There was a time I couldn't have you on back in the old days.

[laughs] Well, I have to assume, Paul, that there's quite a few theaters that will never consider, um, putting this, uh, you know, d- creating a production of this play based on the title.

I'm happy to say that when, uh, the, the, you know, the, w- when the Purple Rose picks its schedule, they run everything past, they've got a board of course at the Purple Rose.

Nobody, nobody over there said, "Well, wait a minute, I don't know about this title." Nobody even asked about that, which was, which was great.

But if, you know, the director, Rhiannon Raglin, says, "When you see the play, you will walk out going, 'Oh, it couldn't have been called anything else.'" So that's part of it.

Um, but the play is about two brothers, uh, one of whom is an aging country rocker who had a little bit of success a long time ago, and the other one is a buttoned-up financial whiz, and they've never gotten along very well.

And life throws them back together because their mother has passed away, and they're back, uh, m- in the family house, uh, for, for her funeral.

... you already said the audience reaction's been pretty good, but do you see things that you might wanna change? And in fact, can you change them?

There was a time I couldn't have you on back in the old days.

[laughs] I, well, I have to assume, Paul, that there's quite a few theaters that will never consider, um, putting this, uh, you know, d- creating a production of this play based on the title.

I'm happy to say that when, uh, that, that, you know, the, w- when the Purple Rose picks its schedule, they run everything past ...

They've got a board, of course, at the Purple Rose.

Nobody, nobody over there said, "Well, wait a minute.

I don't know about this title." Nobody even asked about that, which was, which was great.

But if ...

... you already said the audience reaction's been pretty good, but do you see things that you might wanna change, and in fact, can you change them?

Either way, it's pretty toxic.

But one of the things that I left telling people, anybody who would listen and a guiding principle for me on Flashpoint the last couple of years I was there was that the truth was really under assault.

And I don't care if you're on the right or the left.

We have to be talking about things that are true.

We have to be talking about things that are built on accuracy and verifiability.

And we've always, as journalists, believed that there's two sides to every story.

Well, a lie is not a side.

Yeah.

Okay.

Um, and a lot of it was built around our love of music.

We would, um, we'd get together and play guitars.

We would send each other songs back and forth, uh, especially when Jeff would be on, uh, y- you know, on a set, a movie set with a lot of hurry-up-and-wait, and he'd go into his trailer and take a guitar and sit there and, you know, tape something and send it to me.

And so, it, it, yeah, we've known each other for a long time.

And h- when I first mentioned to him that I was working on a play, he said, "Send it to me." And I thought, "He, he might just be being nice." [laughs] You know, that's what friends do.

But Jeff and I have also always been pretty honest with each other about w- you know, whatever we were sending each other back and forth.

And I just wonder if, um, your perspective on journalism and local journalism is in any kind of different place now that you've had a little breathing room stepping back from the desk.

I like it

already.

I've been asked if it's autobiographical.

And I'm like, well, there's a huge difference here in that Jake Lambert has had some Nashville success.

Yeah.

But yeah, he's kind of a grump of a guy, and he's an entitled guy.

and he's not always a lot of fun to be around.

And what does the Hollywood actor Jeff Daniels think about it?

What can a stage play accomplish that those other forms of storytelling couldn't?

Well, there is something about live theater that I still find so remarkable.

It's one area that I think, and maybe I'm wrong, maybe, maybe this is a crisis of my imagination, but it's one area that I don't think that, uh, a- artificial intelligence can touch, is, uh, live performance, live entertainment.

And so I'm pretty bullish on, on, on what you get to see when you go s- you know, see something on stage, whether it's a musical at the Fisher, uh, you know, a play at, uh, a Detroit Public Theater, or out at, uh, at Jeff's won- Jeff Daniel's wonderful theater in Chelsea.

I just think it's something really extraordinary and something magical that happens, uh, on a stage.

And, and, uh, I love watching actors do their thing.

And, uh, I, I, I tried to write this play with that in mind.

And what does the Hollywood actor, Jeff Daniels, think about it?

What's your secret to balance?

I know to a lot of people it always seemed like I was just all over the place, you know, like an abstract painting, just throwing stuff at the wall.

Michigan House Republicans stage a walkout in Lansing today.

They're accusing Democrats of not playing ball.

But the one thing that all those things that you just mentioned have in common, journalism, writing books, writing music, they're all about storytelling.

And at the heart of it, I love stories.

I think it's a very primitive and ancient need in humans to tell our story and to chronicle the times in which we live and to make up stories as well, which is so I've been able to kind of do both things, both fiction and nonfiction.

What do you think are the most pressing issues that we're facing right now? I've become

And people don't seem to be willing to do that.

Yeah, that's funny.

The two that I mentioned were the pardoning of the January 6th insurrectionists and the Trump crypto meme coin.

Now, it's funny.

I got a lot of the comments, and again, overwhelmingly positive, but those who took issue with it, many people mentioned the pardons.

And...

No one mentioned or tried to defend the crypto—at least not that I've seen.

So believe me, if you would eat a kale milkshake, McDonald's would have one instead of a shamrock shake in March, but you want the peppermint, not the kale.