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April 30, 2025 • 12 mins
M4K's Kris Covi, sans "Commodore" for a few more hours, joins me in the studio ahead of the sexiest month in Omaha.
Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Scott VORGIEZ, there's a group who, as I said a
moment ago, these guys came to me years ago, well
over ten years ago, and said, we have a great idea.
We're going to grow mustaches for kids. And I immediately
called the police, caught off all ties. But then I
saw what they were doing and realized, oh, this is

(00:23):
a really fun idea. And it's gone from a couple
of idiots with mustaches into a lot of idiots with
mustaches and a ton of money raised head idiot Chris
Kobe from Mustaches for Kids, it joins us here on
news radio eleven ten kfab Good morning, Chris.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Good morning. Thank you for that wonderfully welcoming introduction. That
was well put.

Speaker 1 (00:47):
That was the weirdest thing ever. And I love telling
people this story about how well you tell the story.
Were you there on year one or did you come in?

Speaker 2 (00:58):
No?

Speaker 1 (00:59):
I was there year one, so we uh because the
first person who contacted me was Perez.

Speaker 2 (01:04):
Yeah yeah, so so Adam Perez kind of heard about this.
It was it's a national organization. He heard about it
through some friends and was like, hey, we should do
this in Omaha. Contacted my brother Kevin you guys all
went to school together. Kevin called me and said, hey,
can you help us kind of just get organized. We
know you're a fancy lawyer and you can't do this,
and so I kind of got into it, started helping
with some meetings and then my wife's like, oh, you

(01:26):
have to do that. That's that's exactly up your alley.
We haven't even talked about what the it is, have
we Yes, No, we haven't. We should talked. Well, So
the idea initially was what we're going to do? What how?
For what purpose? Yeah, So the whole concept is we
get a bunch of dudes together every May and we
grow mustaches. We start completely clean shaven, and then for
thirty days we grow just a mustache. No fud manchu,

(01:46):
no go tea, nothing south of the mouth, just a
straight mustache. And during that thirty days people will ask
you about it. They'll say, hey, what on earth are
you doing, often rudely, and we say, you know what,
I'm so glad you asked. We're doing this to raise
money for local children's charity. Here's my link go donate.
And we picked different charities every year, and the first
year our goal was to beat the Iowa chapter right,

(02:08):
they had raised fifteen hundred dollars.

Speaker 1 (02:10):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:11):
So we got together and said, we're going to beat
that money. So we wanted twelve guys. We ended up
with thirty. Our first year, the original Dirty thirty, and
we raised twenty three thousand dollars and we thought, man,
that's just incredible. Twenty three thousand dollars, Girl Mustaches, Let's
do it again.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
Yeah, this was and you guys thought that you'd absolutely
hit the nonprofit Jackpond, oh absolutely, like this is this
is crazy. Look at all this money we raised. No
one could do this any better. And so the next
year went from the Dirty thirty doing twenty three thousand
from Mustaches for Kids Too.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
In year two, we jumped to about sixty grand in
year two and that was, you know, we started this thing.
This is our seventeenth year doing it. We started in
nine and so we kept going, and then all of
a sudden, in year four or five, we became the
biggest chapter in the country. We beat the New York
City chapter and it kept going and it kept going,
and then three years ago we raised a million dollars
in the month of May and we've done so ever since.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
Thirty days. How many growers did it take to go
to a million dollars? Ye, a little over three hundred
is what we've been steady at. I would love to
see four hundred this year, but we're we're tracking for
a little over three hundred right now, and that's about
what we need if we're gonna try to catch that
million again. You morons went from I'm bleushing, went from

(03:26):
thirty guys growing mustaches, and you're right, when you grow
a mustache, someone's got to say something. Coworkers, your friends,
you see from time to time, your neighbors, yep, family members,
Like you've got something there on your upper lip. I
don't know if you're drinking chocolate milk? Is are you
growing a mustache? Yes? I am, And thank you so
much for asking. Let me tell you why? How much

(03:48):
can I put you down for? Exactly? And exactly? You morons?
Morons raised over twenty thousand dollars and then in a
pretty short amount of time have been raising more than
one million dollars a year. And now it's not even
in a year. It's in thirty days for this annual haul.
And you raised so much much money. You guys have

(04:08):
been like it feels unfair to give a million dollars
to one charity. We have to write multiple partners exactly
to spread the mustachioed love. Yeah, so tell me about
this year.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
So this year, so we raised for one charity every
year until right before COVID hit, we decided we were
too big to do just just that. We're like, we
can't help the little guys anymore. We can't give some
local startup charity that has a seventy thousand dollars budget
a million dollars. So we had already reorganized became our
own five to one C three so that we could
split the money up. And then COVID hit, and so

(04:41):
during COVID we did a virtual campaign still topped our
prior year dollars, and we did eight charities that year.
And now every year we pick a different combination. So
this year we have one big charity partner and then
we have two what we call bonus charity, so these
smaller folks that we give some of this money to.
And our main charity partner this year is Angels among Us.
They provide yeah, they provide financial support for families battling

(05:03):
pediatric cancer. So if you've got to have one or
two parents quit their job, maybe they have to move
to Omaha for the treatment. They got to make mortgage payments,
they got to pay the light bill. And when we
grew for them back in nineteen, they had a wait
list of families and with our money, they wipe that
weight list out and they haven't had one since. So
this year they're going to expand into a scholarship program.

(05:24):
They're going to increase what they can give to some families.
Different kiddos have different treatment plans. I mean, some of
these kids are two years start to finish in their
treatment plan, and so they step into that gap. There
are two other bonus charity partners this year, smaller homegrown charities.
One is called Sleep in Heavenly Peace. They build beds
for kids who don't have them in the Omaha area.
And my first reaction when I heard about them years

(05:45):
ago was well, that can't be too many, right, A
couple hundred maybe, And they're like, oh no, there are
thousands of kids right now in Omaha not sleeping in
a bed, either on the floor or a dirty mattress
on the floor, and so they build hundreds of beds
a year. This year I don't want to throw a
number because I don't have my stats. But we're gonna
help them build a ton of beds and go out
and deliver them to these families. Our last bonus charity

(06:06):
partners called Heart Heroes, a local organization that helps families
dealing with pediatric congenital heart disease. They started by just
making superhero capes for kids, just you know, you're a superhero,
you can get through this. They've grown now they do
family support programs. They have kind of bags, like a
tote bag that you give a family when they get
to the hospital for the first time that has things

(06:26):
in it that you probably forgot to pack. They're just
a great organization and they feel like us, right A
couple of parents got together and said, hey, we should
do this thing, and then it just grew. So they're great.

Speaker 1 (06:36):
I know. I was there with the Heart Heroes years
and years ago where all they wanted to do was
light up a house in the neighborhood pink and so
we went out there and did a little live video
with them, and there was like a couple dozen people
out there. They said, all right, turn the lights on,
you know, like Christmas vacation and then this house turned
pink and they were so happy. And to watch that

(06:57):
organization grow as well, it's it's a real testament to
how great Omaha is. The biggest small town on earth.
Who needs help? And how can we do it? And
what's been fun here is we're talking with Chris Kobe
from Mustaches for Kids. Is not only watching you absolute
nimrods over these last seventeen years not just grow mustaches,

(07:20):
but you guys have grown hearts as well, and your
hearts have mustaches. It's incredible because, let's face it, you
dorks just wanted to grow mustaches, goof around, raise a
few bucks, drink beer, drink with our friends, drink beer
and have a party. And if we tell our wives
it's for the kids, they'd have to let us. Right
And now it's I mean, you've got a lot of

(07:43):
power right now. I mean Omaha's Mustaches for Kids chapter.
Is it still the biggest in the country. You're kind
of fighting against New York.

Speaker 2 (07:51):
And no, we New York shut down after we beat them. No,
there's another chapter. Who needs the charity dollars in New York?
They're finally Richmond, Virginia actually who's actually been around longer
than us. They were plugging away to solid three fifty
a year until COVID hit. We started collaborating with them,
sharing ideas. They've grown now their dollars to where they
actually broke a million last year, So we have a

(08:13):
very slim lead over Richmond. I'm also the president of
the national organization, so I talked to these other presidents
and they're always asking me how Omaha can do what
Omaha does, And it's just what you said. It's the people, right.
We have a combination of guys who are not the
typical people you're going to see at the Gallas on
the weekend. But there's a bunch of dudes out there
who want to help, but they don't have a thousand

(08:33):
bucks to give. Well, they got a face and they
can ask for money and it's the most fun they
can have doing it. And they're in Omaha, which I'm
convinced is the most generous city in the entire United States.

Speaker 1 (08:43):
So give me the timeline and how people can either
donate right now or be a part of growing and
asking for donations because this is starting more soon.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Yeah. Yeah, So my primary ask is for dudes we
want dudes who want to go out do some good,
grow mustache, have fun. We'll give you all the tools,
we set up all the website pages for you. It's
very little. In fact, it's less than what you're doing now.
You just shave a less of your face than you
are now. And to get signed up go to M
four k Omaha dot com and our big Clean Shave

(09:13):
kickoff party is tomorrow night at Brucekis one hundred and
fifty sixth and Q. If you're on the fence and
you're not sure and you're hearing about this for the
first time, thinking well, this sounds bizarre and also made up,
just come out to Bruski's, you know, come on out,
bring a buddy, have a beer, just watch what's going on.
And it might be yeah, this isn't for me, But
there's a lot of guys we meet that are like,

(09:34):
where has this been? Why didn't you tell me about
this until now?

Speaker 1 (09:37):
And then in a month from now, yep, you get
a chance. If you decide to grow for the next month,
you get a chance to be a part of the
best party in Omaha, the.

Speaker 2 (09:45):
Very best party. So it ends on May thirty first.
It's stash Bash. You've been a celebrity judge before. Stash
Bash is the slowdown. It's a massive costume party. We
don't raise a dime. We just announce our total. It's
part Miss America pageant, part Oscars, complete nonsense, and literally
it is the single most fun night. I know. You
might get married, you might have a baby this year.

(10:06):
This is better, Yes it is.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
And you don't have to grow and then come up
with the costume and name your mustache and be a
part of stash Bash. But if you decide to do that,
it's an absolute riot because in addition to your growing,
you've also you got the pressure to come up with
a good mustache name if you decide to get into
the stash Bash. And so you've you've got one that

(10:29):
you've had for all these years. It's still the It's
still the Commodore. Still to come.

Speaker 2 (10:32):
Yeah, some guys will change their name every year. Some
guys stick with it. I tried to get that nickname
in law school and it didn't stick because you can't
give yourself a nickname. So I name my mustache the Commodore.
And that's as close as I'm ever going to get.
I was a big fan of the movie Maverick. That is, Yeah,
that's where it came from. Who in Maverick is the
Commodore is the boat captain that spoke cigars and has

(10:52):
the cool hat.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Okay, yeah, all right, see I immediately think Lionel Ritchie
and brick House. But you went, well he was in
the commodorees. Yes, full circle. That's why I'm thinking. You know,
I hear Commodore and I think about you know those guys.
I think night shift. Yeah, there you go, Yeah, there
you go. Great, I am easy like Sunday mornings. Yes,
that's right. So the Commodore starts coming in tomorrow. Yeah.

(11:14):
How tough is it for you guys, because your identity
for one month out of the year is tied into
these mustaches. And some of them, these mustaches after thirty
days are amazing. Some of them are like Ron Swanson
would look at this and go, that's a great mustache.
Some of them look like you just started growing it
at noon that day. Yeah, and there's a nasties stash.

(11:36):
There is a war if you really can't get one
to come in here.

Speaker 2 (11:40):
And I think those guys have an easier time raising
money because they're suffering more. After three days, I look
like Burt Reynolds. Right. It's not tough for me to
walk around town with a mustache. I've been in front
of the Nebraska Supreme Court twice with a half grown mustache.
But these guys that have this wispy, little patchy you
got to lean into it and just enjoy it. And
it's easier for those guys, I think to raise money
because people feel sorry for me.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
Well, you guys have a riot doing it. Mfour k
Omaha dot com.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
And there's a donate button there if you if you
can't go and you just want to give to the cause,
go there, make a donation, pick a grower.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
Yeah, and you can do that right now.

Speaker 2 (12:10):
You can do it now. All the way up through stash.

Speaker 1 (12:12):
Bash mustache is four kids M the number four Kyomaha
dot com. That's Chris Kobe among the original Dirty thirty
that started growing these mustaches years ago. Raised twenty thousand dollars,
thought that they were the kings of the world. It's
routinely over a million dollars for local charities. We're pushing
we're pushing eight million total from these mustachioed fools and

(12:34):
their little nose neighbors, and that all starts tomorrow have
fun Tomorrow night at bruskis one hundred fifty six and
que Go to M four k Omaha dot com for
all the details. Chris, always a pleasure, my man.

Speaker 2 (12:44):
Thanks. I appreciate it, buddy. Thanks. Scott Foryes Mornings nine
to eleven on

Speaker 1 (12:50):
News Radio eleven ten KFAB
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