Today on Bit Public Radio, host Cherry Sage asks a deceptively simple question:

How do people find their voice?

The answer, apparently, involves secret libraries, motivational shouting, naked civic festivals, billionaire coffee, sentient books, rogue robbers, labor-organizing cats, and at least one municipal unicycle.

As Cherry guides listeners through stories about confidence, volume, self-expression, and public-radio fundraising, BPR correspondents discover that finding your voice can be empowering, dangerous, expensive, and occasionally strong enough to rupture an eardrum.

Along the way, the annual pledge drive gets increasingly out of control as BPR attracts a demographic it has historically struggled to reach...Billionaires.

• A secret library where the books are considerably more opinionated than the patrons.
• A motivational philosophy so powerful it may actually rupture an eardrum.
• A public-radio pledge drive that somehow attracts billionaires, organized cats, and some deeply suspicious coffee.

Cherry Sage hosts Loud People, Soft Voices with the calm, thoughtful composure BPR listeners expect from public radio.

She is shy, introspective, soft-spoken...and somehow responsible for keeping control of a live fundraiser involving correspondents, wealthy callers, aggressive sponsors, free zucchini, duck eggs, suspicious coffee, and an increasingly organized feline population.

Her professional philosophy:
👉 Everyone deserves to find their voice.
👉 Some people should probably use theirs less.
👉 Never underestimate what can happen during a pledge drive.

BPR apologizes to sentient library books, wheat spies, The NeverEnding Story, motivational shouters, the Pied Piper, San Francisco robbers, fairy-tale mushrooms, naked unicyclists, mimes, zucchini farmers, billionaire coffee drinkers, exploited coffee cats, the Icelandic Christmas Cat, anyone who has ever paid $15,000 for coffee, and anyone who is now deeply concerned about where their morning coffee came from.

We would apologize to the billionaires. But frankly, they seem fine.

Credits

Director and Creator: Billy Merritt
Producer, Editor & Graphics: Hill Kane

Featuring:
Billy Merritt - Himself

Angela Washko - Cherry Sage, BPR Host
Hill Kane - Herringbone Hendrix, Correspondent #1
Brent Kohler - Robert Kennison, Correspondent #2
Amber Bellsdale - Aurora Lighness, Correspondent #3

BIT Crew (various and sundry characters):
Don Slovin
Jim Tripp
Flannery Wilson
Luke Bovard
Lisa Steckman

Music: BPR Theme Song: Lyrics Hill Kane, musical composition created on SUNO AI

Hosting: Libsyn

"The BIT" and "The BIT Improv Comedy Network" are trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024–2026 Billy Merritt. All rights reserved.
Inquiries: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com
Website: BITComedyNetwork.com

Production + Graphics: Hill Kane, Raising Kane Media + Marketing

Today on Bit Public Radio, host Lana Schur explores the ever-changing nature of cool.

Is "cool" determined by fashion? By celebrities? By invisible gravestones? By barbarian Goths invading Rome? Nobody seems entirely sure.

Correspondent Jimbo Brandywine travels to a Renaissance Faire to investigate the unexpected return of the Goths, only to uncover turkey economics, a family raised by actual turkeys, and one very confused human identity crisis.

Next, Flannery Wilson reports from Beverly Hills, where luxury shoppers have embraced the newest status symbol: gravestones that don't actually exist. The investigation somehow leads to ghost tourism, HOA disputes, Walt Disney, and a long-overdue confrontation with Mary Poppins.

Finally, former failed "CNN" investigative journalist Paisley Bowie uncovers an underground community living inside pottery kilns, where magical ashtray-producing fairies, eternal curses, and suspiciously enthusiastic smokers reveal the surprising intersection of ceramics and public broadcasting.

Throughout it all, Lana desperately attempts to keep an increasingly chaotic pledge drive on the rails—offering listeners everything from Butterball turkeys and job-shadowing opportunities to invisible burial plots and disgraced journalism awards.

Somewhere in there... someone might actually donate.

Butterball, Renaissance Faires, Goths (both Visigothic and Hot Topic), Vogue magazine, Patrick Swayze, pottery instructors, ceramics departments, ashtrays, smokers, non-smokers, Walt Disney, Mary Poppins, Julie Andrews, Disney Parks, cryogenic researchers, Beverly Hills, Rodeo Drive, Louis Vuitton, homeowners associations, psychics, ghosts, goblins, fairies, turkey farmers, Renaissance turkey vendors, Robert Smith, The Cure, BBC journalists, NPR pledge drives, public radio tote bags, kiln manufacturers, pizza ovens, anyone currently preserving their brain for the future... and anyone attempting to start a fashionable invisible cemetery.

Credits

Director and Creator: Billy Merritt
Producer, Editor & Graphics: Hill Kane

Featuring:
Billy Merritt - Himself

Katya Vasilaky - Lana Schur, BPR Host
Jim Tripp - Jimbo Brandywine, Correspondent #1
Flannery Wilson - Correspondent #2
Dean Aisles - Paisley Bowie, Correspondent #3

BIT Crew playing various and sundry characters:
Don Slovin
Hill Kane
Geoff Taylor
Brent Kohler
Angela Washko
Luke Bovard

Music: BPR Theme Song: Lyrics Hill Kane, musical composition created on SUNO AI

Hosting: Libsyn

"The BIT" and "The BIT Improv Comedy Network" are trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024–2026 Billy Merritt. All rights reserved.
Inquiries: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com
Website: BITComedyNetwork.com

Production + Graphics: Hill Kane, Raising Kane Media + Marketing

What happens when you drop a troupe of improvisers into one of Japan's most charming neighborhoods with absolutely no rehearsal and one simple rule:

Everyone has to be a cat.

Inspired by the real streets of Yanaka Ginza—Tokyo's famous "Cat Town"—this Mystery Pod sends the BIT Players on a feline adventure through hidden cat statues, cat cafés, souvenir shops, quiet cemeteries, and the neighborhood's iconic staircase. From there... things get wonderfully out of hand.

Luxury cat hotels, CatTok influencers, alley cats, podcasts within podcasts, cardboard box commercials, organized crime, laser light shows, and Princess Donut all collide in a world where every player fully commits to the bit and every "yes, and..." makes the town even stranger.

As rival gangs form, tourists hunt for statues that may not actually be statues, and an entire community of cats prepares for the concert event of the year, one question remains:

Will anyone survive the laser show?

If you've ever wondered what happens when improvisers are given a real place, a ridiculous premise, and complete creative freedom, welcome to PodCAT Town.

Pack your catnip.
Practice your "meow."

And remember...

Sometimes the password really is "meow."

Credits

Director and Creator: Billy Merritt
Producer, Editor & Graphics: Hill Kane

Featuring:
Billy Merritt (Himself, Narrator)
Luke Bovard (Mr. SophistiCAT, Spokesman: BB's Finest Cat Litter Emporium | BB's Fine Cardboard Box Emporiums
Hill Kane (Mrs. SophisitiCAT)
Angela Washko (Cat Hotel Receptionist, Donut Shop Patron, FiFi - Cemetery Country Club, Polly Pussy)
Flannery Wilson (Cat Hotel Manager, Eco-Scruffy-Cat-Tourist #1)
Brent Kohler (Speakeasy Server, Eco-Scruffy-Cat-Tourist #2, Laser Light Show Producer)
Katya (M. Partridge - wealthy widow at Speakeasy, Fluffy - PodCAT Co-Host)
Don Slovin (Cat Mob Boss, Puffy - PodCAT Co-Host)
Jim Tripp (Bad Cat turned scaredy Cat turned Rebel Cat)
Amber Bellsdale (Princess Donut - Rebel Cat | Posse of Pussy Gangleader)
Gary Yorke (Cat Hotel Speakeasy Guest, Sparky - Sparky's Catnip)

Music: "Shark Bait" performed by Little Kahunas | Produced by the late, great Peter Miller.

Hosting: Libsyn

"The BIT" and "The BIT Improv Comedy Network" are trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024–2026 Billy Merritt. All rights reserved.
Inquiries: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com
Website: BITComedyNetwork.com

Production + Graphics: Hill Kane, Raising Kane Media + Marketing

Today on Bit Public Radio, Host Luke Bovard explores the strange and unpredictable world of misconception.

Correspondent Angelina Washington reports from Troy, New York, where a Flag Day celebration honoring Uncle Sam escalates into civic confusion, alphabet panic, and unexpected papal involvement.

Next, Mandy Keyes investigates food misconceptions at a farmer's market in Pashook, Iowa, where a simple question about tomatoes leads to nightshade conspiracies, unusual educational materials, and some deeply confusing ideas about reproduction.

Finally, in her first-ever field report, Gail "Shut Up Gail" Shephard accidentally investigates immaculate conception instead of misconception, uncovering mysterious pregnancies, impossible football outcomes, secret societies, and gardening techniques that defy explanation.

Misunderstandings were made. Conclusions were reached. Facts became optional.

Apologies

Residents of Troy, New York, Uncle Sam, Karate schools, karate students, karate parents, people named Xavier, Xander, and Yolanda, Zachary; Sesame Street, literacy advocates, the Vatican, Pope Leo, RC Cola, Fanta, farmer's markets, tomato growers, eggplant farmers, nightshade researchers, conspiracy theorists, sex education teachers, bananas, tomatoes, condom manufacturers, PBS cooking programs, Las Vegas sportsbooks, giant communities, golden geese, secret student societies, ACE Award nominees, workplace birthday cards. Also... SHUT UP GAIL!

Credits

Director and Creator: Billy Merritt
Producer, Editor & Graphics: Hill Kane

Featuring:
Billy Merritt - Himself
Luke Bovard - Himself
Angela Washko - Angelina Washington
Amanda Keyes - Lisa Steckman
Gail Shephard - Hill Kane
Amber Bellsdale, Brent Kohler, Don Slovin, Jim Tripp and Katya Vasilaky - various and sundry characters and oddball sound effects.

Music: BPR Theme Song: Lyrics Hill Kane, musical composition created on SUNO AI

Hosting: Libsyn

"The BIT" and "The BIT Improv Comedy Network" are trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024–2026 Billy Merritt. All rights reserved.
Inquiries: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com
Website: BITComedyNetwork.com

Production + Graphics: Hill Kane, Raising Kane Media + Marketing

This week on the Bit Improv Comedy Network, Billy and Gail head south — spiritually, geographically, and possibly medically — with Mike Roth of The Villages, Florida, who gives them a guided tour of America's most aggressively recreational retirement wonderland.

Mike walks us through The Villages' astonishing scale, its golf cart culture, its town squares, nightly dancing, festivals, clubs, rumors, loofah lore, pickleball intensity, and the particular magic of a community where everyone has a hobby, a schedule, and apparently a transportation-based signaling system.

From there, the BIT Crew takes one polite civic interview and lovingly drives it straight into a flaming roundabout of podcast-town chaos: The Villages Podcast Network, loofah codes, armed festival discourse, senior self-discovery, competitive pickleball escalation, and a Shooters vs. Pickleball championship that probably violates at least three HOA guidelines.

Charming at first. Then sun-drenched. Then deeply unsupervised.

The BIT Comedy Network apologizes to Mike Roth, the residents of The Villages, Florida, golf cart commuters, golf cart passengers, golf cart mechanics, anyone with a loofah attached to anything, people who know what the loofahs mean, people who insist the loofahs mean nothing, pickleball players, pickleball referees, the Shooters Club, Strawberry Festival attendees, town square dancers, low-priced alcoholic beverage vendors, coming-of-age seniors, alternative sexuality educators, upside-down pineapple enthusiasts, Central Park, trailer parks, retirement communities, HOA boards, Florida tourism officials, anyone named Lucky Luke, anyone who brought a gun to a fruit-based festival, and all listeners who thought "retirement" meant things would calm down.

Credits

Director and Creator: Billy Merritt
Producer, Editor & Graphics: Hill Kane

Featuring:
Mike Roth (Himself)
Billy Merrit (Himself, Narrator)
Hill Kane (Gail - Producer)
Angela Washko (Amazing Angela - Co-Co-host of Loofa Codes Podcast, Vinny from Vinny's Villages Guns N' Stuff, Chiquita Banana)
Luke Bovard (Lucky Luke - Co-host of Loofa Codes Podcast, Karl - American Idol reject )
Jim Tripp (Car Show Guy, The Producer, Paul - Lucky Luke's Friend, Bob, who should NOT drive)
Lisa Steckman (Co-host of Reber Rousers Podcast, Mandy from The Shooters' Club, Pickleball Couple #2)
Don Slovin (Co-host of Reber Rousers Podcast, Crazy Larry)
Flannery Wilson (Co-host of Wal*Mart Warriors Podcast, Sunrise Trailer Park, Pickleball Couple #2)
Brent Kohler (Co-host of Wal*Mart Warriors Podcast, CUBE Sex Shop, PickleBall Coach)

Music: "Shark Bait" performed by Little Kahunas | Produced by the late, great Peter Miller.

Hosting: Libsyn

"The BIT" and "The BIT Improv Comedy Network" are trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024–2026 Billy Merritt. All rights reserved.
Inquiries: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com
Website: BITComedyNetwork.com

Production + Graphics: Hill Kane, Raising Kane Media + Marketing

This week on the Bit Improv Comedy Network, Billy and Gail kick things off with Mayor Joe of Farmington, Michigan, whose generosity and good humor are on full display as he shares the city's history, its Quaker roots, its famously welcoming small-town vibe, its abundance of coffee houses, and the distinctive character that makes Farmington feel like its own little world — before graciously allowing the BIT Crew to do what they do best: lovingly satirize it all.

From there, things spiral beautifully into a full-on podcast-town fever dream, where civic pride, local personalities, and unchecked microphone access turn community spirit into pure comic chaos.

Charming at first. Then increasingly not normal.

Apologies

The BIT Comedy Network apologizes to the residents of Farmington, Mayor Joe, Farmington coffee houses, Quakers, local historians, the Warner family, ghost hunters, tax preparers, lawyers, accountants, tarot readers, notaries public, public safety professionals, podcast producers, silent coffee shop patrons, anti-outsider committees, front porch enthusiasts, NASA, astronauts, and anyone who expected this episode to remain a normal civic interview.

Director and Creator: Billy Merritt
Producer, Editor & Graphics: Hill Kane

Featuring:
Mayor Joe LaRussa (Himself)
Billy Merrit (Himself, Narrator)
Amber Bellsdale (Joanne Wilson, Room for Improvement Pod Host; Emily, Silent Coffee Shop; Ground Control Barrista #2)
Luke Bovard (Luke Jones, Podcast Producer - Luke's Podcast Hut)
Hill Kane (Gail; Mrs. Stephani Wilson-Jones, Room for Improvement Pod Host; Ground Control Barrista #1)
Don Slovin (Himself, All Kinds of Quaker Foods Pod Host, Astronaut #1)
Jim Tripp (Jerry 2.0/"Receptionist", Saftey Force Dispatch Commander/Rude Podcast Guest)
Katya Vasilaky (Jerry 1.0; Lana, Farmington Safety Force Pod Host)
Angela Washko (Your Boy Bobby, Apothecary Coffee; Jenny Warner, Farmington Safety Force Pod Host)
Gary Yorke (Himself, All Kinds of Quaker Foods Pod Host; Chef Bob, Caffeine Heaven; Astronaut #2)

Music: "Shark Bait" performed by Little Kahunas | Produced by the late, great Peter Miller.

Hosting: Libsyn

"The BIT" and "The BIT Improv Comedy Network" are trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024–2026 Billy Merritt. All rights reserved.
Inquiries: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com
Website: BITComedyNetwork.com

This month on Mainstage, host Billy Merritt welcomes longtime collaborator and improv legend Professor Michael Delaney to talk about one very specific place: Dobbs Ferry, New York.

What begins as a casual conversation about a small Hudson River town quickly spirals into a wildly improvised audio adventure featuring cursed skeletons, extremely unreliable restaurant hours, entrepreneurial ghosts, and a Dalmatian with a Revolutionary War résumé.

Michael shares stories from his years living in Dobbs Ferry, raising a kid outside New York City, biking the Croton Aqueduct, and navigating the town's mysterious dining scene (including a sushi restaurant that specializes in being closed).

From there, the Mainstage ensemble builds an entire comedic universe inspired by the town's lore.

• Billy Merritt interviews Professor Michael Delaney about life in Dobbs Ferry

• The Croton Aqueduct, Hudson River history, and the town's Revolutionary War connections

• The legend of Sushi Mike's — the sushi restaurant that may or may not ever be open

• Ernesto the tomato-growing landlord

• A cursed British skeleton named Derek searching for closure

• A paranormal podcast investigating the town's supernatural problems

• Firehouse drama between jealous Dalmatians

• Graveyard rubbings, haunted cats, and questionable tourism opportunities

• A desperate mission to obtain sushi and lift an ancient curse from the town

The BIT Comedy Network apologizes to the residents of Dobbs Ferry, the Hudson River Valley, George Washington, Martha Washington, British soldiers of the Revolutionary War, cursed skeletons, Dalmatians, the Dobbs Ferry Fire Department, Croton Aqueduct engineers, Ernesto, people sensitive to onions, paranormal podcasters, cursed cats, parents of skeleton-collecting children, and anyone who tried to get a reservation at Sushi Mike's.

Director and Creator: Billy Merritt
Producer, Editor & Graphics: Hill Kane

Featuring:
Michael Delaney
Billy Merrit
Amber Bellsdale
Daniel Belum
Dean Aisles
Don Slovin
Flannery Wilson
Hill Kane
J. Jaramillo
Jason Luna
Jim Tripp

Music: "Shark Bait" performed by Little Kahunas | Produced by the late, great Peter Miller

Hosting: Libsyn

"The BIT" and "The BIT Comedy Network" are trademarks owned by Billy Merritt.
© 2024–2026 Billy Merritt. All rights reserved.
Inquiries: TheBitComedyNetwork@gmail.com