Library Love (Hour 2)

From Washington to Hollywood and right back to Wisconsin, it's Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

Connecting the dots on the stories shaping our world with smart takes, sharp humor, and plenty of personality.

You know, I really expected more professional behavior from you.

It's news and culture without the noise.

Yeah, come on!

Here's Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

Dude!

Just a couple dudes.

Hey, welcome to nightlight everybody.

Happy Wednesday.

Great to have you here.

This has been a fun week with my new co-host Greg Bach and I promise at some point we'll stop saying new and we will just become routine, Greg, right?

Yeah, absolutely.

But we can always say the new and improved.

It's got that new show smell.

I think every day hopefully we would say new and improved.

Like on some level or some capacity we improve the show.

That would be my goal.

and ourselves and ourselves absolutely and we've got Dominic Lee working the board folks looking as cool as ever no beanie again Dom what gives how I don't know I just yesterday I you said I had a bad hair day so today how does my hair look be honest you know fantastic thanks all right it looks like you're buying top of the line product because it looks outstanding

Hey, this is great, folks.

We are back together again here on the air doing night lights.

We've got so much to get to tonight, as usual, all throughout the show, folks.

The phone lines are open at 855-752-4842-855-75 civic.

You can also text us, call, whatever you need to do, get a hold of us somehow.

It's always more fun when you guys participate in the show.

We've got great guests tonight, Greg, don't we?

absolutely.

We have

absolutely wonderful guests.

We're going to be playing after the 5 30 news a prerecorded interview we did with an amazing comedian.

Combat vet.

cat dad guitar enthusiast all around good guy Tom Tran he's gonna be performing on the 7th of March for the Fox Valley Veterans Council prohibition ball 2026 we'll talk more about that but that's coming up after the 530 news and then in the second hour we'll be speaking with Martin Alvarado from the Central Library at the Milwaukee I'm sorry Madison Public Library talking

tax preparations, talking book picks.

There's great fiction, nonfiction, and then a visit from Civic Media's very own sports reporter, a man who's all over the world.

Mr. Mike Clemens will be here as well.

Sports authority, as I call them, Civic Media Sports Authority.

Mike Clemens is always fun.

The store took the name from him.

That's correct, that is absolutely right.

And we've got, so there you go folks, that's a show, and we've got a great question, which I don't think we should waste any more time getting

to.

Here is the nightlight question of the night.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay, question.

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Question.

Questions.

Who, in your opinion, is the best late night talk show host ever?

Who's your favorite late night talk show host?

This question was inspired by the dropping of the book, The Late Shift, which was about the talk show wars between David Letterman and Jay Leno.

I want to say it was 30 years ago, Greg, but we both read the book and it's a great discussion.

The book or the

wars?

The book or the wars?

Well, both.

I mean, it was a war of sorts.

It was a Hollywood war between two talk shows.

There were no blows thrown.

But it was a great book and it was a great time when late night talk shows were kind of the only thing you had.

Now you got Stuart and John Oliver and all these Bill Maher and all these cable shows too.

But that was it.

Network was it back in the day.

I will say this.

I personally, like when it comes to like this question, I feel like my answer is multi-layered.

And we'll talk about this more later because, you know, you've got, you're right.

You've got.

The late night 10 30 or as the book says 11 30 slots the the late show slots and I wonder like do you consider things like the Daily Show and last week night late shows to me like are those Still in the same vein because I you know when considering this question Who is in that group and who is not part of that group because I have as you probably would be not shocked hard thoughts on this one, but

The book, the war for late night is fantastic.

Absolutely fantastic.

And you learn a lot about Jay Leno.

You learn a great deal about David Letterman, that book, but I would suggest picking up and then Bill Carter's other book about the, the, the fight over the night show between

Jay

Leno and Conan O'Brien.

So.

Okay, I thought Bill Carter wrote I'm confused on my books, but you're right.

They're all it's a great discussion We'll get into that.

We'll read your texts throughout the course of the show So let us know folks.

Who's your favorite late late-night?

Talk show host ever eight five five seven five two four eight four two You can also text us on the app very easy to use or if you're watching the radio on YouTube Facebook or X Twitter You can drop us a stream comment Please be part of the show.

Greg.

I have to tell you.

Yeah.

Yes, sir

You know how everything on social media looks amazing.

It's kind of nauseating.

People post their best pictures, their best life moments, oh, look at me, I'm in France, blah, blah, blah.

It's no different.

This is gonna seem a little strange, but I am tired of watching Van people on social media.

What?

What do you mean, man?

There are people that live in vans.

Okay.

It's this movement, and they look- Literally, because it's a van, it's moving.

But the-

Videos I see they're not moving.

They're just stationary on a beach.

It's all theater and I get kind of annoyed because I feel like they're like oh look at me.

I live in a van.

I have a simple life and Van couples are the worst because it's just social media to the 10th power

Oh look at me, I have to put my bed away and then pull out the griddle and make pancakes.

And then we walk by the ocean and then I put the griddle away and then I take a shower in this rubber thing over here and then I watch my 9-inch color TV.

That's a great lifestyle if that's what you want.

Yeah.

I'm kind of tired of seeing this stuff.

And I clicked on it once so now I have 30,000 van videos.

I'm the problem.

I realize that I mean, I don't know what to tell you man I just feel like I feel it here's here's the thing is when it comes to social media Find some accounts that you really like interact with those and push the vans, you know push them out of the other way there It's it's gonna be okay.

Is it because maybe you also think to yourself?

What would van life be like because I always think about what would happen if I just moved into a tiny house

Now that I think is kind of cool.

Yeah, or drive your house away like you can a van so there is that

It's a mobile home you can.

That's

true.

You're only limited by your own imagination, Pete.

That's what I'm

going to say right here.

And I would say if the van life is, I would look deeper within and say, is it that I don't like what they're doing, or maybe I'm jealous of the ability to just move my life wherever I see fit?

Typically, most of my complaints are rooted in envy.

I give you that.

And I love the old Jay Leno joke, since we were talking about late night talk show hosts, where he says,

when people live in a mobile home, is it tough when their kid wants to have a date and has to borrow the house?

Jay Leno says, yes, be home by 11.

Your mother and I will be standing over by that tree.

Anyway, I had to get that off my chest.

I don't know what your day was like, Greg, but that was me scrolling through Van Real.

I was a decent day, you know, not a lot going on.

It was kind of quiet.

So, you know, hanging out with my dog, having a good time.

But now I'm here and we're having a great time.

And I think it's

time to move on to our top three stories of the evening.

The first big story.

So proud of you dumb So last night was the state of the union address and and there were a lot of there were a lot of things said about it I think the thing that everyone was focusing on was that this was the longest state of the union at over an hour and 40 minutes long and

I don't think any state of the union needs to be that long.

I don't care who it is in office.

I think that, you know, I think we should, it should be an hour.

It should be like a headlining club set, 45 minutes, 60 at the most.

But, you know, around that last 15 minutes, start to ramp down, bring it in, bring in the good feelings and then get off stage and leave them wanting for more.

And that's not what the president did last night.

He left them wanting to

leave.

Correct.

And his own,

Party must have been tired from standing and clapping so much because to me that that kind of summed up the evening There was just a ton of applause and I know that you kind of get that with every state of union, but it started right out of the gate He introduced Johnson and fans not even a clap and then he introduces Melania and everybody stands She had to be it.

Yeah, it started with applause the whole night though

I think that he has the, let me see here, I found a website talking about how long presidents have spoken during State of the Unions and he wins right now.

He actually had the longest one before that.

of an hour and 39 minutes, which technically wasn't a state of the union last year because he had just

got an

office every, but it was an hour and 39 last night.

It was an hour and 47 40, but every other president before that, Barack Obama, our two or our hour and two minutes, George W. Bush, 52 minutes.

There you go.

Bill Clinton not surprising an hour and 14

minutes.

He can talk.

Like you put him at the end of the show when people are like, we can leave now, right?

We can leave now.

It's fine.

It's fine.

He's talking about, he's talking about like Nicaraguan policy as far as drugs and alcohol.

Let's just get out

of here

now.

While the parking lot's free.

It was so funny.

I remember Clinton giving a speech.

Before he was even president.

I think he was maybe the keynote speaker the four years before he ran He was kind of a hot shot coming up through the party.

He

talked for so long that

when

he said in conclusion Everybody started clapping sarcastically.

Yeah, he can talk as well.

He's very chatty Who was the guy I know they kept showing Mark Kelly

But there was a guy next to him that would clap.

He would stand.

Mark Kelly wouldn't.

And then he would lean down and say stuff to Mark Kelly.

And I couldn't tell if they were adversarial or what.

But I thought maybe it was a Wisconsin guy.

The other moment I thought was funny was when they recognized the 100-year-old World War II vet.

And Hexeth did the total.

He did something like this, then pointed.

He was one of his frat buddies or something.

That's my dog right there!

Yeah!

Exactly.

Sling a bag of cocktail for my vet buddy!

Yeah, totally.

That sounds like Pete Hegstaff's brand.

Totally.

He took out his American flag pocket square, waved it around and said, woohoo!

So, oh my goodness, oh my goodness.

There was another one they were pushing the Trump account.

Trump was pushing the Trump account that he insisted he did not name.

Yeah, he kept saying that too.

He's like, I didn't

name it, like no one.

Crazy

coincident.

Cause it's called the Trump kids account.

And I mean, I know that Trump kids...

And right now, not a

very popular

topic.

Not a popular Google search, if you will.

But still, he kept saying it.

And I feel like people were like, it's fine.

Just move on.

No one cares.

It's OK.

It's not real anyways.

It's not like these kids are

ever going to see this

money.

It's going to be magically vanished into a Bitcoin account somewhere in Malaysia.

I'll set up an account as soon as I get my Trump phone and my Trump steaks, and I'll eat a nice steak, and I'll set up the account.

It'll be fun.

But the other thing I thought was great, I love, like Trump can be so vague and nobody seems to care.

Like he's just like, we're working on that like crazy.

Like what, what does that mean?

A 17 year old girl.

Oh my

God.

The kids are going so amazingly.

So I

don't, so I don't really know the kids speak right now.

So I can't really like totes.

Dominic

a big one.

Yep.

Toast

is

a big one.

Okay, cool.

Oh, we're toast working out or be for you know Dom's hair is totes adorbs.

Oh

You're

trying to

make up for last night when

you

basically called him ugly

I did said Should we go to should we at least know let's

number two or should we punch let's let's leave them wanting more Okay,

let's leave

them want them.

Let's tease them with what we got coming up

That is our State of the Union.

Commentary folks, join the fun.

What did you think?

You can text us on any of the topics we're talking about.

As you know, our next two stories, I'll tease the heck out of these, Greg.

We've got, Chicago has named their plows, which are very interesting and could somewhat tie it to the State of the Union.

And then we've got Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees.

It's our third big thing.

Greg is going to go crazy on that.

We are coming.

Right back, ladies and gentlemen.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach on the Civic Media Network.

Welcome back.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is great to be on the air here and great to have you with us.

I'm Pete Schwabba, sitting across the window from me, so to speak, is Greg Bach, and we are the hosts of Nightlight.

Dom Lee, running the board, our question of the night, who is your favorite late night talker of all time?

I say David Letterman, a lot of people, we get some great responses.

We'll get to those throughout the course of the show.

And I'm certainly gonna ask Mike Clem is that, because I know Mike is a big late night TV fan too, so.

Yeah, we're jamming, man.

Should we get back to our top three stories, Greg?

Let's do it, Dom.

The second big story.

So out of Chicago these past few weeks, they were doing a contest on naming Chicago's newest snow plows and they have announced the winners with the top winner being, and this is not going to make some people happy.

They're naming one of the machines, abolish ice.

These were, these were available for, I believe Chicago could only vote for you to be a Chicago resident to vote for it.

But this year they picked, they had six vehicles.

They picked six names.

Number one was abolish ice.

The second one, and he did do a campaign on his show to win this.

Steven Cold Bear, Pope Frio, the 14th in honor of the South Side Chicago Pope, the Blizzard of Oz, which I love, Sven Cooley, and then finally, Caleb Chillians.

Chillians.

Chillians.

Caleb Chillians.

Caleb Chillians.

Yeah, so that is...

This is the Iceman.

That works.

That's his own

self nickname.

I love that because it harkens back that story from England many years ago where he did the same thing to name a boat and the name that one was Bodie McBoatface.

I'm telling you right now, when Jane and I talked about that story like last year, we were, we were like, there's radio, you know, this Pete, there's radio laugh and like TV laugh.

We were doubled over with laughter talking about Bodie McBoat face.

Cause it was just like the.

the childlike adolescents of it all be like, let's just say Bode McBoatface.

Yeah, totally.

All right.

So congratulations on the new Chicago land snow plows, abolish ice and all of their friends.

So yeah, there we go.

That is a, that's a teamwork that is the community coming together to have a good laugh at a serious topic.

Absolutely.

Dom, if you please.

The third.

big story.

Oh, baby.

All right.

So Greg is excited about this one.

Yeah,

it's a recent.

There have been new nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

And one of your favorites, Greg, you've got Cindy Loper, Soundbite, the White Stripes, Phil Collins.

Correct.

Yeah.

I thought the White Stripes were already in there.

Okay.

Yeah.

When I saw Phil Collins, I stopped reading because I'm like, yes, put him in right now.

Because

I

love Phil Collins.

I think you're right about that.

I'm looking at an old article.

They've already been inducted.

So I don't know where I sent that to you, but I can't find it now.

But Phil Collins, how is he not already in the rock hall?

Because he was put in a few years ago with Genesis.

That's how it usually works.

It's usually the group they came out of.

And then, so like someone like Eric Clapton is in three times.

He's in with the Yardbirds.

He's in with Cream.

And he's in solo.

I mean, if someone wanted to try to do blind faith, they could.

But he's in three times.

Paul McCartney is in twice.

And I think there might be one other person who can be in three times.

But yeah, I mean, you got Genesis that went in a few years ago, and fish actually inducted them.

And this is...

Yeah.

Oh, really nice.

Yeah.

And this year's

are pink.

No,

I've got it.

Yeah.

So sorry, go ahead, Greg.

Well, I feel like I think it's going to be very controversial, like pink and Shakira and whatnot.

I think, you know, I...

when it comes to this thing, I don't really care.

Like, put them all in.

It's, it's, it doesn't really like, when people get mad about these things, like, oh, hip hop shouldn't be in the rock and roll hall of fame.

Why?

Cause they're not rock and roll.

Okay.

So what does that mean to you?

I don't know.

And you could argue that they kind of are.

I mean, a lot of musics, there's genre bending, if you will, but you've got Pink, Phil Collins, Shakira.

I could sort of see people upset about Pink and Shakira, because they're still so young.

But you've got other first-time nominees, Melissa Etheridge, Lawson, in excess, sure, Lauren Hill.

They've been around a while, new addition.

I mean, Luther Vandross, Wu-Tang Clan, all of those, their best days are behind them.

You know,

well, let me ask you a question.

Uh, I want to ask you a question here.

When do you think pink came out like her first album?

Oh, you know, okay.

Good point.

Maybe early nineties.

2000.

So she's been around for 25 years.

Wow.

Yeah.

She's been around for 25 years.

In fact, she's been around for longer than that.

She was in a group before she went solo, but her first album came out in 2000.

Like.

See, that's the big thing for people, I feel like for people our age, we think people are like, oh, Pink, she's been around for like 15 years or something.

No, some of these folks have been around for like 25, 30 years, because you have to be around 25 years.

The rule is it's from the debut album's 25 years, which means she got in on the first, like first go, or she got nominated first go around.

But I just think, I think she is phenomenal too.

Her shows are a Vegas style.

show.

Acrobatics, like lights, fire, the whole thing.

It's amazing.

She is amazing.

Put her in twice just because I like her.

She's great.

I just thought I remembered seeing her at Summerfest, but I must be thinking of someone else.

If like, don't speak, I think was their big,

no,

that's Gwen

Stefani.

And they've been around even longer at that point.

They've been around since the early 90s.

So that's what I was thinking of.

Look at Pete learning about rock and roll music.

You're here to educate me.

Oh, by the way, Shakira's first album came out in 1990.

OK.

They're still kids, Greg.

They're

kids.

They're learning your

craft.

You're

right.

You're actually right.

And they've added new names.

I'm surprised these people weren't in where I carry.

Shardae, Billy Idol, Oasis.

Yeah.

Two hits.

I mean, that's.

Oasis?

Kind

of.

Don't ever

say that to Dan Schafer's face.

Oh, it's on dude.

Let's have him on and the black crows.

So there you go.

All right.

And new order.

I love new order.

All right.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

We are coming back.

We've got pre-recorded content on the way you are not going to want to miss this, folks.

Tom Tran, a very funny man talking about his gig coming up this weekend.

at the Fox Valley Veterans Council's Prohibition Ball.

He's an absolute blast.

We'll talk to you after.

This is Pete Schwabba and Greg Bakker, Nightlight on the Civic Media Network.

you

Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

I'm Greg and that's Pete and you are listening to us on the Civic Media Network.

So happy you are here with us today.

Do not forget, after the six o'clock news, we'll be speaking to Martin Alvarado from Madison Library about all the book recommendations coming our way, as well as a talk with Civic Media's very own Mike Clemens.

But right now,

We are talking to a true Renaissance man right now.

We're talking comedy, but it's everything.

This next guest, he is a combat vet.

He is a rocker.

He is a comedian, writer, actor, all the things.

Please welcome to the show Tom Tran.

Good afternoon, Tom.

Thank you so much for being with us today.

How are you?

Thanks guys.

Thanks for having me.

You left out nerd.

You left out cat

dad.

You left out former fat kid, but getting back there, I'm getting back to that.

We only have so much time, Tom.

I mean, all these professions, you know.

Absolutely.

God, if

being a fat could be a profession, go back to find my high school guidance counselor and be like, why didn't you tell me I could do this?

Well, I feel like they had a TV show about that, the biggest loser where the fat kids could come on and then lose the weight and then become famous.

That's how people do it nowadays.

You're famous for not being talented.

I'm sorry, I said it.

I said it.

because now I've seen, I was talking about this with my wife.

We'll get to the show in a moment, but I was talking about my wife.

I did not know that reality star is now a cottage industry where people are just like, this person was on this reality show.

And that one, I'm like, they get to be on more than one.

Like that's, that's how they become famous.

She goes, yeah, they're famous for nothing.

I'm like,

This is America.

It's amazing.

Maybe maybe you know who said this quote because I can't remember who said it.

But it went something along the lines of people used to be special because they were famous.

Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, you know, the singers and dancers.

But now it's people are special because they're famous.

Like they

don't necessarily have to be good at anything other than, you know, right.

They don't mind getting punched in the face on MTV.

That's whatever one MTV showed stuff.

It's

chasing fame for fame's sake, regardless of talent and many of them aren't.

There are some that are talented from the reality world, but it's you're right.

It's just like they become a brand.

I don't know.

Speaking of not having talent, I'm here.

I was going to

say, Tom,

talking

about

talking about

talent, I mean.

You got a ton of talent, and we're here to talk specifically about an event that you're going to be taking part in, and it's called the Fox Valley Veterans Council Prohibition Ball 2026.

You are the comedian that will be performing.

Tell us about the event.

You are a combat vet.

Tell us about this event and how you became involved in it.

Yeah, I'm really excited about this.

It's going to be on Saturday, March 7th, coming up at venue 404 in Oshkosh.

They're VIP tickets.

You can do meet and greet and general admission tickets.

But it's going to be a fun event.

I got involved because my friend James P. Connolly was the comedian last year.

He's a Marine Corps veteran or whatever it is they say Marines are.

What is it?

Marines don't

die.

They just multiply.

I don't remember.

But he asked me to do this and Tim, who Tim Cody, who's in charge over there at the Fox Valley Veterans Group, he's a former 82nd Airborne guy and I was a paratrooper.

So I am, you know, I got, I got love from my fellow paratroopers.

So I said, yeah, I will absolutely do it as long as you pay me $1 more than you paid the Marine.

And they agreed to that.

That's excellent.

I remember I interviewed James last year and Tim.

They're both great guys and it's just such a great event.

When you do a gig like this, Tom, as a comedian and also a veteran, how much of your material is geared towards veterans or the clientele you have on that particular night at venue 404?

Well any time I do stand up whether it's a gig like this or at a comedy club or at the Laugh Factory or you know, wherever I've happened to be before I just opened for Brad Williams my buddy Brad

going

for like a week in the Midwest and it's very much like

Being a soldier I go in and I recon the area I look at I don't want to say the enemy because the audience is never the enemy what I look

at

Well, that's optimistic it depends I've played some clubs, you know in the Midwest We're like all right.

I'm definitely probably gonna get stabbed on the way out, but I will go in and I will look at the audience and if I'm Not the first comedian I'll watch the first comic and go all right.

What kind of worked you know gotta get a lay of the land figure out

what they're laughing at.

But in this case, I'm the only comedian.

So I'll come in guns blazing.

Not literally.

Sorry, that's probably bad.

You're going to literally kill.

Yeah.

Can I tell you as a comedian and a combat veteran, the words I say on the phone definitely have the FBI flag in my phone calls.

I say kill and bomb way too often to be, you know, not listening to that.

But yeah, with, you know, I'll go in and I'll just I'll come out with my a material and I'll feel my feel my way around and see see what everybody's laughing at, you know, and being a comic is very much like.

being a soldier, being somebody in the military, like you have your bag of

tricks or toys or you know in the case of I guess soldiers like you have your your breaching weapon you got your mortar you got your bazooka like what's gonna work in this particular situation and for comedy it's like okay do I do crowd work do I do military jokes do I do jokes about being a nerd do I do jokes about being divorced whatever it's you really much very much just like kind of look at the audience ago what's gonna work and you know

Hopefully you don't crash and burn.

I love one of what would do shows around around like where I live and comics from out of town would be like

What's the name of the big grocery store around here?

I'm like, pick and save.

And they're like, thank you.

And then later they make a joke where they say pick and save.

And everyone goes, oh my gosh, he knows the places we go get groceries at.

And they're doing like their recon work.

They go walk around so they can find some local references for that first like two minutes of their set where they can ingratiate themselves into the audience.

And I have to imagine that.

It's probably not to you.

Maybe use military parlance, a double edged sword where you can say, well, I'm a vet.

They're a vet.

I can do what I want.

But they might be like, no, make us make us laugh.

Laugh.

We would bring the jokes.

It can't just be all because they're going to be non-vets there, too.

And you want to make sure you appeal to everybody.

But of course, you're going to have some, whether it's crowd work or actual jokes in there, things that will definitely hit with the vets that will be different and more more fun, too.

Yeah, I've always said about my career if I can make a civilian who has never been in combat laugh about a joke about me being in Iraq or Make a grunt who has no idea what it is like being a cat dad laugh at the same stuff Then then I'm doing my job because at the end of the day everyone laughs at the same thing.

It's a matter of getting them there, you know I was

When I was in the Army, I worked for a division of Army Special Operations called the Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command.

And our job was to get the civilian population to work with the military, whether it was conventional military or special operators.

And being able to build that bridge between two groups that have seemingly nothing in common really helped with my comedy career because you walk into an audience.

And if all you do is talk about

Star Trek and trust me, I would love to just talk about Star Trek for 45 minutes and nobody in the audience is a Star Wars fan.

Well, you're not gonna do well.

So being

able

to, being able to jive with the audience, like you said, like a local reference.

I love going to a city early and then going to check out, you know what Slash does?

He loves going to meet slash from Guns N' Roses.

I say it like he's.

We're not

in first place.

Yeah.

Yeah.

He likes to go to cities and go to like museums and like the city.

I, being a former fat kid, love to go eat whatever that city is known for.

That's my thing.

It's either that or hockey.

Like if there's a hockey game, I'll fly in the day before or the day after and go to the game.

If there's not, like I'll go to whatever city and.

We're gonna I'm gonna be in Wisconsin.

Trust me.

I'm gonna bring a lot of lactate because this fat kid loves cheese and

You could go for the bratwurst yeah, I'm you could go that route but

cheese filled bratwurst.

Oh dear

You might not make it back to California.

Our guest is Tom Tran, the very funny Tom Tran who is also a rocker, a combat veteran.

He is performing at the Fox Valley Veterans Prohibition Ball 2026, such a great event for veterans.

You can find more information at www.foxvalleyveterans.org slash ball.

Tom, how did you get started?

Like you said you were in the army for years, you've seen combat, were you doing stand-up before you were in the army, or is that something you kind of jumped into when you got home?

Okay.

I was very not funny when I was in the army.

What the

funny answer or the real answer?

A funny first,

please.

Yeah.

I watched...

I blame Robin Williams for every career decision I have made.

I joined the army because a good morning

Vietnam.

And it became

because of Patch Adams.

But

that's

part of the story and it's part of the real story.

But the real answer is I came home from Iraq.

I'd been shot my fourth day.

As a matter of fact, I got shot

in

combat my fourth day in Iraq.

I stayed my entire 12 month deployment.

My roommate and and soldier was KIA on a mission right before we came home.

So I came back in a really bad way and I I did all the things that a lot of us do when we come home and we're having trouble processing combat and life after it and I had a heart attack when I was like 26.

Oh my

goodness.

This is not the funny version, right?

I'm just want to clarify.

No, this is this is the very big

Wow

My doctor's like, you gotta, I can't say what he actually said, because he said a swear word, but he said, you have to relax.

He said, you have to blank relax.

And I had to, he said, you have to find something you love again, because it was, you know, I'd spent my entire early twenties in the army and the last 12 months in combat and then

You know, that combat doesn't end when you come home and now you're dealing with family and school and life and kids and all this stuff.

And I got real out of shape.

I fell into all the traps and he's like, you have to relax or you're going to you're going to die of a heart attack before you're 30.

That was 26 when this happened.

And I tried to get back into music.

I tried, you know, I had a band, but it turns out I don't like working with people.

And musicians, we're not the most awesome people to work with.

So I turned to comedy and, you know, it's a thing that I can do on stage by myself and I have a ton of fun doing it and it heals my soul and it heals the people that I'm talking to.

So yeah, that's how I got into it.

Sounds like the perfect fit for an event like this too because we always talk so much in this country about how we need to help vets how we not just about coming home, but how getting them back into the world and finding passions after they've left a life that is 24 7365 this mission your mission whatever even if you're in combat or not you are you are working for the military I friends were in the military and they've described what it's like coming out and yeah, I can only imagine that

finding something to take your mind off it or just developing a passion has got to be so integral to I don't want to I don't know how to say it without maybe sounding disrespectful but like coming back to a normal world which I I I apologize for saying that if that's not correct but it's just you know putting yourself back into a place of a fitting into the world outside the military I can't even imagine that but it seems like you found your path for right now at least with music and with comedy

Yeah.

I mean, I say all the time, the most real scene of that movie, the Hurt Locker is when Jeremy Runner is looking for cereal in an endless aisle of cereal.

Like, so yeah, trying to find the normal life is very correct.

We're going to speak more with Tom Tran.

He is a comedian.

He is performing at the Fox Valley Veterans Council Prohibition Ball 2026.

We'll have that information in our show notes, but more with Tom here on Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

You are listening to the Civic Media Network.

Stay tuned.

Stay close.

you

Welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

My name is Greg Bach.

The other guy is Pete Schwabba.

We are here on the Civic Media Network.

You are part of it.

We're happy you are here.

We are talking to comedian combat vet.

former fat kid nerd, all the good things.

Mr. Tom Tran about the event he will be performing at on March the 7th, which is the Fox Valley Veterans Council prohibition ball 2026.

We will have information in the show notes how you can get in touch with them, get tickets or donate for the event.

Tom, I know that Pete had some questions regarding an acting career as well.

So I'm going to let Pete take over from this point on.

Yeah, and I just want to say shout out to Tim Cody because he set this up and allowed us to meet you, Tom, and learn about your service.

And my goodness, thank you for all of that.

I don't

think I said

that to you initially.

So thank you so much for your service and what you've been through.

And thank you also for how you turned it around because now you make us laugh.

And that's pretty cool, too.

But in addition to you bringing laughter, you're also an actor.

You were on one of my favorite shows, cop shows, is Bosch.

And I like Bosch Legacy too.

I've watched them all.

My wife and I binge watched the last season of Bosch in one night.

It was insanity.

I couldn't see for three days after that.

But it's a great show.

What was your experience like on Bosch Legacy?

It was funny because, and no spoilers, but something happened to me on the show that precipitated me not coming back.

And...

I remember I worked on the radio at the time here in Los Angeles and I walked up into my studio and the day after the episode aired and one of the program directors from one of the other stations in the cluster goes I just watched Bosch legacy and I was so worried when that happened to you and I had walked upstairs and go You know, it's a TV show, right?

I also filmed that a year ago and I've been here every day.

You see me.

I'm

fine

But that show was, it was fun, it was really great.

I loved it particularly because I do a lot of like network TV stuff and you know, network TV, it's clean, it's family friendly, blah, blah, blah.

And I remember getting the script for Bosch Legacy and I dropped the F-bomb so many times.

I was walking around doing the scripts in my house over and over again.

My girlfriend was like, why do you keep reading that script?

I'm like, do you know how many times I get to swear in this show?

I'm going to learn the script backwards and forwards.

And it was super fun.

And I remember hanging out with Titus who plays Harry Bosch on

the

show.

Turns out we know some of the same people because this industry is very small and So we shoot the episode where my character is no longer in the show.

I don't want to spoil it for anybody Yeah, well, all right, so all right if you haven't watched the episode it came out two years ago I got shot in the head and I'm driving home and I've got the makeup on my forehead of the you know the gunshot in my head

And I pull it in my house and my agent calls and goes, they need you back for another episode.

And I literally went, did they read the script?

Do they know what just happened to me?

And he says, wow, apparently you made somebody important laugh.

I was like, yeah, Titus, who is the star and the executive producer.

So I was just being a comedian, not really.

I was just being me in the back of, you know, we're holding and I.

I made him laugh.

And I guess he called somebody and was like, yeah, bring him back for another episode.

I was like, oh, man.

Yeah.

Bosh

raises from the jet.

It's an open casky.

The

makeup girl.

Yeah.

The makeup girl was like, were you surprised when you came back?

I'm like, yeah, considering what happened to me last episode.

That's really, really funny.

Now, before we get out of here and this is I'll

a peek behind the curtain.

This is a prerecorded interview we're doing right now, but we are talking to you in your apartment in Los Angeles, and you are surrounded by a bunch of things, including guitars, memorabilia, nerd memorabilia, but you say you have two pictures of Bea Arthur on your mantle.

Why is that?

Yes.

So if you didn't know Bea Arthur, the best golden girl is she is a former Marine.

And I'm a huge Van Halen fan, Greg,

as

you noticed.

And for anybody who doesn't know, Van Halen had a clause in their contract back in the 80s that said, in their dressing room, they wanted a bowl of M&Ms with no brown M&Ms.

And if they walked into a...

dressing room and there were M&Ms in their brown M&Ms in that bowl.

They knew that the promoter didn't read the contract and they would trash the room.

And the idea was, well, they were just being divas.

The real reason for that is that they would bury that in the middle of their tour rider because they had such an intricate stage setup with so many lights and power requirements and sound

and

audio and that stuff.

that it was really important that the promoter read the contract and they knew that if they saw brown M&Ms, the promoter didn't read the contract.

And being a big Van Halen fan, I am also a diva.

So I, in my contract and my writer, require a bowl of only green M&Ms and a picture of B Arthur.

10 minutes quiet and no no questions.

You

sound really

difficult.

And

no questions.

There's not a photo of the

Arthur.

There's

not a photo of the

Arthur.

Tim has failed.

Hey, Tom, before we let you go, we only have about a minute and a half or so.

Tell us about your new executive produced show coming out called GIs of Comedy, if you can, in just a few seconds.

Yeah,

the

GIs of comedy is actually a group I created.

We're all combat veterans of the United States military different branches There's like a dozen of us in a few years ago.

We shot this special.

It was supposed to be for Comedy Central, but you know, they don't show comedy anymore.

So we are We're

I'm

still in the editing process and it I've got to talk to my partners about where this wants to live But yeah, we shot

a

special I produced it get to to the original GIs on it and hopefully that'll come out

somewhere in the next couple of years.

Wonderful.

Well, Tom, thank you so much for being here.

We really appreciate you sharing your time and sharing information on this event.

Again, it's going to be the Fox Valley Veterans Council Prohibition Ball 2026 on March the 7th.

We'll have all the information in the show notes.

And again, to echo what Pete said, thank you so much for your service and being here tonight.

Tom Tran has been our guest.

He's a comedian, nerd, combat veteran.

former fat kid, cat dad, all the things.

Check him out.

And thank you so much.

Come on back.

We'll have another talk about more music, more comedy.

It's great.

Have a great night, sir.

Knock him dead.

Yeah.

Next time I'll tell you about when I, uh, my band played for William Shatner.

Oh my gosh.

Okay.

Thanks.

Now you got to come back like next week.

All right.

When we come back, we'll be talking to Martin Alvarado from the, uh, from the Madison public library about their summer picks or their spring picks.

Don't go anywhere.

You'll listen to nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the civic media network.

Trying to make sense of the world.

You've got Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

Call our toll-free number now.

Headlines, culture, and real conversation.

And

now, our feature presentation.

Here's Pete and Greg.

Welcome back to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen, as we kick off our number two here on this gorgeous Wednesday night in the beautiful state of Wisconsin.

It is great to have you with us.

I am Pete Schwabba sitting across in a manner of speaking from Greg Bach and Dom Lee is producing the show and running the board tonight.

It is great to have you here.

Our question of the night is who is the greatest late night talk show host?

You know, you could make an argument for the other thing too, because some of these guys do anything to get the gig, but let us know.

My whole forehead just started sweating right there.

I apologize, Greg.

That was a rookie mistake.

But we'd love to hear your thoughts on our question of the night.

Always more fun when you guys participate.

Right now, we are going to jump right in here in this second hour because we have a great guest who is joining us tonight over the stream from Madison.

Martin Alvarado is the Community Engagement and Business and Technology Librarian at the Madison Public Library, and he's here to talk library books and all kinds of great stuff that the library has to offer.

Martin, welcome to Nightlight.

And thank you so much for making the space to talk library stuff and books and whatnot, and just very excited to be here.

So apart from books, you know, they say that libraries more than books.

We also connect people with information.

sometimes we even host services.

So one of the things that we hear at the Madison Public Library, the other labs and community centers do is we host volunteer income tax preparation that is free to people for most residents.

And I was just looking at a couple of statistics.

So it'll usually run you like $100 to your tax preparative, you know, to a professional, not to say that that's not a valid way to do things, but also there's some

A staggering amount of people who didn't file their tax returns in the past three years, which is aware that the IRS gave you a chance to claim that.

And there's literally like $10 million sitting from 2022 or something.

Oh my goodness.

It's one of those things that I just let people know.

If you didn't file taxes, you might just want to take a look and see if there's anything that goes in your favor.

Going back to this service, we've had this partnership at the library for about 50 years, so it's probably our longest running partnership where we host people from the Department of Revenue, from the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, and it's people who have been trained.

Some have people, people have like backgrounds, but they've been trained by the Department of Revenue.

You make an appointment, we don't do like super complicated

business things or other situations.

But it is a way where people around the state can go and have their taxes done for free, filed electronically, the state and the federal ones.

And that's like the call we get all the time.

And a lot of times we get it right before tax filing day.

So we encourage people to get in early to get these things to cut down on the stress and to see what you can are able to do in your community.

So if you want to look up a couple of things on the internet, you can do

VITA V-I-T-A or you can also do TCE tax counseling for the elderly and that's run by the ARP and that has between both of those I was looking at the map and usually you can find maybe within 25 miles of where you live service like this so it's just one of those things that it's sometimes not really known once people know it they come year after year after year to to just take advantage of this but it's can be really

Getting a lot of money that might not change your life for your year, but might change your month or something.

So if you're able to claim some refunds.

So yeah, that's something we also at the library, we became one of the last places where you can get the basic forms, the 1040 forms, if you want to do it old school, filling it out by paper.

And also if you have a question as to where to get your taxes done, we can help you find that.

So you don't have to memorize anything of what I said, just go over to your library.

So yeah, that's any free tax deals around here.

The one thing we can't do is we can't tell you what to file or we can't give you tax advice because we're not qualified to do that.

And it's beyond what we're able to do.

You

can't tell us what the write-offs are.

Come on.

Right.

The write-offs

that we can also tell you if the miracle cure is really going to work for you

or

what course you should bet on.

That under professional expertise, we might be in the direction of someone who claims it might be able to figure those things out.

I, I did not know.

So is that, is that available?

Like it's available at all times during tax season.

You don't have to, it's not like from this week to this week, it's just, it's available right now.

It's going to be available through the mid-April, I would say.

And people just need to contact you to make an appointment or come on in.

I mean, I, I've never heard of this before.

I'm at, because you say like $200, that's nice.

uh taxes are very expensive now they are very and they're just going up and up and up we usually get ours prepared by somebody because I don't trust myself

and it

is very expensive to know that there are free services out there is amazing and there's

an income of uh $70,000 for individuals so it's just that they can take that sort of middle to uh

sort of like lower income.

But it's one of those things that I think when you look at it, a lot of people are eligible and don't know about this service.

And this thing, it's not only at libraries, a lot of community centers, a lot of just like places where people gather will often host these.

And you can just go to the Department of Revenue Service and Department of Revenue and then just look it up and or call or call your libraries.

Just let's leave it at that.

Wonderful.

Absolutely.

That's great.

You know, it's interesting.

I love libraries and I love theaters.

I always thought if I wasn't in some kind of entertainment, it's just such a calm atmosphere when you're in a library or an old theater or something.

I think, have you, how long have you been doing this, Martine?

And have you seen the movie, The Librarians?

Which movie, The Librarians?

Because there are a couple movies The Librarians, not like the...

Noah Wilde where he's kind of like a Nicholas Cage type character.

Yep, that's the one I was thinking about.

That's what I

was

thinking about

when you were mentioning it

earlier.

No,

this is a new documentary that aired on POV on PBS about two weeks ago and it shows these librarians who are just heroes trying to help kids and keep books on the shelves against book banners and that kind of thing.

It's a really phenomenal documentary.

You know, yeah, I am very aware of it.

I was just giving you with the other one because I am very aware of that movie.

It's one of those where I think it depends on where you are, because I think the library and the attitude towards the library has to do with the community.

So here in Madison, we have a lot of people who really books, probably sympathize with a lot of topics that we have on the shelf, not to say that we don't have a really robust, like different viewpoints.

People can check out from left, right, liberal, conservative.

We

don't

have that.

But there's not a culture locally that's putting out these challenges, which is, I think, what the librarians address, where sometimes it might not even be residents.

Sometimes it might be people who don't own kids saying, like, I don't want kids to read this.

So

what dog do you have on that one?

And it is the librarians just having to, sometimes with an argument that's not really well put, be sort of like the better person in the room, take it calmly, address all the concerns, and just

really keep those things open.

Sometimes pressure coming in from interest groups or people who are powerful want to just have their way and more importantly want other people who are not able to access those materials, which I think for us is the big concern.

Yeah.

Well, speaking of titles and books, we wanted to talk about some book picks that you brought forth.

Let's see.

I believe we wanted to talk nonfiction.

There is a book called Empire of AI, Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's Open AI.

That's by Karen Howe.

Did I say that correctly?

Yeah, I think it's how I was going to interview a brilliant person who's a journalist who's been really

Kind of an insider in the in the AI and all the IT and all the like really high power.

And so she started like, oh, I'm going to document the plucky little non-profit called open AI and they're doing good.

They're going with the world.

And it's kind of like all of a sudden all these interests get really enmeshed in that and open AI just becomes a juggernaut.

But

apart from being a juggernaut and maybe shaping how we think, how we.

produce content online, what we get exposed to when we're watching things on the internet that might be generated by AI.

It also presents like some of the things that connect with what's happening in communities here in Madison or in Wisconsin.

Not Madison, but Mount Pleasant, Mount Horowitz is right close to us and Dane County, Beaver Dam also close by in Port Washington have had a very strong response from local people when these data centers that feed these AI things.

that require massive amounts of electricity, massive amounts of waters.

And it's kind of like sort of kept out of the picture, I think by the nature of things that are unpopular, these things sort of like are sprung at the last minute.

And I think this book really gives you a deep perspective on what are the costs or what are the things that did you know that the data, it's not just the computer that reads the data, but humans actually have to review things and quote unquote train and classify the data so that the artificial intelligence can then churn it and do this.

I think one of the things that just really struck me was that there's two, the Port Washington and the Mount Pleasant facilities that are being proposed are going to require more energy than most Wisconsin homes or all Wisconsin homes.

So I think it's just one of those things that's really showing us what's going to be the future of things to come, like probably short term, long term, medium term.

And this book is brilliant because it really goes from the halls of these tech corporations and down to the people who are.

getting the data centers in their communities and all chains.

It's just a fascinating

book.

Sounds fascinating.

We've got a couple minutes, Martín.

I would love to still talk about you.

I want to ask you about the book, Yesteryear, a fiction book.

What can you tell us about this?

And is it flying off the shelves at the Madison Public Library?

It's about to because it's order but it's

one of

those things I've been really keenly interested as someone who really keeps track of online cultures and subcultures and this deals with the trad wife phenomenon, which is this influencer style that has like Cottagecore where it's like everything is like either like going back to the 50s where the wife is there preparing everything and churning the butter and doing all these things and Maybe even going back to like homesteading and doing all

these

things but at the same time it's more an image

That's a media product with the influencers being able to show what they want to show about what they're doing and behind like They'll go with this very quaint kitchen and behind it.

There's like a whole production studio So it's kind of like an illusion in a way that that is presented But then it also really ties into notions of what it means to be feminine what it means to be masculine What are the family roles?

What is the role of women?

So that's become like a very fraught topic on the internet and this is a book that really looks at it

from a fictionalized but sort of like the great thing about fiction it allows these ideas to play out it allows the writer to have a dialogue and figure out like okay so where's where are the fault points and then eventually the protagonist gets uh gets maybe not what you wish for gets sent back 1850s or maybe it's a reality show or

maybe it's

something that she is trying to just do the cognitive dissonance of like oh well this past that was imagined like

was pretty brutal.

So I think because it has that, that caper type of component, then it has that part that really was in these wars that are happening on the internet.

That sounds fascinating.

Cause you know, I've

I've been fascinated by the Trad Wife thing from the point of view of what this book is trying to explore.

Like people are saying, oh, I would, you know, I just want to be at home and cook dinner and be, take care of the kids.

I'm like, yeah, but you're in front of like a $40,000 setup here and you're making lots of money.

It's not exactly traditional.

It's a look behind.

I want to get this book.

I want to read this very badly because I can also, I read in the synopsis looks like it could also be a limited series show as well, but I'm looking forward to this.

I don't care what you guys say.

I'd love to be a Trad Wife.

Martin, this has been so much fun.

Thank you.

We look forward to doing this with you more often as the show moves forward.

It's been great to have you on the show tonight.

Thank you so much.

It was so much fun.

I'm definitely looking forward to the next time.

Yeah.

All right.

Fantastic.

That is Martina Alvarado with the Madison Public Library.

Folks, when we come back, Civic Media Sports Authority, Mike Clemens will be on this radio show.

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

Welcome back to Night Light, ladies and gentlemen.

Great choice, Dom, spinning the tunes.

DJ in the night away, love it.

We are back.

This is Night Light with Peach Wabba and Greg Bach, and it is great to have you with us.

Our question of the night is, who is your favorite late night talk show host?

I want to read this text from Zomers.

He said that we were talking about, I had kind of a rant about the tiny vans.

Same thing with the tradwife thing.

There's a big production crew there filming people living this wonderful life in tiny vans.

Erin says, I could never live in a tiny van or a tiny home long term.

Too many of my favorite things take up a lot of space, such as musical instruments.

Greg.

Also, I think living

in a