42 | OCTOBER 20 • 2022 

D

ahn Brickner said he has liked 
manipulating puppets since he 
was 8 years old. 
Since then, while accepting responsibili-
ties as a marketing and business writer, he 
occasionally would make time to appear in 
comedy clubs, using puppets as his medi-
um, sometimes during open mic nights 
and other times as a paid performer.
Now, a few months away from turn-
ing 61 and describing health problems 
that prevent him from doing continuing 
computer assignments, he is joining with 
another comedian, Billy Ray Bauer, to test 
out some new routines in a show called 
“Live & Laugh.
”
The two will be appearing in a dinner 
and comedy show Friday evening, Oct. 21, 
in a private section of Shield’s Pizza in Troy. 
The 90-minute show follows a pizza-pasta 
dinner, and the comedians bring in a small 
platform along with lighting and sound 
equipment. 

“The show packages up two guys who 
have worked together before,
” Brickner said. 
“I’ve done this for my entire life, but this is 
an adult use of puppetry. I have characters 
I’ve featured at many comedy clubs in the 
metro area.
”
Brickner, who addresses his act to baby 
boomers, has a segment about a Jewish 
senior trying out a Jewish dating service.
“I found that the way to really face the 
aging process with some degree of accep-
tance and some degree of grace is to laugh 
about it,
” Brickner said. “To me, humor is 
the ultimate outlet in life. 
“There are few things that are too sacred 
to joke about. Humor is how we handle 
things. When we get older, if we can’t laugh 
at ourselves, what’s happening to us togeth-
er, that’s a pretty desperate situation. I find 
release and comfort in humor, and I think a 
lot of people do. 
“Joking about aging and embracing it and 
talking about what’s inherently funny about 
it is a great thing.
”
Bauer, who has a more general comedy 

act, has been appearing in clubs for 35 years 
and has been seen on Comedy Central and 
Just for Laughs on TV
.
Brickner’s interest in puppetry started by 
watching Paul Winchell with puppet Jerry 
Mahoney and buying Winchell’s recordings 
to learn the craft of ventriloquism. When 
Brickner was 10, his father took him to a 
puppet show performed by Willy Tyler and 
puppet Lester, and that served as further 
motivation after going backstage and meet-
ing the entertainer, who did some improvis-
ing with his own and Brickner’s puppets.
Although Brickner performed at kids’ 
parties before starting high school, he 
stopped because he didn’t think it was cool. 
He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from 
Wayne State University, started working in 
the corporate sector and returned to some 
ventriloquism after marrying and becoming 
the father of two.
He performed for his own children and 
then moved into bookstores before giving 
up ventriloquism again while doing some 
comedy writing for corporate occasions. 
 “Five or six years ago, I decided to pick 
up the puppets again,
” said Brickner, who 
lives in Shelby Township and thinks of 

himself as culturally Jewish. “I sold some 
of the kid-oriented puppets, and I bought 
professional puppets made and customized 
in California.
“I have a Trump puppet and a Clinton 
puppet and I would do comedy like that, 
but it’s not always amenable to audiences. 
Most of the comedy I do is joking about the 
aging process.
”
Brickner, who met Bauer at a comedy 
club, has appeared at Mark Ridley’s Comedy 
Castle in Royal Oak, Ann Arbor Comedy 
Showcase, Big Tommy’s Parthenon and 
Comedy Club in Novi and Go Comedy! 
Improv Theater in Ferndale. He gives his 
new act an R rating.
“Humor is something that really can 
transcend all barriers and divisions between 
people who are so polarized right now,
” 
Brickner said. “It is the notion that we can 
all put everything aside and laugh about 
things that we share. 
“Because my material focuses on the 
inevitability of growing old and being able 
to laugh about it, I think that’s a barrier 
crosser, something that allows us to find 
something in common and laugh together. 
Laughter’s very important.
” 

Dahn 
Brickner
and his 
puppets

‘Live & Laugh’

ARTS&LIFE
COMEDY

Details
“Live & Laugh” starts seating at 
6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, at Shield’s 
Pizza, 1476 Maple Road, Troy. $28. 
eventbrite.com/e/live-laugh-tick-
ets-400711838897.

Ventriloquist Dahn Brickner’s adult 
humor focuses on aging.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

