Wisconsin friends' bar discussion agenda becomes online sensation
BROOKFIELD, Wis. - The board meeting begins every Friday at 4 p.m., and the members are all in their seats at a round table.
Familiar greetings are made, and then it’s down to business. Riley Enright, a Brookfield insurance executive, hands out the agenda and gets right to the talking points.
"OK, first up, Packers playoff. Who watched the game last week? That was awesome!" he said to the other board members assembled.
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The conversation flows from the Packers to the Bucks to a recent loss of power due to a winter storm. The "board room," in this case, is Bullwinkles at the Galleria – an upscale bar with TV screens visible from every seat. The "meeting" is Enright’s code for happy hour with three of his long-time friends.
On its surface, there’s nothing remarkable about four friends meeting each week for a few beers and friendly banter. The fact that they have a printed agenda is interesting, but really isn’t the story. The story is how much of the internet awaits a copy of the weekly agenda.
Riley Enright and friends meet at Brookfield bar for weekly "board meeting"
In December 2022, Riley’s daughter, Kenzi, was back home for the holidays. Kenzi Enright works for a Los Angeles-based comedy streaming company. Her father asked if she wanted to tag along to the "board meeting" – she has known all the guys at the table for years – and handed her a copy of the meeting agenda. She was very amused that a happy hour had a list of talking points.
"I thought, ‘this is so funny’, it’s adorable – and then was like, ‘my friends have to see this,’" she said.
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That first list had just five topics: Jordan Love, the World Cup, China and Russia, a discussion of having a party after Christmas, and "general discussion." Kenzi posted it out to her followers and continued to do so for every meeting the group had in 2023. Each week, the internet comments grew in admiration.
People loved the idea of four friends talking about the major headlines of the week over beers. Moreover, they seemed to long for it. Many commentators shared a desire to have a group of friends like that of their own.
Riley Enright and friends meet at Brookfield bar for weekly "board meeting"
The group includes Enright, Jim Hohl (who they call "Little Jimmy"), Mike Kenna and Laird Myrold. They’ve been friends for decades connected either by employment or their kids' activities. Each member gets to submit a few talking points which are due Thursday night. Enright complies the list and passes it out each Friday at the beginning of the meeting.
A recent post by Kenzi was shared and commented on so many times, it reached 18 million impressions – a number that boggles the senior Enright’s mind.
Riley Enright and friends meet at Brookfield bar for weekly "board meeting"
"That’s a sad state of affairs. Seriously, this is what people are following?" he said.
None of "the Gab Four" are on social media and aren’t at all affected by their online admiration.
"If all the attention ended this week, we’d still be back here next week doing the same thing," Enright said.