for the lost lost 90 pounds.

Congratulations.

That's huge.

Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

Absolutely.

I miss spread.

Oh, bread is so good, isn't it?

Bread is amazing.

Sadly, you know what I found?

I used to eat, like I used to date a woman who, all right, she worked in a bakery and the baker dude made cheese bread.

You know what cheese bread is?

It's like bread that baked with like a fist of cheese in the center of it, dude.

And it is, no butter, no nothing.

I ate that like chips.

I mean, pieces of bread watching TV, like a monster.

It was crazy.

That is awesome.

Bread is the best.

No question about that.

It's

good to see you, buddy.

It's good to see you.

How is there no Cookie Monster voted in on the Muppet thing?

I mean, he's clearly the champion of all Muppets.

Dude, I got

one

heavily seriously behind on text.

There's gotta be.

I've literally read five texts so far.

So I guarantee there's Cookie Monster as

probably

as well as Elmo.

Do you have a favorite, Mike?

Cookie Monster.

I started him like he was Jesus when I was growing up.

Forget it.

He is the greatest.

I wish I was.

Dude, you ever see the clip of when Kermit's talking to the little girl and she's doing the alphabet and she keeps saying Cookie Monster and making him mad?

No, I

don't

remember.

Oh, dude, you know, Amanda, have you seen it?

It's striking a memory,

but it goes viral every, every, like periodically.

And it's like, it's literally Kermit sitting with a little girl.

She's probably like three.

And he goes, ABC, I can't do Kermit.

And then she's like, she jumps in and she goes, he goes ABC to EFGA and she goes Cookie Monster.

And she just starts laughing.

There's three year old girl laugh.

that will you'll cry you'll curl up in a ball and cry because she's the greatest you want to get a time machine and build it and go kill Hitler but first you'll stop where she is and hug her because she's so gorgeous at three years old you just want to be like i want your life to be perfect

oh

that's and they do the whole and kermit keeps pretending like he's mad yeah it's cookie monsters not a letter of the alphabet whatever it's so great you find it

Have you seen the, uh, when Bert does do in the pigeon, remember that

one?

Oh,

God.

They, that's one of the few times you could see Bert's legs and they're pulling the marionette things and he does kind of this funky thing.

I'm acting it out like I'm on camera and I'm not, but we had, uh, Rich Brown was over once and I was showing the clip to my son and rich started doing the pigeon.

It's, it's just a great memory, Mike, but, but, but Google Bert doing the pigeon and you will laugh hysterically.

It's just outstanding.

I

once, you know, on on stage, I would tag a joke.

I forget.

I don't remember the joke.

I just remember the tag.

I said, I walked out of there like a muppet.

And I would do that every time people go crazy.

It was so dumb.

I probably get the biggest laugh on my act, the dumbest thing I ever said.

That's kind of like a mic drop without having to drop the mic.

You just muppet it

off.

That's great.

Yeah, so dumb.

They can't see me either, can they?

No, they can see Mike, right, Amanda?

Yeah,

that's

perfect.

You're

crushing

it, man.

All right.

Sorry, everybody.

That's great stuff.

Hey, I wanted to, I'm going to pivot here because you brought up something we have never gotten to before.

And I'm fascinated by, you know, back when we all started doing stand up or in the entertainment business, there were a variety of day jobs.

You were a bouncer.

And I personally, that doesn't surprise me.

You're kind of an intimidating guy.

You probably don't know this.

I was a bouncer for six months, Mike, when I was 20.

No, dude, that's amazing.

On Rush Street at the Ginger Man, Division Street, more specifically.

And I thought I was a tough guy, you know, and I did it for about six months.

And then I wanted to go on vacation, so I just quit.

I wasn't really committed.

Did you give it two week or did you just go, I'm leaving in the middle of a brawl?

You know, no, no, no.

That would have been a good time to leave.

But

the

worst I ever got was an elbow to the face when we were trying to take a guy who was doing cocaine out of the bathroom.

And so I didn't really see any, uh, any terrible action.

But what it was really was I was home.

I think I was dating a girl at the time for spring break.

I was like a junior in college and I just didn't feel like going back to Chicago at that time.

So I called and quit over the phone and they said, you know, you can never work here again.

And I said, well, I'm quitting.

Anyway, but you've done it.

You're great at this.

And you, you must have stories because you did it a lot longer than I am.

You're probably a 10 times better bouncer than I am.

I'm sure of that.

Well, I don't think I miss her.

Did you say you were 20 working at the gingerman?

And the guy violation of some laws.

You know what?

The guy, his name was Dave and he was a great guy.

And he said, here's my interview.

Can you take care of yourself?

I said, yeah, I grew up here at two, Mike.

So I looked older.

I said, yeah, he never even asked me.

To see my ID Really

and here let me just like the first step of the job Well,

it's his job.

That's the job.

You're trying to get he didn't card me exactly and This guy after I quit a year later.

I thought he's not gonna like me either I had some of my friends down visiting in Chicago and we went to a place called you remember a bar called

Teabirds or Thunderbirds.

I do it was owned by I think was the hot club I think Gary fencing on it before that But anyway, so he's bouncing there.

I walk up with three friends He goes hey, he's like happy to see me takes us good fellow style back through the kitchen So we don't have to wait in line for like an hour to get into this club and my friends

Looked at me like I was God and it lasted about two days and I was just

back You know what a two-day run is good.

I'll take it get that absolutely, right?

Absolutely

my guest is Mike Schmidt He is the host of the 40 year old boy podcast check it out folks very funny.

He's a very talented stand-up comic and You know his day job was as a bouncer.

How did that go Mike?

What was that like?

When did you start?

I don't know if day jobs appropriate.

We'll say that I guess except when I you know the first one I ever had was in Nevada because I used to live in Tahoe and I got a job at a nightclub in a and it was a 24-hour deal like I mean we closed at 6 a.m.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, I'll go over the goal post to eat bar food or whatever and play pop a shot but When I got that job, I you know it that was the first time like as it was that was just a goofy job like I was literally I checked things at the door.

There wasn't any real problems, but

I did get to tune a guy up like and I and I wasn't even it just sort of happened but

And it was so, not that I think about it.

Like I should have gone to four jails.

I mean, it's so bad, but I'm in the DJ booth, right?

I'm up at the top of the ramp.

There's steps down to the dance floor around the DJ booth, but the men's room is right there in a straight line from the DJ booth.

So I'm up in the DJ booth with a buddy of mine and I just, you're fight, fight, fight.

And I see a big scramble in the men's room.

And I just see like two dudes hitting one guy.

And so I don't know, I'm dude.

And at the time I'm, you know, I'm six two.

Yeah.

And at the time, I'm probably 240, 64.

So I'm still at my peak 40 year old, 40 yard dash speed.

And I'm running downhill.

So I go sprinting toward the bathroom.

And I don't, I don't like stop and go, Hey, there are fellows enough with the Roughnecks.

I went into them like a bowling ball into pins.

I just ran through them like they were tackle dummies.

And through the bathroom door, I obliterated all three.

I didn't care who was fighting just redo those trying to stop it.

I ran I crushed them all dude and I'll never forget the feeling because it was awesome It was really because I laid them out you turn around and they're just you know cuckoo birds and like

Astros flying around their head.

It

was great And uh, and then everybody look because again, I was just kind of the the nice guy I was fun.

I was a nice dude people They knew what I was there for and then when they saw that it was that thing where then everybody gets that oh Yeah, let's not do anything bad around Mike like that kind of thing

And that's, you don't want to be that guy.

Nobody should want to be that guy, but there is that sliver that it's like, yeah, I'm dangerous.

Don't do anything bad around me.

So that was the first time I got a, you know, a taste of absolutely- You were like a first

responder.

When other guys are running out of the men's room, you're running into the men's room.

Well, it's funny that you admit, yeah, absolutely.

When I bounced, I wound up getting a job at, when I came to California, I had to find a gig here.

This is in the early, the late nineties.

And the first place I went and interviewed was I interviewed at the, uh, at the body shop on sunset.

You know where it is, right?

I know.

Yeah.

Strip club.

Yeah.

And so I walked in and I mean, I had been a bouncer, like security bouncer and stuff.

And, you know, like if you go to a concert, you see those guys in the yellow windbreakers.

I used to be one of those guys.

Like I worked, like I worked a Slayer concert in like early the early nineties and the night before the fans had destroyed the San Diego sports arena.

because they had seats and Slayer's a pit, the whole thing, the whole arena becomes a pit.

So I went to the to go work the Slayer show in LA and they lined us up military style, which they never did because this is like, you know, again, we're making 775 an hour.

So but they lined us up in Rose and the dude who ran it like walked around like Patton giving a speech about how San Diego fell and that was not going to be the case here in Los Angeles.

And

I thought it was funny.

I'm just like, all right, well, this is a bunch of people just trying to stay off snap.

You know what I mean?

And a bunch of USC football players who just want to hurt people.

That was the whole crew.

Wow.

So we go on to the arena in LA that was at the Los Angeles Sports Arena.

And there's seats.

And here's their, but this was their one change that they thought was going to save the day.

They zip tied the seats together on the main floor.

at the legs, they zip tied them all the way down.

So I walked out and I just laughed.

Cause I was on, they're like, I was on the main floor, which meant I was in the pit and they told us, they said, listen, you see anybody with a wristband with spikes, anybody who does anything starts to mosh, you throw them out of the building.

I

said, then you're, and I even went to my guy, I go, then you're going to throw 8,000 people out of this building.

And he goes, look, man, I'm just telling you, it's not going to be like San Diego.

Like he was, he had deluded himself into thinking they could stop it.

So I'm on the floor above this before the show lights around the and Kerry King who's the guitarist for Slayer comes out on the floor and I I'm not going to pass up the opportunity and I so I go up to him and I'm like hey man big fan and I talk music a little bit and he looks around he goes chairs I go dude you wouldn't believe this I go they told us no mashing and he just started laughing and he goes good luck and he went up on you know he went backstage and then Testament was the opening band

So I'm telling you, the place fills up, and then when Testament's gonna go on, you start to hear this kind of ominous like hum from the speaker, and then the lights go down, and the entire building turns into denang at midnight.

Because you just see shadows in your periphery moving because people are coming down from the bowl to the pit.

They're ignoring their tickets in their seats.

They all want to be in the pit on the main floor.

So they just come running.

Mike, let me, let me,

let me pause you right there.

You know how we do this here.

We got these heartbreaks.

Mike is in the middle of a story and I hate to cut them off, but we're coming back after a short break to hear the rest of the pit story.

It's Pete Schwab and nightlight with Mike Schmidt.

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.

I am Pete Schwab.

Great to have you with me.

Nick from Marshall.

He's in the 608 says, Hey, Pete, how's it going?

My favorite Sesame Street character is Cookie Monster.

Mike will be very happy.

And he says, and I can do a pretty good impersonation of him that would really make my niece and nephew laugh.

Thank you, Nick.

Good to hear from you, buddy.

Mike Schmidt is my guest.

He is a very funny standup comedian and the host of the 40 year old boy podcast.

And we're talking about his days as a bouncer working Slayer concert.

at the LA sports arena, or is it the, no, it's the sports arena, right, Mike?

Yeah.

It's gone now.

They tore it down.

That was where I saw Springsteen.

He used to call it the dump, the jumps or something like that.

He loved that place.

It was great.

So please,

please continue your story.

The people were coming down out of the seats to where you're bouncing in the

pit.

You could just hear this.

I mean, again, it was just this silence with shadows moving.

Then Testament kicks in and they're railing and the pit just starts.

And as the pit starts, I'm looking at other security dudes who have no idea they look at me like what is going on?

And I'm and I'd been to shows.

I'm not that guy, but I'd been to Slayer shows.

So I knew it was it was going to happen.

And then all of a sudden, like above the crowd, you just see an entire row of seats get pushed up on top.

And they launch it.

And they start tearing the seats apart, stomping them into the ground.

You know, again, if they can't get the zip ties down, they just jumped on them until they became flat.

And because the, you know, the whole edict from Patton was like, grab anybody with a wristband.

I would grab dudes.

I just throw them in a half Nelson and run them to the edge of this, like to the exit on the side of the stage and just hand them off.

We had guys just throwing dudes out and then they would tell them, just go around to the front.

They'll let you back in.

because Slayer security didn't want anybody ejected because this is what the people wear.

This is the way the show is supposed to be.

So then when Slayer hit, forget it, Slayer security comes down with us and the dude comes up to me and he's like, no more throwing, no more throwing anybody out.

I said, great.

But unfortunately the USC football players, they loved the idea of a pit.

So they just waited and swinging like they were just hitting people.

Yeah and they would get swallowed up and I got swallowed up trying to you know I'm trying to break stuff up but also break stop people down and pull out my guys.

At the end of the show I mean again I'm wearing a nylon windbreaker it was in tatters.

It looked like I was wearing birthday streamers.

I can speak

from

experience.

You get sucked into a mosh pit.

You got to fight your way out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And there's good mosh.

Like there was a dude, like I was working at the house of blues once and there was a big dude and he would, you know, the mosh is going counterclockwise.

Well, he's, he's at six o'clock and he would run through the mosh and smash people.

He was a big dude.

So I saw him and I'm like, all right, I'm going to get this guy.

Even though I'm security, what I'm supposed to do is tell him to stop.

But I was like, I don't care.

So I'm waiting for him.

And I'm waiting.

And he was a big doofy Bob's big boy looking dude, too, like with the quaff and the whole bit.

But he was like six, five, probably in a heavy.

And at this time, I'm bigger now.

I'm like, I'm probably like four bills when this happens.

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And so I'm waiting.

I'm just lurking like, like Kirby in a video game, just floating in the periphery.

Can't wait.

And sure enough, he takes off through the middle of the pit.

And I sprint as fast as a four hundred pound dude can.

And I blessed this guy straight like literally glory days of Tahoe in my brain.

It was the same method.

And I crushed him.

I crushed him so much that the pit is still going.

But people yell, yeah, like they were so happy.

And then I, you know, then I lifted him up and me and three other dudes dragged him out.

But it was like, don't don't be a jerk.

What are you in the pit?

Amanda knows you.

It doesn't.

I've been in many Amash pit.

But $750 an hour, Mike, at what point you obviously could have paid you $3 an hour.

It sounds like you would have loved it.

But at what point did you ever get close to something where you're like, well, that's too much.

I'm not mixing

up.

Well, I tell you this, at the House of Blues, we had a bunch of guys.

And the guy who ran the bouncers at that time was a guy named Lewis.

And he had been an assistant deputy in Atlanta.

But then he took a security job with the organization that owned the house of blues.

So we had a racially mixed group of bouncers.

Yeah.

And when anything would happen, we had a guy named big game, big James was the club float.

He was six, eight, probably 300 pounds.

And he would just walk around.

And if anything happened, he was there and he would help.

Okay.

Well, I, you know, as you can hear, I

I was, I was nice to people.

I was a good, you know, I hate to say this.

I was the nice bouncer.

I made people laugh in line, checking their IDs.

I was cool.

But if something happened, something happened.

Once I was working in the pit for Sepultura, I don't know, for Mina, a band named Mina and Mina, you know, they're a Hispanic rock band.

and they threw a flag, a Mexican flag into the crowd, and a woman caught it, and then she got sworn by like four dudes, and I leaned over the barricade, and I'm trying to get the flag for her, and I'm grabbing it, and these guys are tugging it, and I'm grabbing it, and finally, I'm like, let go of the flag, let go of the flag, let go of the, and then I grabbed this dude by the hair, and I pulled his head back, and I'm right in his face, and I go, let go of the effing flag, and he let go of it, and I took it, and I handed it to the girl.

So the rest of the show happens.

And we go backstage for like the big, you know, the discussion of what happened and big James comes in, he's off to the side, we're all there and he just comes in and he goes, 454.

And he walks and he comes walking through and he grabs me and he puts his hand on my shoulder and he goes, 454, big block engine doesn't stop running, ain't no joke.

And so then all of everybody started calling me 454 because they knew

It was a pretty good nickname when you were bouncing because, you know, I worked with, I don't want to say there was another comedian there, like a, you know, white dude, and he wouldn't get involved in any fights.

He would just like call for help.

Right.

But I would just leap in like an idiot.

So I and so I got to be friends with a lot of the with, you know, it was like I said, a lot of the black dudes, they were all they knew they could count on me.

Yeah.