There’s a new silly, sweet workplace comedy – set and filmed in the Quad Cities — that’s working to find its place in the TV universe.
The 18-minute pilot for “Bettendorf Talks,” shot in the area in February 2023, premiered earlier this month at SXSW in Austin, Tex.
Described by its team as a sharp and smart show-within-a-show, “Bettendorf Talks” is both a witty workplace comedy and the newest (and most unlikely) local talk show to come out of the titular Midwestern Quad City. Hosted by the has-been comedy duo TJ Jagodowski and David Pasquesi (who star as hilarious caricatures of themselves), the two attempt to mount a hit show in search of a sliver of their former glory.
Each episode in the planned series will follow the ensemble for one day of the writing, producing and airing of our program as TJ and Dave grapple with how to live in these new, lesser roles, the team around them deal with the talk show host and his sidekick, as Margaret fights to keep the show going because it’s always one day away from being canceled.
A review at gbvreviews.com said: “The pilot episode is a lot of fun, with Pasquesi playing a surly falling-star talk show host trying to regain some of his former glory by working in a smaller-area market and wanting to be anywhere but there, and Jagodowski as his naïve co-host who seems happy to be working anywhere.
“The members of the ensemble cast, which includes Tim Kazurinksy as a TV station owner, all invest their characters with a likable charm — even the curmudgeonly Pasquesi is someone viewers can get behind.”
Pasquesi (who plays the “Bettendorf Talks” host) is a Second City alumnus and film, television and stage actor, best known for playing the husband of Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Selina Meyer on the Emmy-winning “Veep” on HBO. He was Andrew Meyer in 15 of the series’ 65 episodes, from 2013-2019.
Pasquesi is half of the comedy duo TJ and Dave. He has performed on stage at the Steppenwolf, Goodman and Victory Gardens theaters. His TV acting and writing credits include “Book of Boba Fett,” “She-Hulk,” and “At Home with Amy Sedaris.”
Jagodowski is also a Chicago-based veteran actor and improvisor, and alum of Second City. TJ was one of the Two Guys in the Sonic TV commercials for 17 years.
Director of “Bettendorf Talks” is Jack C. Newell — a writer, producer, and director, whose feature film credits include “42 Grams,” “Monuments” and “Open Tables.” He started the film school at The Second City, and is the co-founder of Destroy Your Art.
His films have screened theatrically, and premiered at various film festivals and on all major streaming platforms. Recently completed films include “How (not) to Build a School in Haiti” and “Monuments” (Nashville Audience Award ‘20).
TJ and Dave wrote “Bettendorf Talks” and set it here partly because they knew the area and wanted it to take place in a smaller town, not Chicago.
“We wanted a real blue-collar sensibility, that these were salt-of–the-earth people,” TJ said in a recent interview. “Where real people still live.”
Though it’s a tremendously popular workplace comedy set in a smaller city (Scranton, Pa.), “The Office” wasn’t a major influence on their show, he noted.
“It was like, what’s the nearest place that sounds funny? The Quads sound funny and blue collar, and there’s five of them,” TJ said. “Bettendorf has a nice sound to it. And we can get there.”
“There are next to no shows that take place in middle America where people are allowed to have their small victories,” Jagodowski added. “There hasn’t been a show in almost 50 years that has been in a small-town talk show. We also have a fun opportunity to have big stars come on and improvise a talk show interview as town locals.”
The Bettendorf connection
The magic part of the story is the fact that the pilot’s producer, Shane Simmons, is a 38-year-old Bettendorf native. He’s a producer and actor in Chicago, who’s also produced Kendall Goldberg’s debut feature “When Jeff Tried to Save the World” and Stephen Cone’s “Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party.”
Simmons runs Elevated Films Chicago as its executive director, where they create unique independent film events and develop resources and hands-on opportunities for youth filmmakers.
He had worked with Newell a lot, who brought him the “Bettendorf Talks” script. Coincidentally, Newell didn’t know Simmons was from Bettendorf, and that he graduated in the same high school class as filmmakers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods.
The first film Simmons acted in was one of their early ones, and “the rest is history — we became really good friends,” he said last week. “We went to college together; I moved to Chicago, they went to L.A. and have been making stuff here ever since.”
“The best thing about it for me is the people,” Simmons said of the QC, where his parents remain. “I need there to be good people, that I grew up with. Growing up in the Quad Cities, to be able to make movies in the Quad Cities, it was a playground. We could do anything we wanted to. We could call the cops and say we needed a cop car, or to shut down an alley and you could do it.”
“It was so special we were making movies there and I’ve always held that with me,” he said.
“It was a dream come true to bring a production back to the Quad Cities,” Simmons said, noting he last filmed here about 15 years ago.
“To bring everybody back, and show people — see guys, see how great it is?” he said. “With everybody being so wonderful and accommodating, just feeling special that we were making something unique in what I’ve always known as being a wonderful place.”
An easy, fun shoot
Jagodowski people they met while filming here could not have been nicer. They shot the fictional talk show (at the “Bettendorf” station KBET) at WQAD’s studio in Moline.
“They were super, super gracious about it all,” TJ said. They filmed there over four days at all hours of the day, including in meeting rooms and hallways.
At one point or another, they were in each of the main five cities filming, Simmons said, and there’s lots of potential for more of that if the show is picked up.
There are 14 people in the cast, based in Chicago, and a crew of about 25-30, including post-production work.
TJ and Dave have never performed their comedy act in the QC. They worked with Bob Kelly, co-owner of ComedySportz Quad Cities, to find filming locations.
“If not for Bob, we would not have had the location we ended up with or as easy a time as it turned out to be. He was incredible,” TJ said. They didn’t really improvise at all for “Bettendorf Talks,” sticking to their script.
If they continue the series, TJ said they might incorporate some improv.
The group stayed at the Stoney Creek Inn in downtown Moline, but Jagodowski said one drawback was they couldn’t find an Illinois-side restaurant that served dinner at 10 p.m. or later. “We had to order from Davenport or Bettendorf when we wanted our late meal,” he said. “You should lose your incorporation as a city if you don’t have a 24-hour diner, at least one.”
“It was affordable to get a bunch of hotel rooms, without a doubt,” TJ added. They really liked Biaggi’s, Central Standard and Olive Tree for food.
Simmons comes back often to visit, including seeing the Last Picture House movie theater (co-owned by Beck and Woods).
“It was dreamy shooting it in the Quads,” Jagodowski added. “The whole cast and crew stayed at the same lodgey hotel. The cast took dinners together at the end of shooting days in a forgotten room at the end of a long hallway with meals from the only restaurant still delivering. The shooting days were rewarding as hell.
“Everyone, in every position, was kind and professional and fun,” he said. “It was a joy to start each day and really gratifying at the end of the day to have watched people do such good work. I loved it and would love to do it a bunch more times.”
“It was truly a collaboration with our small and very talented cast and crew,” Pasquesi said by email. “The production mirrored the best qualities and big heart of a small town/small operation.”
“I’ve been very lucky in my career to work on some incredible projects, but nothing came close to how much fun I had on Bettendorf Talks,” actress Sadieh Rifai (who plays Margaret, showrunner of the show) said by email. “This is easily the most enjoyable and hysterical set I’ve ever been on with the absolute best cast and crew. It was a dream opportunity!”
The comedy style
“Bettendorf Talks” harkens back to the Johnny Carson era of “The Tonight Show,” and “the lively art of conversation,” Jagodowski said.
“There are absolutely absurdist moments,” he said of the style of humor in the show. At one point, they put on old barrister wigs and agree you don’t argue which is the best of the Quad Cities, since “that is immediately a legal violation,” TJ said. “We’ll take a laugh wherever we can get it.”
TJ and Dave have been proving for 20+ years that there is an audience that appreciates honest characters and relationships in their comedy, according to a show statement.
“With ‘Bettendorf Talks,’ we are transforming that sensibility into a workplace comedy — a talk show on one level and the relationships of people who make the show on another.
“The characters are idiosyncratic but believable,” their statement says. “Their wants of falling in love or trying to make their mark are as universal as wants get and, therefore, completely relatable. This show is a culmination of this decades long collaboration with a proven chemistry and a track record for delving into character and relationships in a way that few others can or do.
“In a world where 90% of communication is done electronically and at a distance, where people talk past each other but not to each other, that leaves a vacuum. And we, like nature, abhor that. So, a show that investigates the old-fashioned idea of people sitting down and talking, the lively art, seems to us to be apropos.”
“The show explores fame and our society’s outweighed value on it, as well as how difficult it is to really communicate with each other despite our best efforts,” Jagodowski said.
“TV talk shows no longer entertain…they seem to be more about marketing. This one attempts to actually entertain,” Pasquesi said. “Additionally, I think the idea of a talk show filled with people incapable of communicating on a personal level, is an interesting setting.”
“I love this show because it’s set in a small town but the characters and story appeal to people everywhere,” Nnamdi Ngwe, who plays a writer on the show, said by email. “This is the kind of show that excited me as an artist as well as a fan of TV. It was a dream come true working on this comedy with a cast and crew full of mad geniuses. It was a warm set full of laughs and I’m sure the audience will be able to tell how much fun we had.”
“I play Emma, one of the (two) writers of the show. Her big city dreams turned out to be Quad City dreams and they are coming true before her very eyes,” said Emma Pope. “Working on Bettendorf Talks was like being at sleepaway camp where we get to do the coolest project together during the day and then eat takeout food from Moline, Illinois and laugh together all night.”
Next steps
Simmons said attendance at the SXSW premiere was packed both nights, including Liz Gilman of Produce Iowa. “She’s been very supportive. Everybody’s been trying to make it happen,” he said.
There were six TV pilots shown in the festival, a relatively new category. Simmons said they’re trying to sell the show and get an agent to represent it.
“The biggest thing is we got the attention. Having the South by Southwest name attached to it, it gets people to know who we are and we made this thing, and what Bettendorf is,” he said.
These conversations take a long time to reach fruition, Simmons said.
Jagodowski said the first step was to show it, and make connections, to gain support and awareness.
“The TV world is still a very traditional world. They are big, big companies, and they require a certain flow to things,” Simmons said.
Perhaps the biggest name in “Bettendorf Talks” is Tim Kazurinsky, 74, who plays the absent-minded station owner and was on SNL for three seasons in the ‘80s.
“Type-casting I guess. It was totally a dream job,” he said of the new show by email. “How often in life do you get the chance to hang out with people you love and admire…in an attempt to create a funny show that will hopefully distract people from the horrors of life right now?”
