May 3, 2007
Green Bay Press-Gazette

Sandwiched between a six-night stand at Zanie's Downtown in Chicago and a one-nighter at LTs in Rockford, Ill., there was Tiny's Pub & Grill in the town of McMillan.

Dwight York, who got his start in Minneapolis, makes a lot of Midwest appearances. You can catch him at the Dells Comedy Club in Wisconsin Dells June 20-24 and Aug. 6-11.

But Tiny's?

Owner Tiny Michalski wants his bar/grill/indoor volleyball facility to be an entertainment venue for the community.

Judging by the 200-some chuckling, chortling and belly laughing customers on Saturday night, he's onto something.

York's a regular on The Bob and Tom Show, broadcast mornings in central Wisconsin by WGLX, 103.3 FM. It's an experience not intended for the easily offended.

Sharing the stage in the volleyball arena at Tiny's was Lord Carrett, whose next gig is May 11-12 at Ventura, Calif., and Wild Bill Bauer, who turns up next at Mason City, Ill, on those dates. All three are on the Bob and Tom's Show friends list of recurring and "ultra famous" guests.

Volleyball sand was shoved aside, forming large piles, to prepare the venue for its comedy night.

"I feel like I'm in the world's largest cat box," Carrett quipped, "and there's some very large chunks in it."

York shared a practical joke for the yard sale season.

Buy a couple of sex toys, take them out of the package and sneak them among the stuff in some "nice, conservative neighborhood," a description that would fit Marshfield and nearby communities.

"Then stand back and watch," he went on.

"If you want a little more excitement, go up and haggle."

"You want $2.50 for this? How much has it been used?"

The crowd roared.

The show was advertised as "Sick, Sick, Sick, but Funny, Funny, Funny," and in several phone calls to the News-Herald, Bauer had warned that his humor was dark and adult.

Although you won't find the punch lines in church bulletins on Sunday, the crowd didn't find it too crude, either. Sample: Bauer confessed that he had never liked asparagus as a kid ... but he didn't like spankings either.

This was neither the first time that stand-up comedians have played the Marshfield area, nor is Tiny's the only house in town to book such acts, but getting nationally known personalities like Lord Carrett, Dwight York and Wild Bill Bauer together was a coup for Michalski.

At $20 a pop to get in the door, there's obviously a market.

The success of Tiny's in adding a volleyball facility to its bar and food business and bringing in touring comics is an example for others. It takes more than a happy hour and a fish fry to get a tavern on more solid footing these days.

And although Tiny's Pub & Grill hasn't been at the top of some people's list when they're searching for places to hold an event, maybe it should be, and the occasion doesn't have to include beach sand, balls, spikers and a net, either.

Tiny Michalski has seen the future.

And it makes him, and a lot of his friends, smile.