Q&A: Emmy Fink, co-host of ‘John McGivern’s Main Streets’ – PBS Wisconsin

January 18, 2023 Alyssa Beno

PBS Wisconsin celebrates the return to public television of two beloved Wisconsin television hosts John McGivern and Emmy Fink with this months premiere of John McGiverns Main Streets.

In the series, actor, comedian and television host John McGivern travels the Upper Midwest to celebrate the people who live there and the unique attractions, history and businesses of each community. New this season is the addition of co-hostEmmy Fink, former host ofDiscover Wisconsin and a contributor to Outdoor Wisconsin.

Ahead of the season premiere, PBS Wisconsin spoke with Fink about joining as co-host for the series second season, her favorite memories and what its like to work with John McGivern.

John McGiverns Main Streetspremieres 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19 on PBS Wisconsin and on the free PBS Video App.

John McGivern and Emmy Fink, with special guest Clarence Fink.

PBS Wisconsin: How did you get involved with the new season?

Emmy Fink:Lois (Maurer, producer) had called me out of the blue she explained to me what they had been up to since stopping Around the Corner with John McGivern and since starting this new endeavor. I had seen a couple of the shows. This was January or February, a year ago. She asked, What do you have going on this summer? Do you some availability because this is going to be kind of a big deal. At the time I was two months pregnant with our third baby, and Im like, Oh, yeah. Theres this one thing that is going to have to be figured out. She was like, You know, if youre game, well work with you and well just do what we can. I was like, Hey, if you guys are going to be flexible with me, well make this work. Whatever we need to do. It all started from there. I went in for the first couple meetings and like you kind of feel with John, even as a viewer, everybody is like, I would be friends with John McGivern. Its how it feels sitting in a conference room across the table from him. In the first few minutes, I was like, I love this guy. I loved this guy watching him on TV, but now I really love this guy.

I had never met John, but I loved their show and knew what they did, and I felt like I knew all about them just from watching them. It was really a call out of nowhere, of, we know similar people and we know of you. Is this something that youd be interested in? I had spent four years with Discover Wisconsin, so they knew that I had been involved in Wisconsin tourism, much like Around the Corner.

PBS Wisconsin: Did you have a specific role to play as the new co-host?

Fink:One thing that I didnt realize from watching these shows was how much memorization John had to do. Hes shooting these episodes back to back. He goes somewhere, hes there for three or four days, then hell have a few days off, then hes back on the road again. So, you only have a two- or three-day window to get really confident with all the lines for your next show. He had said that he definitely felt that from season one, and that that was really the whole hope behind adding someone is that somebody could take some of this memorization and content, especially historical facts, which is something that I really talk about in season two.

A lot of what John does, hes so good at taking an idea and having the basis, I need to say A, B and C, and putting that into his own words and ad libbing it. Its a true talent, thats one of his strengths. Historical facts are a little bit different. You have to have a lot of this has to be included and it goes in this order, but we still want to make it fun. So by me taking that over, and theres about four history pieces in every episode, so I took those over for him, which kind of allowed him to just be John McGivern and just go and do the fun stuff. Then we tag team the trivia because we do about two or three trivia teases in and out of the breaks. So hell ask the trivia question, and I come in with the trivia answer. Its really fun, and we do a lot of the open and the closes together if were there at the same time.

PBS Wisconsin: How did your experience filming change through the season?

Fink: We shot some of the episodes here at my house, we shot locally around the area, and they just made it work. I still am in every show, and Im just not on location for every show. Im on location at the beginning of the season, and then Im back on location at the end of the season so pre-baby, post-baby and then our son is in a few of the episodes with us because about three weeks after we had him, the crew came and we shot some episodes here at my house. And then he was three weeks old and we shot in Iowa City, and my husband and I and our three kids packed up and thought, well, were going to see how he does in the car for four hours. Being a third-time mom, there were a lot of new things to figure out on the fly that I tell my husband now, I am stronger because of this. I can do almost anything now after going back to work after three weeks and feeling like Im somewhat myself. It was a really good growth opportunity.

PBS Wisconsin: What is the most interesting historical fact you learned from the season?

Fink: I would probably say De Pere. I had done some filming in Green Bay during my time with both Outdoor Wisconsin and Discover Wisconsin, but this time we really focused on De Pere. Theres a lot of history behind St. Norbert College, and its the only school district in the state that has two school districts in one city. We were able to play up the historical side of the rivalry between these two high schools going all the way back to the 1920s.

The producer and I sat down, and we had a pretty long phone conversation with one of the De Pere historians, and when you give somebody an outlet to talk about something that they love, it was so cool. This historian was at least 70 years old, and he was so excited to share these memories that he had of these two teams playing each other. It ended up, they got into such a fight that they lit the bridge going over the Fox River, they lit the bridge on fire! There was a huge rivalry between these two high schools, and they wouldnt allow them to play each other anymore. Decades later it changed, but its just funny. The fans stormed the field, so we actually got to film that right on one of the football fields at one of the De Pere high schools. Its neat, all those stories go so far back. Its still a big rivalry, but to think of starting a bridge on fire because of a high school game. Wow.

PBS Wisconsin: What is your most memorable moment from filming the season?

Fink: Our very first show at Lincoln Square was obviously memorable because it was the first one. We were planning on filming the open to the show in this old German restaurant called Himmels. So I had called the owner to the restaurant, and part of my job was to figure out in each episode where I could bring a prop or two into the show and have it be funny or relatable. Theres huge German roots in the Lincoln Square neighborhood. So I was like, lets do something like, should I show up in a European type outfit? Then I went back to, everybody who goes to a beer garden has had the great, big, huge German pretzel. I was like, lets do something with that. I call and we get this all lined up, theyre going to have a German pretzel for us. So we walk in and John and I look up in this restaurant and this woman had probably 15 to 18 huge German pretzels sitting on the counter that had just been pulled out of her open fire. And Im like, Oh my gosh, hopefully I made it clear to her that we only needed one pretzel. She was like, Oh no, of course. I didnt know if you would do one take and then break off a piece, and then you would need another pretzel that didnt look like you had eaten it. I thought, that was really, really smart. We got done and I was like, Well, hopefully youll be able to serve these or somebody will be able to eat them. And she goes, These arent even on our menu! Theyre not on your menu?! We had called and said, Do you think you could make us a couple German pretzels? just assuming this was on their menu. It was so sweet the lengths people will go when we come into town just to have everything work out so well for us, and the kindness that people show and that was my very first episode. I looked at John and Im like, You really are a celebrity because people just want to make sure this is absolutely perfect for you. It was so much fun. Ill never forget this lady at Himmels.

PBS Wisconsin: What do you think it is that makes you and John work so well together?

Fink: I have admired him for so many years watching him, so I have a slight infatuation with him. I just think hes so funny, and I feel like the best gift a host can show is when you watch them, you think, Oh my gosh, I want to be their friend, or I feel like Im their friend. When I showed up in Lincoln Square and we were going to film together for the first time, I just felt like I was meeting my friend John for a fun stroll around Chicago. Thats the true gift that he brings to me. He really puts me at ease, and I didnt know that he would make me feel that way. Hes so good at this and hes so relaxed, but that really resonated when I was trying to come up with my lines. When we do our opens together and hes got his part and Ive got my part and youre walking and youre trying to get your cadence of your walk down, all these things have to flow and there has to be chemistry, and several people have asked me that. Im like, gosh, its kind of like youre dating. You get home and youre like, I hope he liked me as much as I liked him! Because I loved him and he was great, and this is going to be wonderful.

John McGivern Made in Wisconsin John McGivern's Main Streets Emmy Fink

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Q&A: Emmy Fink, co-host of 'John McGivern's Main Streets' - PBS Wisconsin