arts&life
comedy

Metro Detroit’s

Got

Talent

Local comedians Sage Berg and Bert Green
audition for a spot on national TV.

ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

H

TOP: Bert Green at Laughfest. ABOVE: Green as the “drunk brother”
at the Berman’s production of The Wedding Singer. See him
next as Mayor Shinn in The Music Man at the Berman Center for
Performing Arts Jan. 31-Feb. 9.

26

December 27 • 2018

jn

e waited hours and hours
amid a sea of potential
future stars at Detroit’s
Cobo Hall to try out for the
popular TV show America’s Got
Talent. When the big moment
finally arrived, Bert Green, 56, of
West Bloomfield says he anxiously
stepped up to the mic and promptly
bombed his audition. But at least he
can laugh about it.
The husband and father — who
sells medical supplies by day — uses
comedy as a tool to get through
life’s ups and downs. Green was
one of more than 3,000 people who
recently took part in an open casting
call for the show, which seeks “the
world’s talented yet undiscovered
performers of all ages.”
“My three jokes that I told didn’t
go over too well with the judges,”
Green says. “But, the whole thing
was a lot of fun. It was an exciting,
interesting day I’ll never forget.”
Green couldn’t say much about
the actual audition process, but he
did reveal a few behind-the-scenes
secrets. He thought he’d be meeting
celebrity judges Mel B, Heidi Klum,
Howie Mandel and executive
producer Simon Cowell, but that
was not the case. Instead, some

of the show’s producers served as
decision makers in this preliminary
audition round. Green also learned
he’d have less than two minutes to
impress.
“There’re people in front of you
and behind you, a producer and a
camera and they say go,” he recalls.
“You have 90 seconds from start
to finish. The time went by very
quickly.”
Green says this was the first
time he’d ever tried out for a major
network TV show. In the past,
he’s taken part in open mic nights
and Laughfest in Grand Rapids.
The Ann Arbor-native studied
communications and theater at
Michigan State. He’s also performed
with the Farmington Players,
Stagecrafters in Royal Oak and at
the Berman Center for Performing
Arts in West Bloomfield.
“I’ve always done theater and
comedy,” he says. “I was [at the
America’s Got Talent audition]
more for the journey than the
destination.”
Green renewed his focus and
commitment to comedy a few
years ago after his sister, Carol,
passed away unexpectedly at age
58, followed by the death of his