Is Wisconsin Too Cocky? #159

Summary

Bellied Up Podcast Episode Summary: "Is Wisconsin Too Cocky?" (#159)
Release Date: July 10, 2025
Hosts: Charlie Berens & Miles (You Betcha Guy)

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Introduction

In episode #159 of the Bellied Up podcast titled "Is Wisconsin Too Cocky?", hosts Charlie Berens and Miles delve into a spirited discussion about Wisconsin’s cultural pride compared to its neighbor, Minnesota. Set against the backdrop of Snickers Bar and Grill in Chicago, the episode combines comedic banter, listener call-ins, and personal anecdotes to explore whether Wisconsin's self-confidence has tipped into cockiness.

Hosts' Morning Anecdotes

The episode kicks off with Charlie and Miles sharing humorous recounts of their morning experiences. Miles humorously narrates an awkward encounter while on the news, highlighting the challenges of live broadcasting.

Miles [00:32]: "We were on the news though. Miles deuced in the green room."

Charlie and Miles also touch upon Charlie's chaotic morning involving lost car keys and a frenzied Uber exchange, showcasing their trademark humor.

Charlie [04:06]: "I was going down here waiting till I was at least 15 minutes out to give him a call, which I did."

Caller Discussion: Minnesota vs. Wisconsin

The core of the episode revolves around a caller named Michael from Illinois, who sparks a debate on whether Minnesota surpasses Wisconsin in aspects like beer consumption and outdoor activities. Michael argues that Minnesota's abundance of lakes and humble demeanor give it an edge over Wisconsin’s pride in beer drinking and outdoor culture.

Michael [10:20]: "Minnesota's got more lakes. I think Minnesota is just being humble when it comes to the beer drinking."

Charlie and Miles engage with Michael, challenging his observations by highlighting Wisconsin's larger number of lakes and robust beer culture.

Charlie [13:36]: "Minnesota drinks more beer than Wisconsin, and they have more lakes and they're more outdoorsy. Anything else?"

The discussion intensifies as Miles introduces a humorous angle, suggesting that Wisconsin’s reputation as the "drunkest state" might be the point where cockiness begins.

Miles [17:31]: "I think I can pinpoint the time that Wisconsin started to get a little bit full of themselves."

The hosts and caller dissect various stereotypes, including Wisconsin’s cheese production and outdoor sports, comparing them to Minnesota’s natural landscapes and cultural humility.

Charlie [17:55]: "More cows. Okay, America's dairyland. But also I think we have more lakes."

Free Drinks at Bars Segment

Shifting gears, the conversation transitions to a segment about bartenders and the expectation of free drinks. A caller named Sandra shares her frustration with a local bowling alley bar that refuses to offer free drinks, prompting Charlie and Miles to discuss the etiquette and business strategies behind such policies.

Sandra [32:25]: "Most bars I go to... they buy you one. I mean, even... they won't let their employees buy you a drink."

Charlie humorously berates the bar for its strict no-free-drinks policy, while Miles offers sarcastic advice on how to earn free drinks.

Charlie [33:12]: "What's the name of it? Name it and shame it."

Sandra's input leads to a lighthearted debate about the balance between customer expectations and business profitability in the bar industry.

Charlie [43:12]: "I think if you're my boss... would probably give me free Beer after work."

Notable Quotes

Throughout the episode, several memorable quotes underscore the hosts' comedic take on the topics discussed:

• Miles [10:07]: "You know what map I'm talking about. You've seen it."
• Charlie [16:07]: "Where have you experienced? When was the last time you were in Wisconsin?"
• Miles [23:45]: "Have you ever read the story about David and Goliath?"
• Charlie [34:09]: "What are the instances where you think it should be standard practice for a bar to give a free drink?"

Closing Remarks and Future Plans

As the episode wraps up, Charlie and Miles reflect on their engaging conversation, recognizing the depth of regional pride and the humorous extremes it can reach. They tease future segments and remain open to more listener interactions, emphasizing the podcast's interactive and entertaining nature.

Charlie [59:49]: "You know, we can't be asking for. For free drinks or expecting it. We gotta go in there and earn it."

Conclusion

"Is Wisconsin Too Cocky?" is a quintessential Bellied Up episode, blending humor with insightful commentary on Midwestern pride and cultural dynamics. Charlie and Miles offer a comedic yet thoughtful exploration of regional identities, making this episode both entertaining and relatable for listeners unfamiliar with the nuances of Wisconsin and Minnesota's friendly rivalry.

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Connect with Bellied Up:
Follow Bellied Up on Instagram @bellieduppod for updates on live shows and call-in opportunities.

Transcript

[Miles]

Welcome back everybody, to another episode of the Bellied up podcast. We are bellied up here in Chicago.

[Charlie]

Behind enemy lines, Ladies and gentlemen. Miles convinced me to come down to Chicago, do a little bellied up.

[Miles]

We're at Snickers Bar and Grill off of. What street was this? Illinois Street. State Street.

[Charlie]

We're on State Street.

[Miles]

We're bellied up to the bar. And Charlie and I had ourselves a morning this morning.

[Charlie]

Did have ourselves a morning. We were on the news. Wgn, Mia Miles. You guys can probably google it. See the clip.

[Miles]

Also, I just got a good waft of weed.

[Charlie]

I did get a good walk.

[Miles]

Yeah, someone walked by hitting a pen.

[Charlie]

Yeah, it's pen weed too.

[Miles]

It's not that I would know.

[Charlie]

I'm well acquainted. This did not come out of a pipe, I can guarantee you that.

[Miles]

Anyways, yeah, did. First bellied up live was this week.

[Charlie]

Yeah. Oh, that's right, because we're talking in future tense. Yeah, it's actually tomorrow, which I just broke the whole fifth wall of it.

[Miles]

Yeah. Tomorrow we're doing Bellied up live at Zany's Y. And then this comes out after that. So.

[Charlie]

So it was a great show, guys.

[Miles]

It was awesome.

[Charlie]

It was super cool.

[Miles]

I was the star. I know.

[Charlie]

Yeah, he was. We got him the pink bananas in the green room. And ladies and gents, we're going to do more of these. It was such a success that we're coming to your city. Check your lowest.

[Miles]

Note the cart before the horse, Miles.

[Charlie]

It's about speaking truth into life.

[Miles]

Speak your self fulfilling prophecy.

[Charlie]

Yes. What you say becomes your intention. Becomes your truth. The end.

[Miles]

Yeah. So in a couple weeks, episodes, we'll know for sure a little what the plan is.

[Charlie]

Yes, we will. So anyway, we were on the news though. Miles deuced in the green room.

[Miles]

Yeah. Really, Charlie. So I go, I show up early.

[Charlie]

Way early.

[Miles]

Way early. You know, classic guy from Fargo worried about the traffic. You know, you leave an hour before you need to.

[Charlie]

I should have been worried about the traffic.

[Miles]

And I show up in the green room. Decent, you know, it's good, but it's a small room.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

And then there's a bathroom and you know, like in the old school buildings, there's like the. There's the door, but then on the bottom there's like the. The slots. So it's like actually open.

[Charlie]

Yeah, you can see the feet.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

You can tell, you know, if it's.

[Miles]

Actually the bathroom door. Actually wasn't a solid door. At the bottom there was like, you know, open slots. And I start gripping the ceramic.

[Charlie]

Oh, it's a gripper and ripper.

[Miles]

And I just start unloading on this toilet. And I'm like, I. I don't know if you guys have ever tried to. To poop quietly. It never works.

[Charlie]

N. Because you get that tension and, you know.

[Miles]

You know, so then I had probably, like, three or four courtesy flushes because I didn't know who was going to walk into the green room. Yeah. It turned into the brown room. And, yeah, luckily, no one showed up till a little bit later.

[Michael]

And.

[Miles]

Yeah, well, that was. So all that happened. And the lady comes in and is like, all right, we're ready for you. Where is Charlie?

[Charlie]

Oh, no.

[Miles]

You know, and the amount of times I have to answer the question, where is Charlie?

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

Without knowing the answer. Yeah, it's I. And I cover for you. Oh, yeah, He's. You'll be here any second.

[Charlie]

Is that what you said? Or do you say, yeah, that asshole's late all the time?

[Miles]

Well, I did say, like, does he usually do this when he comes on here? And she was kind of like, oh, I don't think so. So she covered for you.

[Charlie]

Oh, did she?

[Miles]

But Charlie showed up right as we're about to go on air.

[Charlie]

I meant, what did you say to her? Did you say that I'm.

[Miles]

The soundcheck guy was stressed because he wanted to make you up and make sure you're good to go?

[Charlie]

Was he? Yeah, they get over it. That was rude of me. It was. Well, here's. Here's the deal. Here's the situation. Let me explain my morning before that, because I woke up, I checked in late to the hotel. Okay. I did ballet, the car, which is.

[Miles]

Like, kind of what you have to do in Chicago, right? There's like.

[Charlie]

It was described to me as the only option to me at the time. And I just had to get to bed. And I wake up in the morning, and then I request on my phone, I realize, 75. I could have just stayed at the Motel 6 on the way in for $75, and my car could have slept for free. But I could have just parked the car in the parking lot, slept in my car for free. So I was going through this math. I was upset. Anyways, I go downstairs to get the car, because you got requests by thing. Car's there. Nobody else's. No keys, no guy. I'm like. And then I get the text from Miles. I'm here. I'm like, well, I'm not.

[Miles]

Dude, he's not even in his car.

[Charlie]

No, And I was going to wait till I was at least 15 minutes out to give him a call, which I did. But anyways, I'm waiting. So I request an Uber. And then the Uber's coming. I'm like, where's this guy? The guy shows up. And then I'm like, hey, fella, I'm sorry. I, I. I need my keys. And he's like, I need the money. And I was like, yeah, I don't have cash. Who only accepts cash for the vip? I said, can you tell the front desk I'll pay you when I get back? And I'll also leave a tip for you because, you know, I know that, you know, but I have a thing. He. If he's still there after I go back after this, I hope he's working all day. What I'm gonna say to him is, dude, he didn't know my name. So I'm gonna say, let's just not tell the front desk about this. I give you $40 straight cash. That's gonna be $20 more than the tip I was gonna give you because I know you're working hard for your money. Then we just don't tell the hotel that you, you know, he parked the car. If you want, I'll juice it up.

[Miles]

So he gave you the car without paying?

[Charlie]

Yeah, that's how it went after. Oh, and then I.

[Miles]

We went to go get some breakfast, and we're leaving the restaurant, and Charlie looks and he goes, do you have my keys? And I said, charlie, why on earth would I have your keys? At what point would I have pickpocketed you for your keys? You know, what would do. What would be my angle there to do that? And so he went back in the restaurant looking for it. He came back out as a. Charlie, did you leave your keys in your car?

[Charlie]

Sure did.

[Miles]

Sure enough, he did.

[Charlie]

Sure did. Unlocked on the streets of Chicago.

[Miles]

And then he proceeded to. I told him, I said, charlie, you know, every single time I meet up with you, I think you can't outdo yourself. And every single time you do.

[Charlie]

I didn't outdo myself yet.

[Miles]

And then he goes. He goes, oh, this never happens. And I said, this only happens. This is standard baseline.

[Charlie]

Is it, though, Miles?

[Miles]

A little bit.

[Charlie]

Well, you forgot to mention that before. I figured out I lost my key. I know that my buddy Miles is a Frenchman. Mon pleasure. Oui. And he likes his baguettes. And so we were right next to an authentic French Bakery with 4.5 review on Yelp, and I purchased him a little Yummy treat to try. So we're gonna do it right here. I got you. Well, it doesn't look super appetizing. I'll be honest with you.

[Miles]

That must have been the one that they, like, put in the glass to be a display one.

[Charlie]

It was, like, the last one left, so. You want to try it?

[Miles]

Try it with me?

[Charlie]

Yeah, I'll try it. This is from LA for me. La Ford. La Fornette.

[Miles]

That's pretty good. Charlie. I'm a bread guy. I don't know if you knew that about me, but. Yeah, it's good.

[Charlie]

Yeah, I think it's good too.

[Miles]

So thanks for the, the baguette. What was it? Was it actually called?

[Charlie]

Oh, it's like a raisin cinnamon roll without the cinnamon. Have you been to Paris? I forget.

[Miles]

Never been to Europe.

[Charlie]

Oh, yeah. You said you're gonna go there.

[Miles]

I'll go there some point.

[Charlie]

What town? I'm waiting.

[Miles]

I, I don't know. Lots of them. I don't.

[Charlie]

Okay. Oh, so you're gonna go backpack around Europe?

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

You're gonna have your baby in the backpack.

[Miles]

Yep.

[Charlie]

Or you can get the folks to watch your baby while you and Ann.

[Miles]

Go galavanting and won't let us leave them anywhere.

[Charlie]

No, why would happen?

[Miles]

It's just like, we want. She wants to be the parent that brings their kid along on the experiences.

[Charlie]

Have you guys never gotten a babysitter?

[Miles]

No, we have.

[Charlie]

Okay.

[Miles]

But just on vacations.

[Charlie]

Oh, okay. She wants a baby to be part of it. Yeah. So.

[Miles]

Which I'm, I'm not against. No, I think it's fun.

[Charlie]

Chill, dude. Handsome fella.

[Miles]

Yep. I mean, starting to walk now, Charlie.

[Charlie]

Is he.

[Miles]

And he's really good at shaking his head no. Can't talk yet, but he can sure shake his head.

[Charlie]

No, dude, I, I, I believe that. I mean, he is your child, and you look at him. Dude, that had a hair. He looks like he's got a scholarship to a big ten.

[Miles]

Yeah, he's a guy. He looks like he works in finance or he's got a banker cut.

[Charlie]

That's it.

[Miles]

We. We now have to give him a haircut every four weeks.

[Charlie]

Really?

[Miles]

Yeah. Otherwise he bitches about it being in his eye.

[Charlie]

How does he do that if you can't talk?

[Miles]

Whining and crying. Usually how babies do it.

[Charlie]

Yeah, I could have probably put those pieces of the puzzle together.

[Miles]

Well, Charlie, should we take some callers here at Snickers here in Chicago?

[Charlie]

Let's do it.

[Michael]

Miles.

[Miles]

Michael, you got Charlie and Miles from the bellied up podcast. I hear that you think Minnesota, Wisconsin's better than Wisconsin. Is that true?

[Michael]

I think. I think there's a strong possibility there.

[Charlie]

All right, Michael, first of all, a little background on yourself. Where are you from?

[Michael]

So I'm from Illinois, which makes me probably a neutral third party to this whole situation, because I'm looking at it from an outsider in.

[Charlie]

Okay, okay. Are you from Chicago, Illinois, or are you just from Flatlander?

[Michael]

I'm a flatlander. I'm unfortunately just out there a little bit.

[Charlie]

No, no, I get it.

[Miles]

So that actually builds your credibility.

[Charlie]

Yeah. Because if you were like a hardcore Bears fan or something, I would say you may tilt more toward Minnesota because, you know, the Packers, Bears rivalry. But I'm getting the sense we'll just call it your neighbor deal.

[Michael]

I look at it more from just, you know. You know, Wisconsin prides itself on the outdoors. The beer drinking. I mean, Minnesota's got more lakes. I think Minnesota is just being humble when it comes to the beer drinking, because I think if you put two of them side by side, it might be an equal, if not more. More competitive than we think. I think Minnesotans are just out being more out, more Midwestern. Nice. And just being humble about the whole situation.

[Miles]

Okay, so what you're saying is Wisconsinites are loud and proud.

[Michael]

I'd say. I don't want to say they're loud and proud because, I mean, let's. Let's be real. We're all from the Midwest and not loud and proud. We're all pretty humble. I just feel that maybe Minnesota just out. Humbles them a little bit more.

[Miles]

They don't. We have a humble off. We have a humble off between Wisconsin, Minnesota also. He calls in with a declaration that Minnesota out. Wisconsin's Wisconsin. Then he's like, well, I wouldn't go that far.

[Charlie]

He just gently walks it back.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

This is the most Midwest phone call right here. With you doing that. I. I do have to, like. Oh, go ahead.

[Michael]

Well, I gotta let you know, I mean, I'm right now traveling the Midwest of Europe. I just got back to Germany from Poland in. In the Czech. And I'm telling you, this is. This is pretty Midwest out here too.

[Charlie]

Yeah, Germany's pre Midwest.

[Michael]

Yeah. It's. It's nothing but beer drinking and countryside out here. I don't know.

[Charlie]

Beer and bratz.

[Miles]

Yeah, beer and brats.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

Did you just blow your nose?

[Michael]

No.

[Charlie]

Did you just do a line of cocaine? What's going on over there?

[Michael]

No, I'm looking for my passport. If I'm Being honest.

[Charlie]

Okay. All right.

[Miles]

Well, you probably knows that song and dance all too well. Charlie is perpetually looking for his passport.

[Charlie]

Well, not right now. It's expired, actually. But let's dive into this. Let's dive into this.

[Miles]

Okay, so you're saying that you think Minnesota drinks more beer than Wisconsin, and they have more lakes and they're more outdoorsy. Anything else?

[Michael]

100%. I think that's where it is. I feel like that's it right there. Yeah, I mean, that in a nutshell sums up Wisconsin, does it not? I don't know, More cows.

[Charlie]

I mean, yeah, we do have for sure more cows. Okay, America's dairyland. But also I think we have more lakes. It's just we are not pretentious about it. You know, on the license plate, Minnesota says land of 10,000 lakes, or whatever the hell it says, you know, do.

[Michael]

Has anyone actually counted, though?

[Charlie]

Yeah, they have. And guess What? Wisconsin's got 15,000. But we don't need to flaunt it. You know, we don't need to just flaunt crap on our license, but. Except for America's dairyland, but that happens to be factual. Okay, so listen, I. I need to know where you're getting off. My guy saying that, you know, Minnesota is kind of out Wisconsin. In Wisconsin. Like, what have you experienced? When was the last time you were in Wisconsin? When was last time you were in Minnesota? Or is this just a general vibe feel from what you're seeing on the Internet?

[Sandra]

So, no.

[Michael]

So I was in Minnesota earlier this year, and that's where kind of I started the argument here with a co worker that actually lived in Wisconsin. And I was like, I was in the state of Minnesota for maybe five minutes, met a handful of people, and all they talked about were their deer, that they're, you know, that are just walking through their front yard and, you know, maybe they're gonna harvest it, maybe they won't. And I think I was handed maybe five different types of deer sticks within five minutes of being there.

[Charlie]

What city?

[Michael]

I mean, it was just Rogers, Minnesota.

[Miles]

Oh, yeah.

[Charlie]

Is that over by you?

[Miles]

Well, no, we gotta. You gotta go through Rogers from Fargo to Minneapolis.

[Charlie]

So, okay, how is it like, middle.

[Miles]

This Rogers, where they got the Cabela's? Oh, yeah, they got a cabela's over there. And Rogers.

[Charlie]

Well, you. You can't compare. Well, you can't compare a cabela's town in Minnesota to like, just any town in Wisconsin too, you know. When was the last time you were in Wisconsin?

[Michael]

I'd say probably Been a year ago.

[Charlie]

Okay. All right. What town?

[Michael]

Yeah, it's been a little while. Probably the Lake Geneva area. Oh, yeah, no, we went to. Yeah, we went to the racetrack over there. Great Lakes.

[Charlie]

Okay. All right, Well, I think you gotta get a compromise.

[Michael]

So to be honest, like, my, you know, my wife and I love Wisconsin.

[Charlie]

Right.

[Michael]

You know, and, you know, to the point, I mean, we love, you know, I mean, typical fit. Right. We'll go up north for a weekend drive. Just to drive and get away from everybody. Right. But I'm telling you, going to Minnesota really surprised me. And it. Honestly, it made me question it a little bit.

[Miles]

Wow.

[Charlie]

Yeah. I'm not sure how I feel about.

[Miles]

So are you saying. I think what you're saying is Wisconsin's turning into a little bit of. There's too many Chicagoans changing the culture of Wisconsin, is what it sounds like, Charlie.

[Michael]

It could be. Or. Or. I mean, I don't know. I'm not from Minnesota, but the Minnesota look at the Wisconsin people as like, Wisconsin looks at the Illinois people.

[Charlie]

Oh, no.

[Michael]

And they're just too humble to even talk about.

[Miles]

Yeah, it's. Maybe it's kind of like Minnesota. Like Wisconsin for Midwest stuff is kind of like the fancy spread, air raid college football offense. And Minnesota is kind of the power tee. Three yards and a cloud of smoke. Hand the ball to the ref and run the damn ball. In terms of Midwest values is kind of what you're saying. They just. Nothing flashy about it. They just do their work. They don't, you know, they don't need any credit. They just do the work.

[Charlie]

Where.

[Miles]

Wisconsin, you know, talking about watching out for deer constantly.

[Charlie]

Okay.

[Miles]

We have 4, 000 types of cheese curds here. You buy all of our cheese, you know, have to become too commercial.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

Are you talking about Wisconsin or just me right now?

[Michael]

But I mean, it gives a good, you know, perspective of as an outsider looking in Wisconsin. That's what it looks like. Right. You know, I don't see any commercials in Illinois about come visit Minnesota, unless it'll be a lake or something. And that's true, you know. Yeah. Culver's, you know, cheese and, you know, the. It's. It's, you know, on the Packers. I mean, they're just annoying to everybody, aren't they?

[Charlie]

No, listen, you bastard. Wisconsin. You're getting commercials for Wisconsin because it's a neighboring town, the state of Wisconsin. Their visitor bureau is doing commercials to you because it's cheaper. And because we're not doing them. The Minnesota, because they got a Lot of lakes, and they're not going to come down here anyway. So that's trying to get you a flatlander up to Wisconsin.

[Miles]

No, I think I could. I think I can pinpoint the. The time that Wisconsin started to get a little bit full of themselves. And I. You guys may know what I'm talking about. It was when the study came out of the drunkest counties in the US and like, of the top 10, nine of them were all in Wisconsin. And then you guys started walking around with your chest up, you know, two beers in hand, like we're the drunkest state in all the land. And I think that might have been the turning point. And you know what map I'm talking about. You've seen it.

[Charlie]

Not only have I seen it, everybody brings it up to me in casual conversation every chance they can get, I think.

[Michael]

And I think if you. You Google it, it's probably going to be the number one hit that you're going to get on Google right now.

[Miles]

That's right.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

And I think this is a good moment, you know, to remind Wisconsin Charlie to do your job. You guys aren't going to stay the drunkest city by, you know, getting full.

[Charlie]

Resting on our.

[Miles]

Yeah, you guys got to be out there tailgating. You got to be out there 9am on a Sunday just hammering beers and cheese. And if you guys get comfortable in all your success of being the drunkest state in the US Someone's going to dethrone you guys. And I think this is actually a good moment.

[Charlie]

You know, it.

[Michael]

And don't get me wrong, I'm not hating on Wisconsin at all. I just thought it was a valid point to bring up. And, you know, both states are beautiful. You know, it's, it's, it's. You know, they both have their ups. You know, they're positive. I just think it's. It was just a good debate to have, and I didn't know who else to bring it to then you two guys that could possibly put an end to this.

[Charlie]

Well, I'm feeling less threatened now. I was feeling threatened before by you, and that's where my last. So I apologize.

[Michael]

No need to feel threatened. This is actually, I mean, if you guys could put it to rest. This is a. This has been going between a co worker and me for probably a few months now. We've been debating this. Listen, and it's. It's been a challenge. It's hard. It's hard to get past this, to be honest.

[Charlie]

Well, listen, I do think Minnesota has a lot of things that could be considered more Wisconsin. Okay. But I don't think it's fair to say Minnesota out. Wisconsin's Wisconsin. What I do think is you have a troubling sample size for Wisconsin. And I think you got to go to a bunch of different areas of Wisconsin to get the full picture. Like, it doesn't sound to me like you've been north of, of 8 too much, you know, And I think you got to get up there to the Eagle river side of life.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

You know, and I agree. Yeah. And because you don't want to just be in the Lake Geneva area making your decisions about Wisconsin, because, I mean, that's practically, you know, Chicago Junior. Well, I definitely was not going to call it that, but, you know, there is a big Chicago influence there. So, you know, to really get the purest sample size, that's like if you're trying to find walleyes in the lake and you just go up to the reeds and you, you scoop some water out and you all you guys tadpoles and you're like, oh, there must not be any walleyes in here, you know? No. You were just in tadpole territory. No. And there are still some, you know, people in Jenny. Anyway, I'm, I'm over my heels here.

[Miles]

But, you know, fair to the sample. What you're saying here, Charlie, is maybe what he's talking about. Instead of you going, you know, owning up and saying maybe we could get back to our roots more, you deflected and you kind of gaslighted him into thinking that he was wrong. So I just want to say that.

[Charlie]

You just read a self help book.

[Miles]

Or some shit and maybe this is a good opportunity for you, Charlie, to go, hey, let's get back to what got us the drunkest state. Let's get back to the basics, the fundamentals. You know, you guys are. Maybe we, you guys are getting so fancy with all your cheeses and all of your championships that you won 50, 60 years ago. You're getting so fancy. Let's get back to the basic. Let's build a good football team. Let's drink heavily all the time. Let's. Let's just eat cheese. We don't eat all the fancy jalapeno versions. Let's just get back to fucking cheddar cheese.

[Charlie]

This is your advice, Miles. Let's drink all the time. Well, I don't think that that's.

[Miles]

There's some other state licking their chops at you guys right now. They're like, they are primed and ready to Topple the champ. Because you guys think that you. You. There's no way you can lose. Listen, and I don't know if you are a Bible guy, Charlie.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

But have you ever read the story about David and Goliath?

[Charlie]

Yeah, I've heard of it.

[Miles]

Yeah. You got to watch out for.

[Charlie]

Listen to the audio.

[Miles]

You got to watch out for states like Michigan. They're coming for the throne.

[Charlie]

Or Minnesota.

[Miles]

Or Minnesota.

[Charlie]

To bring it all. Iowa.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

And there's a sleeper.

[Miles]

Just when everyone thought Goliath couldn't lose, Just when he thought that no one could be drunker than Goliath. Oh, David comes along and puts on a clinic. Puts 2:30 racks down. Down in an evening and still gets to walk home.

[Charlie]

I hope he's walking home.

[Michael]

Maybe. And, you know, you know, my biggest comparison was maybe Minnesota and Wisconsin. But you're right. Maybe Iowa's in the mix here. Yeah. I don't think they're at the level yet. And they're in. You know, they're in. They're in the minor leagues possibly at this moment, but you never know.

[Charlie]

Right now.

[Miles]

That's some fighting words telling the people of Iowa they're in the minor leagues. I would love to see what.

[Michael]

I would think maybe, you know, they're.

[Miles]

Not even in the big leagues.

[Michael]

You know, what he means is they.

[Charlie]

Don'T have one major league team in the entire state. I mean, how is that possible? How does. Well, it's population. Right. That's the reason.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

More people need to start boinking in Iowa, and then they'll get themselves an NFL team. Well, I hear where you're coming from. I don't agree, but it's a lot of good food for thought. And I appreciate you bringing it up. Appreciate the call. And you have some fun in Germany. What are you doing tonight?

[Michael]

Tonight, we're just kind of hanging out tonight. Going to the beer garden. Probably gonna have a couple beers and bratwurst and some chicken wings, and then hike up a mountain and get back to where I'm staying. So we'll see how that goes.

[Charlie]

Good. Don't fall off.

[Michael]

I'll try not to.

[Charlie]

All right, well, thanks for calling, and we appreciate you.

[Michael]

Yeah, thanks. Gentleman. Look out for deer.

[Charlie]

All right. You, too. Stags, too, over there. I mean, I understand where he's coming from. I just feel like you got to have more evidence to bring that to the table, you know? That's all.

[Miles]

I'm just saying you could use this opportunity to stay sharp, Charlie.

[Charlie]

Yeah, Sharp.

[Miles]

Because where there's one there's more. There's other people having that thought. If he's having that thought.

[Charlie]

Yeah. And, yeah, Minnesota's got a lot of cool spots. No doubt. No doubt.

[Miles]

They definitely are more humble about, like, the Boundary Waters.

[Charlie]

I know.

[Miles]

Shore and all that. Nice up there.

[Charlie]

It is. It's almost too nice. It's almost too nice.

[Miles]

They let it. They let it speak for themselves.

[Charlie]

It's almost like a luxurious.

[Miles]

They don't have to have fancy terms like the Malibu of the Midwest, you.

[Charlie]

Know, dude, that's to sell T shirts like.

[Miles]

Like gift shops.

[Charlie]

I'll give you this, Wisconsin is tack here than Minnesota.

[Miles]

That is true.

[Charlie]

Like, have you been to the Wisconsin Dells? That's our thing.

[Miles]

Yeah, you know, that is true.

[Charlie]

Yeah, that's always been our thing. Maybe that's the argument I should have gone with.

[Miles]

We're just tackier. Yeah, but tackiness sells is what you're saying.

[Charlie]

Well, I mean, it's just part of our culture, you know, to be a little bit tacky, like. Yeah, male blue. The Midwest. But how else would you know about your boy? I mean.

[Miles]

Put a Cabela's there. I knew Rogers.

[Charlie]

Cabela's, man, that's great. My, my. Who was it? My sister. She sent me a picture with her kid looking at a fish at Cabela's. And she goes, the free Midwest Zoo. Cabela's. Yeah, that makes sense.

[Miles]

Yeah. The nearest Cabela's to me are in Mitchell, South Dakota, and Rogers, until, you know, your Midwest is if you know where the. Know how all of the closest Cabela's are to you?

[Charlie]

Yeah. Trying to think of the closest one to me. I'm trying to think of the town it's in. Slinger, maybe. Yeah, something like that.

[Miles]

All right. Should we take another caller?

[Charlie]

Let's do it. It's dead. Well, Miles, it's warm outside, which means people are out at the lake firing up the pontoon.

[Miles]

I've been doing that now. Find out on the boat. Out on the pontoon.

[Charlie]

Have. Yeah, pontoons. The problem with pontoons is accidents can happen. You know that is true. You can go out there and get a little too close to the propeller or try to do a backflip off the Bimini or something. You know, crack a bone, scrape a knee, something like that. Get injured real bad. Miles?

[Miles]

Yes.

[Charlie]

What do I do? What do I do, Miles? You call Nicolet. All right, that's 1-855-Nicolet. You give him a call and you say, hey, pontoon screwed the pooch. Summer's gone, but my bank account. Doesn't have to be. He'll hook it up. He'll go after those insurance companies that are just trying to screw you over. So give Nick away a call. Hi, Sandra.

[Sandra]

Is Sandra with an O?

[Charlie]

Damn it, Sandra, we got bad intel.

[Miles]

All right, that one's on Jared. He told us. Sandra. It's Sandra.

[Charlie]

Sandra, it's me, Charlie, and this is Miles with the Bellied up podcast.

[Sandra]

Hey, guys.

[Charlie]

Nice to chit chat with you, Sandra.

[Sandra]

You too. Absolutely. Thanks for calling.

[Miles]

Oh, yeah. What's going on today?

[Sandra]

Oh, today we're working on a bathroom remodel.

[Michael]

Oh.

[Charlie]

New toilet, New bathtub. What are we putting in there?

[Sandra]

We're putting in a shower. New shower. We're tearing out a closet. Not. Not sure what we're doing with the closet yet. We just tore out the closet. We might put some cabinets in there. Not sure yet. But.

[Miles]

You find any skeletons while you're in there?

[Sandra]

No skeletons, but actually, it was kind of interesting. When we took off the. The mirror above the sink, there was some, like, notes that they took the last time. They must have done some work in there. And they. They signed their names and everything who was living there, and just some notes about measurements in the bathroom. So that was kind of cool.

[Charlie]

Oh, that is pretty cool. Any confessions of a murderer? Anything like that?

[Sandra]

No, didn't find any evidence of that.

[Charlie]

Well, keep looking. Keep digging around. That's okay.

[Sandra]

We'll see what we can find. Yeah.

[Miles]

What is. What, what do you do? You work for a remodeling company. It's a Monday morning and you're working on a remodel. What's going on?

[Sandra]

Well, we just. We actually have a contractor here working on it. We just for the. We did some of the tear out to kind of save them a little work, so. But we actually have a contractor doing the heavy, heavy lifting.

[Miles]

Okay.

[Sandra]

Yeah. Yeah. Everything out there, just replacing everything.

[Charlie]

That's the way to do it. Yeah, you do. You do the stuff that, you know, when you go to resell, the house is not going to screw you over, you know?

[Sandra]

Exactly. Yeah.

[Charlie]

Yeah. It's tough to screw out tearing things out, you know, because that's the whole point. But once you start putting things back up to quote, unquote code, that's when things can get interesting.

[Sandra]

Well, yeah.

[Miles]

Well, Sandra, I know you called in because you're. You would like some free drinks at the bar and you're wondering why you don't get any. Is that correct?

[Sandra]

Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Most bars I go to, you know, it's either One to one or like every other one, you know, the bartender will buy you one. I mean, even. Even there's a one bar we go to. You drink free on your birthday, and there's just this one bar in town by me. They won't buy you a single drink. They don't let their employees buy you a drink. If their employees buy you one, that comes out of their paycheck. And you're lucky if you get one free one on your birthday.

[Miles]

And I could tell you this. That's probably the only bar in town that's making money.

[Charlie]

Has it been there a while or is it a new bar? Is it a new bar? Is this new bar syndrome?

[Miles]

Yeah, it's the newest one in town.

[Sandra]

Yeah.

[Miles]

Yeah, you can tell.

[Charlie]

I can tell with the animosity. What's the name of it? Name it and shame it.

[Sandra]

It's actually a bowling alley.

[Charlie]

It's a bowling alley?

[Sandra]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

What's it called?

[Sandra]

Cardinal Lanes.

[Charlie]

Cardinal Lanes. You're never gonna get a free drink at Cardinal Lane's ever again.

[Miles]

Not ever again. Ever. She hasn't gotten one.

[Sandra]

Yeah, it doesn't happen very often. Anyway, so like I said, maybe on.

[Miles]

Your birthday, you know, Are you wanting it too hard? You know, like, it's kind of like in the dating scene, if you come on too strong, you scare them away. Or deer hunting, you know, if you.

[Sandra]

No, they don't. They don't give anyone a free drink.

[Miles]

Then why do you keep going there?

[Sandra]

I don't. I, like. I don't any. Like, very rarely do I. For that reason.

[Charlie]

You know, their core business is bowling, and so.

[Miles]

No, their core business is still alcohol.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

Bowling is just a thing.

[Charlie]

Bowling is a thing you do.

[Miles]

Anytime there's alcohol involved with an establishment, that is their core business.

[Charlie]

All right, I'll take your word for that. Take your word for that. Okay.

[Sandra]

This is all better when you're drunk.

[Charlie]

Yeah, that is true. That is. What are the instances where you think it should be standard practice for a bar to give a free drink? What are the instances?

[Sandra]

Plain and simple? You buy. You buy one or two, they buy you one.

[Charlie]

Sandra, what the hell kind of business do you think she's a two for ones gal?

[Miles]

You need to start going to college, Joy.

[Sandra]

A good business that is going to get people to come back to your bar.

[Charlie]

Okay. Okay. Yeah. I mean, this is. You're in straight dive bar territory is what we're talking about, where you become friends with the guy behind the bar or just the bartender. And there's a reason that Those bars do not fix up their bathroom. And it's not because the potential to do it wasn't there. It's that money got spent buying other people beer. You know, it's like what Scarface said.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

Remember that? You don't dip into your own stash or you don't snort your own stash. What did he say? That's where that comes from. So this, you know, it's just new age owners, they're not aware of the tradition.

[Miles]

They're just trying to do this thing that all the kids are saying, turn a profit.

[Charlie]

Yeah. Who wants to do that? You know, we gotta get into the.

[Miles]

Black, you know, so that we can get it into the green. It's like, come on, we want to.

[Charlie]

Make a better life for ourselves.

[Miles]

Yeah. We want to be able to retire someday.

[Sandra]

You know, Let me tell you, there's. There's one bar in town that he's in his mid-50s and he's retired in the next couple of years. He's. He's got his bar up for sale right now. He's. He's set.

[Miles]

No. You think he is not sad that.

[Charlie]

Until that bar is like how you.

[Miles]

Said, he's retired in a few years. And I want you to know that that cycle will just keep happening. You'll be like, yeah, actually, a couple more years in here, and then I'm gonna retire.

[Charlie]

What?

[Sandra]

He takes some pretty nice vacations, too.

[Charlie]

Oh, yeah? Where is he? Well, okay, but.

[Miles]

Oh.

[Charlie]

His. His bar. His bar is one. That for every two you get, they buy you one.

[Sandra]

Or it's. Sometimes it's one to one.

[Miles]

Wow.

[Charlie]

Wow. So you know what can be.

[Sandra]

Yeah.

[Miles]

So he's just laundering money.

[Charlie]

That could be the case, too.

[Miles]

Does he take a lot of trips to the Cayman Islands?

[Sandra]

Jamaica mostly?

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

That's a stopping point. You know, he's not going to tell you the final destination.

[Charlie]

Yeah, yeah. Does he have a fleet of Cessnas?

[Sandra]

Not that I know of.

[Charlie]

You wouldn't. You wouldn't know of him either.

[Miles]

Is he in the waste management business as well?

[Sandra]

No.

[Charlie]

Okay.

[Miles]

Okay.

[Charlie]

All right.

[Miles]

Well, hey.

[Charlie]

Well, I think you're.

[Michael]

You're.

[Charlie]

You're absolutely accurate that when you are drinking at a drug front, you should be able to get a one for one drink situation because they need your cash for reasons other than purchasing beer. I do have some empathy for the new business owner who, you know, isn't going to give you a beer because you bought beers, but I think you can just, you know, with the almighty dollar, I think you can put it where you think it needs to go and maybe they'll get the lesson.

[Miles]

Also, the old guy might just be marketing or framing stuff better. Right. Like you're, maybe they don't. At the new place they're giving you 24 ounce beers.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

You know, and they're charging you for it and they're not going to give you a free one. At the other place they're giving you 12 ounce beers and then giving you one for free for the same price.

[Charlie]

Oh yeah.

[Miles]

You do the same amount of beer?

[Charlie]

Yeah. Do they have more, more expensive beers?

[Miles]

You go to the penny taps and the cups are all 8 ounces.

[Charlie]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Miles]

One of those deals.

[Charlie]

Is there some funny business? No, it's just standard price for beer.

[Sandra]

Yeah. Well, there's a couple of them in, in town where I live that they'll, they buy your free ones. There's one where you drink free all, all day on your birthday.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Sandra]

And he's, he's got a pretty good business too.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

I mean once a year.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Sandra]

And they've been. Yeah, but when you got that many patrons, I mean and they're all drinking for free on their birthday, that's that. And you got some pretty heavy drinkers. I mean.

[Miles]

Well, see, he's making money on all the people you bring to the bar with you because it'd be pretty sad if you're drinking all you can drink on your birthday by yourself is usually what the.

[Sandra]

Well, well, sure, I mean it can.

[Miles]

It can be done.

[Charlie]

She ain't done before.

[Miles]

Well, Sandra, what do you, what, what's the people be doing that? I mean, what you're saying that people should start boycotting these new establishments till they get free stuff or what? You know, what are we supposed to do about this?

[Sandra]

Not that new. I mean, he's not that new. I mean he's been in town a couple, two, three years. But I would say just, I mean you gotta buy your patrons one once in a while.

[Charlie]

I, you know, I don't disagree with you. I think you're starting to turn me on this. I, I agree. You.

[Miles]

No, I, I, I think that's definitely a thing, but you know. Yeah. Do you think there's a thing that you could do to like up your chances at a bar for getting a free drink?

[Sandra]

I mean, there are things that might have been done when I was in my 20s. Yeah.

[Charlie]

Sandra, Sandra sand you talking about?

[Miles]

Do tell Mom.

[Sandra]

No, I can't.

[Charlie]

You're a mom. That's fine. There's a lot of moms Named Sandra.

[Miles]

The dad may be a bartender at this bar you talk about.

[Sandra]

No, no, no.

[Miles]

Well, do tell. What was going on?

[Sandra]

You know, you got gotta reveal some things once in a while.

[Miles]

Okay. Little Marty GR Action.

[Charlie]

You, You. You showed your pectoral muscles to a bartender for free drinks? Is that what you're telling me?

[Sandra]

I mean, sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.

[Charlie]

Wow.

[Sandra]

When you get thirsty.

[Charlie]

No, I get it.

[Miles]

Do you think that that would work for Charlie and I?

[Sandra]

Yeah, yeah, for the right bartender.

[Miles]

Probably give it a go, you know? Or is it like do we got to be showing some cheek instead? You know, it's some cheek or curd. Well, you're the one that brought this up. You don't get sheepish on us now.

[Charlie]

You know, it's interesting.

[Sandra]

It all depends on the bartender, I guess.

[Charlie]

Yeah. What they want, what their preference is. Because it's either you're going to get a free drink or you're going to jail. So I think for, for guys it's a little bit different because you can get that, you know, people probably like in a funny, you know, she said.

[Miles]

That'S the best way to get a free drink.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

Have you tried that at that bar? At the bar you're saying you don't get free drinks. Have you tried that?

[Sandra]

No. Well, I don't, I don't get the vibe there to do that. There.

[Miles]

Got it. Okay.

[Charlie]

Is that how you got free drinks at the other bars.

[Sandra]

Back in the day?

[Charlie]

Yeah, back in the day. Okay, so you have a long standing relationship, a history with these bars built on self exposure?

[Sandra]

Not all of them, no.

[Miles]

Okay, that's a great name for a bar.

[Charlie]

Self exposure.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

And then that's your whole gimmick. If you self expose, you get a free drink.

[Charlie]

Sandra, what do you do for a living?

[Sandra]

I work in maintenance at a factory.

[Charlie]

Okay. All right, so what do you do at the factory?

[Sandra]

I work, I do building maintenance. Like janitorial work? Like. And just fixing toilets, changing batteries.

[Charlie]

Perfect.

[Miles]

You're a maintenance gal.

[Charlie]

Maintenance. You work with your hands. I like it. So you fix two toilets, your time's up, you're checking out, but your boss says, hey, I noticed you fixed two toilets. Why don't you fix two more on the house? What would you say to him.

[Sandra]

If I don't know, I guess I've given my time off the clock before.

[Charlie]

Okay. Okay. I thought you were gonna say I'll do it for free beer, but no, I. Look, I think if you're my boss.

[Sandra]

Would probably give me free Beer after work.

[Charlie]

Okay, I like that. All right, well, I.

[Sandra]

You know, he doesn't sign my paycheck, so.

[Charlie]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Miles]

How'd you get into the maintenance gig?

[Sandra]

I just. The position opened up and I applied for it.

[Miles]

Is that your only job you've ever had?

[Sandra]

Nope. I was a CNA for about nine years, and then I worked at this. The factory I'm at now. I started working in assembly, and then I moved into the maintenance spot.

[Charlie]

You like it?

[Sandra]

I do. Yeah.

[Charlie]

That's great.

[Miles]

Cna.

[Charlie]

That's nurse.

[Miles]

Certified nursing assistant. Nursing assistant.

[Sandra]

Yep.

[Miles]

Why'd you get out of the cna? Physician?

[Sandra]

Because I had a young child, and people don't take a break from getting sick or getting old, so I needed a job where I could have a more set schedule because my husband at the time, he was working a lot of weekends, and people don't take weekends from getting sick or getting old, so I had to.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Sandra]

Get a regular Monday through Friday, so that. Because I just felt like I couldn't expect somebody else to put their life on hold to. To watch my kid on a weekend if my husband and I both had to work.

[Miles]

Yeah. Makes sense.

[Charlie]

Yeah, it makes a lot of sense.

[Miles]

So now you just leave your kid at home and go to the bar?

[Sandra]

No, he's. No, we go to the bar together now. He's old enough. He's old enough he can go to the bar by himself.

[Miles]

He's getting. He's getting free Mountain Dews at the bar.

[Sandra]

No, he's not even getting free beer at the bar because they. He was told no free drinks here because he tried at that bar.

[Charlie]

Well, how old is he? He's 21.

[Sandra]

He's 21? Yeah.

[Charlie]

Okay.

[Sandra]

Yeah. And he walked up to the bartender after he had. He bought two beers, he walked up to the bartender and he said, I'll take this one for free. And he was told, no February drinks here.

[Charlie]

Entitlement.

[Miles]

Everyone knows that more you want free beer, the less free beer you got. Like, imagine walk up to the bar, be like, I'll take two beers, one of them for free, please.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

Is that what you're teaching them? That's what you're doing?

[Sandra]

Bartender. A good bartender is gonna buy you one every once in a while, because then they'll get a better tip.

[Charlie]

Yeah, every once in a while. Yeah. But not if you expect it. Not if you go up there, demand it like that. Then. Then they're going to be like, no, because, you know, people are drinking at the bar.

[Sandra]

You shouldn't have to Ask.

[Miles]

But you guys are.

[Charlie]

No, you just said that. You just said it, Sandra.

[Sandra]

Because. Because they don't do it.

[Miles]

Hey, Charlie, that's what's wrong with these kids these days. They go to the bar and they just expect free beer.

[Charlie]

Sandra, we got people calling in saying that Minnesota is Wisconsining harder than Wisconsin. And I think part of it is because of the attitude of the drinkers. And this is the kind of thing we got.

[Miles]

We're the drunkest state in the United States. Our bartenders should be giving us free beer all the time.

[Charlie]

We're getting too much of an ego on us.

[Miles]

I told you that, Charlie. You didn't believe me.

[Charlie]

Like I'm telling you, we gotta tamp it down. People are catching on. Okay, so look, we can't be asking for. For free drinks or expecting it. We gotta go in there and, you know, earn it. Bat an eye, show a tea, do something for them, you know? I mean, we, we can't just be expecting it because once we expect it, then it's not fun for the bartender to give it, you know? Goes with other things too, you know?

[Sandra]

Depends on the bartender.

[Charlie]

Yeah, it does.

[Sandra]

A good bartender will give you a free one every once in a while.

[Charlie]

Yeah, that's true. That's.

[Miles]

Keep stamping.

[Sandra]

See?

[Miles]

All right, well, that's a better question is where. Well, that's a better question than where did all the good bartenders go?

[Sandra]

Not at that bar. They're at other bars.

[Miles]

You know what's funny is she just. You just have such a grudge hold against this one bar.

[Charlie]

I love it.

[Miles]

I. I love.

[Charlie]

Yeah. Is it because it's just.

[Sandra]

Thanks.

[Charlie]

That would be like a bar, not a charity.

[Miles]

Also, that'd be like going to the hardware store and like, they're not handing out free snacks. Free sacks. Snacks. Oh, you know, I buy a thing of peanuts and I don't get a second thing for peanuts. Free. It's. I'm not going.

[Charlie]

I like how you're talking about the hardware store for buying snacks.

[Miles]

Go to the Fleet Farm. That's what you're doing.

[Charlie]

That's what you got. Corn.

[Miles]

Nice.

[Sandra]

Hey, Charlie, farm gives away popcorn.

[Miles]

Yeah, see, that is true. Yeah, well, so do bars. They give away.

[Charlie]

Yeah, bars give away free popcorn. I, you know.

[Miles]

You know what? It sounds like she thinks you should be given one to one free tickets to your shows too. Charlie, you should be going. Hey, if your wife or husband buys a ticket, you get the second one free.

[Michael]

Is.

[Charlie]

I'll do that. Sandra, you want to come see a show?

[Sandra]

Yeah. I do.

[Charlie]

All right, well, what.

[Miles]

What are you saying she has to do to get the free ticket, Charlie, at this point?

[Sandra]

I'll show you my big toe.

[Miles]

He is kind of a foot guy. Yeah.

[Charlie]

Yeah. All right. Where did you say you're living again?

[Sandra]

I live in just about 25 minutes south of Fond du Lac.

[Charlie]

Oh, okay. All right. We got some coming up in Door County. Is that too far or whitewater? Which one's closer?

[Sandra]

Her, I would probably say we're. It's about in the middle. I'm in. In the middle, yeah.

[Charlie]

Okay. All right, well, that helps, man walk. That's probably closer.

[Sandra]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

Does that work?

[Sandra]

Yeah.

[Miles]

All right, well, first of all, do you want to go to a show? It doesn't.

[Charlie]

You know, I don't think she wants to go.

[Miles]

Okay, you don't want to do.

[Charlie]

All right, all right, I do.

[Sandra]

And I'm gonna bring my daughter because she. She met you, Charlie.

[Charlie]

Where'd she meet me?

[Sandra]

When you. When you throw out the first pitch.

[Charlie]

Oh, no. Kidding me. All right, well, we'll give you four tickets. How does that sound?

[Sandra]

That sounds awesome. Charlie, you are the best.

[Charlie]

All right. You betcha.

[Miles]

Now, I will have to say he's not giving out any free drinks at his shows.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Miles]

Still want to come?

[Sandra]

Absolutely.

[Charlie]

Okay. Because if I hear that there's some lady out there showing her her big toe trying to get drinks, I'm not gonna be happy. Sandra.

[Sandra]

I promise, this is a family show for free drinks, all right?

[Charlie]

He says it's a family show.

[Miles]

We don't need any big toes showing up.

[Sandra]

Oh, no. All right, I'll behave myself.

[Charlie]

Sandra, we're going to wear socks. We're gonna text you for your full name, and then we'll put. You go to Will call and you get them, all right? Okay.

[Sandra]

That's awesome. That's awesome. Thank you so much.

[Charlie]

You betcha. Well, thank you for calling in. And, yeah, good luck getting this free drink at the bar that. They don't want to give you any free drinks. Just keep demanding it. I think over time, it'll work out for you. You.

[Sandra]

Nah. Yeah, it's all right.

[Charlie]

Yeah, probably better on the. Go to the Bolero. Maybe they'll give out free drink.

[Sandra]

Never know.

[Charlie]

You never do, Sandra. Well, good luck with the renovation. All right.

[Sandra]

Thank you so much.

[Charlie]

All right, we'll see you soon. Now.

[Miles]

I'm with her. You know, going to a bar, you kind of. You don't expect it, but you kind of expect that at some point you're going to get a Wooden nickel thrown your way for a future free drink. Right?

[Charlie]

For sure.

[Miles]

I think the other thing is, though, is it also takes a little bit of the thrill out if you're just completely expecting to get that many free drinks.

[Charlie]

Yeah, it was a little off balance with her. And I guess I'm. I'm not thinking about the. Sometimes you can forget every free drink you. You get. You can forget that, you know, and you can be not appreciative of it at first. And then you get to the point of where you're. You're expecting it, and then that's. It's not fun to give something, a gift to someone expecting a gift, you know, that's why Santa Claus is so.

[Miles]

Depressed, because everyone expects it from him.

[Charlie]

Right.

[Miles]

Is Santa Claus depressed?

[Charlie]

That's how he got so fat.

[Miles]

Yeah, I can concur on that. That'll happen to a guy. That'll happen.

[Charlie]

We can probably take that.

[Miles]

Which is confusing, Charlie, because Santa is also known for being jolly. So is that just marketing by the elves or what? Yeah, by big. By big claws.

[Charlie]

Yeah, well, he's hammered, dude, is what he is. That's. That's rosacea.

[Miles]

Coca Cola. Yeah.

[Charlie]

What do they call rose. What do they call it with the rose? Rosetta. Rosetta. When you get red from drinking flush. I don't know. Yeah, never heard that. Anyways.

[Miles]

Well, do we got a caller? Do we got a voicemail? Voicemail. This is real quick. Okay. All right, Charlie, who's the voicemail from?

[Charlie]

Yeah, one second here.

[Miles]

Okay, I gotta find the name.

[Charlie]

It is from Brett.

[Miles]

Brett with one T or two T's? Looks like two T's. Okay. Double T. It's really short.

[Michael]

Hey, ah, Brett here. Just kind of weed whacking, you know. Nope, nevermind. No, I don't want to do this. I'm done. Don't call me.

[Charlie]

I get it. I've been there, man.

[Miles]

He started the bit. I've been there, and then just immediately canceled.

[Charlie]

Gave up. Just said forget about it. You could almost hear the weed whacker start.

[Miles]

Well, because he definitely planned it.

[Charlie]

You know, Definite planned it. And I think he gave it one rip and then it just didn't go. Or he pressed a button. It almost sounded like an electric weed whacker. Can we listen to that one more time? Let's listen. What happened here?

[Michael]

Hey. Ah, right here.

[Sandra]

Just kind of weed whacking, you know.

[Michael]

Nope, never mind. No, I don't want to do this. I'm done. Don't call me.

[Miles]

No, I don't want to do this. I'm done. Don't call me.

[Charlie]

It definitely didn't work. It just didn't go. And he gave up.

[Miles]

But now I would love to know the bed he was gonna do, you.

[Charlie]

Know, I mean, if I had a weed whacker, I was like, hey, it's me. Just weed. Like, thanks.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

I don't know. What bit would you do with a weed whacker?

[Miles]

I. I don't know. I think that's why it fell flat.

[Charlie]

Yes.

[Miles]

He realized, would love to know how many people, not even. They don't even get that point. They. They call the number, and before they even get a chance to leave voicemail, like, nope, I'm not doing this.

[Charlie]

Same. My thing. Yeah. I don't know. It's weird, you know, it's weird calling shows. Do you ever call into a call in show miles?

[Miles]

No.

[Charlie]

I called in when I was a kid. I called into the fishing show. Tom Neubauer. He had a fishing show in Milwaukee.

[Miles]

And did you get through?

[Charlie]

Me and my brother got through, and we were downstairs talking to him about how we were camping, catching bass minnows out in the river. And then my brother hit me and he said, we're not supposed to be in the river. Mom and dad might be listening. And then I changed my story live on air with Tom Neubauer.

[Miles]

What was the news story?

[Charlie]

The news story was I heard that my friend went down by the river and he was catching bass, minnows. Anyway, he wanted to know if these were actually baby bass or a different species of fish, because they had the little black line. Anyways. But yeah.

[Miles]

What did Tom New Newberger say?

[Charlie]

Tom Neubauer. He said that those were. I believe he said that those were likely bass, you know, which makes sense because nice river ecosystem gets a good smallmouth in there. So, yeah, he said, good eye. He told me, you have a good eye. I said, well, it wasn't me. It was my friend. He said, I know.

[Miles]

Good eye. Good eye to your friend.

[Charlie]

Yeah. So then I got my ass beat for going down by the river because my parents were listening.

[Miles]

Were they actually listening?

[Charlie]

No, I'm just kidding. I mean, I got my ass beat for going down by the river, but not that particular time. Anyways. Well, good talk.

[Miles]

I think you should start calling into more shows. Yeah, we should have a segment on this podcast where we call in to call in shows.

[Charlie]

That would be a good idea. That'd be a great idea, because I'd.

[Miles]

Love to call into a show. I've never done it. I've Never had that thrill. And I just want to feel also, you know, you got to put yourself in your. In your clients shoes, right? Like, you got to be on the other end to truly appreciate what's going on.

[Charlie]

Yeah.

[Michael]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

Oh, yeah.

[Miles]

Can I, can I call into the Crepes cast at some point?

[Charlie]

Yeah, when we're not on hiatus. I took a hiatus from the Crepes cast.

[Miles]

And how'd that feel?

[Charlie]

Great. Awesome. Less work necessary. It's just too much. I'm doing too much, man. Doing too much.

[Miles]

You gotta relax.

[Charlie]

Just gotta relax and enjoy life.

[Miles]

You know, that's what we were thinking on this podcast. We're like, God, Charlie just does way too much.

[Charlie]

Right, Right.

[Miles]

You know, we're like, God, he just works way too hard. He's always showing up early, putting in the extra work.

[Charlie]

Okay. Now I can tell that we've him.

[Miles]

And his team, you know, help edit everything and, you know, it's just, it's a lot of work for Charlie to just show up and turn the mic on and go home.

[Charlie]

Like, you should talk about it, Miles. I was enjoying my Friday and they're like, we need questions for wgn. And I looked at the message, I was like, ah, Miles will take care of. Of it. Six hours later. Any idea on the questions? I typed out the questions and apparently you couldn't be bothered because you were at the lake.

[Miles]

So, no, you know what I said? I go, oh, Charlie's done that before. Just have him do it. That's what I told him.

[Charlie]

I did it. It took me two seconds.

[Miles]

It was a classic go ask your mom. And then you go ask. You ask your mom, and she goes, go ask your dad.

[Charlie]

Or the mom just doesn't. Doesn't. That basically was. And then I ended up caving. That's right. They didn't ask us anything about it anyway, so.

[Miles]

Correct.

[Charlie]

Yeah, that was fun.

[Miles]

Yeah.

[Charlie]

All right, well, is it. Is that.

[Miles]

What do you think of the. What do you think of the call in show? Inception, where we're live on the show, calling into another show?

[Charlie]

Let's do it. Is there a website that tells us, like, what shows have call inside? You know, I'd like to call into, like. Yeah, we could role play on it too. Would that be good or should we just be ourselves?

[Miles]

I don't know.

[Charlie]

Depends on the show. Let's see. Is there. Is there a calling show we could call in right now? Jared?

[Miles]

All right, well, is that it, Charlie, for this episode?

[Charlie]

Oh, I'm Jared's. All right, that'll be it. We'll figure this out. Okay? We'll figure this out. All right, folks, thanks for listening to Bellied Up Podcast. We appreciate you. Make sure you tip your bartender.

[Miles]

Love you guys. We'll see you in the next one.

[Sandra]

Okay?

[Michael]

Hope you guys have a good one.

[Sandra]

Goodbye now.

[Charlie]

Toodaloo.