Emmy-nominated comedian Neal Brennan’s behind-the-scenes career is illustrious: He’s written for “Chappelle’s Show,” Nickelodeon’s “All That” and recently “The Mindy Project.” But his return to Comedy Central is bolstering his reputation as a stand-up comic.
Brennan will perform at 918 F Street Oct. 10 to 12, and his hour-long stand-up special, “Women and Black Dudes,” will premiere on Comedy Central in January.
Brennan talked with The Hatchet about Twitter comedy, racial humor and why white guys don’t end up on his podcast show.
Hatchet: You have a really diverse writing and directing background, from “Chappelle’s Show” and “All That” to “The Mindy Project.” How does this influence your comedic style?
Brennan: I’ve gotta say, it doesn’t really influence my comedic style. It’s probably the other way around. Like, if I’m directing a show, maybe my comedic style ends up rubbing off on bits of them. Everything is so versatile, so I’m relatively good at figuring out peoples’ voices, which is kind of part of the job of being a writer. I can kind of figure out the type of show Mindy [Kaling] wants to do… or the type of joke Dave [Chappelle] wants to do.
Hatchet: How does that comedic style influence your upcoming Comedy Central special, “Women and Black Dudes?”
Brennan: The reason it’s called “Women and Black Dudes” is because, well, my material is 95 percent about women or black dudes. Maybe “black dudes” is an oversimplification. Race would be sort of a wider scope. Dave Chappelle’s wife once said, “All you guys talk about are girls and work.” “Work” mostly meant “race” in terms of “Chappelle’s Show.” Those are just the two things I’m interested in.
Hatchet: You were recently named one of the funniest people on Twitter by “Rolling Stone” magazine. How do you transfer comedy into a social media format?
Brennan: Twitter is basically just one-liners; and I’m not a big one-liner comic. There are a couple of jokes on Twitter that I’ve ended up doing on stage. There was one that I do, which started on Twitter, which was basically like, “Marriage is betting someone half your shit that you’ll love them forever,” and I was like, eh, we’ll try it on stage, and it worked on stage.
Hatchet: You’re also involved with the popular podcast “The Champs.” How do you think technology is changing the field of comedy?
Brennan: [Comedy is] more work than it’s ever been. It used to be…Jerry Seinfeld wrote an hour of comedy and just did that hour for fifteen years. Now, you have to write an hour of comedy like every two years, and you have to be tweeting, and you have to have a podcast and you’ve got to make a lot of YouTube videos. You’ve got to do a lot of free work, and at some point you’re kind of like, “Hey, uh, do you mind buying this?”
Hatchet: You’ve had a wide range of guests on “The Champs,” from comedian Aziz Ansari to adult film star Lexington Steele. How do you decide who you want to invite to your show?
Brennan: Well, we’ve never had white guys. It’s mostly black guys, and it’s mostly comedians. Not many black dudes really have podcasts. My friend, Darnell, who’s a black dude was like, “Son, we just don’t fuck with technology like that.” We have guests on our show that you might not get anywhere else…Chris Rock has come on, Blake Griffin has been on a few times. That’s not to say that I don’t know white people, I just tend to have more interesting conversations with black dudes.
