Photo: Charlie Berens - Facebook
Charlie Berens with Old Fashioned
Charlie Berens
“When we’re all laughing together, it becomes easier to listen to each other. I’m not saying comedy is an answer to all the world’s problems, but it can be a step in the right direction,” says a hopeful, and often hilarious, Charlie Berens. His stand-up comedy and internet videos have made him an ambassador of an often distinctly Midwestern humor that gets people from all over the U.S. chuckling. Berens, a native of a Milwaukee suburb currently residing in the city proper, brings his act, including a live iteration of his Manitowoc Minute clips, to The Riverside Theater for 7 and 9:30 p.m. shows on Friday, April 8; and 3 and 7 p.m. shows on Saturday, April 9.
As with most everyone in his current profession, Berens began shilling shtick as a side hustle to a day job. Unlike most comedians, however, his main gigs as a television reporter and game show host gave him plenty of preparation for the work he's doing now.
“I think the idea of finding the quickest way to get to the point is important in both professions,” he observes. “In comedy you want to use very direct language in your set up to make the punch line punch. It’s similar in news. You never take for granted that your audience is paying attention, so you make the stories quick and informative.”
That Badger Accent
All the training Berens received at the University of Wisconsin Madison in broadcast communications, even by professors with voices smooth enough to work as NPR anchors, couldn’t relieve him of an indelible Badger State accent. “I remember one news job where I wasn’t even allowed to do voice overs because my voice was ‘too distracting,’” he recalls.
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But one person’s distraction can bring a much wider audience amusement. Of his Manitowoc Minute narrator, Berens remarks, as he reminiscences of an elder relative, “My character obviously accentuates the accent, but that was pretty easy. I just started imitating my Grandpa Bob.”
And though Berens’ comedy doesn’t entirely concern his home turf (“I also have a lot of material that has nothing to do with the Midwest. It’s just about my life and things everyone can relate to,” he says), those from his neck of the woods, proverbial and literal, share a kind of commonality that resonates with his humor.
“The thing about Midwest people is they find each other outside the Midwest. So, many of my shows are packed with Midwest people,” Berens says. People from his current hometown and cities bigger than Milwaukee can find what’s funny in goings on in Manitowoc and environs further “up nort’” as well. “The thing about big cities is they’re full of people from small towns. My goal is to highlight the quirks of Midwest people. It’s all in good fun though.”
If anyone in Berns’ audiences takes exception to his depictions of the life he rhapsodizes and lampoons in his act, however, he has first-hand experience to back him up. “I think it helps that all my jokes about those quirks are things I’ve done.” One of those things he has done frequently is visit the namesake town of the video series that brought him to many comedy lovers attention.
“I love Manitowoc and I visit often,” Berens affirms. As to how happened upon the idea for his Minute? “I named it the Manitowoc Minute after a guy from Manitowoc who came to one of my stand-up shows. At the time I thought it was going to be a one-off video. But that video was embraced, largely by people from Manitowoc, so I made another.” His ongoing bit has become something of a communal effort, too. “I also took a lot of suggestions from folks over the years. In many ways I feel like we all built this together.
“Anyone can come see it and get the jokes,” Berens affirms. “Some things need a little explaining, but that comes down to having a good set up. That’s actually where”—he harkens to his former profession—"the journalism skills can come into play. The quicker you can convey information to the widest audience, the easier it is for people to receive your information. or jokes in my case.
“I’m just trying to talk about what I know,” Berens concludes. “It’s been a pleasant surprise that a lot of other people can relate to it. My larger goal has been to create bridges with my comedy in a world dominated by social media bubbles.”
Give a listen to Berens relating to a crowd in Denver by tell of a skiing misadventure...
