Transcript
Comedic Legends and Unlikely Fame (Hour 3)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Wed Jan 7, 2026
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Welcome back.
This is Nightlife.
It is so great to have you with me wherever you're joining us from in our wonderful state of Wisconsin tonight or parts beyond over the app and stream.
It is great to have you here as we celebrate the joys of life that come to us in the form of entertainment.
And we've been doing just that tonight.
If you missed our number one or two, we had some fun with Melissa Kaye.
who is the news director at WFHR in Wisconsin Rapids.
Here at Civic Media, she is also an actress, told us all about the healthy theater community in Central Wisconsin, kept us posted on a couple of news stories happening in the central part of our state, and that first hour is available at civicmedia.us.
If you want to go and hear the first hour in podcast form, we also talked about friendly cities in Wisconsin.
There was a list of the top nine.
Conrad and I didn't go thumb is not one of them go thumb Go thumb is not one hitchhiking capital of the world is not one of them.
That is correct.
We don't even there was a lot of We didn't really fact check much about Gotham before we talked about it But
we it sounded good though hour number two Matt Miller joined us and we talked award shows movies and all kinds of fun stuff like we always do with Matt that
episode is also available at civicmedia.us in podcast forum.
Matt has great takes on the awards season and he's just very astute when he talks movies, lots of fun.
He also texted me and said that the film was filmed in New Jersey, Song Sung Blue, filmed it in Jersey.
have filmed it?
Well, Gotham.
No, I was gonna say Milwaukee.
Of course Milwaukee.
I mean I get the incentive thing now we have them I still don't know how competitive our incentives are with other states some states give you cash back It's a rebate, Wisconsin's as I understand it is not that it's a little more complicated, but you know, maybe if they had been shooting the movie this year it would have happened here, but I Just don't think you can fake authenticity and stuff like
that.
No, not that you're just making a movie for people in Wisconsin, but
It's always nice when you actually film something on a location.
However, Matt was fun to talk to you.
Check out the podcast at civicmedia.us and listen to what Matt has to say about movies.
He will not steer you wrong.
Coming up in just a few minutes, my friend, a very funny writer and comedian and also an actor, Danielle Koenig will be here and we will talk about Albert Brooks and Danielle is, she is a very talented TV watcher, Conrad.
That's, I mean, hey, that's great.
It is great, and it's
talk to people who take TV seriously, and Danielle is one of those people.
So in addition to writing TV, she's fun to talk to about TV.
So she will be here at 7.20 tonight.
Our question of the night, ladies and gentlemen, is more of a statement.
Well, actually, it is a statement.
Name an actor or celebrity whose fame you just don't understand.
We've got to get caught up in texts.
We'll do that in just a moment as well.
But let us know what you think, 855-752.
4-842-855-75 Civic.
You can also text us on the app.
If you don't have the Civic Media app, download it, use it, learn it, live it, know it.
It's great.
And if you're watching the radio on the stream at YouTube, Facebook, or X, drop us a stream comment and I'll read it on the radio and give us a like or a follow while you're there, if you would.
Conrad, you had... You've done... You did today what a lot of people do.
when they get up, they get mixed up, they get discombobulated.
My wife did this once, she said she woke up at three in the morning, took a shower, blew dry her hair when she was in high school and her dad walked in and said, what the hell are you doing?
I played a joke on my brother once, his alarm went off for whatever reason, it was only 11.30 at night, and he was in the upper bunk.
And I said, Tim, I go, it's your turn to get in the shower first, because we would argue over who got to stay in bed longer.
I just hear him go, okay.
He gets out of bed.
He walks into the bathroom.
And we had one of those showers when you turned it on like the whole house shakes, you know?
Yeah.
So I hear the shower go on.
I'm like, this is so gorgeous.
I can't believe he's going to take a shower and get ready for school at 11.30 at night.
And I went and I woke up my dad because I was so proud of myself and he got upset with me because.
He was also sound asleep and he goes, go tell him what's going on.
So I, before he got in the shower, I did tell him that it was only 11 30 at night.
And he said in a very sleepy voice, idiot.
And he went back to bed, but you had something similar.
You know, I, I said an alarm last night.
I wanted to get up and go to go, go work out there around nine this morning.
And I wake up and it, and my alarm clock, it says 12 41.
Right.
And I had a recording to do at one.
So I jump out of bed jump into the shower, you know get everything ready get get coffee I'm I get out because I didn't even look at my phone yet either.
I just was like I looked at the clock and I was like, oh no And I get out of the shower get clothes on get my coffee you have my I got my coat on my sweatshirt and jeans and everything and Then I look at my phone And then I look at the clock and it says 1250 a.m
And you're already for the day and it was 8 30
So that's better though getting up and showering at 12 30 a.m That's just that depression sets in then
Right.
No, I know that I understand
after I was like, well, I'm ready anyways You've got you've got to add 15 pounds if you're gonna get to 300 if you're gonna bench 300 by the end of the year
You don't skip a gym visit.
You should skip to the gym is what you should do.
Skip.
Skip to the gym.
what's that guy's problem?
And then you go in and you bench, you put up 300 and they go, oh, he can do whatever he wants.
He can skip, he can sashay.
This guy can go to the gym however he wants.
Why would you skip in winter?
Why
you skipping in winter?
I had a couple beverages.
Okay, that makes sense.
I almost didn't want to laugh at that because you didn't laugh at my ozempic joke last night, which was brilliant.
know.
Here was the joke, folks.
It's now available in pill form.
The pill is huge and it tastes like a pizza.
That's a damn good joke.
And you and Aaron Zomers in Madison last night, who was helping us out while I was doing the show from there, you guys both just kind of like...
Okay.
That's so weird.
They were listening.
You know that.
Yeah, of course.
So I can't get like, Matt Miller was here.
I've had two film critics on in the last couple nights.
No one has seen Train Dreams.
And I feel like it's it might get an Oscar nomination.
I feel like it's It's a good movie, but it's that kind of movie.
It's that kind of Oscar Movie where I feel like he could get nominated and I forgot to ask Matt if he had seen it, but I don't think he has tonight's question is a statement whose Fame or name of celebrity or actor whose fame you just don't understand John Murray.
Oh, he's talking about when I was
So what happened was I was gonna go to Chicago this weekend.
I think I'm still going I did book a hotel just in case and if I can get if tickets come down to under four grand a pop I might make a move But I was frantically looking for a deal for hotels and I finally found a great deal and it was a great deal because it was for last night So I booked it realized what I had done called hotels calm and they were nice enough to let me cancel it
even though it was past the cancellation policy.
But John Murray from the 608 says, Peter, I used to manage a couple of hotels.
Look at the fine print or they'll get you.
Depends on the flag they are flying in location.
The Ma and Pa shops can be brutal.
This was not bad though, John.
They did let me off the hook and it was hotels.com.
Or maybe it was the embassy suites.
I can't remember.
John says, Thomas Edison didn't really invent the light bulb, et cetera, just exploited it and got credit.
He's the talentless bastard.
We always love you.
Wow, all right.
Thomas Edison was a talentless bastard.
I didn't know that.
Oh, John's on fire tonight.
Rachel from Milwaukee.
She lives in Milwaukee Conrad, but her, her area code is 608.
Machine gun Kelly.
I remember when he used to be a rapper and now he's doing punk pop with 23 year olds and he's nearly 40, not to mention the Megan Fox stuff.
I'm over it.
Rachel is being very decisive tonight.
That's awesome.
Bridget in the 818 says the Paul Brothers.
one.
Yes.
Boy, watching him get knocked out was fun.
you
Are we have a phone call?
from the Northwoods.
Ollie from the Northwoods.
How are you, Ollie?
I am doing good.
Two nights in a row.
It must be a...
Wait a minute.
You didn't call last night.
I was doing the show for Madison last night and you didn't
Okay, it
was the night before not to split hairs.
How are you?
Oh, okay.
I'm doing good.
Um, I I'm gonna say somebody that Everybody probably will say why is she saying that but Pee Wee Herman I never could understand.
Why people like him?
That's interesting.
I respect that Ali, you know, it's all subjective
I never really watched the show, but he is, you're right.
He's very respected for what he did.
And, uh, but hey, there are no right or wrong answers.
There are only your answers, Ollie.
And that is awesome.
And I'm glad
you.
I appreciate that.
And thank you for calling.
You called on a night when we don't have food in the question.
And I'm glad about that because I know you have a, you have a great night, Ollie.
Thanks so much.
Thank you.
You guys too.
Bye.
You got it.
That's Ali from the Northwoods.
We love getting calls from Ali Conrad's mom checking in Snooki.
That's
Yeah
Never why I don't even like I know who she is, but I never watched that show.
I really can't watch reality.
Trust me, it's awful.
And I watched the first season of it because like my friends, some of my friends are like, it's hilarious.
And I watched and I just was like, this sucks.
This is not funny at all.
But it was funny seeing Stuckey get arrested for being really that intoxicated.
Casey James on the stream says friendship Wisconsin is a happy place.
I would hope so.
You know where that is, Con?
I actually don't know where friendship is.
We're probably getting that wrong, too.
They mean fiendiship or something like that.
Like, we got Gotham wrong.
Stacey Sue on the stream says, Ryan Seacrest.
Okay.
I put Seacrest in like the, I mean, I think
he's
Murray.
He's no Thomas Edison.
Sidney Politics says Calvin on Civic Media, he's really become a diva with Jay.
Sidney, you're better than that.
We love Calvin.
Sidney also says Happy New Year.
Happy New Year.
He's keeping the Conrad
Yeah.
I disagree with him on Calvin, but we love Sidney too.
Craig Kennett says Pauli Shore.
Another great one, and I will tie anything to Marinette, Wisconsin, my adopted hometown, where I live right now.
Pauly Shore's mother, Mitsy Shore, was born in Marinette.
And Winona Ryder's grandmother lived there.
In fact, Winona Ryder's grandmother lived in the building that my dad had his law office at.
I
that, Conrad.
Of The Stranger Things.
Breaking news here at Nightlight, folks, there is no
Secret episode of stranger things at least not when they said there would be doesn't mean it can't still happen, but oh, yeah All right, this is nightlight with peach wabba folks when we come back my friend Danielle Canig will be here She's a very talented writer actress stand-up comic and she is a talented a Talented TV watcher and I appreciate that
Because we're gonna talk about, we're gonna talk a little color television and we are gonna talk about Albert Brooks, someone we both admire very much.
That is coming up next on Nightlight with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
You're listening to Civic Media.
Stay up to date on the latest news and information for your local community and Wisconsin by signing up for our free email newsletter.
Visit civicmedia.us slash email to get started.
This is Nightlight with Pete Schwab.
Great to have you with me, folks.
Tony, the trucker in the 608 says, Tony's down there in Madison.
He says, Pete, saw Train Dreams and loved it because they didn't have to put nudity in it to make a great movie.
I don't know if there's nudity in that either.
I would say if I had one criticism about Train Dreams, it was that there was no nudity.
But I still liked
I respect that, Tony.
Thank you.
It was a good movie.
And thank you for weighing in.
And then Brett from Brown Deer in the 920 says, if it's a secret episode, how would you know if it exists?
Are you in the official loop?
I am not, Brett.
That's why we've been speculating all night.
I am not above speculating on the hypothesis.
Hey, folks, we are going to welcome our final guest of the night here, a very talented writer, comedian, actress, and a good friend of mine.
And as I mentioned, a very talented TV watcher.
I love talking TV, which is what we did last time Danielle was here, but she joins us now over the stream from Los Angeles, Daniel Koenig.
Hello, my friend.
Hi.
How are you?
I'm good.
How are you?
Doing very well.
Thank you.
I just
wanted to say that I got word from Ali and while Ali hates Peewee Herman, she does understand Paul Rubin's fame.
That's interesting.
Yeah.
That's a great, very astute differentiation there, Daniel.
Yeah.
She liked all his other work.
She just didn't like Peewee's playhouse.
She didn't like Peewee.
Yeah.
Where do you stand on Paul Rubens?
Everyone I talk to thinks he's a genius.
I will admit I'm not as... I didn't really ever watch Peewee's Playhouse or Peewee Herman.
He used to crack me up when he was on David Letterman, but I don't know a lot of his work, to be honest with you.
Have you not seen Peewee's Big Adventure?
I have not.
Really?
Well, I mean, you mean the show when it was on... No, the
movie.
No, I have not seen that.
Well...
So I was just the right age when Peewee's Big Adventure came out.
But I've seen it since and I think it holds up.
I think it, I think he is, it's a brilliant character because he's, he's like endearing one moment and then he's just an asshole.
Oh, am I allowed to swear?
We're on, sorry.
You're allowed to say, you're allowed to say, that was a complex word.
If you broke it in two, you're fine.
Sorry.
Okay.
It's just, I do think it's a brilliant character.
Yeah.
Okay.
Fair enough.
And the documentary about him that came out this year is very good.
I've heard that too.
That is actually on my list.
That and the Chevy Chase documentary, I want to get to both of those.
I haven't.
So you and I have this great thing in common other than comedy and all that writing stuff.
But you love Albert Brooks.
And so do I.
Yes.
Do you want
to see what I got for Christmas for my son?
I was just gonna bring up your son, but yes, please.
Let's see if it can
fit.
Oh my gosh.
Modern romance.
That is great.
That's my favorite.
Would it have killed him to frame it, Danielle?
Well, he said, it's funny you say that.
He said, well, I know you like these specific frames.
So I didn't get it for you, but he got me a book I already have.
So I'm going to let him return that and then buy me the frame.
Oh, perfect.
That's great.
Yeah.
Well, listen, we have to break for news in about three minutes.
So I don't want to get too hardcore into Albert Brooks before the news, but I will ask you, is there someone you don't understand like their fame?
You just don't get it.
Like, why are they famous?
I don't like this actor, this celebrity, someone like that.
Yes.
There is someone, Dakota Johnson.
I know
she's
a Nepo baby, so I understand how she got a shot, and
I
understand she's attractive and has a nice body, but I don't get it.
I don't get it.
Did you see Chacha real smooth?
Okay, so no.
My entire knowledge of her is from Saturday Night Live, which I actually did like her on.
And then I just saw this movie that came out this year, Materialists.
And it is so beyond awful, and she's bad in it, but it could have been the direction.
Yeah.
So maybe it's not her fault.
That's nice.
But that was just
the first person who came to mind.
It's nice that you're open to that, at least, to that option.
I don't, it's weird because like the Nepo Baby thing, like I just heard recently that Timothy Chalamet was a Nepo Baby, like his mom was this big casting director or something like that, so.
I guess that counts as a nepo baby, or at least you had an in, but I don't know.
What constitutes it?
I mean, your dad was an actor.
Are you a nepo baby?
You know what I mean?
I'm not because I'm not successful.
If I were successful, then maybe I would be.
You are
But I don't have enough accolades to be considered a nepo baby.
I
think.
And he didn't have any pull anyway.
Yeah, that's interesting.
Not at all.
OK.
So, yeah.
It's not like you're one of the Hilton's.
or the uh
no and also there are more famous people than um well Timothy Chalamet's mom and and Don Johnson and um Melody
who have children who don't make it so it's not just you know you gotta have something like I thought
Well,
and one of the people we're going to talk about, Albert Brooks was a nepo baby.
I mean, Rob Reiner was a nepo baby, and some of them are great.
Like, they're just true, fantastic artists.
Do you, I have to ask you, we have about a minute before we go to the news, you wrote with some very funny people on the dish across the hall from a show I was working on called Support Soup, where I was in a room with very funny people.
As nice as it is to work and be part of a staff, did you ever feel like a monkey in a factory in that Comcast?
Like,
it was like.
No, that was one of my favorite jobs.
Mine too.
I
didn't feel like that.
Yeah, no.
It was funny because we would hear you guys cracking up across the hall.
And I'm sure you heard some of the hijinks we were doing.
It was just a fun atmosphere.
But every once in a while, I go, man, it was like this dark room.
I felt like a Simpsons parody or something.
I don't
know.
Oh,
ours was pretty well lit.
Maybe it all comes down to lighting.
All right, folks, Daniel Koenig is here.
We're going to break for the news and we're going to come back and we are going to talk about a comedic genius who you've probably heard of called Albert Brooks.
And I'm going to find out what Daniel is watching on TV as well.
And I'm very excited to do that.
We are coming right back.
It's Night Light with Pete Schwabba on the Civic Media Radio Network.
Hey, this is Adam Brody, and you're listening to Nightlight with Pete Schwab on the Civic Media Radio
Network.
Welcome back.
Tomorrow night on Nightlight, I'll be joined by...
Emerson Layman from the WBAY Morning Show.
We always love when Emerson is here in the studio.
Then Laura McKenna pops by WGBWZone.
Laura McKenna to make the popcorn pick of the week.
And then Lyle Sidney from Fox Valley Comedy will be here.
Right now, my pal, Daniel Koenig, is on the stream joining us from Los Angeles.
Always fun to talk to Daniel.
And so I love that you have turned your son on to
Albert Brooks getting my kids to watch Woody Allen, Albert Brooks, some of the great comedy filmmakers of the 70s was kind of a challenge when they were younger.
Was your son always like that or did he jump right in?
He pretty much jumped right in.
He was kind of, you know, I, I, I, at a certain point I had to like give up on the kids TV and just have him watch like inappropriate.
television because I couldn't take the bad TV
And but no, he had to watch Modern Romance because he was commissioned to make dolls for it because he used to make these action figures for movies that don't have action figures.
And someone requested Modern Romance.
So so that's why he watched it.
And he did like it.
But but we saw it recently.
over the summer, it was showing Adam at the New Beverly, which is the theater that Tarantino owns.
And he really loved it.
Like he was like blown away.
That's so great.
And I love that when you post this stuff, it's just, I mean, does he have friends that I think a lot of kids would gravitate towards that just great, pure comedy?
But their peers might not be as into it.
Has he found peers that love that kind of stuff as well?
Yeah, he's in film school now.
So
I
think he's definitely found his, you know, his people, people who know some of the same stuff and really like it.
What is your favorite Albert Brooks movie, Danielle?
Modern romance.
I mean, hands down, modern romance.
Hands down.
Nice.
I
think it's perfect.
It's just it's so.
It's so uncomfortable.
It's like cringe comedy before cringe comedy was a thing.
I
was just going to say that.
That's great.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And it's just so like every beat is funny.
Like every beat is funny.
It's kind of remarkable.
And it's mostly from character, but also from dialogue.
But it's just, I mean, you could you could quote something in like every scene.
Right.
It's it's crazy.
I think.
There are just certain movies when I see a line early in the film, I just go, I am going to love this movie.
And I get so excited.
And in modern romance, it was when he was at the table with Catherine Harrell and they were breaking up and she says, I feel like we're in a no in situation.
She goes, what do you mean?
He goes, oh, he never heard of a no in situation.
Well, there are a lot of examples of Vietnam, this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It's
so funny because it.
should be the rule of three, but it's not.
And because it's not, it's somehow funnier.
Because he couldn't think of another,
yeah.
Vietnam, this, it's just, it's insane.
It's so funny.
I think, go ahead, sorry.
No, I was gonna say, when we saw that movie, it was a double feature with Lost in America, which we had watched during the pandemic.
And I was like, yeah, I just, I don't really understand why everyone loves this movie so much.
But then we watched it in the theater.
And it was hysterical.
I don't know.
It was just like maybe being with people or something, but things that hadn't made me laugh before suddenly made me laugh.
I know that's like everyone's favorite.
But I hadn't liked it as much, but now I am a fan.
I think it's like it was just because it was more commercial.
I remember when that came out and I think I saw that.
before I saw real life or modern romance and I just loved his I honestly at like 20 years old I was like he should have been nominated for an Oscar because it was a comedy but true comedy and it comes out of the characters in those situations the scene
in the
trailer where you have things over easy with toast and you can't use the word nest egg and all that
right
it's so horrifying you know my favorite
Moment in that movie is when he he wakes up and he realizes She's in the casino and all they have is cash and he goes down there and she wins She hits 22 and he starts going crazy not knowing that she had lost the 150 grand before that.
Yeah, it's so beautiful.
Oh I think the first thing I actually know him from is broadcast news which is also one of my favorite movies.
It's not a
Albert Brooks movie, but the character is so him that it, you know, it It introduced me to him and his sense of humor.
Yeah Where do you stand on when I was in college?
I think is when a professor exposed us to the film real life and I was like Who is this guy?
What is this?
This is so great I want to say that in a weird way in a weird way all three of those films I think those are his three best films and I'm probably not alone there, but like
For different reasons, they're all my favorites.
And with real life, it's so preposterous with those cameras, the Eton hours.
It's just so unique and different.
Yeah, it's funny.
We watched that during the pandemic too, I believe.
And I think the funniest thing is actually like the beginning when he's addressing the town and telling them what he's going to do.
it's not like he doesn't say anything specifically that's funny but it's just like his his enthusiasm and their lack of enthusiasm is just it's really good
when he says uh he brings an orchestra in to to play a song for the town and but then he says and as much of an orchestra as we could afford to bring in like he's always dropping these producer nuggets right it's so great oh god it's just i love it
And Charles Groton is in it and he's another one of my favorites.
So
yeah.
And a much, and a great moment too is when he is the veterinarian accidentally ODs the horse with too much anesthesia and he's trying to convince Albert Brooks to take it out of the film.
And again, the producer saying, Oh, I think it makes you look human.
It's so him.
My son requested to watch mother while he's home from the break.
We haven't done that yet, but we're going to do that.
Has he seen it yet?
No, that's why you wanted to see it.
Have you seen it?
Yeah, I saw when it came out and I remember liking it and being in the minority, but I actually did really like it.
I don't know how I'll feel this time, but yeah.
Yeah, I liked it and I liked defending your life a lot.
They're just...
Yes.
I think when you set the bar with real life modern romance in Lost in America, it's like, and I was talking about this earlier in the show that apparently Bill Murray was supposed to play the lead role in Lost in America, or that's who they wanted, but he was like booked up for two years.
So Albert Brooks said, I'll do it.
And I cannot imagine as much of it.
He
didn't write it for himself.
That is my understanding.
That's what I read that years ago.
So it certainly seems like he wrote it for himself.
And I'm sure Bill Murray would have been great in his own way.
But I can't picture anybody but Albert Brooks in that role.
No, no, that's that's that's crazy talk.
Yeah.
Daniel Koenig is my is my guest here.
She's a very talented comedian, writer and actor.
We're talking about Albert Brooks.
Do you like him?
What is your favorite element in his arsenal?
Like, are you director, actor, writer?
What's your favorite aspect of his talents?
I think, I think writer, because I'm a writer and because I appreciate how he constructs something and how he just, his humor is so specific.
And it just, it just...
He had just has so many levels of comedy like silly and Cerebral and I think like even not even on the page.
I think his movies are probably as funny, you know,
told some
movies aren't don't work on the page But I'm pretty sure his do
absolutely.
Yeah.
Did you see Rob Reiner's documentary?
Yes, defending your life.
That was so yes.
I love
that.
It's so great I was just what a weird year because that came out this year or maybe last year
I mean, maybe 2024, but the whole thing is just so awful, but need to learn about their friendship growing up together and basically Rob Reiner's own dad, saying the funniest person I know is Albert Brooks, my son's...
friend like it's just a 16 year old right crazy
and he was doing bits at the Reiner house like talk about guts to go into a comedy legends house whose son would be a legend and you know right
And his dad, maybe the dads were friends.
I've never done that much of a deep dive.
But like, it could be, maybe he felt comfortable.
But, and I think he said, if I remember correctly, he went on Carson and said, the funniest person I know is Albert Einstein.
And Johnny kind of went, what?
And that's, cause that's
Albert
Brooks's real name.
But he, and then he explained.
And Super Dave Osborn, his brother, or I don't like the term half brother, they're brothers.
But like he, um,
Oh, I think they're full brothers.
I wasn't sure.
But they have the
same last name, at least.
Yeah.
And Marty Funkhauser, he played Marty Funkhauser on Curb.
So he's from a very funny family, too.
Oh my God.
So yeah, so his father was this character, Parkia Carcass.
But I don't know anything about that character.
I've never heard it.
I mean, I'm sure it's I don't know if I don't even know if you can obtain, you know, I don't know.
I feel like he was famous.
quite a long time ago, so
I don't know.
I think he was like a Catskills guy or something.
That's what I thought, yeah.
When your name is Park Your Carcass, you're kind of saying it's like a one, kind of a one-note thing, but I'm sure he was really funny of his size.
And then
you name your son Albert Einstein.
Yeah, right.
I mean.
Exactly.
You mentioned you're a writer and you're a really talented writer.
You've done so many great projects.
What are you working on now?
Where can we see your work?
I'm mostly working on my own stuff.
I've been writing a lot of...
like satirical pieces for online publications.
So like the Belladonna and Crackle and not Crackle.
Sorry.
Whoops.
Just gave myself a shortle.
I meant to say shortle and Slackjaw.
They're all they're two of those are on medium.
So yeah, but it's basically doing that and then just writing stuff on my own and hosting my
podcast how
to
survive with Danielle.
Yeah, let's talk about that like I think the last time you were here I said your title is very vague how to survive like is that in a dark alley or put food on the table or like but does it let you yes anything you think is funny or interesting.
So what we do is we have on a guest on the second half of the show and they tell it I just we just ask them you know what's something funny you've survived we don't want them to tell something traumatic necessarily it's supposed to be funny or embarrassing or some combination thereof.
And so when they give us their topic, we link it very superficially to our own topic.
So if they say how to survive being in the windy city or something like that, we might do how to survive a windstorm or something like that.
But yes, to answer your question, we have done natural disasters.
We have done crime.
We have done ghosts.
We have done just anything.
that you can survive.
And we try to be funny about it.
And, you know, our thing is we don't know anything.
We're just telling you what we've researched.
Yeah, no experts on anything.
It's so great.
And where can people get it?
Anywhere they get their podcasts?
Yes, anywhere you get
your podcast,
how to survive.
Yeah, that's great.
Definitely check that out.
Before we leave the Albert Brooks thing completely, even though we already have, do you have I always felt like he was one of those.
I'm not really
And I'm gonna present this to you then we'll do a very short break and come back and we'll have a few minutes But he was one of those guys I would always be scared to meet like a celebrity and usually I didn't care But there were a few a handful of them where I feel like I'd be tongue-tied and feel stupid And I want you to think about someone like that for you and we'll come back and get your answer because You know you kind of grew up in the industry and you were probably used to that at a much younger age than I ever was I would love to know who that person is for you.
So think about that
All right, we're coming right back with Elbert Brooks fan, Daniel Canig.
It's Beach Wabba and Night Light on the Civic Media Radio
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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And next year, we have to broadcast live
Yeah.
Fun talking to Mike Amount.
Well, you'll go by bus.
I'll, uh... Hitchhike.
Yeah, I'm gonna go through, uh, Gotham, or whatever it's called.
Gotham.
Gotham.
Uh, hey, thank you to everyone for listening tonight.
Uh, my thanks to Melissa Kay, Milwaukee Film Critic Matt Miller, all your texts and calls.
Lots of fun here tonight, and, uh, we've got a few more minutes with our guest, uh, Danielle Koenig.
And I asked her before the break...
What celebrity that you either already have met Danielle or haven't yet that would make you kind of tongue-tied and act like a fool like I would or feel embarrassed.
I would embarrass myself.
So I have not met him.
Okay.
But the answer is Michael Keaton.
Oh,
nice.
Because
I adore him.
I have had a crush on him my entire life.
Okay.
I think he's totally underrated and brilliant and
I used to write on the Writers Guild Awards and one year they said that they were going to try to get Michael Keaton to be one of the presenters.
And I had like a visceral reaction.
Like I was kind of like, that was just hearing that I might meet him.
Sweaty
Yeah, it was insane.
So he did not.
So I did not get to meet him, but it was probably just as well because I think I would just be an idiot.
It's so funny you said him because he was a guy like You know when I was watching his movies and mr. Mom and night shift and all the like I'm like That's the guy want to be like he I have a total like guy crush on him because he was just this great actor He was funny.
He was so natural and I loved it when I saw him do stand-up old clips.
He was like, okay But what a great actor and what a great comedic actor.
I agree with that's a great.
That's a great choice
You're very welcome.
As I mentioned earlier, oh, first, before we get to TV, you're in a picture I saw on IMDB Pro.
You and your dad, Walter Koenig, are in a short film called Mr. Fleischman that seems really heavy and intense, and you're acting in it.
Was that cool?
To be honest, I haven't acted in a long time, and I was quite nervous because...
I haven't done it in a long time.
So I don't know.
I haven't seen it yet.
So I don't know how it turned out.
But they tell me I was fine.
Because I was as a writer figuring out ways to cut me out.
Because I was so worried.
Giving them suggestions when you leave the set.
Yeah, just emailing.
Well, you could do this.
Oh,
that's
funny.
And I didn't actually get to act with him.
The scene wasn't with him, really.
But it was fun.
Yeah, it was nice.
Seems pretty heavy.
You'll have to let us know where we can see that.
And I forgot you wrote for award shows.
So as we get into awards season, I would love to have you back on just to hear your thoughts on the broadcast and all that kind of stuff.
That would be really
I mentioned earlier in the broadcast that you are a very talented color television watcher.
I used to love hearing your opinions.
And I say that.
Kind of is a joke, but I take TV watching very seriously and I wanna ask you, are you binge watching anything that you could recommend?
Well, we're binge watching something old, does that count?
Absolutely.
Okay, we're watching Broadchurch.
Oh yeah.
Which is a British show with David Tennant and Olivia Coleman and People's Sexiest Man Alive.
Oh, I'm blanking on his name, I know his name, Jonathan Bailey.
Oh yeah,
he's in that?
Yes, he's very young.
I don't remember.
OK.
It's not the biggest part.
He's he's a reporter in the town.
OK.
He's
Olivia Coleman's nephew.
Yes.
But oh, so you've seen it.
I have.
And I barely laughed once because it's a pretty it is not whimsical.
It is a heavy show.
Yeah.
It's
really heavy.
It's
really heavy, but I really liked it.
It is good.
Another show that I.
would highly recommend, I don't know how many people are watching it, but is the diplomat, which I think is fantastic.
You've got Kerry Russell, who was fantastic.
And you've got...
I know I can never think of the guy's name.
No, I know it.
I just talked about this last night.
Rufus Sewell.
Yes, love
him.
I love, they are so good together.
It's like, it's insane.
And then it's like, oh, here's Allison Janney and...
What's his face?
Scarf guy.
I'm a lady of a certain age,
but anyway.
I've only seen the first episode, but I have this Rob Thomas, Madison, Wisconsin film critic.
The last three times he's been on the show, he has like kind of almost pushed the diplomat.
Like the show's fans are very intense.
And I liked it.
I just, I don't know why I didn't go back to it after season one, but I really liked it too.
And I'll probably catch up at some point.
Oh yeah.
No, I think it's excellent.
And I did watch.
I guess I can't think of any comedies.
Oh, you know, well, Oliver and I were watching it again, an old British show, but it's called The Smoking Room.
Did
you ever watch Peep Show?
No.
OK, well, I recommend Peep Show,
OK,
which is really funny.
It's it's old and it's British.
But anyway, one of the guys from that is on this.
But
that's awesome.
I can't think of any American comedies.
I watched Pluribus.
I'm not, I'm still not sure how I felt about it.
Okay.
We only have about a minute left, but I, I am angry.
I don't like that.
I'm angry about that show because Vince Gilligan took like a five minute coffee making scene from Better Call Saul and decided to make it a whole episode of the show.
Like that, the pilot was great and I was so excited.
I love Ray of Seahorn.
I hate that show now after eight boring episodes.
I haven't ever watched
Better call Saul or
breaking bad
breaking bad.
So So I don't have opinion about that.
I For the first half of the series.
I was like Okay, so this is just nothing like nothing's happening, right?
Then then I got into it and accepted it as like this is a character study This is more like this is not a plot heavy.
You think it's science fiction.
So it's gonna be some more.
plot and it's really
And once I let myself accept it in that way, I enjoyed it more.
It's still not like, you know, it's not severance.
It's not like an amazing show.
I can't wait to see the next episode.
I probably should have done that.
I should have talked to you first before I launched
it.
No, I mean, you know, I get
it.
Hey, this has been fun.
Thank you so much for your time tonight.
Great to talk to you.
Thank you.
Great to see you.
Tell Jimmy and Oliver hello.
And again, we'll do this award season.
Please come
back.
OK.
So
your
family, I say hello.
I will.
Thanks, Danielle.
And check out How to Survive podcast.
It's a really good podcast, folks.
Hey, we are coming back tomorrow night to do it all over again on behalf of the lovable producer Conrad.
I'm Pete Schwabba saying good night,
Wisconsin.
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