Mr. Reed came looking for comedy material, and his brothers followed along because they are helping with photography and other details.
The three young men were very bright, and energetic and talked a lot. A lot.

"Brandon Reed is my comedy name, and I do everything in that name. Someone already had my name, Brandon Phillips, so I had to get another one, didn't I?" said Mr. Reed.

Mr. Reed grew up in Dundee, Scotland, a much-maligned city in the United Kingdom.

His act at this year's Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland was based on the premise that God was going to destroy the town, and two angels— Mr. Reed and his comedy partner— tried to determine if the city was in fact "the cess-pool of Britain." A review of the act claims that their true and deep affection for the city came through.

Mr. Reed claims he has affection for all Dundees— wherever they may be.
"I can have a home town in a place I've never been to, because it's called Dundee," he said brightly.

"In fact, that's going to be the basis of my act for next year. I'm doing it alone, and it's going to be about how the Dundees are all similar, or different. What makes a Dundee a Dundee? How do they get their names?

How are the people?" said Mr. Reed.
"Actually these Dundee people are very nice," said Mr. Reed. "We bought shirts, and got the ladies at the Old Mill to sign them, and they gave us Jelly Bellies to eat. And we got a key ring, and met the daughter of the woman who owns Diane's Frosty Freeze. We learned a lot of local history," he said, and then proceeded to share some of it.

He also had a stack of photocopies taken from the Village of Dundee's Sesquicentennial book, photos and old newspaper clippings from the Old Mill Museum.

"We have a river in our Dundee, and a bridge. Actually, a railway bridge collapsed there once, and killed a lot of people. Someone wrote a poem about it. He was the world's worst poet," said Mr. Reed. "And our Dundee has a bandstand."

Of course, Dundee, Scotland has a population of about 200,000 but on the other hand, a recently built shopping center angered a lot of people, so both communities have growing pains.
He also was struck by the fact that Dundee, Michigan is a rural community, with many farms surrounding it.

"Our main industries back home are jam and journalism," he said brightly, to this reporter, who could certainly relate.

"I learned that your town was recently for sale," Mr. Reed said. Well, not recently-recently but maybe 175 years ago seems like yesterday to someone from an area with centuries-old castles.

Mr. Reed said that he expects it will take him about six months to write the 55-minute show.

He and his brothers were staying with relatives in Saline, and also planned to visit three more Dundees in the United States. They had recently come from Pittsburgh, to see the setting for the movie "Robocop," of which they are tremendous fans.

"Huge, huge fans," Mr. Reed said. His brothers nodded their agreement.

The brothers have Greyhound passes, which makes all this travel possible.

And yes, they are proud to call themselves "Dundodians." They were greatly amused to learn that Dundee residents prefer not to be called Dundee-anythings, but will own up to being "Dundee-ites" under pressure.

"Oh that is so funny," said Mr. Reed. "Also, we noted that you are called, Dundee, Hub of the Highways; and we are called Dundee, City of Discovery."

Then they were off— anxious to visit the other Dundees and discover what other wonders and similarities await them.