When you hear the name Charlie Berens, people instantly go to the Manitowoc Minute. He is that guy that shares the news of Wisconsin and even some other videos like travel guides, or just funny Wisconsin sayings.

But that hasn’t always been the case. When he first started out in the industry, it makes you laugh like the videos.

Berens started working while in college at UW-Madison, when he worked for MTV for their political show Choose or Lose. This consisted of writing a story or recording a video once a week on campus about the political climate there.

After graduating, Berens moved to Los Angeles and worked for a production company as an assistant. Basically, he was the guy that went and got the coffee all the time.

While working there, he started making his own videos and was interviewing actors that he came across during his time with the company. Berens then edited these videos with all the equipment that he had access to with the company.

Seeing how this was working for him, he then went on to South Carolina to work for a company to produce videos for a company that went through YouTube. With this, he was able to combine his passion for this craft and comedy and post these videos.

With all the success that Berens had here, he then went on to work for a TV station in Texas, where they wanted to combine the comedy and news to make news clips. He went on to win an Emmy for the success of these clips.

When the news stream figured that they couldn’t combine news and comedy, so Berens was let go. He then found work as a red-carpet host but knew that wasn’t going to last long in his career.

“I took all the negative stuff news directors said about me and made this character” said Berens.

While in Texas, he hired a voice coach to help him hide his Wisconsin accent and become more neutral. This helped Berens hide his accent but, he was able to turn that into a comedy bit that has made him a well-known name in the country.

“Having an understanding of the state, because he is from the state, and not just a mocking of the state, really shows you how much he loves the state” said Sami Huggins, a fan of his work.

With Berens becoming the face of Wisconsin, no wonder why he chooses to “poke fun” at the Wisconsin accent and show how fun our state can be.