CHARLIE BERENS is a comedian, New York Times Best Selling Author, Emmy-winning journalist, musician and creator of the Manitowoc Minute. He creates weekly content for his various social platforms and has amassed over 9 million followers. In 2017, Charlie began hosting his weekly comedic online news show, the Manitowoc Minute. Since then, Charlie’s been creating Midwest-focused sketch comedy videos on his social media platforms. He’s also traveled the country with three sold out stand-up comedy tours -- his Midwest Survival Guide Tour sold over 150,000 tickets and his current Good Old Fashioned Tour, when completed, will have lasted 589 days, playing 127 shows in 88 cities. 2023 saw the release of his first stand-up special,  Midwest Goodbye, and he will be taping his follow-up in February 2025.

Charlie’s first book, The Midwest Survival Guide, was released in November of 2021 by William Morrow/Harper Collins and immediately became a New York Times Best Seller! ABC is currently developing a half-hour comedy based on the book.

Charlie hosts the Cripescast podcast where he interviews musicians, artists, comedians, creators and more to talk about their story and connections to the Midwest. Guests have included Nate Bargatze, Michael Yo, Kim and Penn Holderness, Jeff Foxworthy, and Roy Wood, Jr. In addition to Cripescast, Charlie co-hosts the Bellied Up podcast w/ Myles the You Betcha guy where every Thursday, they belly up at a small-town bar and take live callers from all over the Midwest and rest of the world.

In 2020, Charlie paired up with Horseshoes & Hand Grenades alum Adam Greuel to release the music/comedy album, Unthawed.  The album, which is a mixture of bluegrass, country and Charlie’s comedy, hit #1 on the Billboard Bluegrass chart and #6 on the Bluegrass Comedy chart. The duo followed that up with Dive Bar Dinner in 2023, which also charted on the Billboard Charts. Most recently, he was featured in a nationwide Target campaign and served as the ambassador for Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin’s Annual Food for the Holidays Campaign. Additionally, Charlie just launched his very own brandy. Berens Old Fashioned Brandy is being produced by the Dancing Goat distillery and is in stores now, across Wisconsin.