Comedian Neal Brennan On 3 Mics, Amy Schumer and 6 Cool Things About Himself

For a long time Neal Brennan didn’t see himself being a performer. For him it was something akin to “these animals want attention.” Brennan did everything but perform. The guy co-created, wrote and directed Chappelle’s Show with Dave Chappelle. He was the showrunner (or person responsible for the day-to-day operation) for the wildly popular series and was nominated for three Emmys. He also co-wrote the film Half Baked and collaborates regularly with Seth Meyers and Chris Rock.

While working on Chappelle’s Show he had a bit of a eureka moment about his life behind the scenes. “Being a showrunner is not thankless but it is very much like you’re the Secretary of State to somebody else’s president,” explains Brennan. “I realized, wake up. You’re an animal. I mean, I wasn’t at the show watching Dave Chappelle, thinking that should be me. But when it ended, I realized I was hiding. I wanted to perform but I had been ignoring that part of myself.”

So Brennan more or less began from square one—honing his material, doing gigs as an emcee at comedy clubs. “Some people think I had it easy because of Chappelle’s Show. That I was able to jump the line,” he says. “ But I wasn’t really jumping any lines. Emceeing is almost like sweeping up.” He would also bomb sometimes and got rejected. “I didn’t know how to do it,” he recalls. “It took me a while to figure it out.”

Eventually, he had his own successful stand up special on Comedy Central, Women and Black Dudes. He created podcasts and got a regular spot at the famous Laugh Factory comedy club in Los Angeles where he does a mix of old and new standup material. During his podcasts he would talk about his struggle with depression and tell moving stories about his father and being the youngest of 10 brothers and sisters. He found that people strongly identified with his serious stuff as much as his funny standup material. He also had a bunch of whip smart one-liners that he had written over the years. So Brennan placed all three genres (his one-liners, emotional stuff and standup) into one show, 3 Mics which he is currently performing at The Lynn Redgrave Theater in New York City. Presented by John Legend, Brennan’s 75-minute performance manages to be both hilarious and deeply poignant as he shares insight about family, relationships, race, technology, famous people and politics.

Brennan revealed six cool things about himself.

He often, unknowingly, bursts into song.
My girlfriend pointed out that when I move from room to room in my house, I sing or hum. In my head I’m in a sitcom. And I’m doing a transition.

He directed part of the first season of Inside Amy Schumer.
When people get famous, they change or don’t change. Her success didn’t change Amy in the slightest. She’ll still text back in two minutes and answer emails quickly. When I see her, we hug. Amy sees her success as something outside of herself. She’s said she’ll see billboards of Trainwreck and think, who’s that?

In addition to directing TV shows and films, he’s a sought-after commercial director.
I co-directed the recent Bud Light commercial for the Super Bowl with Amy Schumer and Seth Rogan. I hadn’t worked with Seth Rogen before. I knew that we were comfortable with each other and buddies. When on set I was about to give him my note and yelled out, “Seth?” And he said, “What!?” He’s very much a comedy writer in that he’s a little brass and also funny, sarcastic and cutting. He was fun to be around.

He blocks himself from going on the Internet.
Literally, I cannot go online from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. I have a program on my computer called K9. I think it’s for parents to block their kids’ Internet. But I have it because I can’t control my impulses to go on the Internet. So I put my own cone on my head like a dog. Otherwise, I will eat at my stitches.

I’m not even looking at porn. I read viable stuff like The New York Times. But for the most part that’s not why I’m there. I’m just looking at dumb Reddit and goofy nonsense. I’m just there out of habit. There’s a password on K9 so I can ask for the password. If I find myself doing that too much there’s another program called SelfControl where I can’t get a password.

He’s a successful voiceover artist. You can hear him on many Samsung commercials for Samsung Pay, Samsung Galaxy and Samsung Note phones.
Never in a million years did I think I would do voiceovers. I did two voiceovers on Chappelle’s Show because we needed them for sketches. I do voiceovers for Samsung commercials like the S6, S5 and the ones where they compare the iPhone and the Galaxy. They saw my standup clip and called me out of the blue. That was about two years ago. The studio is close to my house in L.A. and I can walk to it. I don’t have to shower. I can bring my dog. It’s great. When I go into the booth I’m just thinking about Jon Hamm and Will Arnett because they’re the kings of voiceover. I try to be them and gravelly.

He offers very helpful relationship advice.
Actually, I give very cynical relationship advice. I’m just very aware of things people do. When a couple breaks up, I’m always wary when they get back together. They both go to their go-to move. The one for men is to be more romantic and the go-to move for women is to be more sexual. They’re going to do that for two weeks and then revert back to the norm. So I believe I give more cynical advice. Or I’d call it realistic.

For example, how do you make sense of a scenario when a guy says, ‘I’ll call you,’ and then doesn’t call?

You can’t listen to men talk. What they say is meaningless. It’s just like “have sex with me, have sex with me, have sex with me.” It’s this drumbeat of please have sex with me. So as a woman, you cannot listen to what a man says. That is what he does. I mean, how long does it take to text somebody? No one is that busy.

Now extended until April at the The Lynn Redgrave Theater, learn more about 3 Mics at 3mics.com.