The Free Beer And Hot Wings Show
FBHW-Group

From L to R: Free Beer, Hot Wings, Eric Zane and Producer Joe

"The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show" is a nationally-syndicated morning show based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on alternative rock station WGRD.

The show has a morning talk format featuring hosts Free Beer and Hot Wings, the namesakes of this show, along with Eric Zane and Producer Joe. Joe serves as the call screener and is not part of the normal three-man discussion, but checks in throughout the show. The others talk about daily events, mixing in their own blend of humor and sarcasm, and Zane's board of obscure and absurd sound clips.

The show also occasionally features Dude Shadoway, who conducts interviews with various D-list celebrities, to the celebrities' disadvantage.

In addition to being syndicated nationwide on a number of stations, a daily podcast may be purchased.

Featured Segments

  • ''Idiot of the Day'', a daily segment profiling a person who has done something particularly stupid.
  • ''What Hot Wings Thinks'', a daily rant about things in the news.
  • ''Name That Tune'', a Friday segment where listeners and hosts attempt to identify songs. (More)
  • ''What Can Joe Do?'', a Wednesday segment where Joe is put up to unusual and often embarrassing tasks either inside the studio or in public. Some examples are walking through a car wash, licking a hobo's hand, and eating cookies baked with Ex-lax. Also, his latest stunt was to run through a paintball gauntlet where about 80 people with high powered paintball guns got to shoot at Joe. He was only wearing a t-shirt and a speedo.
  • ''Sounds of the Game'', a weekly segment during football season where suggestive-sounding clips from actual football commentary from the past week are played, out of context.
  • ''Dumber Than Zane Trivia'', a Thursday segment where Zane and a caller compete in a series of trivia questions.
  • ''Free Beer's Sportier Than Thou Challenge'', a Friday segment where Free Beer and a caller compete in a series of sports trivia questions.
  • ''Wheel Of Bad Games'', a daily segment in which listeners can call in to try and win in one of a number of games. No longer referred to as the "Wheel of Bad Games" as, after more than 4 years, listeners finally called them on the fact that they weren't really spinning the wheel; they played the same games on the same day every week.
    • Monday - Also featured most Mondays, The Joe and Ben Show. While attending the Illinois Institute of Technology in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Producer Joe co-hosted a radio show on the college radio station. In 2007, while at Joe's house for his birthday party, tapes of this show were discovered and stolen. Each week, five to ten minutes of the show are aired and critiqued.
    • Tuesday - ''Stump The Show'' - Callers must present a trivia question that each member of the show gets a chance to answer. A caller is selected as the Minutiae Judge. He/she has the power to throw the question out. It was revealed on November 29, 2006 that the judge also has the power to ban callers for having extremely stupid questions.
    • Wednesday - ''Paired With an Idiot'' - 2 callers are paired with 2 of the 3 hosts and must guess phrases similar to the $100,000 Pyramid.
  • ''Most Important Interview Ever'', an occasional and experimental segment, where Free Beer and Hot Wings use their real names on a fake show called "Light Rock and Classic Talk with Gregg & Chris." They have a "round table" discussion with (usually) two people: a real author/director/etc., and a fake person in the same line of work as the real person, played by Zane. The interview usually proceeds with Zane's character making outrageous statements, personal attacks on the other person, and generally trying to make the unsuspecting victim look stupid. Listeners who call in are allowed to participate, in contrast to Dude Shadoway's interviews. These are some of the people who have been interviewed:
    • Elizabeth Landers, author of ''The Script: The 100% Absolutely Predictable Things Men Do When They Cheat''
    • Mystery, the inspiration for the book ''The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists''
    • Soprano Sue, a guru of the ''Sopranos'' television series
    • Regina Milbourne, master psychic and author of ''Miami Psychic: Confessions of a Confidante''
    • Byron "Big Naz" Williams, a former bodyguard for Eminem. Williams is currently the only guest on ''Most Important Interview Ever'' to figure out that the segment was a farce.
    • The Iron Sheik, a former professional wrestler. For this interview, Zane played the role of B. Brian Blair, whom the Iron Sheik has displayed considerable contempt and hatred towards. Because the Sheik was expected to "spin out" and use inappropriate language on the air, this interview was taped and no audience participation took place.

Current Affiliates:

  • Grand Rapids, MI: 97.9 WGRD
  • Albany, NY: Q103
  • Monmouth/Ocean, NJ: 105.7 The Hawk
  • Concord/Lakes Region, NH: 102.3/101.5
  • Portland, ME: 104.7/106.7 The Bone
  • Nashville, TN: 102.9 The Buzz
  • Eau Claire, WI: 99.9 The Carp
  • Lima, OH: 104.9 The Eagle
  • Springfield, IL: 92.7 The Rock Station
  • West Lebanon, NJ: Q106
  • Wilmington, NC: Rock 104.5
  • Myrtle Beach, SC: Wave 104.1
  • Allentown, PA: 107 The Bone
  • Rutland, VT: 101.5/104.7/100.7 The Fox
  • Philadelphia, PA: 102.9 MGK
  • St. Cloud, MN: Rev 96.7
  • Ft. Smith, AR: 95.3 The Rebel
  • Wilmington, NC: Surf 98.3
  • Champaign, IL: Extra 99.1

Free Beer Word Jumbles

Free Beer frequently has a problem wherein his brain misfires and authorizes his mouth to use the words in his sentence in the incorrect order. Examples include:

  • "I've got belly-bitton lunt."
  • "You can't go into the stands and hit a man in the cup with a face."
  • "Took the car to the vet."
  • Fingers and boogernails

Eric Zane's Stupid Answers

Eric Zane, not known for his intellectual prowess, often gives completely ludicrous answers to trivia questions. Some of his more notorious replies have included:

  • "Is the moon a planet or is the moon the moon?"
  • "Land mammal…a dolphin?"
  • "Tom Roosevelt" (in response to the trivia question "Who was the only U.S. President to be elected four times?")

Interns

See main page: Interns

Upper Decker Court

In 2007, The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show began periodically hosting a segment called "Upper Decker Court". An "upper-decker" is a prank wherein the person pulling the prank has a bowel movement in the water supply tank of the victim's commode. This prank is meant to be the ultimate in revenge, and should only be used accordingly.

Knowing that there's potential for abuse, Free Beer and Hot Wings began holding court to determine for the listeners whether or not their situation warrants an upper decker. In Upper Decker Court, a ruling is made by majority vote. To date, they have only ruled in favor of two upper deckers.

Charitable Work

In 2006, The Free Beer and Hot Wings Show became involved in finding a cure for Ataxia Telangiectasia, a disease afflicting children with the worst symptoms of muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, immune deficiencies, and cancer.

The show raised over $65,000 to donate to this cause, guaranteeing that Eric Zane would receive a tatoo on his forearm that says "I Am Mr. 10" with an artists rendering of his infamous pose during his man pagaent.

In 2007, The Show and it's listeners were able to raise another sizeable amount of money for this charity through a charity marathon in Orlando, Florida.

Show Terminology

Breakfast Face - A person whose head appears to be round, with eyes reminiscent of eggs-over-easy, and bacon for a mouth.
Plumpy Nut - A product in Africa that was created to give to starving children, however after mentioning the name of the product, one of the best bits in FBHW history transpired.
15-Second Fight - In 2008, it was proposed that Eric Zane and Producer Joe be allowed to have their many verbal disputes turn physical, with the addition of "15-Second Fight". A ringbell and boxing equipment were purchased, and an intro was produced. Either Joe or Zane can initiate the 15-second fight by shouting "FIFTEEN SECOND FIGHT", at which point the intro will play and they will begin to put on their gear. Upon the end of the intro, the ringbell will be sounded and Joe will be permitted to box Zane for 15-seconds.

Retired Segments

  • Thursday - ''Celebrity Name Game'' - A caller must choose a host to battle 1 on 1. Players start with the name of a celebrity and take turns naming another celebrity that shares the first or last name. The player that cannot think of a valid name is eliminated. Producer Joe is known as the "Weak Link" in this game. Custom rules that have been establish include the Berry/Barry rule (not valid even though they sound alike) and no names similar to John the Baptist. No single names are allowed such as Cher or Prince. At least one member of the show must recognize the name as a celebrity living or dead.
  • ''PA Pranks'', a weekly segment where Zane visits a store, calls the store while there, gives a suggestive name, and asks them to page this person to the front desk. Each year, around the time of the yearly March NCAA basketball tournament, the past year's PA Pranks are pitted against each other in an online tournament, where listeners can vote on the funniest prank. This game was discontinued in 2007 for reasons which were never completely disclosed, however it has been said that there were legal issues with the game.
  • * Monday - ''Beat the Buzzer'' - A caller must name a specified number of items from the category of Hot Wings' choosing within the time limit.
  • * Friday - ''Kazoopalooza'' - This is similar to Name That Tune but Joe, Hot Wings, and Zane are providing the music via their kazoos. Free Beer selects the song while 2 callers square off to identify the song first. Kazoopalooza was replaced by Name That Tune in 2007.

External links

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