- Hello everybody, I'm Satori Shakoor.

Welcome to "Detroit Performs :Live from Marygrove," where Detroit's talented artists take the stage and share insights into their performances.

This episode is curated by our partner organization, Planet Ant.

They're bringing the laughter with standup comedian Brett Mercer, an improv group, and we'll cap off tonight's show with singer songwriter, Alison Lewis.

It all happens tonight on "Detroit Performs: Live from Marygrove."

- [Announcer] Funding for "Detroit Performs" is provided by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, the A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Foundation, Gregory Haynes and Richard Sonenklar, The Kresge Foundation, the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, The DeRoy Testamentary Foundation, and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat funky music) - I'm so excited to be sitting here with executive director, Darren Shelton, of Planet Ant Theater.

Hi, Darren.

- Hi, Satori.

Thank you so much for having me.

- How would you describe the vibe over there at Planet Ant?

- Yeah, it's kind of a moving target, but I think somewhere on the spectrum of like a DIY punk rock venue, and the other extreme is a professional theater.

We wanna have the technical capabilities of a high-end professional performing arts venue, while still being accessible to local artists and people of all experience levels.

And I also think it's really important to mention that we really prioritize safety and comfort in our facilities.

I think it's very important to recognize that we're asking artists to come in and put their heart and soul on stage, and I think that we want everyone to feel safe.

- [Satori] How do people get involved?

- Planetant.com is the easiest way for someone who needs to go to an address, ask a question kind of situation.

But I encourage anyone to just show up at any event and speak to anyone.

I mean, it's such a welcoming community.

- So who are we going to see on stage?

- So today we're gonna have three different performances.

We're gonna have some improv from an abbreviated version of the legendary Planet Ant home team, which is our house improv troupe, led by home team director and creative director of Planet Ant, Lauren Bickers.

We're also going to see some standup comedy from Brett Mercer, who is a regular at the Independent Comedy Club located inside of Ant Hall.

And we'll also get to hear from singer-songwriter Alison Lewis, who is kind of an ever-present face in the singer-songwriter community in Detroit.

- Thank you so much, Darren, for being with us today.

And now we're headed to the stage to see a funny guy.

Stand up comedian, Brett Mercer.

- Hello, audience.

Hello.

(audience applauds) Hello, audience and hello to the viewers at home.

Nice to see you.

My name is Brett.

I will be entertaining you for a little bit.

Let's do this.

I was reading in the newspaper.

I'm lying, I was reading this on newspaper.com.

I was reading that apparently there's something called inflation going on, where everything's expensive right now.

Thumbs down for me.

I don't like that.

I would prefer it if everything was cheap, but that's just me.

I don't know.

But I was also reading on newspaper.com that we are going through a global helium shortage, and I don't know how that could even happen.

Where is the helium?

Where is that going?

I gotta think that it's connected to the inflation.

I feel like inflation is why we don't have much helium left.

It's all the helium is going into the balloons, but I don't know.

I don't get how you can run out of an element.

It's on the periodic table of elements, you know?

How do you mess that one up?

I gotta think there's like a main science headquarters somewhere.

Probably like a scientist, like a lab, I think they're called labs probably.

Yeah, and like the main doctor is just like looking through some charts going like, "Oh, this isn't good.

I gotta go talk to the helium department to see what's going on down there."

So the like head scientist goes down there and he's like, "Helium, where's all the helium?

Where'd all the helium go?"

And they're like, "I don't know."

(audience laughs) Inhaling it all, I guess.

Another thing I've been reading on newspaper.com is apparently the United States is like about to run out of money always.

And again, I just I can't figure out how that's even possible or what that would even look like.

Like, if we just do go flat broke, what do we have to like move back in with England?

(audience laughs) What do we gotta like tail between our legs, go up to Buckingham Palace and just be like, "Can we crash for a little bit?

We ate too much avocado toast and couldn't pay our bills."

(audience laughs) What else is happening in the world?

Oh, man, what else is going on out there?

I keep on hearing this sentence on newspaper.com, the sentence that nobody wants to work anymore and I'm one of those guys.

I don't wanna work.

I wanna hang out at home and chill.

That's what I wanna do 'cause work can be hard, you know?

But you know who really doesn't wanna work these days?

Milkmen, when was the last time you saw a milkman out there?

I haven't seen one my entire life.

I think there hasn't been one for like 175 years.

I think we've figured out a better way to distribute liquid around the United States in that time I guess.

What I have seen though in my life is a phenomenon called Red Bull girls.

Now I don't know if you're familiar with Red Bull girls, but for a three year period between like 2014 and 23 years after that, nobody had to buy a Red Bull.

You just had to find a place outside that was like kinda hip, kinda cool, maybe some string lights going between buildings and you just had to stand there and wait for a little bit.

'Cause in like two minutes, a Volkswagen Beetle would screech in front of you and two girls would get out and they would flirt with you until you are addicted to sugar.

And craziest part about that is that it worked, it worked perfectly.

Now everybody I know is addicted to an energy drink of some kind.

Everybody, like 100% of my friends, I swear.

And it's crazy, I don't see why we couldn't have rolled the vaccine out like this.

You know, I feel like we'd be done with the pandemic a little bit sooner.

You know, if we had the Pfizer ladies, you know, they'd hop out of their truck and they'd be like, "Hey, you'd look good protected."

You know, it would've been perfect, you know?

But I guess I just gotta keep on coming up with all the good ideas.

That's what I do.

I don't work.

I sit at home and I come up with good ideas that people should use.

Like, for example, how about this one?

Toronto Raptors, you could have gone with the Torontosaurus Rexes.

It was right there, but I'll leave you with that.

My name is Brett.

You guys have been awesome.

(audience applauds) - I'm so excited to be sitting here with Brett Mercer.

Planet Ant Theater, right?

- Yeah.

- How would you describe your comedy?

- Oh, it's tough.

I just talk about what's going on in the world and try to not make it as heavy as, you know, I just try to bring some lightness to it.

Just talk about my experience and yeah, just try to put together stuff I think is funny.

- [Satori] And how long have you been doing standup?

- About nine years, eight or nine years.

- And you started right here in Detroit area?

- Yep, right here in Detroit.

- Okay, and do you love making people laugh or you just like to be in the energy of laughter and cause it?

- Yeah, I mean I've always loved standup comedy.

I've loved comedy of all kinds, but standup really spoke to me.

And getting into it I thought, I'm not gonna do it.

I don't have anything to contribute.

But then the more I found myself having opinions about what is good comedy, you know, gave it a try and it worked.

- Got bit.

- Yeah, yeah.

- Who are some of your influences?

- George Carlin is my favorite of all time.

I like Todd Glass, I like Eddie Pepitone, Andy Kindler.

Those are just some of my favorites.

- [Satori] So what is the comedy scene like here in Detroit?

I hear there's some expansion happening.

- Yeah, there's an incredible community that popped up.

It's very supportive.

I think we're really funny, you know?

I think when we go out on the road to other places, we can hold our own.

There's all kinds of different places to perform.

It's gotten a lot more diverse in the past 10 years and I think that's, yeah, it's great.

- Thank you so much, Brett Mercer.

And we're headed back to the stage for more laughter with the home team improv group from Planet Ant Theater.

- Hey, we're gonna do some improv for you.

Can I get a suggestion of something that you've been enjoying a lot lately?

- [Audience Member] Knitting.

- Knitting.

Thank you, knitting.

- Oh, I'm supposed to be the one to knit because I'm the woman.

I get it.

- No, I was gonna join you.

I was just offering you a seat.

- Oh.

Okay.

That was nice.

- Oh wow, okay.

You guys get the seats and I'll just stand up.

- We are the senior knitters.

You're a rookie.

- Fine.

- You've gotta prove yourself.

- I'll stand.

I get it.

Hazing.

Cool.

Just 'cause I don't know how to back stitch yet.

- Everyone knows how to back stitch.

- Yeah, I was born back stitching.

- My family has a proprietary stitch passed down through the generations.

Don't steal it.

- My wife told me it would be good for me to get outta the house a little more, but I don't know that this is what she meant.

- I'm sorry, are we not providing a welcoming environment for you?

- No, of course not.

Listen to that tone of voice.

- Sounds like someone's nitpicking.

- That was a good one.

- Okay, this where I draw the line.

I could get over being talked down to and belittled, but poor pun work is really the last straw.

I don't need this.

- That was excellent pun work, first of all.

- Yes, it was.

- Second, well, we're talking up to you.

- Because, yeah.

- Good one.

- See what I did there?

I'm gonna keep going.

All I do is sit here and knit and think of puns.

- And you're excellent at it.

- Thank you.

- You're welcome.

- You know, I like the way you knit.

- Thank you.

Maybe I should demonstrate a little bit.

- I would cover myself in your afghan.

(audience laughs) I'm sorry if that was too forward.

- No, it was- - Should I get outta here?

- You need to watch, newbie.

- Watch and learn.

- The rec center by my house teaches pottery classes every Wednesday night, and they are very nice people.

- Pottery.

- (laughs) They have to be nice, okay?

- Yeah, they are, I went to their- - I saw Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, now I wanna play with mud.

That's what pottery is.

- Yeah, I would rather play with mud than big sharp sticks.

You guys suck.

- These are needles.

- Watch yourself.

- You watch yourself.

- I'm gonna go get squishy in the pottery mud.

And I want you two to think about the way you behave towards people that just wanted to be friends.

That's all I wanted.

(audience laughing) - We probably aren't the best people to run this meetup group.

- Maybe not.

Scene!

(audience applauds) - What's something that rules?

- [Audience Member] Falcons.

Falcons.

Thank you, falcons.

- That's a beautiful majestic bird you're seeing, people, here.

Right here, beautiful bird.

- Incredible bird.

- [Lauren] Beautiful incredible bird.

- Yeah, we don't always bring them out here at the Detroit Zoo.

Only on certain days.

- You should be lucky to see such a beautiful bird.

- Spread your wings, Larry.

- Whoa, look at that.

- Look at those wings.

(laughs) - Gaze upon this natural beauty and wonder.

God's creations.

- Yes, you may have noticed Larry's missing all of his feathers.

- He's a bald bird.

- Some of you kids, I see some of the kids are crying.

- Some of the kids are crying.

- Don't cry, kids.

This is natural.

- He's just very, very sick.

- Yes, and it's because Larry doesn't like being in captivity.

- Beautiful bird.

- Yeah, he's a beautiful bird meant to fly.

We put him in a cage and he just started pulling out all his feather.

It's a common thing.

We had a parrot growing up that did that.

That's what got me into poultry.

- These majestic creatures simply, simply loath captivity.

- Yes.

- Made for your enjoyment.

Here is a beautiful, sick, lonely, sad bird.

- Be sure to pick up your Larry merchandise at the gift shop.

Those Larry images have him with all of his feathers so you can really see his beautiful majesty.

Normally, we would have him fly out and take a piece of meat from one of you, but obviously, he's just a piece of meat himself.

- He's too weak right now.

- Too weak.

- Oh, Larry, sometimes I feel that I failed you.

Sometimes I think maybe I should let you free in the dead of night.

Then you can fly back to Namibia, your native land.

(audience laughing) Oh, Larry.

I'm sorry.

- No, it's okay.

We all have trouble sleeping at night.

- We do.

We have a lot of guilt.

- Knowing that we have imprisoned these beautiful, majestic creatures.

- I thought it was just me.

You know, I do sleep, but I always cry myself to sleep.

- I sleep in, well, I guess you could call it a coffin because I feel so bad about what we've done to these beautiful, beautiful birds.

I cage myself at night.

- Wow, you know, I've never told anyone this, but when I cry, I use one of Larry's feathers to wipe away the tears.

- That's just sick.

- No, I just feel like I'm part of him.

Like, we're one.

- I've taken to eating an all-bird diet.

(audience laughing) - I don't know how that makes you feel better.

- The diet of a bird.

I'm not eating birds.

I'm eating what a bird eats.

- Oh, okay, okay.

- Yeah, you need to phrase that better.

- I eat plenty of chicken though.

- But that's... No, don't say that in front of Larry.

- And once on a trip to Namibia, I ate a falcon.

- What?

- I'm sorry, Larry.

- You nearly dropped Larry there.

- His talons are so strong.

- Beautiful, sick, lonely bird.

- We hope you learned something today, children.

- Yes.

- Scene!

That's our time, folks.

(audience applauds) We're the Planet Ant Improvisors.

- Thank you.

- We're back from the stage from that wonderful improv set.

I'm sitting here with Lauren Bickers.

Hi, Lauren.

- Hi.

- Tell me about improv.

How did you get started?

What attracted you to it, and who are your teammates?

They are great.

- Well, I got started in improv about 21 years ago now when there was a Second City Detroit.

It's a wonderful community experience, ensemble experience, and my teammates, the home team, we are an expansive group.

So what you just saw, there were three of us.

We are actually, we total over 50 people.

But yeah, we're all over the country so there's a lot of us that still live here, but are maybe not always active.

So and then there's people that live in LA doing stuff, there's people in Chicago, people in New York.

So we're all over the place.

- Who were your teammates today?

- Today it was Andy Reid and Tony Augusty.

- [Satori] What makes it work?

- Listening to each other, agreeing with each other, being open and willing to build with each other.

There's a lot more layers to that, but like really once you're in it, it's just like being open to the experience.

You know, it's like you never know what's gonna happen.

You just have to just be willing to build with someone else on that stage.

- It seems to me that improvisation could be healthy for everybody no matter who because it kinda loosens you up, right?

- Yeah, definitely.

No, I mean people, you know, people take improv that are interested in performing, but a lot of people take improv just to be more comfortable around other people.

Come to Planet Ant.

Monday nights, Planet Ant Home Team.

We're every Monday.

Unless there's a holiday, we're playing.

And we always have guest teams, and then a farm team, and our home team.

So yeah, it's a fun night.

- Well, I'll have to make it over there.

- Yeah.

- Thank you, Lauren, for being with us.

It's a pleasure.

And now we're headed back to the stage to see musician, Alison Lewis.

(mellow guitar music) ♪ There is a bar on the side of the road ♪ ♪ It's like a house of the holy for wayward souls ♪ ♪ Where you can drink and you can pray ♪ ♪ To our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ Well, the night it grows long ♪ ♪ And the road it grows weary ♪ ♪ There's a sign in the distance ♪ ♪ That says eat, drink, and be merry ♪ ♪ You wanna believe you're ready to be saved ♪ ♪ Come to our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ Our lady of the highway, look after me tonight ♪ ♪ I've done it all wrong help me do something right ♪ ♪ Light the road ahead I pray ♪ ♪ To our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ Well you ain't got no money and you ain't got no friends ♪ ♪ Every road that you turned down winds up a dead end ♪ ♪ And no one will listen to a word that you say ♪ ♪ Come to our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ Our lady of the highway look after me tonight ♪ ♪ I've done it all wrong help me do something right ♪ ♪ Light the road ahead I pray ♪ ♪ To our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ Our lady of the highway look after me tonight ♪ ♪ I've done it all wrong help me do something right ♪ ♪ Light the road ahead I pray ♪ ♪ To our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ Our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ Our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ Our lady of the highway ♪ ♪ So someone broke your heart ♪ ♪ Now it's heavy and it's hard ♪ ♪ Now you've got your guard up ♪ ♪ No one's gonna mess with you anymore oh, oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ You're burning every bridge ♪ ♪ Taking more than you give ♪ ♪ What are you afraid of ♪ ♪ You got to remember what you're made of ♪ ♪ And don't forget forgiveness when you've lost your way ♪ ♪ Don't forget forgiveness there's no one here to blame ♪ ♪ Don't forget who forgave you on your darkest day ♪ ♪ Even on your darkest day ♪ ♪ Oh, walking down the same road ♪ ♪ You're not the only one who feels alone ♪ ♪ Wishing that you had a hand to hold ♪ ♪ When every fear that you feel inside is eating you alive ♪ ♪ Don't forget forgiveness when you've lost your way ♪ ♪ Don't forget forgiveness there's no one here to blame ♪ ♪ Don't forget who forgave you on your darkest day ♪ ♪ Even on your darkest day ♪ ♪ Even on your darkest day ♪ - We're back from the stage from the exquisite performance of Alison Lewis.

Hi, Alison.

- Hi.

- I love your voice.

- Thank you so much.

- [Satori] It's distinctive.

- Thanks.

- How did you begin your career?

- I started learning how to play the guitar a little bit late, I think, in the game for a lot of people, but at like 22.

And I just had always wanted to.

I grew up playing the cello.

I wanted to sing and I knew I needed an instrument to back me up.

So I started playing guitar and then very quickly started writing songs, which is really my true love.

- [Satori] And what did you write about?

- I guess it's evolved over the years.

You know, I used to write a lot of really personal kind of journally stuff when I was young.

And then these days I'm more interested in writing songs that everybody kind of for everybody.

like songs that everybody can cry to.

(both laugh) - Cry to.

And what did you perform for us today?

- The first song I played was called "Our Lady of the Highway," and the second song was called "Forgiveness."

"Our Lady of the Highway" is like, you know, a traveling song but also a song of redemption.

"Forgiveness" I think is about forgiveness, about having your heart broken and realizing that you're just not, you're not the only one that that's happened to.

And so you gotta kinda forgive and move along.

I put out a new record in December, this past December, that I recorded over the pandemic.

The name is called "Our Lady of the Highway."

That's the title track.

- Okay, so you did.

- Yeah, I'm proud of it.

It's exactly how I wanted it to be.

I recorded with a super producer, I call him Jim Diamond.

I put that out in December, and it's on the internet anywhere.

I've just kinda put it out for free.

- Thank you so much for gifting us with your voice, and your music, and your talents, Alison.

- Thanks for having me.

- And thank you for watching "Detroit Performs: Live from Marygrove," and we'll see you next time.

- [Announcer] Funding for Detroit performs is provided by the Fred A. and Barbara M. Erb Family Foundation, The A. Paul and Carol C. Schaap Foundation, Gregory Haynes and Richard Sonenklar, The Kresge Foundation, the Michigan Arts and Culture Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, the DeRoy Testamentary Foundation, and by contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(upbeat funky music) (soft music)