Charlie Berens (born April 27, 1987) is an American journalist, comedian, and creator of "Manitowoc Minute", known for his southern Wisconsin accent. He has been featured on

FOX Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

, ''

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'', TBS Digital, ''

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'', and

MTV News MTV News was the news production division of MTV. The service was available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network and an online news team. In 2016, MTV refreshed the MTV News brand to compete with the likes of BuzzFeed and ...

. His observational humor often focuses on the

Midwest The Midwestern United States (also referred to as the Midwest, the Heartland or the American Midwest) is one of the four census regions defined by the United States Census Bureau. It occupies the northern central part of the United States. It ...

Early life

Berens was born into a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

family as one of twelve children. He grew up in the Wisconsin towns of Elm Grove and New Berlin. He graduated from

Marquette University High School Marquette University High School (MUHS) is a private, all-male, Jesuit school located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement, an accreditation division of Co ...

and studied broadcast journalism at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

Career

Television journalism

Berens began his career working for the

show ''Choose or Lose''. He covered Wisconsin state politics and was arrested while covering protests at the

2008 Republican National Convention The 2008 Republican National Convention took place at the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota, from September 1, through September 4, 2008. The first day of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party's convention fell on Labo ...

. In 2012,

Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

recruited Berens to host the comedic news show ''Nightcap''. While a reporter for

KDAF-TV KDAF (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex's outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group (based in nearby Irvi ...

, Berens won his first

Regional Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

. In 2014,

CBS Sports Network CBS Sports Network (a.k.a. CBSSN) is an American digital cable and satellite television network owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global. When it launched in 2002 as the National College Sports Network (later College Sports ...

hired Berens to host the sports gameshow ''You're So Money'' and PMC made Berens the host of their comedy/entertainment news brand @Hollywood. Berens has been featured on ''

''. His comedic mashups, including "If Jack Dawson was Really from Wisconsin," have garnered more than thirteen million views. He authored the book ''The Midwest Survival Guide: How We Talk, Love, Work, Drink, and Eat...Everything with Ranch'' (2021).

''Manitowoc Minute''

In 2017, Berens created ''Manitowoc Minute'', a weekly comedic video series. The name refers to the Wisconsin city of Manitowoc. His "Oh My Gosh!" Tour, inspired by the series, sold out theaters across Wisconsin. Berens partnered with

Madison Madison may refer to: People * Madison (name), a given name and a surname * James Madison (1751–1836), fourth president of the United States * Madison (footballer), Brazilian footballer Places in the United States Populated places * Madi ...

brewery Ale Asylum to launch a beer inspired by ''Manitowoc Minute'' called ''Keep ‘Er Movin’''.

Other ventures

Berens Old Fashioned Brandy

In 2024, Charlie Berens launched his own signature spirit—Berens Old Fashioned Brandy, a nod to his Wisconsin roots and love for supper club culture. The brand quickly gained traction across the Midwest and beyond.

Card Sale game

On September 1, 2022, Berens and Dane Schaefer launched a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

crowdfunding campaign for their project Card Sale, a card-based party game with a

Yard Sale A garage sale (also known as a yard sale, tag sale, moving sale and by many other namesSome rarely used names include "attic sale", "basement sale", "rummage sale", "thrift sale", "patio sale", "lawn sale", and "jumble sale".) is an informal ...

theme. The campaign was fully funded in 48 hours, and ultimately raised three times their original funding goal of US$11,700. Card Sale officially launched in January 2023

UW-Madison winter commencement

On December 18, 2022, Berens gave the keynote speech for the UW-Madison Winter commencement at the Kohl Center. During the speech, Berens talked about his experiences struggling as a young journalist after graduation while working in pieces of his Wisconsin comedy routine. Every graduating student received a free copy of his book and he held a signing event at the University Book Store on State Street.

Nicolet Law

During

Super Bowl LIX Super Bowl LIX was an American football championship game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2024 NFL season, 2024 season. In a rematch of Super Bowl LVII two years prior, the National Football Conf ...

, Berens appeared in an ad for Nicolet Law.

The CripesCast podcast

In June 2020, Berens launched The Cripescast, a podcast interviewing musicians, artists, comedians, and creators to discuss their stories and connections to the Midwest.

Personal life

Berens married TV host, actress, and former

Miss Wisconsin USA The Miss Wisconsin USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Wisconsin in the Miss USA pageant. Since 2007, the state pageant has been directed by Future Productions of Savage, Minnesota. Wisconsin is on ...

Alex Wehrley in 2015. They divorced in late 2020. He resides in

Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

, Wisconsin, and is

References

External links

Official website

Manitowoc Minute Website

Card Sale Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berens, Charlie 1987 births Living people American male journalists American male comedians Comedians from Wisconsin People from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin YouTubers from Wisconsin