Joe Brehm has been manager of This Is It bar for almost his entire life. The bar was opened by his mother June Brehm in 1968 as a gay bar, who owned it and maintained a presence for most of her life.

Joe has kept the bar exciting, and has maintained a loyal following of old-timers as well as new blood. The bar continues to be busy on evenings when other bars' business lags, in part because it is the only gay bar in the immediate downtown area (and thus easy for visitors staying in downtown hotels to get to) but also because of Joe's presence and warmth with all his customers.

Joe is also very community aware and an activist. He was close friends with Terry Boughner and Jerry Johnson when they produced the Wisconsin Light newspaper, helping them computerize and use new technnology for typesetting, layout, email, etc. Joe is also often the first in line to support community causes, hosting fundraising events for the Cream City Foundation, AIDS, and other worthy causes.

Joe's mother, June, passed away early in 2010, and Joe now controls ownership. He has continued to maintain a daily presence in managing the bar, even as he has battled cancer. He can still be found in the bar early each day.