Rich Talarico on Comedy Writing, Sketches & Hollywood (Hour 1)

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, I'm on!

Here's Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

Dude!

Welcome to nightlight ladies and gentlemen.

You made it.

It's Friday We're here.

We are here to entertain on your ride home from work If you're already home kicking back with an old-fashioned or if you're at the bar for happy hour Greg Dom we hope you're having a great We hope you're having a great night.

We hope to enhance it with some fun Greg is tipping back a cocktail right now

Water

water

That is the voice of Greg Bach, who is coming to you live from Racine in Radio Park.

I am coming to you from Marinette, Wisconsin, here in beautiful northeast Wisconsin.

Finally, a gorgeous day up here, guys.

And Tom Lee, as always, is in Madison at Civic Media Headquarters, making sure you can all hear us and that we are on the air.

Great job, Dom, by the

way.

Oh, thank you.

Wow.

Jeez.

God bless you.

How are you guys doing tonight?

Good.

I'm doing really good.

It's a nice day.

Like you said in Madison.

It's it's beautiful.

I'm wearing shorts now It does

much

better.

Yeah, it's true.

Are they short shorts?

They're short shorts.

You can see all my hairy legs.

It's really nice Okay,

okay, I wonder if Dom Greg really knows what short shorts are.

Well, do you know the

reference?

Right, but like when we were growing up Dom short shorts

Barely covered they were short.

I mean now I think your generation is much smarter and fashion conscious for the most part, but Anyway, good for you for wearing shorts.

I'm not really shorts.

My legs look like bratwurst So I don't typically wear shorts if I can avoid it.

Okay.

All right, and I don't have the hair that Dom has to cover up The casing look

LP Schwab we call them knock worse legs over there.

My

bad boy.

Oh boy.

Oh boy.

And other than the skin color, they're gorgeous.

I mean, I have great games guys.

They're they're like, uh, you really over up and like, like one minute, there's sausagey looking next.

They're really nice.

I don't know what you want us to think about your legs.

I'm just, it's the

pigment that keeps me from wearing shorts.

Gotcha.

Guys, it's great to be here with you on this Friday night is casual.

Friday,

right,

Tom?

It is.

Let's do it.

Friday's here and the week's in the rear view.

Whether you're still on the clock or already mentally checked out, Pete and Greg are here for you.

So kick back and grab something to snack on.

It's casual Friday with Pete and Greg.

I bought some sausage links.

I love that.

But when we come into the show, guys, how do we feel about the Moo?

And back to Wisconsin.

It's a little too on the nose for you a little bit.

I mean, we are America's Daringland, but take

that

California.

Guys, we have a great show tonight.

I'm very excited.

My pal, Rich Tallarico is going to be by after the bottom of the hour, after the news.

Rich is a writer for the show or was a writer for the show, Key and Peel, the outstanding sketch comedy show.

And he wrote.

Well, he wrote many of their biggest sketches, but the one that really I think people know him for is the substitute teacher sketch, brilliant, brilliantly funny, and is in the Smithsonian as a sketch comedy, which is really cool.

So Rich has written for Saturday Night Live, Mad TV is also part of a very noble effort that he is spearheading against studios and unions, making sure that writers and actors get paid.

when the studios use their likeness without compensating them.

It's a very noble fight.

And we'll talk a little bit about that.

And he is also Greg starting, I'm not starting, he's been doing stand up, but he's going to run a few bits by us.

I think that could be fun.

Okay.

All right.

I

like

this.

Like,

you know, like we're like the, you know, what do you got kid?

Tell us what you

got.

I'm going to get like a cigar to

chop on.

Right.

Right.

Let's watch someone else bomb for a change Rich is outstanding.

He's gonna be here shortly.

That'll be fun and then an hour number two This will be fun.

It is national coca-cola day.

No, it's have a coke day, right done have a coke national have a coke day Yeah, so that plays into our question of the night, which we'll get to and also a Quiz a dom quiz that we're gonna take an hour number two.

It's

the

It's the, what do you want to call this?

We want to call it the nightly games?

The night like, oh shoot, we had

a game for it.

Nightly game

night?

Nightly

game

night?

I think that's work.

Game night?

Oh, game night.

Game night is actually right.

Folks, right here right now, you are witnessing, it's like Pete's legs.

It's the sausage being made right now.

It's the, it's the,

it's the maiden voyage.

Now we have a title with our, it's like the Titanic.

Hopefully

we'll fare a

little better

It's gonna be like like everything we do on this show is gonna be like old-school McDonald's where everything has night in it NITE or LIT.

It's

all branded that way everything will be like that It's served us well so

far.

What are we calling this Dom

the soft drink quiz?

It's the true.

It's a true false quiz So it's gonna be have a have a coke true false edition.

All right,

that's

what

we're gonna do Okay, but we don't have a name for the actual we're not calling it like the the SDQ

We can call it the SDQ.

Let's call it the SDQ.

The SDQ?

I'm just going with,

I have no idea what you're talking about.

SD, soft drink quiz.

Oh.

SDQ.

Okay, I was wrong.

Guys, I'm spitballing.

I'm not saying, like, you know.

I like it.

Greg?

Yeah, you went on a rant before and I have to ask you this because you didn't go into details.

Yeah, but you have an issue with Facebook marketplace.

Oh, I hate it.

It's the worst place on earth.

It's the most frustrating place on earth.

It's like, you know how Disney world is supposed to be the happiest place on earth.

Yeah.

Facebook marketplace is the most frustrating place on earth because I don't go on there often.

In fact, I don't go on there anymore.

Thank you very much.

Mr. Zuckerberg remembers last name right there.

Because what happens is you go on there and you put an item up for sale or even or even for free because the last time this happened to me the thing was free I wasn't even trying to charge anyone.

I'm like just get it off of my property already, but you put something on there and What happens then is you get a barrage of messages from people or bots.

I'm not sure at this point I'm believing more and more in the dead internet theory, but it's just like just

30 messages saying still available.

Okay.

Yes.

It's still available.

Are you interested in it?

No response for like an hour.

Still available.

Yes.

It's still

available.

Great.

Uh, where do you live?

Well, let me know when you're coming.

I'll give you my address then.

Cool.

Sorry.

Can't make it.

Like I like corner off everybody else.

This is what happened with some patio furniture.

I was trying to get rid of this one lady got in touch with me.

She seemed very real and we went back and forth and she finally said, I'll come over on this on this evening.

Cool.

All right.

I'm sitting there waiting and then she sends a message and she goes, yeah, sorry, I can't show up anymore.

I'm like, you know what?

Never again, because then I have all these other messages saying it's still available.

I'll pay cash.

I'm like, it's free.

I don't even want to be money.

It's just a very frustrating place to enter into and it's not worth it.

Like I don't have anything.

I don't, if I have something of value, I'm going to sell it on eBay or I'm going to sell it through some other means, but I will never, ever go on Facebook marketplace.

And it's not even just Facebook marketplace either.

Like there are now these little group pages where it's local communities saying

like

there's, there's a great movement of,

Relocation-free stuff so instead of selling it saying hey, I've got this I've got this lawnmower It's a little junkie, but it's still working well if someone would like it if they need it you can do that I love that idea the problem is just like Facebook Marketplace you put and here's the other thing too people get really really Burn-minded with how you they want to approach your stuff like one person said you next I'm like you didn't have to put that Just there to take a shot at you.

Yeah

And I'm like, oh, I, I hate this.

I hate it.

So, so I just put it on the, I put it on the, um, the curb and someone took it that night.

It's great.

It's gone.

It's out of my life, but I will never, ever do Facebook marketplace again.

It is just, it is a hellscape and it is a punishment.

And I tell you right now, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

Wow.

Wow.

Okay.

I've

only used it a couple of times.

How's your, how's your Friday?

Well, it's fine.

I want to ask you this though about Facebook because I've noticed I'm not part of community groups But I kind of like I'm a voyeur sometimes like I'll see what people are saying.

Yeah, but what is the deal with I've seen Three separate posts of someone randomly posting and saying hey thinking about moving up there from Chicago and opening a restaurant.

What's the climate like?

And I'm like, I saw that like a year ago, then I saw it again like months ago, and then I saw it again like three or four days ago.

I'm like, what?

It's not the same person, I don't think.

And people are answering the question like, well, we're a great community.

It's like, there's gotta be some scam there.

They're trying to pull information

somehow.

I think they're trying to get people's counts.

I think they're trying to just getting, like, because nowadays it's all about engagement.

I mean, I see posts on Twitter all the time saying, Michael Jordan versus LeBron James, what do you think?

It's like- Right.

You don't care.

This isn't a debate and you know, but it's absolutely ridiculous.

So yeah, um, that's, I don't know if it's a bot, but it's definitely someone who's just trying to get engagement.

Okay.

That makes sense.

Um, folks, we had a great, uh, it was a fun show last night guys when we were talking about, um,

Bill Murray and Ghostbusters.

It was a great movie choice.

Next week, we mentioned this last night, our Nightlight Movie Club film next week will be Airplane in honor of our guest for Monday Night, David Zucker, who is here and insulted us.

And then we talked a little bit about his career, which was fun for us.

Absolutely.

And then, no, but David was great.

And we're going to celebrate his legacy, so to speak.

And Airplane is next week's Nightlight Movie Club night.

So Nightlight Movie Club pick.

So

You have time to watch the film and be part of the conversation.

With that in mind, I think we should get to our question of the night.

What do you think, guys?

Absolutely.

Let's talk about the question.

Okay,

question.

Question.

Question.

Pregunta.

Question.

Question.

Okay, I have a question.

Questions.

This question.

Domanda.

Question.

Questions.

Well, as we mentioned, it's National Have a Coke Day.

So our question of the night is, what is your favorite soft drink?

It

doesn't necessarily have to be soda, but it can be lemonade or Gatorade or whatever.

But what are you kicking back with?

What's your favorite soft drink?

8-5-5-7-5-2-4-8-4-2-8-5-5-7-5 Civic.

You can also leave us a message on the stream.

If you're watching the radio at YouTube, Facebook, or the app, Greg still calls Twitter, as do we all.

And you can also text us on the Civic Media app.

But let us know what your favorite soft drink is.

I have to say guys, I don't try.

I try not to drink soda, but when I want a soda, I got to have a soda and it's got to be one of my faves.

I don't just, I don't slum it.

Okay.

Understood.

I'm not going to drink the seven

up.

Oh, okay.

Wow.

All right.

Royalty is in the room.

Okay.

I

didn't realize we were like taking a hard hit like that.

My goodness gracious.

Yeah.

Really quick too.

Uh, Daniel, Daniel Barry on the live stream just says, what's up all happy Friday.

Happy Friday to you there, Danny.

He's

here

for a casual Friday, baby.

He's got the whole family gathered around the radio, old school.

They're listening to nightlight.

I love it.

Oh,

yeah.

Welcome.

Yeah.

Welcome to our Friday.

And also it's Mother's Day coming up.

So happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

We really, that's all.

I mean, I was going to go into like the barrage of different kinds of moms.

It's

gonna end up

me saying dog mom that people like, they're not real moms.

And I'm

like, don't like that.

Listen, I think let's do, let's celebrate mom's next segment.

We'll do a short break coming up here.

But I want to, I want to talk to you about something that you found this Letterman and Colbert.

What did David Letterman say about

CBS?

He said that they were lying weasels for the reasons why they're going to, they were, they're ending the show.

And they are, they're absolute lying weasels.

And I said this with, I said this to you with Mike earlier this week or last week and

I think he should just do a regular last show and not give him anything so they can't make big money because they'll make big money off the last show They'll charge more.

Oh, yeah He shouldn't he should take that last show on the road and do it somewhere else because they don't deserve That from him and David Letterman is absolutely right.

That's it.

That's a great idea And they're a private

company have the guts to say we're going in a different direction, but it's lies.

You don't have to lie No, they need to lie.

All right.

This is nightlight with Pete Schwab and Greg Bach We are coming back to celebrate moms after this very short break.

Don't go anywhere folks

It's a civic media

network.

Lighten up while you still can.

Don't even try to understand.

Just find a place to make your stand.

And take it easy.

We are back.

And we're taking it easy because it's casual Friday.

Why do some people hate the Eagles, Greg?

I don't know.

And here's the... Can I tell you something, Pete?

I tried really hard to dislike them too.

I tried to join that thing of like, eh, it's overdone and overblown and blah, blah, blah.

And I'm like, no, they're great songs, great songwriters.

Like, and, and yeah, I don't know.

It's, you know, sometimes you get in that place where you're hanging out with certain people and they like, yeah, maybe they're right.

And you're like, no, they're wrong.

They're complete.

It's like people who say, Phil Collins is terrible.

You're wrong.

Right.

So very, very wrong.

But yeah, I know what you mean, but I don't understand

it.

I will say, I don't, I've just never liked being around people.

I mean, you know the song, what's the who song?

Rain?

Rain

over me?

Yeah.

Okay.

I was like, whatever.

I thought he was saying rain on me or whatever.

I never listened to the song that hard.

And I said that once and a guy almost blew a gasket.

Are you serious?

Like, oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Music fan.

You're not the one who wrote the song and they get so indignant.

It's crazy.

And same thing with the Eagles hatred.

I don't get it.

I like them.

Yeah, they're great.

And if you don't like them, that's fine.

That's absolutely.

If you don't like Phil Collins, that's fine.

Like I don't care.

But like this thing of God, it's the worst thing ever.

I hate it.

It's like, I don't think you should spend that much energy on anything, especially a band.

Right.

Not worth your time.

So all right, folks, this is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

We're having a little, we got off on a side note there, but we want to talk about moms right now because

Mother's Day is right around the corner as they

say

two days away this Sunday I still am formulating plans to celebrate my wife and her mom my own mother is out of town, but what do you guys have planned?

I I will I'm moving soon, so I'm not gonna be able to see my parents, but I'm FaceTiming my mom and she's gonna be opening her gifts while I'm on FaceTime with her, but that's pretty much all

I got some other

day, but it's

still

something

I am going to a baseball game with my mom and her companion boyfriend significant other.

I guess.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I, I never have gotten the read on what they, like the titles cause they're both in their eighties.

So boyfriend, girlfriend's a little, you know, we're past that, but we're going to a bit or do some, my man.

No, Dennis.

No, we're going to a baseball game me, my wife, my mom and Dennis.

We're all going to go to a baseball game on Saturday.

We're going to go to dinner beforehand.

And because they are of their age, we're going to dinner at 430.

So I'm just kidding.

Early bird special.

Absolutely.

Now we're going to, we're going to go to the baseball game.

And then actually on Sunday, we're going to go see Cabaret at UW Parkside.

So it's going to be, it's going to be a whole weekend full of mom stuff.

But unfortunately, well, not unfortunately, we still have to carve out time for my mother-in-law.

And not unfortunately,

The unfortunate thing is she's not joining us.

That's the unfortunate thing.

Cause my, cause here's the thing.

My mom and my mother-in-law are like super tight close good buddies.

Like they get along, they try.

Oh, my dudes.

When it comes to in-laws, this guy right here, Gregory S. Bach, I knocked it out of the park.

My in-laws are amazing.

I get along.

I love them like family.

My wife loves my, my family like their family.

Like it is just so like, I cannot tell you how lucky I am.

It is unfortunate.

She's not joining us.

And I want to, I want to like spend some time with her as well.

We can either do it tomorrow, maybe on Sunday.

If not, we'll take her out to dinner early next week.

She loves the day, she loves the celebration, the hangout.

She doesn't care about the day itself.

So as long as we spend some time with her, that's what she cares about.

We go to visit my wife's mom, who lives about 200 feet away in a nursing care home.

I'm not kidding.

No, no, I'm just because your parents live like next door, don't they?

Yeah, they live just down the road.

That's why we ended up back here in Christmas City.

It's like, where are we going to go?

Well, both our parents, this is kind of a no-brainer.

I mean,

yeah.

But my wife's mom, Peg, lives over here.

And every time we go over there to visit her, the joke is, how long will it take Pete to fall asleep?

Because it's about 90 degrees in there.

Oh, because

they're

all in the 80s, you know, and I'm just like, ask me a question.

I'll have to snap out of it.

But we'll go over there and spend some time.

It should be fun.

I'm Marin.

I might drive to a green bank.

We'll see.

My

mom, my mom in law, she, she has the house at a, not a, not at that temperature, but in the mid to upper seventies.

And one day we were there and she goes, does it feel hot in here?

And I just finally go, it's always hot in here.

Cuz it is it's always so hot in the house and every time like it's just I'm I'm a big dude.

So I need cooler temperatures

Right.

Hey,

I got a question for you guys down.

Listen if you're lonely Mm-hmm.

You drive up to Christmas City and come see my mother in law with me, right?

Well, it's if I'm lonely.

All right Well, I'm just saying on Mother's Day cuz you can't be with your mother.

It's true.

Yeah,

so we'll

give you like a pseudo mom and I'll go peg.

This is Dom He insisted on being here.

No, and we will just you know, you can hang out.

This is my brother

Don.

Our question to the night, folks, is what is your favorite soft drink?

It's National Have a Coke Day.

Don is going to give us a quiz in hour number two about soft drinks.

So we'll do that.

True false quiz.

So I'm sorry.

Just we're going to have a quiz about soft drinks.

It's true.

It just sounds very funny to me when you say it out loud.

Okay.

I can't wait.

It's casual.

It's casual Friday.

It's

casual.

We came up with this together.

Don't leave me out to drive.

Don't make me the fall guy.

I think it sounds stupid, too.

No, it's gonna be a lot of fun.

Dom's quizzes are fantastic.

And now, is this a competition quiz?

This is a competition, right now,

yes,

it is.

Right now,

Peter's three, Greg is one.

No, I'm sweating already.

Greg has one.

He has one, but there's also a tie as well.

This last quiz you guys did, you tie.

Whenever you guys try to give me, like, you got one that's like, seriously, like, patting me in the head and go, oh, you made a basket because I shot a granny shot from, like, three feet from the basket.

It doesn't feel good.

We lifted you up, too, so you can- Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Um, real quick, do you have a favorite TV mom, guys?

Um, oh my goodness gracious, I would have to say- Marge Simpson.

Mar- okay.

I

put her too.

Did you?

I put Marge and I put Sophia Vergara from Outer Vic.

Shocking.

She's a great mom, what?

Okay I don't actually you know what I knew we're gonna talk about this I totally didn't think about it at all because I was other things so I will think about it I will get back to you guys before the end of the show favorite TV mom all right okay

yeah all right Greg's gonna mail that one in a little later so we will be back we're gonna do the news and when we come back ladies and gentlemen the great sketch writer and comedian rich talerico will be here it's gonna be a lot of fun don't go anywhere this is nightlight with Pete and Greg

Welcome

back.

This is Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

You've got the Civic Media Radio Network.

Happy Friday, everybody.

It is a casual Friday version of Nightlight where we kick back and I drink a pretend old-fashioned.

And we just kind of hang out.

It's fun.

Our question of the night is it's national have a Coke day.

What is your favorite soft drink?

So share that with us.

And that's going to play into our number two when Dom gives Greg and I. It's a competition.

A true or false have a Coke quiz, right?

Mm hmm.

Mm hmm.

Am I getting that right?

You're getting exactly right.

But it's a game night.

OK.

But without further ado, we should welcome our first and only guest of the evening.

He's been on the show before.

Very talented guy.

He is a writer or was a writer for Key and Peele Saturday Night Live, Mad TV.

He wrote the famous substitute teacher sketch, which is writ in the halls of the Smithsonian Institute.

And he joins us now over the stream from Buffalo, New York, Mr. Rich Tellerico.

Hey, pal.

Hello, Pete.

Hello, Greg.

Hello, Dom.

Happy Friday.

Happy Friday.

We have a...

I'm sure you heard our question.

Are you a soft drink guy rich?

Do you drink soft drinks?

And if so, do you have a favorite?

Yeah, I was listening earlier and was thinking about my own answer.

And I think you came down pretty hard on Sprite, right?

No,

7up.

He called

7up.

He called 7up the soda of the pores.

Those were his exact words.

I said I didn't want to slum it because there's not, I mean, 7up's lovely though.

It's a fine product.

Oh, very political.

You know, I feel like Pepsi tastes bad when it's forced upon me.

You know, when he ordered Coke and they're like, we don't have Coke, we have Pepsi.

But I'm like, oh, this tastes terrible.

But then there are moments when I'm in the store, I'm like, oh, I got to get a Pepsi.

So I don't know what it is.

I think it's like when it's forced on you.

Yeah.

And my other gag is I always go, I'm leaving.

No,

no, we'll get you

Coke.

Yeah.

I remember the first time I ever went to Texas and I encountered their way of soft drinks and they were like, what would you like to drink?

I was like, I like a soda.

You want a Coke?

I'm like, yeah, sure.

What kind do you want?

A Coke?

Well, what kind do you want?

No, no, don't talk to me like I know what you're talking about.

Tell me what you mean right now because you keep saying Coke.

And I didn't realize all soda is Coke, which is mind-boggling to me.

Right.

No, that's I've experienced that as well.

That is really weird.

But

when I first moved to Chicago, I first heard the word pop.

That

was

that was surprising.

I don't

like pop.

Yeah.

I'm fine with it.

I just it was new.

That's

all.

OK.

Do you have a product placement deal rich with Carhartt?

That's a sweet.

That's a sweet lid.

Thank you very much, Pete.

And yes, if you go to Carhartt.com, use code Tellerico.

You get 0% off.

That's my favorite.

That's how you get a deal.

Let's stop giving them a free ad.

I'll pull it up.

All right.

So let's jump into what's going on with you, Rich.

You've always got so many.

We were part of a Greg.

Rich had a table read of a script online and our pal, our mutual pal, Tom Clark, played the lead.

Tom was very funny.

I had no idea he had such great acting chops, but he was

Awesome.

It was a very funny script, but you're in Buffalo now for a different reason and a different script.

Tell us what's going on.

Oh, thank you very kindly.

Yeah, I'm in Buffalo Niagara Falls.

I was here last year, started raising some money, started seeing some locations, met a lot of actors, and went to Florida for the winter that some people call that a snowbird.

I call that going AWOL.

And I felt that when I came back to Buffalo in the spring, you know, it's like the soldier that went AWOL and comes home and's like, how's everybody doing?

But I'm back in Buffalo.

I'm teaching some classes at Buffalo Comedy Collective.

And later in the year, we're going to be doing a stage version of the film project to keep raising interest, keep raising money.

and been working on that project, as you know, for a little bit, and back here in Niagara Falls area to make it happen.

That's fantastic.

Nice.

Now, you, like as we said before, you were a writer on Key and Peel, SNL, and Mad TV, and as someone who's a fan of all of those programs, and as someone who, you know, at one point in my life was a sketch writer, can you talk to us about, like, the...

the daily of being a writer on a sketch comedy show.

I mean, from SNL is one sprint versus I'm sure Key and Peele is like a little bit easier, not easier, but like, you're not trying to churn out material immediately, always at all points, you know?

I mean, if I'm wrong, tell me I'm wrong, Rich.

Well, thank you.

Yeah, they're definitely slightly different animals, but it's the same species.

And the, you know, with Key and Peele actually,

There were writers from of six writers and the key and peel and the other had writers basically wanted one sketch per day from everybody Wow, but the truth is we cranked out way more and for the final season we needed 128 sketches and We wrote over 500 so they had a ton to pick from which is why I think it came out well because it was stuff They were really excited about

doing

At SNL, you may write one or two or three scenes a week depending on your seniority and your gumption and whatnot, but I think they generally want one writer focusing on at least one sketch and you're kind of the producer of it.

With Key and Peele, those scenes would get rewritten six or seven times, you know, by us and the writers room before it went to production.

At SNL, there still are rewrites.

You write it Tuesday night.

You stay up all night.

Wednesday is the table read.

And Wednesday night, you find out it's going in.

And then you're meeting with the department heads.

You're kind of working on rewrites from Thursday, Friday rehearsal, Saturday rehearsal, right up until the show.

And I've had a few of those.

I was like right at the almost 1130, I was still getting stuff done.

So high pressure.

a little different in that way.

Key and Peele, we wrote for 10 weeks, and then they produced for 10 weeks.

So we kind of loaded them up with stuff to produce, and then they went and made it.

Do you, Rich, I'm kind of... People like Bob Odenkirk fascinate me because, you know, great stand-up, funny improv, Mr. Show, all this great stuff, and now he's this action hero.

I mean, what on earth

It's mind-boggling and well-deserved, so talented.

I kind of put Jordan Peele in that same category.

Like, he was so funny on the show, as was Key, but did you see his success in the horror world coming or doing all these different kind of films?

Did that surprise you?

Not really, only because, you know, I was talking to him and I actually helped with one of the reads of Get Out.

I did some

punch-up on that.

And he was always very focused on what he wanted to do next.

There was a moment where we weren't sure if Key and Peele wanted to come back for the final season.

And of course, one of the writers was like, I hope they do, I've got a wedding to pay for.

So Key and Peele, I think, were pretty interested even before the show ended to start doing some of their own stuff.

And Jordan, to his great credit and his great genius, put all of his eggs in that basket and said, I'm going to direct this horror film.

And this is, this is what I'd like to do and found the right partnerships and, you know, the stars aligned and, you know, there you go.

It's really launched him quite well and into the film world.

And, you know, he's obviously, you know, one of the top of the tops.

Yeah.

Oh, he's definitely up there.

That's amazing.

And you said you're working on your own film.

You're doing what you said.

There's going to be a stage rating.

Can you talk about that?

Yeah.

Thanks so much, Greg.

Yeah, for sure.

The project that I'm, um,

I'm wearing my producer hat now, sponsored by Carhartt.

My producer hat in this capacity, because the script has been written, and it's called The Widow Daredevil.

And it is about the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

And her name was Annie Edson Taylor, and she was 63 when she did it.

And I think it's so funny.

I mean, the story captivated me from when I was a little kid and I went to Niagara Falls and learned about her.

And a couple of years ago, I had some, you know, spec time.

So I wanted to write something and this was just jumping to mind.

I read everything I could find about her.

And, you know, at 63, she decides to become a daredevil.

And, you know, I'm 52.

And if you just asked me to get into and out of a barrel, never.

I couldn't even do that.

I couldn't even do that.

So she was a like retired charm school teacher and she was this kind of prickly, prickly Victorian era lady who was used to living a certain way.

And she was facing the poor house and she said, I'd rather be dead than have no money.

And she concocted this scheme and everybody walked away from her.

They thought it was a suicide mission.

And she ended up, you know, getting a little team of people together.

She pulled it off.

And that's really just the halfway point of the story as far as I'm telling it.

And I focused on some of her students and how she affected them to become suffragists.

And along the way, Annie had a lot of challenges.

She did the stunt, got no credit for it, really, no accolades.

Her manager stole the barrel and took it on speaking tours without her.

And then 10 years after she did the stunt,

10 years after she did this stunt, a man went over the falls in a conveyance and got all the credit that she never did.

So

it's a historical dramedy.

You know, there's a lot of comedy in it.

There's a lot of drama in it.

And, you know, I'd really like to get that made.

And I do have some support here in the Niagara Falls area.

We did some table reads at the Chautauqua Women's Club, who've been really supportive.

Niagara University and at Buffalo Comedy Collective.

So it's been a cool journey and, you know,

It isn't going to happen if I don't do anything.

So I'm going to keep pushing on it.

And, you know, with film projects, it can take years.

Forrest Gump took like nine years for them to get, you know, sitting with Tom Hanks on the bench.

So,

you know, I'm putting the work in on that.

And then also this other script that Pete was talking about.

So, you know, definitely I'm working more on screenplays.

I do a lot of teaching.

I do a lot of stand up and enjoying life here in Buffalo now that the snow is gone.

That's fantastic.

That's the voice of Rich Tellerico, folks.

He was a key and peel writer, SNL writer and mad TV.

He's also a screenwriter and a stand-up comedian.

We're going to talk about Rich's stand-up in just a few minutes.

But I want to ask you before we lose our time here, Rich, about this crusade.

You're on a crusade kind of against the studios.

and for fairness and pay and all that kind of stuff, the website is endingcorporatepiracy.com.

I've signed the petition.

My name doesn't mean anything, but I guess numbers are good.

Tell us where that is at and what exactly you're doing.

Thank you so kindly,

Pete.

Thanks for signing.

Pete you're in the industry of course and you know I think you signed under the actors part of the page there's a place for industry actors industry writers to sign union members but there's also a place for fans and interested people to sign and what are you signing well it's corporate sponsored piracy and this is something that is kind of slowly emerged as a something we didn't even really know what's happening but it

Basically, the way it works is when somebody uploads a random clip of key MPO, for example, maybe it's one of our sketches, it gets uploaded to YouTube.

Now, YouTube gives the studio, in this case Paramount, the chance to take it down because it's an illegal upload or leave it up and put ads on it and monetize the ads.

YouTube takes 45% of the ad generated revenue and the studios get 55% of it.

And that's totally fine.

The problem is,

the studios are not paying royalties to writers, actors, directors, and musicians.

And YouTube, and this is just YouTube that we're talking about, it gets bigger when you look at the other platforms, but YouTube puts out their own transparency report, which admits that they're paying the studios, they've paid out, YouTube has paid out 12 billion since they started doing this, 3 billion in 2024 alone.

Now the studios

at least one of them is telling the union that they're not making any money on these but we have a youtube insider who says no no you are we also have the youtube transparency report and our own payments um you know their payments are consistent uh for the project so that tells us that there's nothing coming in from these uploads because it would be different every every quarter

That's unbelievable.

I applaud you so much for that undertaking because it's time-consuming and you're doing a great job So please keep it up and let us know how we can help and if you want to help go to endingcorporatepiracy.com Support the working man and the arts community We'll have a few more minutes with our pal rich tell Rico and he's gonna run some new material by his folks.

You don't want to miss this

That's a good one done.

Beginnings, right?

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

One of my faves.

So, I'm Pete Schwabba.

He is Greg Bach coming to you live just down the coast here in Lake Michigan, and Dom is holding down the fort in Madison.

We are the Yadar Hei Triangle, and this is Night Light with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

We have a few more minutes with our pal Rich Talariko, the incredibly talented, multi-talented Rich Talariko.

Rich, tell us about your stand-up.

You got a great gig coming up with David Kekner who's so damn funny.

I can't even picture the two of you on the same show.

That's amazing.

Oh, thank you, my friend.

Yeah, I'm very lucky.

There's a great club in Erie, Pennsylvania, which is pretty close to where I've been hanging out here in Niagara Falls and

club is called Keller's comedy and magic club.

And the club is very cool.

I mean, Harry Keller is from Erie, Pennsylvania, like grew up a few blocks from where the club is.

It used to be juniors last stand, if anybody remembers

that name sounds familiar.

Yeah,

it was it was an incredibly clean club.

But now they've done it.

It's a very nice like it has a very nice like, you know,

magic, everything's black.

It's a very nice place, good food.

And I was lucky enough to open for Kevin Neal in there in the fall.

And in July, I'll be opening two nights for David Kekner in July 10th and 11th at Kellers in Hewry.

So hopefully people will be on the re-listen closer to the time and

we'll...

Yeah.

Break

away.

Absolutely.

Is Kevin Nealon a guy you can talk to?

And what I mean by that is anytime I see him interviewed, he always seems to be in bit mode.

And sometimes comics can be like that in the green room as well, where you're just sort of like, okay, I got to go and do something else because it's just like, it's just too much bits.

Is Kevin like that where he's just bits all the time?

He's pretty bitty.

And I actually work with him.

You may be like 10 years ago on a pilot.

that Tim Meadows was the host and Kevin Niels was in it.

And so I was like, oh, I got to mention that to Kevin.

So I, you know, go backstage and I'm like, hey, Kevin, I'm rich.

Nice to meet you.

I go, you know, we worked together on a pilot and he didn't seem to register.

I said it was, you know, maybe 10 years ago, Tim Meadows was the host and it was like 10 years ago.

And he goes, I only go back three years.

Oh, that's

funny.

That's great.

I'm going to start saying that.

Rich Taylor Rico is with us.

A key and peel writer, mad TV, SNL, very talented guy.

Rich, I have a Kevin Nealon story.

I was at Largo in LA once and he's on stage crushing it.

And all of a sudden it was like mid to late 90s.

Someone starts shaking a martini thing with the ice and it's very distracting.

And Kevin goes, ah, that's great.

Somebody saw swingers last night.

Rich, you've got about three or four minutes left.

I would love to hear what you're planning on doing in your stand-up set.

Can you run a couple bits by us?

Do you want to?

We can help you workshop them.

Yeah, absolutely.

Do some of your skits.

Yeah.

Well, here's a couple of things.

I have my iPad here with some stuff that I haven't tried yet.

I thought I'd give you guys a topic.

And you guys can pick one of two topics.

So it's either going to be on the road or what I look like.

Go for it, Greg.

I'm going to say on the road because there's a lot of what I look likes out there.

And I want to hear on the road first.

OK.

That works.

You know, I'm on the road a lot.

And I saw a sign.

You think about all the signs that you're passing.

One sign said I was driving.

on an unadopted highway.

It looked sad, but hopeful.

Dude, you don't need our help.

Another sign said, speed enforced by photo.

And I'm like, how the hell did they do that?

Or did they get some sergeant from the Sears Portrait Studio on the side of the road?

And he's there with one of those old cameras.

You drive by.

And then they pull you over and the guy gets out of the car shaking a Polaroid.

And he's like, hey, got this picture of you back there.

You look pretty blurry in this picture.

I like it.

You were going fast.

Do you have any proof?

I do.

You've got to wait about 90 seconds, but it's right there.

It's you and a blur.

The other thing you could do is with the adopt a highway.

You could actually adopt the highway.

Then when you get pulled over, you could say, you know what?

Why don't you take a pass in this?

I own this road.

That's right.

See that name on the sign there?

Telereco with a T.

This highway is my kid.

All right.

Yeah, I was driving to get to my kid.

And then I feel bad that I don't drive on the highway very often.

You're an

abstinence.

You're an

abstinence.

It's a real cats in the cradle.

That's really why I pulled you over.

You're adopted highway here says they never see

you.

You're behind on highway child support.

You're not making your payments.

Look at the garbage on the side of the road there.

Oh man, this folks listening.

This is what comics do all the time when they're in rooms together.

That's right.

Um, we got time for, we got

about

a

minute left.

Rich, you want

one more?

Yeah.

Give us some new topics, two new topics.

Okay.

Um, things, things that you think about when you're high and things that I'm holding on,

Pete, you choose.

Hi.

Um, I don't even smoke.

Well, the weed is very strong these days.

And I find I have a lot of like, you know, random thoughts, like,

A true psychic can never be murdered.

I don't like it when people say I'm a night owl.

You know, I'm like, as opposed to what, a day owl?

Just say I'm an owl.

Dude, people say live each day as if it's your last.

That's why I spend every day lying in bed surrounded by crying loved ones.

And smoking weed.

Dude, you are always so much fun.

Thank

you so much,

Rich.

I don't know if we helped or not, but I know you're going to crush it and have

fun

with Keckner.

Outstanding.

Keep up the great work.

Endingcorporatepiracy.com folks.

Check it out.

Put your name on the, on the sheet and keep up the great work, pal.

Hope we can do

this again soon.

Thank you, family.

Thank you, Greg.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tom.

Of course.

You

got it.

That's Rich Talarico.

Ladies and gentlemen, when we come back, we'll read some of your texts and we're going to play Dom's game.

It's a competition.

You won't want to miss it.

Beat and Greg nightlight.

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 with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach.

Here on the Civic Media Network, you can always get in touch with us by calling or texting.

The number is the same 855-752-4842-855-75 Civic.

Live a comment on our live stream.

We are currently streaming on Facebook, YouTube and the platform we still call Twitter.

Sorry to clear my throat right there.

Tried to do it during the talk, but it just not happening.

Still got a great amazing hour ahead of us.

We are going to be taking another one of Dom's fantastic quizzes this time.

It's about...

Well, it has to do with National Have a Coke Day.

And that has to do with our question, which we'll get to in a moment.

But before we get to that, if you ever want to get in touch with us, you can always do that via the calling or text line.

Or you can download the Civic Media app.

You can call, text, leave a voice message.

You can listen to shows.

You can get your news there.

All right there by downloading the Civic Media app and you can also go to civicmedia.us slash shows and download past episodes to catch up.

So if you wanted to listen to the interview with Rich Tallarico, we just had, you may have missed it or you want to hear it again, go to civicmedia.us slash shows, look for nightlight, downloads those episodes.

Take them wherever you'd like, listen to them throughout the world and catch up and be a part of it.

Very, very excited to do this next hour.

Very fun here on this casual super cash Friday.

Pete, are you feeling

cash?

I'm feeling pretty cash.

I mean, I'm wearing the same stuff I always wear, but I do have a hat on tonight because even though it's nice up here, it's a little chillier in the bag.

I'm rocking a hat on casual Friday feeling pretty good.

Yeah, there's always a weather comment.

Dom, are

you feeling cash?

I'm feeling very casual.

What did you do during the break?

My goodness.

If

you weren't listening to the live stream, he took a tinkle.

That's right.

I said it

because you said it on the live stream.

So, man,

you put it out to the world, buddy.

Not my problem.

Not my problem.

Uh, that voice is speech up in Marinette, Wisconsin, AKA Christmas city, USA, up on the Northeast.

I'm down here in the Southeast of Wisconsin in radio park and Racine.

And then all the way over at HQ is Mr. Domley on the ones and twos.

We are your Yadar Hey triangle here with a fantastic show.

And now it's time.