This past Friday, Nov. 10, Charlie Berens, a famous comedian and sketch comedy enthusiast visited Michigan Tech Campus for two shows. The first show was held at 7:30 p.m. and the second one was held at 10 p.m. The second show happened because of social media pressure and help from the community partners: Visit Keweenaw, Braveworks, Iron Fish Distillery and Copper Queen Whiskey, Imperial Beverage, Hampton Inn & Suites Houghton, Late Night Programming, Michigan Arts and Culture Council, National Endowment for the Arts, James A and Margaret C. Black Endowment Fund, and Katherine M. Bosch Foundation.
The venue opened with Adam Greuel, a member of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades, playing some Americana whilst recounting his life and experiences all over the states. Since he grew up in Northern Wisconsin, he thought it fitting to sing about “overdosing” on cheese for one of his songs and another song included him singing about breaking down in Illinois. Adam ended the song and they then announced Charlie Berens to the stage.
Charlie Berens, who is also from Wisconsin, made a lot of jokes talking about Wisconsin, the UP, and even Ohio. He grouped them all up with his telling of how Michigan won the UP from Ohio in the Toledo war. There were a lot of jokes about the Chicago Bears and even some here and there about the Green Bay Packers. He included some self digs about himself and how he grew up, as well as how he started working at a young age. Berens talked about his Uncle Jack, who wasn’t even his uncle, and talked about his experience with hunting. There was then a segue where he showed a video he recorded on the huge Rosza theater screen a trip of him, his Grandma Sue, and a couple other women going to Las Vegas. After the video was done and some laughs were shared, Charlie then started his traditional Manitowoc Minute which was a parody of a news anchor but with jokes and interesting articles. He then went into his Craiglist Kicker, which transpired in showing off a beer paddle that was in Rochester for $50. Unbeknownst to the crowd, he had purchased the beer paddle. A crowd auction followed immediately after showing the paddle, with a man in the back row of the theater winning with a bid of $250. The proceeds went to the Center for Veterans Issues (CVI).
Charlie Berens’ merch also had proceeds that went to the CVI. Some of the merch included socks, koozies, stickers, and hats. Shortly after, Adam Greuel brought out his guitar and they both joined in for a song about Craigslist. About a couple minutes later they had the crowd stand to sing along and give a standing ovation to both performers.
Mary Jennings, the director of the Rozsa Center, commented on the process of getting Charlie booked: “The Rozsa Center is the UP’s largest performing arts center and we tend to work about a year out booking our shows so the conversation to bring Charlie in started last November…after finding a date and a time that worked for the tour…[plugged] us in together that way.”
Andrew Bott, a Michigan Tech student who saw the show, enjoyed his experience, saying, “It was awesome, there were a lot of classic midwestern jokes and alcohol! This was the biggest celebrity that we have had here since Gordon Ramsay who visited a few years back.” For more information regarding the Charlie Berens tour, named the Good Old Fashioned Tour, seek the Michigan tech events page at https://events.mtu.edu/event/rozsa-charlieberens-latenight.
