Comedy, Crushes, and the Comedy Grind (Hour 2)

Transcript

Comedy, Crushes, and the Comedy Grind (Hour 2)

Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Tue Jan 13, 2026

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Broadcasting live from the Civic Media Studios in Green Bay, this is Night Light with Peach Wabba.

Your inside source on everything entertainment from Wisconsin to Hollywood.

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And now, a guy who likes to talk trash, but only when he's at the dump.

Pete Schwabba.

Pete Schwabba

Welcome back.

All right.

Act 2 is underway officially.

Hope you all smoked him if you had him.

And it's great to have you with me tonight on Nightlight, regardless of where you're joining us from in our wonderful state.

We just had, and I love this too, when we have a local connection too.

We had Daniel Picoan, who lives in Janesville.

And I was looking at this guy's IMDB pro page thinking there's no way this guy could live in Wisconsin with all these credits, but he's making it work.

So good for him.

If you missed hour number one, we talked a little bit about the Packers coaching situation and Amy Poehler's podcast and lots of fun stuff.

We have a great question tonight and we talked to

Rex Sykes and Daniel Pico, as I just mentioned, the event tomorrow night is Mission 1 Billion at Schmidties in Brookfield.

Just a big networking group that is trying to connect people in Wisconsin who want to be in the entertainment industry.

So check it out if that is something that tickles your fancy.

We've got a great show tonight, folks.

Coming up at the bottom of the hour here in the six o'clock hour is Olivia Witt, a very funny stand-up comedian originally from Wisconsin who makes her home in New York now.

And we will talk to Olivia about what is going on.

She's got some really cool stuff to say and things that she's been working on.

So we'll have Olivia at 6.35.

And then at 7.20 in hour number three, the Green Bay Lama, Jason Jerry himself will be here.

A mythical.

figure here in Green Bay.

I'm excited to meet Jason.

This will be his first time on the show, and I've just kind of been hearing about him for a couple of years now in Green Bay, and we've recently connected through social media.

He will be here at 720 in the studio.

Gonna be good, maybe Conrad, if we're feeling crazy, we get a picture through the window of the Green Bay Lama.

Our

Conrad Krieger

first one.

Yeah, that would be really crazy.

Pete Schwabba

That would be outstanding.

That is the voice of Conrad Krieger who is working the board tonight on the other side of the glass.

He's quarantining himself because he is under the weather.

Are you feeling any better than when we started the show, Conrad?

Not really.

Are you gradually getting worse?

Conrad Krieger

Probably.

Pete Schwabba

Okay, what do you think you have?

The bird flu?

Well, you said scurvy earlier, so probably that.

Don't rule out rickets.

It's all a possibility.

Conrad Krieger

Records

Pete Schwabba

doesn't sound good.

I hope it's none of the above.

So anyway, we're getting through it though.

We got a lot of fun.

I think it's time, Conrad, that we reintroduce our question of the night.

Olivia Witt

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Conrad Krieger

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

Pete Schwabba

Who is your current movie or TV crush?

Got some great answers.

We'll get to the text in just a moment But who is your favorite or current movie or TV crush because these things change.

It's kind of like out of sight out of mind.

I Was saying like mine kind of fluctuate Don't tell my wife.

She's my ultimate.

I mean usually mine

Conrad Krieger

sinny Sweeney, but

Pete Schwabba

is it really?

But usually say Sidney's yeah, because you just saw Marty supreme That's why I put the word current current currently question.

Conrad Krieger

You know it was Kate McKinnon, too

Pete Schwabba

Yes, you've had a serious thing about Kate McKinnon for I would say the first year of this show Conrad, you talked in Cecily.

Well,

Conrad Krieger

it was really about how much he makes me laugh.

Pete Schwabba

Yeah, that goes a long way.

Conrad Krieger

Just like every time she talks, I'm just gonna be like, I know I'm gonna like die laughing here.

Pete Schwabba

It's very funny.

And what is it about Sidney Sweeney that you find appear?

Conrad Krieger

Her acting talents.

You

Pete Schwabba

don't believe me?

You can be honest.

She's a fine actor.

I

Conrad Krieger

mean, I still gotta see the housemaid, you know, I've heard good dude things about it.

Pete Schwabba

Listen, you might have a little crush on Amanda Zyford after you see that.

She's really great, too.

They look like they could be sisters.

The Sweeney sisters, as it were.

Shout out to SNL.

But Amanda Zyford's a really good actor, too.

And it does look like a good movie.

So there you go.

That's tonight's question of the night.

I said Carrie Coon.

An actress with ties to Wisconsin.

She was most recently in White Lotus.

She was in one of the Fargo seasons, and she is just a really talented actor.

She's excellent, so, and we should try to get Carrie Coon on the show.

We'll make a point to try to get her.

Yes, so we'll reach out.

But do not mention that I have, she's my crush of the week.

We don't want that.

We don't want to scare her away.

I think

Conrad Krieger

I should put that in the headline.

Pete Schwabba

Yeah.

Be a guest on Nightlight.

The host has a guest.

The host has the hots for you.

Please come on his show.

It won't be the least bit awkward.

Carrie Coon is mine, and Conrad, you're gonna have to say the name Odessa.

Azion.

Azion.

So, Sidney Sweeney taking a backseat to Odessa

Conrad Krieger

Azion.

And Odessa Azion, her mom is the voice in King of the Hill, Ken?

No, not Kenny.

Pete Schwabba

So, she's a nepo baby.

Conrad Krieger

Let me...

Well, Pam Pamela Adelon Pamela Adelon.

Pete Schwabba

That's her mom.

Conrad Krieger

Okay, and she's the voice of Bobby Hill in King of Hill

Pete Schwabba

Yeah, she's a nepo baby.

See that's what I like about my girl Carrie Coon UW Madison grad worked her butt off worked web none of this nepo baby crap con That's a tough circle to crack anyway Yeah, I mean I'm not saying you can't do it.

I'm just saying it's gonna there's gonna be some leg work involved.

Conrad Krieger

Yeah.

Pete Schwabba

Yeah, but

Conrad Krieger

Didn't know that Kate Hudson was a nepo baby until

Pete Schwabba

like yesterday when

Conrad Krieger

I think it was yesterday you talked about it

Pete Schwabba

Yeah, I didn't know Oliver Hudson was a brother either.

Yeah, they're both big-time I mean that they're the epitome of nepo babies, but talented I Oliver is a pretty decent actor and Kate Hudson's great.

So I have no problem with that.

That's great So let us know who your celebrity crush

for lack of a, that's an easier way to say it, or who is your current crush in TV and film.

You can join us and be part of the show at 855-752-4842, 855-755 Civic.

You can also text us on the Civic Media app.

Very easy to use.

And if you're watching the radio on Facebook, YouTube, or X, drop us a stream comment and I will read it on the radio.

Give us a like or a follow there if you're so inclined.

And just a heads up, folks, if you did miss the first hour of the show,

There was a whole lot of fun.

You can check it out in podcast forum at civicmedia.us.

So here we go.

Away we go.

Act two is officially underway.

I saw this con.

I thought this was kind of cool.

This is Wisconsin.

Wallet Hub did this study of the best states for family.

Now, let me say right from the get go, I don't put a lot of stock in this.

I think you can raise a family anywhere.

I lived in two huge cities.

Had my kids in one of them raise them the second part of their childhood here I think you can if you're a good parent I think it doesn't really matter that much where you raise your kids But these lists are kind of fun, and I love that Wisconsin Crack the top 50 I Mean we're up there There's only 50 stays kind of I know yeah, Wisconsin is fourth.

That's outstanding.

Conrad Krieger

Yeah, that's pretty cool

Pete Schwabba

And they have these scores, they have all these different, you know, categories, family fun rank, whatever that is, I don't know, health and safety rank, education and childcare rank, affordability rank, and socioeconomics rank.

Those sound kind of like the same things, but anyway, Wisconsin gets a 20 in the family fun rank.

What do you think constitutes family

Conrad Krieger

fun?

the snow tubing in the winter

Pete Schwabba

and

Conrad Krieger

going out on the lake in the summer.

Pete Schwabba

There's enough Chuck E. Cheese's around the state to make people happy or jimberees.

I get it.

Health and safety rank, Wisconsin is 17th.

And if you're following at home so far, that's a 37-cume.

Education and childcare rank, Wisconsin gets a 10.

That's great.

Affordability rank is 12 and socioeconomic rank is 7th for a grand total of 60.58.

Do you know, did you know, what would you have guessed before I sent this to you as to what state is number one?

Conrad Krieger

I probably would have said like, I don't know.

Definitely not those New York or California.

I would say maybe Georgia or somewhere on there, North Carolina, South Carolina.

Pete Schwabba

Okay Well, New York tough guy is number six

Conrad Krieger

Where's the affordability rank on that one?

Pete Schwabba

Well, they they don't affordability their ninth I Don't this must be like ass backwards or something because because Connecticut is number one which probably means I think the higher the score the better Yeah, because because yeah,

Conrad Krieger

yeah, I mean

I think New York should be like one.

Pete Schwabba

Yeah, I would have guessed, honestly, I would have guessed probably maybe not Wisconsin number one, but Minnesota has a good quality of life, Michigan.

I would have thought probably it was a Midwest state, but Massachusetts is number one.

And that doesn't surprise me.

At the end of the day, they have great schools, healthcare, I think they get high marks.

Minnesota is number two.

Going around the horn here.

for other Midwest states.

Minnesota is number two.

North Dakota, number three.

Their health and safety rank is number seven because no one lives there.

You're safe.

Unless you get a flat tire.

There's no one there to help you change it.

Education and childcare, they get a four.

Affordability rank is a 22.

I don't understand this, but I've been there.

I mean, people in North Dakota are lovely.

I don't think that it's a great state, personally.

I don't think you can compare it to Wisconsin, or Minnesota, or Michigan, or other Midwest states, if it's even considered a Midwest state.

Here's another one I disagree with.

Nebraska is number five.

Now Omaha's a great town.

Lincoln is fun.

But after that... It's a great

Conrad Krieger

audible, too.

Pete Schwabba

It's a what?

Conrad Krieger

Great audible.

Pete Schwabba

Nebraska?

Conrad Krieger

No,

Pete Schwabba

Omaha.

Oh my...

God, you just shoehorned a Peyton Manning joke into the show.

I'm sorry.

Omaha, Omaha.

What's Roger's that?

What does Aaron Rogers say?

Green

Conrad Krieger

18.

Pete Schwabba

Green 18.

Or is

Conrad Krieger

it green 19?

It's one of the two.

Pete Schwabba

What do you think about him?

Is he done?

Conrad Krieger

Oh, yeah.

He asked.

I mean, actually, I don't know.

He probably doesn't want to.

He wants this is what's going to happen.

He's going to sign to a team, have a good game, and then retire.

Because

Pete Schwabba

I don't

Conrad Krieger

think he wants to go out on a pick six.

Pete Schwabba

That's a good defense.

That's a

Conrad Krieger

great

Pete Schwabba

defense.

All right, so there you go.

Conrad says Omaha, Nebraska.

Nebraska is number five, though.

Illinois is number nine.

Where is Michigan on this list?

So we got some.

The Midwest states made a good showing.

Michigan actually is really far down.

35th.

I wonder what their score was.

Anyway, they're all good states.

We're Midwesterns.

We love it.

We get high ranks.

But Wisconsin, no, that's a pretty good score.

Number four overall.

Best States for Families in Wallet Hub's very vague poll.

Good stuff.

Here's another thing I thought was cool, Conn.

Garlic might make your breath stink, but it makes you smell sexier.

Conrad Krieger

Does it?

Pete Schwabba

Well, that's what they say.

And I'm, all right, here it says take, all right, in this, this was, what was this?

The researchers, this is just a Google research poll, I think it said.

It obviously makes your breath smell worse.

I would, I would disagree with that.

I don't mind garlic breath.

Because I like garlic so much the taste when I smell it on people's breath.

I'm like oh that lucky bastard just ate garlic So I kind of like it and I'm not I'm not just saying that to be funny But it can make your sweat smell sweeter Basically what you eat affects your body odor in two ways through your gut and through your skin as food is digested gases escape out of your mouth and the rest works through your bloodstream and comes out in sweat where bacteria turns them into smells in one study women were asked

Poor women in one study women were asked to sniff a bunch of men's worn armpit pads Who signs up for that?

And they rated those who ate a lot of garlic is more attractive.

How do you like that?

So eat the car and the carb-heavy diets meat heavy and carb-heavy diets smelled less sexy than others Kind of have to probably helps if you're good-looking.

Well, don't go around asking women to smell your armpits

Yeah,

Conrad Krieger

that's a good idea.

Pete Schwabba

Are we a love connection?

Are we

Conrad Krieger

going to go get some garlic

Pete Schwabba

during this break?

Let's get some garlic and let's saute it in some olive oil.

There you go.

All right, we're coming back next to Read Your Text.

This is Pete Schwabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio Network.

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Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

started.

Pete Schwabba

I'm Pete Schwab, and this is Nightlight.

I am so excited.

28 years later, Bone Temple opens this weekend.

Very excited to see that.

The second film in the new trilogy of the 28 years franchise.

I'm not even a zombie guy.

I keep saying that, but yet I keep watching zombie films, so maybe I'm a zombie guy.

So that's exciting.

Let's get to some text, Conn.

You know what our question is?

Do you remember?

Conrad Krieger

Well, I guess who is your crush?

TV or

Pete Schwabba

correct favorite current movie or TV crush or celebrity and put anybody out there Brett from the 920 says my movie crush was Betty white, but she's gone So I'm in need of a new one Betty was wild.

She knew things I want to know I Have no idea how Brett knows that but I love that.

Thank you, Brett Monica from Mount Horrib in the 608 says Tom Hiddleston

really liked him in the life of Chuck.

And he seems like a decent fellow in interviews.

I hold a grudge if someone doesn't take precautions.

Oh, this is a new thought.

Okay, she's talking about Conrad and I said we were both under the weather.

She said, I hold a grudge if someone doesn't take precautions.

When I'm sick, I clean door handles, microwave keys, remotes, pens, so as not to spread my cooties.

So I get upset when I see others who are sick, but don't give me the same courtesy of trying to disinfect.

That is annoying Monica.

I agree with you, but I feel like Most people don't do it.

I mean I'll be honest when I have to sneeze I go into the control room where Conrad is I'll sneeze and then close the door kind of hotbox him so to speak That's probably how he

Conrad Krieger

that's why I don't feel good

Pete Schwabba

No, I'm with you Monica I don't know what you do though because there's so many people that don't care or they look at it as a sign of weakness almost if they look out for others

Whether it's a mask, whether it's wiping door handles or whatever.

I think it's kind of lame, but great text.

Thank you.

Steve Conrad's dad from Florida says, I still have a crush on Marsha Brady from the Brady Bunch.

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.

Thank you, Steve.

Steve, what do you think about Ben Stiller's wife?

I can't think of her name right now, but she played Marsha in the Brady Bunch movie with Gary Cole and Shelley Long and was really funny.

Christine Taylor.

Christine Taylor, that's right.

I don't even know if they're still married.

I think they are.

Yep.

But I think... Married

Conrad Krieger

since 2000.

Pete Schwabba

So

Conrad Krieger

they're still married.

Pete Schwabba

Okay, good for them.

Good showbiz couple.

I think a lot of guys had crushes on Marsha Brady, Steve.

I'm only telling you that because I think... I'm not saying you're out of the running, but you are married to the lovely Paula and you have a lot of competition for your choice, don't you?

Just putting that out there.

And Conrad would be heartbroken.

What would you think if your dad left your mom for Marsha Brady?

Dad, no comment.

You'd be sad, but, you know, she's a celebrity.

Maybe she'd be on Milf Manor someday.

Then you could say your stepmom's on Milf Manor.

I'm sorry, Steve.

Mark from Prairie Dusack says, I always thought Yvonne Strahosky, I think I'm saying her last name right, from Chuck was something special.

She was great in Dexter.

She played a serial killer in Dexter.

And I remember her also from 24.

Really good actress.

That's a really nice obscure pull.

Love it, Mark.

Thank you.

Brett also says, oh, in reference to our conversation last hour about coaches and LaFleur and all these coaches who are now available, Brett says, remember, no head coach has ever won two Super Bowls with two different teams.

Is that true?

Didn't Parcells do it?

No, he went to Dallas.

They didn't win one because Dallas sucks.

Where are we going here?

We've got one more here or two more here Colleen from Richland Center says Kate Hudson is her Celebrity crush or movie or TV crush.

I like that Colleen and I like Kate Hudson Did you see song sung blue Colleen?

Let us know Nick from Marshall in the 608 says my celebrity crush when I was eight was Gwen Stefani and now I would say Sabrina carpenter Nick has a type.

I don't know if you pick that up Conrad, but

He obviously likes those blonde pop stars.

Nothing wrong with that.

So let us know, folks, be part of the show.

Coming up at 6.35, Olivia Witt, very funny stand-up comedian originally from Wisconsin who is in New York now.

She will be here and very excited to catch up with Olivia.

She's been on the show before.

Our question of the night, as I just said, was what is your current...

favorite celebrity or movie crush or movie or TV crush, I should say.

We have a clip from Olivia too.

I want to play this before she comes on.

We have that ready.

This is Olivia Witt, our guest at 635.

Very funny clip from this very talented stand-up comedian.

Olivia Witt

I saw this documentary called What the Health.

Have you seen this?

It's on Netflix.

It's a pro-veganism documentary and instead of making like a moral or ethical argument for veganism, it says that veganism is the healthiest thing you can do for your body.

And they use like a lot of scared tactics in this.

Like they have like a whole scene where like a 1960s housewife is cooking, but then what does she put in the hot dog bun?

Oh, it's a cigarette.

More like, eating one hot dog is the cancer equivalent of smoking three cigarettes.

You wouldn't give your child tobacco.

Why are you giving them deli meat?

And then it's like black and white blood is running down the sides of the screen.

And I know I should have walked away from this documentary being like, wow, I need to be thinking about what I'm putting into my body.

Instead I left being like, wow, maybe cigarettes aren't that bad.

You're telling me one cigarette is the cancer equivalent of a third of a hot dog.

I have dogs all the time.

I could afford to be cool.

Pete Schwabba

That's great.

Olivia will be here after news sports and weather, which is coming up in just about a minute.

If you watched the Golden Globes, folks, you've got 11 new shows.

This is what I love about award shows.

Even if you don't like to sit through them,

All these great shows that were nominated are shows that you need to put on your radar, whether it's Severance or Pluribus or The Pit and all the movies that won too.

So definitely check out, do a Google search.

If you're looking for something to watch, go to the award shows.

That's where all the great suggestions are.

And I think it was one battle after another, one in musical comedy, Hamnet won for drama and films, and then you've got all these great TV shows like The Pit and Adolescents and Hacks.

So much great colored television out there.

Check it out.

All right, we're coming back with Olivia Witt that is next on Nightlight after the news.

It's Pete Chihuahua on The Civic Media Radio Network.

I'm Pete Schwabba.

This is Nightlight.

Our question of the night is who is your current movie or TV crush?

Conrad's mom says Noah Wiley.

Did you know that?

Conrad Krieger

I didn't.

Pete Schwabba

Can you imagine if your dad left your mom for Marsha Brady and then your mom ditched your dad for Noah Wiley?

Conrad Krieger

Well, will that make me a nepo baby then after that?

Pete Schwabba

You'd be a nepo step baby.

And there's nothing wrong with there's no shame.

I'm

Conrad Krieger

going to show business then, Pete.

I mean, you already are,

Pete Schwabba

buddy.

Don't you think this is this is this is showbiz?

This is the primo gig in showbiz.

It's pretty nightlight.

So you just keep up keep up the great work

All right, that's our question of the night, folks.

Who is your celebrity movie or TV crush at the moment?

They do change.

That's why I say at the moment.

Right now, I'm very excited to welcome my next guest.

She is a stand-up comedian and a Wisconsin native who makes her home now in New York City, and she's just really funny.

We just heard a clip of her before the break, and she joins us now on Nightlight over the stream, Olivia Witt.

Hello, Olivia.

Olivia Witt

Hi, Pete.

Thanks so much for having me back.

Pete Schwabba

It's great to have you back.

I'm excited for you because, you know, you left Wisconsin, which we just talked about is the fourth best place to raise a family.

And you went to New York, which is the eighth best place.

It's not a big trade-off, you know?

So if you ever decide to have a family, yeah, you're in good shape.

Olivia Witt

Yeah, eight is shocking to me in terms of best place to raise a family.

The kids here though, I will say they're a whole different breed.

I mean, I went to get my nails done the other day and the eight-year-old girl was getting her nails done.

Maybe even a little bit younger than that.

Civic Media Announcer

This is

Olivia Witt

like, I have no idea how old children are, but.

She's getting her nails done with her mom and came up and was like and I'm going to show you all of my colors and I got a bunch of her colors on all different fingers and she like went through and she was like pink because I'm a girl green because it's spring about to be spring yellow because that's my favorite color and I was like I didn't even ask once like this

Pete Schwabba

is

Olivia Witt

crazy that just they're so

They're so comfortable with people.

It's crazy to me.

Pete Schwabba

That is are you enjoying it there?

You've been there now two years a little over two years.

Olivia Witt

Yep.

Pete Schwabba

Okay.

Olivia Witt

Probably.

Oh, yeah.

Wow.

Probably at this point, not quite two years.

I moved here at the end of February.

But yeah, I mean, I'm loving it.

It's been great.

Pete Schwabba

It must be exciting because you, you know, I know you kind of made a name for yourself here, but

You're in the stand-up comedy mecca pretty much.

I mean, New York City is where so many comedians come out of.

There's so many great venues, or at least there used to be.

That must have been exciting.

Do you feel like a New York comic

Olivia Witt

now?

A little.

I mean, I feel like I'm very much doing the grind.

You know,

Pete Schwabba

I'm

Olivia Witt

out in the street yelling at people to get in rooms for shows.

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

They don't

Olivia Witt

like it when you call it working the corner, I found out.

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

Wait, do they

Olivia Witt

do that?

Yeah, so you can get hired to like hand out flyers and stuff before the show.

A lot of times places will trade you stage time.

Civic Media Announcer

Like if you start going to

Olivia Witt

open mics and things like that, they're like, hey, you do pretty good at our open mic.

If you want, we'll give you like a four minute spot at a club if you want to like stand outside and hand out flyers and tell people to come in.

It's called barking.

You bark people in, I think, because you're kind of barking at them like a dog as they're trying to walk from one place to another.

Pete Schwabba

That is hilarious.

I had no idea.

Olivia Witt

Yeah.

I have been showing up to that just being like, yeah, work in the corner.

They're like, please don't call it that for legal reasons.

Don't say

Pete Schwabba

that.

There's really no good way.

If you're working the corner that has negative connotations, if you're barking at people, it just says insanity.

So it's either way.

It's the same thing, yeah.

It's not

Olivia Witt

great.

Pete Schwabba

Do you miss Wisconsin when it comes to doing stand-up?

Or are you just like, no, this is where you have to be?

Olivia Witt

Oh, yeah.

I do.

Absolutely.

Especially, you know.

with New York, you're competing against everybody.

It's such a big thing of if you have a show that night, you know, you can try to get people in because there's so many people, but everybody does know if you go down the street, you can go see Bill Burr or you can go see Michael Wigley or someone else, and you're competing with the most comedians.

So even though there's like a ton of people who are down to see shows,

you know that they can go and watch shows and be like, that wasn't as good as the people we saw last week.

And then they went to go see somebody who sells out theaters, you know.

So you're competing at a level that is just, you're kind of the highest level.

Whereas when I was in Wisconsin, it was kind of like, okay, I'm going to drive out two and a half hours outside of Madison, go to a town where the entire town is coming to see me do comedy.

And it's like their big night.

We have a show going on.

Everybody from town is coming in.

We're all sitting there watching the show.

We're going to yell at them and be like, talk about Jeff.

We love him.

And afterwards they're going to come up and be like, that was great.

You know, I also have jokes about men, but I can't tell you to say them in front of my husband.

You're like, what is going on here?

You know, people like say too much about their personal lives to you, things like that.

But.

In New York, it's very much like everybody just kind of knows what's going on.

So if they go to a show and you don't do well, people will be like, well, you didn't do as great as the people we saw last week or whatever.

People are a little more discerning.

Pete Schwabba

Yeah.

I would think you'd want to be there, though, even if you're competing against Bill Burr or Sarah Silverman or whoever's in town or working there.

Because as nice as it is to be maybe a big fish in a small pond you can only go so far with that, right?

Olivia Witt

Yeah, absolutely.

Um, I mean, I think it really is it's so nice to be here at least during the week too Yeah, you know shows in Wisconsin were great on the weekends, but it was kind of like Monday Tuesday night You were going to maybe a open mic with you know the same 10 people you always saw half of them have kids and they this is like their

time away from their kids, so they haven't really written anything new.

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

There's like,

Olivia Witt

you know, several homeless guys who've walked in on the street who are just like, I'm going to give stand up a try.

There were UW college kids that were black out drunk who show up, you know, you're competing with kind of a more of a madhouse situation in Wisconsin.

In New York, it's very fun because I can go to several mics tonight.

You know, I can go kind of bop into one.

I went to open mic before this came home doing this interview.

I'll probably want it.

10pm tonight in Manhattan.

So, you know, the grind never stops.

You got to kind of always bounce around.

But it's also crazy here because you can go to an open mic and be like, Oh, cool.

I have to follow an SNL writer.

Yeah.

That's a real thing that happened.

One of my first open mics I went to in New York City.

I like had to follow a guy who wrote for the other two.

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

Wow.

And he had a

Olivia Witt

great set.

I mean, he's a professional writer, but

It's cool to just kind of be in that mix, even if you're at the bottom.

Pete Schwabba

Absolutely.

So explain to me a little bit, Olivia.

Like, you got there.

Did you have a lot of connections, or was it hard to get stage time initially?

I would think it would be.

And now, two years in almost, do you feel like one of the working comics, like, is it your community?

Do you feel entrenched in the community there?

Olivia Witt

Oh, yeah, I would say so.

I felt like I already kind of had a little bit of the idea of the community.

It's very different than Wisconsin.

Wisconsin was very close-knit.

You know, it was kind of like when you were new, you felt very new, and then when you were established, you felt very established.

I feel like I haven't really felt the same change in New York.

Before I moved to New York, I really wanted to

uh you know I was looking at potentially moving to LA or maybe even Chicago and I ended up doing a lot of comedy festivals where I would go and like travel to some place you know far out and meet a bunch of other people so I kind of feel like I've made a lot of my friends through that festival circuit because those are things where it's like you go to uh you know Bozeman Montana for a weekend and you're staying with everybody and

Civic Media Announcer

you're

Olivia Witt

hanging out with everybody

And as a result, you make a lot of those friends.

And so a lot of those people already lived in New York.

So it was really nice when I moved here.

I felt like that was a community for me.

I feel like there's a lot of ex Chicago comedians that I saw when

Civic Media Announcer

I would go

Olivia Witt

up to Chicago.

They kind of have their own scene here.

I grew up in DC.

And that weirdly, I've met a lot of like DC, DMV, DC, Maryland, Virginia comedians who that's been nice because I can like talk about, you know, where I grew up.

And then also I will say, anyone who came out of like anyone who did comedy for even a little bit of time in Wisconsin, if they find out you're from Wisconsin, it's very much like, oh my gosh, what part?

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

Where'd

Olivia Witt

you, what did you do?

Where'd you go?

And there were people even here, there's actually a guy who lives in my neighborhood now.

I don't know if you've had him on your show, Toler Wolf, but he lived in Madison.

And I think he moved right before I moved to Madison.

So we like just missed each other, but

he has been so incredibly nice to me in terms of like anytime he sees me always comes up is like how are things how was Madison you know it's just when you know a lot of the same people it's really helpful and comedy is so huge here like that's the thing is there's so many of these kind of like micro communities within comedy because you'll go to a mic and you'll see a group of people and then you'll go to that same mic the next week and it'll be a completely different group of people so you're just you're seeing all these three different people all the time

it's hard to kind of maintain connections because with comedy too everybody's trying to like go to different rooms and try out different try out their jokes in front of different people and go on the road and so people will be like away traveling for a while and then they'll get back and it's hard to kind of maintain a routine and maintain

Pete Schwabba

same people

Olivia Witt

for a

Pete Schwabba

while.

My guest is Olivia Wedge.

She's very talented stand-up comedian living in New York City.

She was in Wisconsin for, would you say a cup of coffee?

How long were you here Olivia?

Olivia Witt

I haven't done it in like five years.

Pete Schwabba

OK, that's pretty.

And you started here.

That's not bad.

No, that's great.

Olivia Witt

Yeah, I started comedy in

Pete Schwabba

Wisconsin.

Oh, that's outstanding.

Let me ask you this.

And then I want to ask you about this cool sketch thing you're doing.

But has living in New York now, I mean, I'm sure you write about it, but have you changed as a stand-up or as an artist?

Or are you still kind of the same style of joke writer?

Olivia Witt

Oh, I think I've absolutely changed.

I do a lot more like topical current of any stuff.

I think that's kind of hard to do in Wisconsin.

You tend to cater to your current audience, you know,

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

it is

Olivia Witt

something where a lot of times I would end up talking about dating or things like that in Wisconsin because I felt like that was very like homogenous and

A lot of people could relate to it.

And in New York, I do feel like, oh, I can talk a little bit about the TV shows I'm watching and things going on in the news that I maybe couldn't have otherwise done if people were like, what?

This is too far out of our current zeitgeist or whatever.

Also, weird, I had a couple of football jokes about Aaron Rodgers.

In Wisconsin, I remember like knowing a lot and talking a lot about football.

I was like, I should do well in New York.

Everybody in New York is pretty like, they know about stuff.

Everybody knows about football here.

It's

Pete Schwabba

crazy.

Really?

Olivia Witt

Yeah.

Pete Schwabba

I

Olivia Witt

think it's like, if you like football, you're living in like a house with a good TV.

And so everyone here is like, we go see Broadway plays.

Like nobody, I can mention like, I have a joke about Hamilton and it does so much better than my joke about like the NFL.

Pete Schwabba

Aaron Rodgers.

Yeah.

Olivia Witt

So funny.

Pete Schwabba

That's great.

Tell us a little bit about, you have a really cool sketch comedy show you're doing with your sister.

Diana, tell us about that.

Olivia Witt

Yes, absolutely.

So this is my sister, first of all, a little bit of backstory, my sister.

My sister is four years younger than me.

She lives in LA.

She works for a talent agency.

She's like, become very LA.

Like she does like cardio dance.

And last time I went to visit her, she was like, we got to go to the sound bath and like get a collagen smoothie afterwards.

Um, but she out there, she does a lot of sketch stuff.

She's involved in UCB.

She's on a couple of house sketch teams.

She always has been very funny.

We always have been very funny together.

Um, so we wrote a, what we're calling our duo show.

It's like a one woman show, but get this to women.

Huge groundbreaking, you know, in today's current political climate, what people need is just two more white women doing little bits with each other.

Uh, we feel like we're really bringing that to the community.

But yeah, it's a lot of stuff that my sister wrote.

It's a lot of stuff that I wrote.

It's kind of all about us growing up being sisters, looking for fame.

What she brings to the table is her LA lifestyle and her, you know, quick-witted sketch writing.

And I have come from like a, you know, New York stand-up.

fast-paced, holding the mic situation.

So

Pete Schwabba

we kind of

Olivia Witt

combined our two interests.

Pete Schwabba

Let's pick up right there.

We're going to do a really short break.

We'll have a few more minutes with our guest.

Olivia Witt, the very funny Olivia Witt.

We're coming right back on Nightlight with Peach Waba on the Civic Media Radio Network.

Civic Media Announcer

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.

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

Welcome

Pete Schwabba

back.

This is Nightlight with Peech.

While we are broadcasting statewide from beautiful downtown Green Bay,

Craig Anthony Kinnit on the stream says, Pete, Jamie Lee Curtis will always be a beauty as well as just a fun person.

I think I'm gonna crush on her.

I love that he just concocted that, like, after the question was asked.

It doesn't sound like Craig put any thought in that until he heard the question.

So, thank you for the text, Craig, sorry.

Very excited to have my guest.

Olivia Witt is here for a few more minutes.

She is a New York City-based stand-up comic.

She spent...

I wouldn't say a cup of coffee, a few cups of coffee, maybe some cold brews here in Wisconsin.

And she is with us now over the stream.

Olivia, we heard your really funny joke about hot dogs and cancer and cigarettes in the last, I think you could avoid all of those and you'd be just fine, but really good.

I love your writing.

Oh, hey.

You're very welcome.

What type of sketches are you doing with your sister?

How does that work?

Are they all online?

Like you're in New York, she's in LA.

How does that work?

And where can we see them?

Olivia Witt

Yes.

So we are actually taking this.

This is a live show.

We're taking it on tour.

We just did it in LA in October.

And then over in December, we did it in DC or outside of DC, closer to our home in Virginia.

And we're looking to do a Midwest tour.

So I figured I'd mention it here.

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

Yes.

Olivia Witt

You know, starting in the Midwest.

I know some people in Madison.

I know some people in Milwaukee.

I know some people in Chicago.

I think we're going to try to hit those three cities, look for venues.

And honestly, it's, I feel like with the biggest lesson I've learned in New York with just so much stuff going on and like being here for two years, it's really, if you have an idea for something and you want to do it, like I now have enough skills to just make that happen.

You know, I

Civic Media Announcer

know how to

Olivia Witt

contact venues.

I know how to be like, look, we believe in the show.

We think it's something new.

We think it's something interesting.

We can sell tickets.

Um, so it's been really fun.

We had, uh, I think we've sold over 60 tickets total.

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

We get like 30 at

Olivia Witt

our first and 30 at our second show.

Um, it's been really fun.

It's really just been a very fun way to reconnect with my sister.

Um, you know, we have a whole, we, it's like multimedia.

We have some stuff that we filmed that we show.

We have some stuff with costumes.

We have some stuff that's more stand upy where it's just us on stage.

We have a little bit of everything in the show.

It's very fun.

It's very zany, a little bit dirty.

It's a very good time to have be had by all.

I will say it's, we think there's something in there for everybody.

A lot of like, we do a lot of like movie parodies or not movie parodies with like a parody of the pit we do.

We have a parody of the show called The Summary Turned Pretty.

You don't really need to see anything to get the show, but.

A lot of stuff of like, you know, if you grew up with a sibling, you kind of just have those bits that you do with your siblings, and we just wrote ours down.

It's a really fun time.

Pete Schwabba

That is great.

You'll have to keep us posted if you do come out this way, even if it's Chicago or Madison or whatever.

Do you have a favorite club in New York?

Olivia Witt

Yeah, so I was doing some work with Comedy Village in Midtown Manhattan.

I have a nice little hosting gig with them.

Nice.

But I'm also working with Greenwich Village.

I will get some spots with them also in Manhattan.

But I also really like Brooklyn too.

Brooklyn is very, you know, there's more room to breathe out here.

It tends to be a little bit more alternative.

You see some, you know, newer stuff, more alternative things like that.

And for that, I really like this club in Williamsburg called Flop House.

I know they actually just open in East Village location, but they're kind of like a newer independent club that if you're coming to New York and looking for something that's going to be really cheap but really good, I think that's going to be your best bet.

I think you get your most, the most bang for your bucket flop house either location.

Pete Schwabba

How do you, where do you want your career to go?

Like you do stand up, you're doing very well in stand up.

You've got this great sketch deal going with your sister.

What do you want to do?

Do you want to act?

Do you want to sell out theaters, all of the above?

Where do you see the trajectory of your career going?

Olivia Witt

Yeah, so I do feel like my true passion is stand up, but I do really like the show that I'm doing with my sister.

I think our goal for the show at least is we want to start getting into festivals with the show.

There's a great festival in Scotland called Edinburgh Fringe.

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

A

Olivia Witt

lot of people do that and kind of pop off from there.

We would love for that to happen.

We would love to just take this show, tour it enough where eventually we can get big with it, put it someplace, and then, you know, see where our careers go from there.

You don't have to depend on another person though for a lot of that stuff in the future.

So I'm still working on stand-up.

I'm still doing, you know, my regular...

stand-up show all throughout the city.

I really enjoy stand-up.

I really like writing new jokes and things like that.

I think my goal is at some point to tour that a little bit more.

Would love to, you know, get to a point where I'm opening for bigger names, where I'm headlining, you know, working my way up the ladder there.

You know, I'd love to have like a television special at some point or something

Pete Schwabba

like that.

Yeah.

Olivia Witt

I will keep you posted.

Pete Schwabba

How fun.

Yeah, absolutely.

We've got about a minute left.

Are you watching anything that you could recommend?

Olivia Witt

Oh, and I hate to be this person, but a truly heated rivalry has really overtaken me It's

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

uh, I

Olivia Witt

enjoy it.

Oh, yeah

Olivia Witt (recorded clip)

It's

Olivia Witt

I don't know Pete if I'd recommend it for you, but I'll recommend it to your listeners.

Pete Schwabba

What does that

Olivia Witt

mean?

It's it's about hockey.

Pete Schwabba

Oh, okay

Olivia Witt

Yeah, it's

Pete Schwabba

I don't look like the hockey

Olivia Witt

type.

It's not more popular in Wisconsin, but yeah

Yeah, it's about two guys and they're really attractive.

And I feel like it's right now.

It's all the craze with the ladies.

Pete Schwabba

So that would maybe be your current movie or TV crush would be one of the guys from Truly Heated Redwood.

Oh, yeah.

All right.

Two birds with one stone.

Olivia Witt

Absolutely.

The Russian.

Pete Schwabba

Olivia, this has been fun.

Thank you.

I'm glad we know each other and I'm glad you come on the show every once in a while.

You're so much fun to talk to.

Keep up the great work and hope we can do it again soon.

Olivia Witt

All right.

Thank you so much,

Pete Schwabba

Pete.

You got it.

That's Olivia Witt, folks.

Just go to the Google and check out her stand-up clips.

A lot of them are out there like the one we played before.

She's very funny and always fun to have Olivia on the show.

All right.

In Act 3, folks, we've got the Green Bay Llama will be in the studio.

If you don't know what that means, that's OK.

You'll get to know him.

Jason Jerry joins the show at 7.20.

When we come back, I'm going to tell you where

Every state con has different breakup foods.

So we're

Civic Media Announcer

going to talk about what it is

Pete Schwabba

in Wisconsin.

We'll do that when we come back after the news, sports and weather.

It's Peach Wabba and Nightlight on the Civic Media Radio

Civic Media Announcer

Network.

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