Transcript
New Year’s Eve Laughs and Packers Passion (Hour 3)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Tue Dec 30, 2025
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Great to have you folks.
This is Nightlight, a Tuesday edition, but it kind of feels like a Friday edition because it's our last live show of the year.
We will have highlight shows running throughout the rest of the week with some of our favorite moments.
If you missed the show so far, we've had a lot of fun.
Conrad, are you having fun?
I'm having lots of fun.
Just thinking about meat, you know?
How about, Paul, that's such a Wisconsin question.
Like, why does he equate that with Wisconsin?
Like, I get, I got it.
Well, all right, we got to meet everywhere.
Rob will be on the show.
I believe January 12th.
He'll be back soon.
I can't wait to have Rob back on the show.
Always fun to talk to comics, especially old friends like Paul Gilmartin, who we just had on before the news.
And it's funny, like if you had a quarter for every story people told you about yourself that you forgot about, it would just be fun to shift through the quarters, I think.
But it was great to have Paul on.
We had Mike Clemens on in hour number two as well.
If you missed all the fun,
Folks go to civicmedia.us and check out Hours number one and two of tonight's edition of nightlight.
It's been a lot of fun so far and lots more to go I'm gonna welcome another friend of mine in just a minute Jim McHugh will be here and then Mike Couth from comedy sports He is a head coach at the Milwaukee institution.
He will be joining us at 720 And we will talk to Mike about a really actually this hour Conrad is dedicated to fun events on New Year's Eve that will make
people laugh that is what uh hour number three here or act three as i call it is all about but uh check out the uh hours number one and two if you missed it folks it's been a lot of fun uh chris casper our pal in the 608 says how is smoked salmon not a meat well because it's a fish but you know what i've learned not to argue with chris casper he says fish is meat he says anything that has eyes is meat
Mean I'm fine with that.
I'm that's not a hill I would die on Like go ahead call fish meat.
I don't care.
I don't think typically it is considered me But you know Casper's a bright guy I believe Bridget in the 818 says tenderloin with a great sauce Great sauce.
I'm intrigued Bridget like what do you mean ketchup?
So there you go our question of the night folks.
Why don't we reintroduce the question of the night Conrad for our last hour of 2025?
Here's the night like question of the night.
talk
about the question.
Okay question.
Question.
Question.
Domanda.
Question.
Question.
What is your favorite kind of meat?
that's right ladies and gentlemen a very vague question have fun with it tonight today actually is national bacon day one of the greatest inventions ever made and i'll even throw turkey bacon on that too i like me some turkey bacon once in a while uh but let us know what your favorite kind of meat is 855-752-4842-855-75 civic you can also text us on the app
Or if you're watching the radio on the stream at Facebook, YouTube, or X, you can drop us a stream comment and we will read that on the radio as well.
Be part of the show, folks.
It's always more fun when you guys participate.
How are we doing, Con?
Am I on top of... What am I missing?
doing great.
We're doing great.
I'm crushing it tonight, aren't I?
You should just tell me.
I know it really hurts you to give me compliments.
I mean,
That's what I'm here for.
All right, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome.
Oh, God, look at that.
Do you see Casper's comment on that?
He says, fish is meat.
LOL.
Are you serious?
And you know what?
It's the insulting kind of, are you serious?
Because he didn't even put a question mark, which means he's making a statement.
I'm going to give you this
to
We just got
Go to the Google con.
Take a memo.
Go to the Google.
And we'll get back to Casper.
But right now, I'm going to welcome another friend of mine to the show.
He is a very funny comedian who is Chicago based and Conrad, are you ready for this?
He's a serious Packer fan and he books a great room for comedy here in Wisconsin.
So he might be just as conflicted about his residency where he lives as I am with mine, given our dual citizenship or so to speak, something like that.
Comedian Jim McHugh joins me now.
Hey, buddy.
Pete, I got to tell you.
You know, listening to Paul, it was great reminiscing Paul and all the Chicago stories.
By the way, Bill Gorgos says hello.
I want to say goodbye because we got to 2025 getting out of our hair here.
And yes, talking about shipwrecks, the Packer game this past Saturday, we'll go down as a shipwreck.
I want to say this, as you know,
and I'm sure your your sports director know and Conrad's know.
So who is the original owner of the Packers?
The Bears.
No, no, that who owned the Packer team?
I don't know.
I don't know.
It wasn't the city initially, right?
So I it was ACME packing.
You remember ACME packing, ACME packing.
And that's exactly what happened on Saturday night.
It was like Wiley Coyote was running all over the place and no, nothing that
Wiley Coyote could do, could stop the Road Runner.
It was like watching the Road Runner just run through and everything that Acme, that Acme had that could throw at the Road Runner, you couldn't stop Derek Henry.
No way, no how.
Jim, first of all, let me just say this.
I appreciate how passionate you are about your team.
You live in Chicago.
You're a huge Packer fan.
I also love that you got the fire going there.
I feel like this is a fireside chat.
It's a lovely end of the year appearance with the background.
I
was just out shoveling 10 minutes ago.
No, it's brutal.
I know.
Listen, I applaud you.
Do you take a lot of, like, here's the deal.
When I moved from Chicago here in junior high, I took so much abuse from Packer fans.
And I didn't even know the rivalry.
I mean, I knew it was the Packers, and my mom at the time was a Packer fan.
I got that it was a rivalry, but not how intense it was until I moved here.
What has your experience been as a Packer fan in Chicago?
You know, I kind of hold up a whole lot.
So here's the deal.
Obviously, I have a lot of friends who are Bear fans.
And I'm a sports guy.
I still play a bunch of sports.
Wow.
And I get it.
We are all emotionally invested in our team.
So I have plenty of friends who are bear fans.
So I don't throw it in their face.
I don't have to.
The Packers and their record throws it in their face.
I don't have to say anything.
So they're very envious of me and the Packer fans because they want to be where we are.
And I get it.
And I watch the Packers through a different, the Bears through a different prism because I'm watching them as somebody we have to play twice a year.
And I try to figure out if they're going to be good or bad.
And they've done a really good job.
Their biggest decision that they made was hiring Ben Johnson.
Huge, huge ad for them.
And they fixed their offensive line.
And Caleb Williams can sling the ball.
So I mean, they're on the come.
So there's great games to be had.
Obviously, as anybody that's watched the last couple of games, it puts your heart in.
If you don't have AFib,
Or if you have AFib, you can just sit there and just watch a replay of the Bears Packer games over the last three weeks.
And I think you're hard to go right back into rhythm.
It's brutal.
And I'll tell you what, for both sides, because I know Packer fan friends of mine, and I've got tons of them, were saying they thought Williams was going to win that first game.
And then after what happened in the second game, I've never even seen a game like that.
But if you have a prediction, or supposedly they're going to meet in the playoffs, most arrows point toward
you know, another match up between the Bears and Packers.
How do you think that's going to go?
Okay.
So when the first, you know, when this particular schedule came out and watching the season go, I, when you had two games in three weeks, my initial thought was I knew the Bears have been playing decent football and went in late.
So, you know, sometimes that luck runs out.
It is what it is.
But I said at the beginning, I said the Bears and Packers are going to split this year.
And they did.
Now, I didn't know if the Bears were going to pull one off out of Lambeau and the Bears were going to win one back at home.
But after the Packers won in Lambeau, I kind of figured that the Bears were going to hold court at Soldier Field.
And they did.
So what do I think is going to happen?
I think it's going to be Bears Packers.
The Packers, they just got to get healthy.
And I'm not sure if that's going to happen this year.
That's the problem.
Even next year, as we're right around the corner from New Year's Eve, the Packers, and I've said this for, I'm not saying anything that no other coach doesn't say.
You've got to be healthy, and you've got to be healthy in the playoffs, and the Packers are limping in.
I don't think the Bears are ready yet for prime time.
I think the Packers will beat the Bears, but I don't know if they're going to get past that.
I just think the Bears or the Packers are just a little bit too beat up.
And, you know, I certainly don't want to see Baltimore anymore.
I mean, it's a very
astute prediction there, Jim.
I'm impressed.
Yeah.
And I've been pretty close with my stuff.
You know, somebody said, what's the, you know, I played football only in high school and I had a couple of running backs that ran over me.
And I told my wife, I said, I said, trying to tackle Derek Henry.
I said, imagine this, imagine somebody's on the second floor of a building.
and they throw you down a you have to catch it.
Th to tackle Derek Henry is a running refrigerator and it's not an easy thing.
So
our sport said he's 32.
I didn't r was at age and he's still impressive.
He's an impressive man.
I you know, the one thing that I have
Most of the people that I know from Green Bay and are Green Bay fans.
Green Bay is a shrine to football.
If you haven't been to Lambeau Field, you need to get to Lambeau Field.
It's a great place to see a game.
And here's the thing, the people treat you with respect and they love that you're there watching the game in a neighborhood.
It's in a neighborhood.
It's like Wrigley Field.
Yeah, you drive by and it's like houses and then, oh, wow, there's this football shrine.
Absolutely.
It's amazing.
you don't get that kind of welcoming in Chicago.
I will say that.
So when you go to the game and if you're wearing a packer jersey, you're going to hear some insults.
You're going to hear some things.
And then all we do is we just sit there and say, oh yeah, it was the last time you guys were in a playoffs.
Oh, OK.
OK.
Conversations over, I think.
So I mean, I don't like to throw it back in their face.
But if you're going to come at me, see, now the Bears are getting good.
So they're getting a little confident and cocky, even though.
even though, you know, they still have some ways to go.
They do it.
This is so fun.
Why didn't I have you on earlier to talk about Bears Packers?
This is so great because I had you on to talk about this great New Year's Eve show.
I didn't know you were going to come out here and be like Brent Musburger and talk with all this football knowledge.
This is impressive.
You know, it's consuming.
You know, we are all emotionally consumed with our teams.
Right.
You know, it was.
It was difficult to watch the other day.
It really was.
The one thing that was great about the other day was watching Malik Willis play.
And when he went down a week ago, my son and I are huge pack of fans.
And my daughter, my wife are.
And I got a limited group.
I said, Malik Willis is great.
I said, he is a great backup quarterback.
And we're not going to miss a beat.
And he's got skills that Jordan Love doesn't have.
And that's unfortunate.
Jordan Love's a great quarterback.
Don't get me wrong.
But he is not a running quarterback.
And that's what Malik Willis is.
And it's a different scheme to try to defend.
So I mean, you saw how well he did on Saturday, even in a losing effort.
If it wasn't for Malik Willis, I mean, it was going to look a lot worse than it did.
This is great.
Okay.
Jim McHugh is here folks.
He is a Chicago based comedian who books memories ballroom and we're going to do a very short break.
We haven't even gotten to the whole reason I had Jim here because we've gotten a bear packer talk, which is fun too.
But we'll come back with Jim.
He's going to tell you all about a great New Year's Eve show in Port Washington.
That's on the other side of the break.
And then we got Mike Kalth folks.
You don't want to miss any of this.
Lots of shows still to come.
It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media radio network.
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So, Pete Schwabba, you've got the Civic Media Radio Network.
We are broadcasting statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay.
I'm actually even further north of there tonight because of the roads, but it is great to have you with me either way.
My guest is Jim McHugh.
He is a Chicago-based stand-up comedian and serious Packer fan, as we just heard, but he's really here to talk about a great show at Memories Ballroom.
We're going to talk about that.
And then Mike Couth is waiting in the wings, too.
We'll have Mike in just a few minutes, but Jim Books, a great
Then you called Memories Ballroom in Port Washington.
Jim, tell us about the New Year's Eve show tomorrow night.
Yeah, you know, Pete, I've been very blessed to
be able to help run a book, this particular venue, Memories Ballroom in Port Washington, Wisconsin, and been doing it for about the last, I don't know, 15, 17 years, something to that effect.
Having great shows, a lot of great comics, Roland, Roebuck and his staff, Lisa Green, they do a wonderful job.
They do, we don't, we only do like six, seven comedy shows a year, so it's not all the time.
And they do a great job.
They do a bunch of music, or sorry, dinner theater, and they do a great job at their
service and everybody has a wonderful job.
We have a great show on New Year's Eve and this will be our third time with the All Star Group and I'm a part of and I'm still doing stand up.
I know you're listening to Paul and you know it started you know and by the way if you got to check out I'm not sure check out Paul's website he does great cutting boards cutting boards I'm not sure if he's still doing those he could ship those anywhere.
But those are probably a lot of work, but
I believe
he
does.
Yeah, I'm going to check it out after the show.
Paul's very meticulous and everything he did, whether it was stand up or woodworking, I'm sure.
So
no Paul for a long time as you as well.
And hearing John Regi's name mentioned and.
All the guys, it was great.
We have a great show up in memories.
Tomorrow night, New Year's Eve, show starts at 8 o'clock.
It's a dinner, dinner show.
Get there around six o'clock to have dinner and you'll have a wonderful time with that.
On the show, we have Michelle Krajeki, Chicago based comedian.
Very funny, I've known Michelle for a long time.
Also, Des Mulroney, who I know you just had on last night.
on the show he is a
very
funny great funny kid and certainly know his dad uh tp for many many years when i first started um and to be working with his son it's kind of a makes you scratch your head going what am i doing i still doing this what am i doing this i should be making furniture um all right uh and uh also we have a very funny guy from just south of madison wisconsin david shenlinger
is on the show.
I was going to see if we could have David on, but we just wasn't able to get the time worked out.
But David, he just lives south of Madison.
A very funny guy.
You'll appreciate this analogy when I tell you who David reminds me of.
He's got a long gray beard.
He kind of looks like David Letterman a little bit.
But he reminds me, for Chicago comedians and people that you would know, he's a kind of cross between Jim Higgins and Paul Kelly.
Oh, wow.
Oh, that's a lot of funny right there.
That's great.
Yeah, very good joke writer and just knows how to deliver a joke.
I mean, you know, we talk about Paul Kelly still with us lives down in North Carolina.
And he's back doing stand up a little bit here and there and he's written all new stuff because Paul said he can't remember his old stuff.
Where can people get tickets, Jim?
Where can they find information about tomorrow night?
You go to memories ballroom.com.
And you can check out their website and buy tickets.
We may be close to the sellout, but check on that.
I know there's various tickets arrangements, but it's a dinner show package is what you're getting.
It's a great show.
There's we have the show starting at the dinner first, the show from eight to 10.
And then we have DJ and dancing for the rest of the evening.
Wow, bringing in 2026 with a bang and
hopefully some healthier packers on
Saturday.
There you go.
Jim, we'll have to have you back before the big playoff game because this would be fun to do then when we have a little more time.
But
for now,
knock them dead tomorrow night, buddy.
Break a leg and happy new year.
This has been really a lot of fun.
Thanks for being on the show.
All right.
So beef tenderloin with a horseradish sauce.
I didn't get the question because I probably was talking too much.
But that's what I'm going with.
Beef tenderloin on the grill.
rare to medium rare with a nice horse ride.
So she can't go wrong.
Excellent choice, my friend.
All
right.
Thank you, Jim.
Have a great night.
Thanks.
All right.
That's Jim McHugh.
Check out memories ballroom.
All right.
So you got Oshkosh lights, Conrad.
You got memories ballroom, some stand up tomorrow night.
And now I think we just got to keep this thing going.
Let's at least get Mike on the show, introduce him, and then we'll come back and find out what's going on in Milwaukee tomorrow night.
We're covering the state and all of our fun New Year's Eve.
Events happening here in Wisconsin.
So it is my pleasure to welcome He is a head coach at comedy sports.
He has been there for decades at this Milwaukee institution Such a great campus.
They have their Mike kouth joins me now is our last guest of 20 25 Mike no pressure.
How you doing?
I'm
doing pretty good.
I'm doing pretty good beat
Yeah, yourself.
I'm well.
Thank you for your patience.
We're running a few minutes behind, but I'm thrilled that you're on the show and that you're our last guest of the year, so to speak.
It's good to see you.
And before we get started, I have to ask you, do you have a favorite meat?
It is National Bacon Day.
I will say, it took me a while to come around on bacon.
Growing up, I always felt that sausage, like breakfast sausage, got the raw deal.
I just felt like bacon.
Everyone was talking about bacon and I was a sausage guy.
I just felt, come on, you know.
Typically, and it's maybe cliche, you tell me, I tend to go for the T-bone steak.
Okay.
Oh, nice.
Yeah.
You could do a lot worse.
Let me just say for the record too.
I don't think I've ever said this to another grown man, but that is adorable.
You're a little diatribe there on bacon and breakfast sausage.
I love that you're defending your favorite breakfast meat.
It's outstanding.
Con, how we do it on time?
About a minute.
Okay, Mike, here's what we're gonna do.
We're gonna
do the news and we're gonna come back and I want to
jump in.
First of all, Dick Chudnow was on the show, loved it.
Thank you for connecting me with Dick.
He was another legend in Milwaukee there.
So in addition to yourself, but that was a lot of fun.
So let's come back after the news and talk about what is happening at Comedy Sports because tomorrow night, if you're in Milwaukee, that's a must see, right?
Yes, it's gonna be a great time.
We'll have details to follow.
The news is coming up next, and then we will be back with our last guest of 2025.
And I couldn't imagine having a nicer guy take us into 2026.
Mr. Mike Kalth, we are coming right back.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Welcome back.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwama.
And we are headed towards a new year, folks, and that is going to be really fun.
All kinds of hope is right around the corner.
I did Google fish as meat, and Chris Casper is right, but I always went by the Catholic Church thing that did not recognize fish as meat.
So, Chris, you are my new...
Lord and Savior, and I bow to you, my friend.
Joe from 414 says, 414 says, carne asada in tacos is his favorite meat.
That's fantastic stuff.
Hey, we've got Mike Kouth here, folks.
He is a comedy sports head coach.
He has been part of that organization for decades and this great Milwaukee institution.
Mike, as always, it is great to have you here, pal.
How you doing tonight?
All doing good.
Doing good.
I'm one of Milwaukee's favorite meats.
Hey, tell us what is going on tomorrow at Comedy Sports.
You got a great New Year's Eve show going on.
Yeah, we do.
So we have two shows, but I will say our early bird show is basically sold out.
So put all your focus if you're looking for something to do on the 1030 match.
So at 1030, that goes right up to midnight.
And what's fun about it
It's all the fun that you have in a comedy sports show competitive two teams in different improv games But we go big where it's unlimited champagne unlimited soda.
We've got a big buffet for everybody.
Oh Yeah, so we just kind of do up a nice big party for everyone
and what better way I mean seriously to laugh and bringing in the new year I remember when I was a comedian in the 90s and it's not even like
The stand-up isn't as much fun.
I don't think because it's you in another comic ringing in the New Year's and watching everybody else hug and kiss and you're like shaking hands with this guy you barely know but it Improv you that's a whole community.
You've got going there at comedy sports and What a great way to ring in the new year.
Yeah, I agree with you and that's I've been lucky because the last You know a couple of decades, you know people put so much pressure right on where you're gonna be on New Year's What are you gonna do right and what better than you know like?
Like you're saying, like a show, like go, just laugh, have fun.
And for me, I have the extra, you know, benefit of being around friends and just like putting on a show, making people laugh and then party afterwards.
So
it's
nice.
I say that I'm probably going to go to bed right afterwards.
So what what kind of crowd do you typically get Mike?
Is it couples is you know comedy sports a lot of it is family-friendly Do you get families on New Year's Eve sometimes?
We do that's why I think the early show sold out so quickly Because it is you know, it's like that one starts at eight
and has like kind of a fake countdown, you know, at the end.
So you get to celebrate, but then you're, you know, if you want, you're in bed by 11 kind of a thing.
But you can come out with the kids.
Surprisingly, that 10, 30 show, like, because all county sports shows are all ages, you can bring anybody.
So there's definitely a mixture like teenagers, usually, usually no one under 10 at the 1030, you know, match, but
It's happened before.
If, you know, a nine-year-old thinks they can stay up till midnight, they're welcome to it.
And, you know, all the soda they can drink.
So they've
got to.
There you go.
Drinking a few Mountain Dews.
That'll keep you swinging from the Raptors at midnight.
You just mentioned your family-friendly, for the most part, comedy sports.
Mike, I know you weren't there maybe at its inception, but like, was that risky at the time?
Like you've got all these, you know, Saturday Night Live could be edgy, Second City, a lot of these improv outfits, they're kind of edgy and they do swear.
Was it risky at all?
And maybe you don't know this because you weren't there right at the beginning, but was that a chance or it seems like you could backfire a little bit, but it hasn't.
Yeah, I think like for the time it was something a little bit different.
And I know that Dick Chudnell had seen
Improv shows and Bob Orvis the two of them who started comics where they had seen improv shows and you know Sometimes if something's not working you can go dirty, right?
You can kind
of
pull out a curse word go dirty Get a laugh And I think for them they were like well, let's challenge ourselves so like
you know, they always had that idea like you could be anybody from any background and we'll still make you laugh.
So it is a nice added challenge.
I think like it was a novel idea.
But at the same time, that's just one of the like kind of like, okay, we all agree, we're not going to go there.
But as far as like the comedy, I think it still works, you know, it doesn't
ever
feel watered down, doesn't ever feel like, you know, we're, you know, pulling punches a little bit.
It's like,
The comedy's still out there.
It's still, you know, pushing it.
It's just not doing it with certain four letter words or Pulling forward certain imagery
And I know a lot of like the
Alumni that you guys have put through you know Tom Clark Eric Price and those guys have horrible potty mouse off stage So the fact that they could come in and do a clean show is really impressive.
That's what you guys have taught them.
So my guest is Mike Cowell He is a head coach at Comedy Sports in Milwaukee It is an absolute institution if you have not checked out a show at Comedy Sports do yourself a favor and even if it's not tomorrow night on New Year's Eve
although based on what Mike said, it sounds like a blast, but get over and check out Comedy Sports.
Mike, we talked about Dick Chudnow and he was so much fun to have on the show.
Was he, how active was he when you started at Comedy Sports?
He wasn't as active when I started.
I started really playing in 2001.
And by that time, like he was definitely around.
I remember one of the first kind of corporate shows, private shows that I did was just him and I as a two person.
Oh, wow.
Was that
pressure?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
And for me, I'm still so new.
I'm just like, oh, this will be fun.
And now that I've done it a while, I'm like, oh, boy, there is a lot riding on Dick's shoulders to make, you know, running the show, explaining all the games.
And here he's got a rookie.
you know, just smiling.
They're happy to be there.
So yeah, and what's great with with Dick is he will still come to our company practices every so often because, you know, he'll get up there on our field and play around.
He just doesn't do as many.
He really doesn't do any public matches.
But
I was lucky enough, I do a show that I produced called Hooplop, which is like a storytelling and improv show.
And we were lucky enough to get him to come out and tell some stories for us to improvise off of.
And that was really fun.
So he's still willing.
And you just got to kind of convince
him.
It was so funny, because I don't know if I told you this, but when I had David Zucker on, I said to him, I said, it's amazing that you and your brother and Jim Abraham's
all grew up in shorewood went to shorewood high school then uw madison and then started kentucky friday theater you all stayed together through all this then moved to la and had success and he goes and don't forget about dick chud now well i didn't even know that and i
said oh
that's incredible he goes yeah he stayed behind in milwaukee but when dick was on i think i asked him i said how did you end up back in milwaukee he said i was in a bad marriage or something like that but he was very honest but he also i mean
He's done pretty well for himself.
So good for him.
Oh, yeah.
I think, you know, he's one of those people who you wish would write a book,
right?
Just to know all the stories.
Cause like, I didn't realize he was out in Los Angeles for as long as he was, you know, and even I think he said he was a teacher out there for a little while, like a public school teacher and
just
living all these crazy, you know, all these lives and in one
lifetime.
And it's absolutely remarkable that he was part in all four of those guys had such success.
And that Dick was able to do it back in his hometown is really impressive as well, almost more so.
What else is coming up at Comedy Sports Mic?
Are you guys going on the road anytime soon?
Do you have other events coming up there in Milwaukee?
Yeah, we have this is kind of our busy season.
So we do a lot of, you know, private shows and corporate gigs that happen.
Like you said, like the regular, uh, comedy sports matches every Friday and Saturday, 730 and 10 o'clock.
Um, and, you know,
The nice thing is we have two theaters.
So our main theater is always the comedy sports matches.
But we'll do some stuff in our other theater.
And that's where I'm lucky enough where I get to produce some of my own comedy.
And January 9th, I have a show coming up.
I think I told you the title of it.
I don't think I can say it.
He didn't
hint at what it is.
We can hint on this show.
I drop hints all the time.
Oh, yeah, it's it's your sh.
T. Right.
Week.
is what it is.
I was like I just in my head I was like did I go too far?
I paused
but you're fine and that's that's not quite as family friendly but still still you know
yeah it's not and it's not a comedy sports match it just happens to take place on one of their stages there but it's filled with a lot of the great comedy sports improvisers and that's something that you know
We talked to the audience about the crummy week that they've had, things that stressed them out, bugged them.
And then we do improv based off of that.
So we let the audience kind of just that cathartic release of the stuff that irritated them.
And then we try and make it comedy or we do make it comedy in hopes that that kind of exercises the demon of the bad week.
So
that's always a fun show.
So what like you've heard every you just mentioned you were there since 2001.
Have you ever gotten a suggestion?
I know some nights you feel on and some nights you don't but have you ever been stumped where it's like man I got nothing like this suggestion was terrible.
I'm not coming up with anything What do you do during those moments?
during those
moments like you can kind of The nice thing about improv is you can kind of pull from a variety of different things of like if you get a suggestion
How do you feel about it?
How do you react emotionally?
You know, like, even if you have nothing, or does it connect to something that reminds you of a situation or something you run into?
The tougher thing is like, we'll play, Comedy Sports has a game that's 185.
It's a standard pun based game.
So 185 blank, walk into a bar, bartender says, sorry, we're closed.
185 blank, reply with a punny punchline.
Now.
Sometimes people yell out stuff that you just have no, you know, wordplay, no joke or anything like that.
There's like little ways you can kind of get out of that.
That's where you just kind of try and rely on your hopeful charm or just kind of like chop to like kick in.
But there's been times like, what was it?
There was something like someone we had asked for
you know, who, who's from the furthest away from Wisconsin.
And it was like, uh, uh, Germany.
I was like, okay, well, what do you find a lot in Germany that you don't necessarily find in Wisconsin?
And they're like Germans.
I was like, oh, okay.
I tread lightly here with my jokes.
Oh, that's great.
So, okay.
So you've been there 23, 24 years.
And I remember the night I met you there, it was, I was like, what a great space just to hang out in.
What has kept you there so long?
Your love of improv or the community that's been built there, a little bit of both, what keeps you there?
Yeah, I think you nailed it.
It's the freedom to be as creative as I want to be, you know?
But it's also that element of the community.
Like not only are the people that I've known for like decades,
you know, some of them still there is there's new people coming in and exploring and discovering improv and then that gets you excited.
So it's just like this constantly like regenerating community of excitement.
That's awesome.
All right.
Mike Houth is here.
We'll keep Mike for a couple more minutes.
We're going to do a very short break.
We'll come back and tell you once again where you should go tomorrow night on New Year's Eve.
It's Peach Waba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Find the latest news, information, and archives of all your favorite shows on the Civic Media website,
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Last live show of 2025 as I mentioned we will have highlight shows throughout the rest of the week So please still join us here We put together some great moments from over the year and from over the last few weeks right now We have a few more minutes with our current guest and last guest of 2025 Mike that's going on your resume, right?
Mike health is here folks from comedy sports
Yeah, thank you for having me that is quite an honor and
I
will say
Thank you so much for having me on as often as you do.
It's always great to be in here.
You're fantastic to talk to Pete.
Conrad always does an amazing job too, working so hard and making sure everything is lined up.
But you guys do a fantastic show.
Thank you, sir.
If you're ever up this way, Mike, in Northeast Wisconsin, and you've got a couple guys with you, you're doing a traveling thing or a couple girls or whatever, come into the studio.
We'll do some improv in the studio.
I would love it.
Stay out of your way, I promise.
No, no, no.
It's funny because like, yeah, I'd love to have you come down and do the hoopla show I was talking about.
Oh, man.
That would be so much fun.
We got to figure that out
for sure.
We'll definitely talk.
Yeah, that would be a blast.
All right, so tell us one more time.
The New Year's Eve at Comedy Sports, where can people get information and just a brief thumbnail before we let you go?
Yeah, go to CSZMKE.com and click on events and tickets and the show.
You can start checking in at 8.30 p.m.
for that 10.30 show where you get buffet, champagne, soda, all those goodies.
So yeah, that's where to do it.
That's where to get your tickets online.
Join
us.
It'll be fun.
I love it.
Mike, are you watching anything you could recommend?
Binge watching, a movie you just saw.
You know
some of your viewers may have heard of a British show Taskmaster Yeah, yeah, I just I keep going back to that right now And
I'm
just loving so it's all up for free on YouTube check out Taskmaster.
They just had a champion of champions special Anything you'd recommend Pete anything I should check out well
You know, I, speaking of Taskmaster, Task, I liked on HBO was very good at a cop show.
And I would steer clear and I'm going to get some pushback on this mic at some point, but Pluribus on Apple TV, not a fan.
Like the first episode was great.
And then it was just a snooze for like eight episodes.
So I heard the someone joke that Vince Gilligan is very good at taking 15 minutes of plot and stretching it.
Over
a whole season.
Yeah And I'm not kidding like he did that it better call Saul or breaking bad to open a show There'd be this kind of you know cool sequence where you just kind of go with it It breathes a little bit and then that this whole season has been like that.
It's like
But it's already been renewed.
So what do I know?
What am
I doing wrong Mike?
I'm just talking to my pals Mike and Paul and Jim and all these guys and Hopefully we're a lot more exciting than the floor of us, but This was fun, buddy.
Thank you.
Happy new year.
Have a great show tomorrow break a leg and We will talk soon after the new year.
I'm sure
yeah, happy new year to you my best to you and your family Thanks
for always
being so great to me Pete.
Appreciate
always Mike back at you bud.
All right
All right, that's my couch check out folks.
I'm telling you if you and I know I'm saying this but like people in Milwaukee I know there are tons of them that have never been to comedy sports even though they are this great Institution there.
So check out comedy sports, especially on New Year's Eve Con.
Did you ever go to comedy sports when you were?
No, I didn't I
Yeah, it's it's really it's just a great experience.
We went
Probably less than a year ago, and I just loved it.
It's great.
Improv is so much fun, especially when it's being done by people who are really good at it, like everybody at Comedy Sports.
All right, so we've got a couple of texts here to close out.
Steve from Florida says, favorite meat is good tenderloin and medium rare.
What did you say, Khan?
Did you say medium rare?
You said, no, you said well done.
Yeah, I like a rubber.
So you and your dad cannot stand over the same grill.
All right, fair enough.
I'm probably inclined to go more with you, but you know I respect Steve's opinion and he's still in Wisconsin so welcome Steve and enjoy your stay Steady Eddie from the 608 says Pete you and Conrad are crushing it tonight.
Well, thank you Steady Eddie He says you saved your best for the last broadcast of the year.
I asked my phone about whether fish is meat.
It said yes fish is considered meat
as it is the flesh of an animal that is consumed.
When I was a good Catholic boy, I enjoyed Friday night fish fries.
Catholics were forbidden from eating meat on Fridays under the penalty of going to hell.
Fish seemed like a meat to me, but the deep fried cod was so good, I wasn't gonna question the Pope on this one.
These days, pardon me, these days, often I eat meat on Fridays.
He says, parenthetically, I'm a reformed Catholic.
A steak cooked just right and a baked potato with butter and sour cream is heavenly, but sometimes I will eat fish on Fridays just for the halibut.
You ever heard that joke, Conran?
Just for the halibut.
Yeah, the halibut.
Steady Eddie, just keep compliments on us and we're making fun of his joke.
Steady Eddie says, Happy New Year.
Back at you, buddy.
Love your texts and always fun to get a steady Eddie text.
I hope you have a great holiday this weekend.
I hope everybody
Has a great New Year's be safe.
Don't drink and drive stay at home and party watch Netflix go to comedy sports Stranger Things drops tomorrow night to the finale of the whole of the whole series So you've got that to look forward to as well or the Chevy Chase documentary I know you're looking forward to that and you know, I'm very much looking forward to it Complicated legacy that man has left us although he hasn't left yet, so but I would like to thank all my guests
who have helped us scoot into the new year.
Mike Clemens was here.
Always fun to talk to Mike.
Rick Helms from Oshkosh, the Oshkosh Festival of Lights.
My pal, Paul Gilmartin.
My other pal, Jim McHugh.
And my new pal, Mike Houth.
It has been a fun show.
Conrad, be careful tomorrow night.
I expect to see you in that seat Monday.
Maybe.
All right.
Try to stop by if you can.
Okay.
This is Peach Waba on behalf of the lovable producer, Conrad.
Not only good night, Wisconsin, but happy new year, Wisconsin.
Be safe, everybody, and have a great weekend.
Good night,
Wisconsin.
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