IssueNite History

Well, let’s start at the beginning:  In the beginning was the Word.  And the Word was with God.  And the Word was God… Sorry – wrong beginning.  Ok, let’s just say Issue Night was kind of lame in the beginning.  Mike and I (and a couple of buddies: Dave and Jerry) started it in high school (1988) and we talked about real issues – mostly politics.  Instead of drinking, vandalizing and chasing girls like our peers, we would occasionally get together and record an IssueNite show on a cassette tape. 

In college, Mike and I and our buddy Dave formed a video partnership.  Thanks to Tony, we landed a $50/hr gig that bought most of our equipment (Tony, dude, you saved us).  When the partnership dissolved, we used this equipment to tape IssueNite.  Tony joined us in 1995 and we started to videotape them in my parent’s basement. 

We thought this show was the greatest thing since sea monkeys and naturally thought, ‘Hey everyone would want to watch this show,’ so we moved to Tony’s basement and started to air them on public access in 1999.  Our issues ranged from politics to moral issues.  With this format we developed an audience of 2 (a sweet couple from West Seneca who taped every show) and a television rating of 0.0000001. 

One June day in 2000, Mike had an idea: why don’t we talk seriously about fake issues?  I admit I was skeptical at first, but after our first show, Tony and I were hooked.  Instantly our ratings tripled to 0.0000003!  Immediately, we were met with critical acclaim such as, “I loved the issue about stealing animals from the African Lion Safari”, and “I love when you guys eat when talking about issues”, and “I don’t get it”.
There wasn’t much food available when we taping these shows at 11pm, so Tony would give us everything his kids wouldn’t eat: old, stale candy, XXXXX, drink boxes.  We even had a hamster running around in the background, until it died during one of the shows.  I would dare to say we had a “following” during this time; strangers would come up to us and talk about the show or post on our website.

After Mike had his 2nd kid in 2005, we moved to his basement.  Tim Reukauf, a clever and witty remedial math teacher, became our regular guest.  We also became lazy during this time and taped infrequently, therefore squandering the loyal audience we had.

Well, it’s now 2009.  We’re in our 10th year on public access and we’re in a new basement.  The format is the same, but our shows are now broadcasted online as well.  We want to thank you for watching and we hope we can have keep you informed with the latest, pertinent issues that just are not talked about on your regular talk show.