WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.200 Welcome back to The Deep Dive. This is the show 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:04.660 where we really dig into a significant career, 00:00:04.919 --> 00:00:07.139 look at all the pieces, the source material, 00:00:07.219 --> 00:00:09.179 and try to map out, you know, the definitive 00:00:09.179 --> 00:00:11.740 story. Not just what someone did, but maybe get 00:00:11.740 --> 00:00:14.859 closer to why. Exactly. And today we're diving 00:00:14.859 --> 00:00:18.899 into Neil Brennan. He's this real architect of 00:00:18.899 --> 00:00:22.120 modern comedy. Someone who went from co -creating 00:00:22.120 --> 00:00:24.420 maybe one of the most impactful sketch shows 00:00:24.420 --> 00:00:26.839 ever. You mean Chappelle's show. Right. Chappelle's 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:29.760 show, obviously. But he moved from that to becoming 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:33.299 this like incredibly unique voice of really intense 00:00:33.299 --> 00:00:36.159 self -reflection. Yeah. And I think if Chappelle's 00:00:36.159 --> 00:00:38.100 show is all. You know, you're missing, well, 00:00:38.179 --> 00:00:39.700 maybe the most interesting part of his career. 00:00:39.799 --> 00:00:42.320 Totally. So our mission today is to trace that 00:00:42.320 --> 00:00:44.859 path. How did he go from that high pressure writer's 00:00:44.859 --> 00:00:47.600 room dealing with all that racial satire to standing 00:00:47.600 --> 00:00:50.280 alone on stage with shows like Three Mics or 00:00:50.280 --> 00:00:53.780 Blocks using these really rigid structures? It's 00:00:53.780 --> 00:00:55.960 a story about collaboration, huge collaboration 00:00:55.960 --> 00:00:59.560 that. kind of imploded spectacularly. Yeah. And 00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:01.799 maybe forced him towards meeting absolute creative 00:01:01.799 --> 00:01:04.019 control just so he could talk about his, you 00:01:04.019 --> 00:01:06.400 know, deepest vulnerabilities. So for you listening, 00:01:06.420 --> 00:01:08.599 we're unpacking someone whose work hits pretty 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:11.500 much every major comedy outlet. Neil Brennan, 00:01:11.579 --> 00:01:14.439 American comedian, writer, director, producer, 00:01:14.780 --> 00:01:19.060 podcaster, born back in 73 Villanova, Pennsylvania. 00:01:19.590 --> 00:01:21.950 And yeah, the initial fame, it's all Chappelle's 00:01:21.950 --> 00:01:25.950 show, co -writing that from 2003 to 2006. But 00:01:25.950 --> 00:01:27.989 the work that really defines him now. It's got 00:01:27.989 --> 00:01:30.010 to be three mics, right? That Netflix special 00:01:30.010 --> 00:01:32.709 from 2017. I think so. And what just jumps out 00:01:32.709 --> 00:01:34.650 right away is the sheer range. He's not just 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:37.689 a stand up. He's doing TV. He's doing film. And 00:01:37.689 --> 00:01:39.629 the types of comedy. All over the map. You get 00:01:39.629 --> 00:01:42.189 observational stuff, surreal humor, sketch comedy, 00:01:42.349 --> 00:01:44.390 which, OK, we expect that after Chappelle's show. 00:01:44.489 --> 00:01:46.590 Sure. But then there's black comedy, blue comedy, 00:01:46.689 --> 00:01:49.450 really sharp satire. He's using like every tool 00:01:49.450 --> 00:01:52.230 he has. And the topics he covers mirror that 00:01:52.230 --> 00:01:54.629 whole journey. Early on, it's the big external 00:01:54.629 --> 00:01:57.730 stuff. American politics, pop culture, racism, 00:01:58.030 --> 00:02:02.200 race relations. drug use, sexuality, standard 00:02:02.200 --> 00:02:04.040 comedian fare, kind of. But then there's this 00:02:04.040 --> 00:02:06.599 huge shift, like a gravitational pull inward 00:02:06.599 --> 00:02:09.300 in his later work. It becomes intensely focused 00:02:09.300 --> 00:02:12.060 on mental health. It's like really focused. Using 00:02:12.060 --> 00:02:15.819 his own struggles as the actual material for 00:02:15.819 --> 00:02:18.939 his arguably most powerful art. And that's the 00:02:18.939 --> 00:02:20.939 pivot we want to understand in this deep dive. 00:02:21.080 --> 00:02:24.659 How do you go from writing for like... Nickelodeon's 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:29.120 Kenan and Kel to directing specials about a 25 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:31.639 -year fight with clinical depression and talking 00:02:31.639 --> 00:02:35.360 about trying ayahuasca or transcranial magnetic 00:02:35.360 --> 00:02:37.460 stimulation. That's not just a career change. 00:02:37.560 --> 00:02:39.360 It feels like something deeper, almost like a 00:02:39.360 --> 00:02:42.759 necessary transformation born out of, well, maybe 00:02:42.759 --> 00:02:44.219 trauma. Yeah, I think that's fair to say. Okay, 00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:45.900 so let's unpack that. Let's start at the beginning. 00:02:46.060 --> 00:02:48.219 Right. To get the guy who needs three separate 00:02:48.219 --> 00:02:50.819 microphones on stage, you kind of need to look 00:02:50.819 --> 00:02:53.240 at where he came from. Youngest of 10 kids? 10 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:55.439 in an Irish Catholic family. Yeah, grew up in 00:02:55.439 --> 00:02:57.900 Villanova, PA, then moved to Wilmette, Illinois 00:02:57.900 --> 00:03:00.780 when he was about six. That big family dynamic, 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:05.099 it immediately makes you think loud, probably 00:03:05.099 --> 00:03:07.620 competitive. Oh, definitely chaotic, you'd imagine. 00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:09.680 Being the youngest of 10, especially in that 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:12.020 kind of family, getting noticed probably meant 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:14.620 you had to be the funniest or the quickest. So 00:03:14.620 --> 00:03:17.259 comedy wasn't just like a hobby. It was maybe 00:03:17.259 --> 00:03:19.639 baked into the family environment. Seems like 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:22.349 it. We know his dad's side of the family and 00:03:22.349 --> 00:03:25.129 his five older brothers were all described as 00:03:25.129 --> 00:03:28.349 just funny. Humor was probably, like you said, 00:03:28.409 --> 00:03:30.650 a survival tool, a way to connect in that house. 00:03:30.949 --> 00:03:33.490 And he figured this out pretty early on. Around 00:03:33.490 --> 00:03:35.849 eight or nine, he already knew he was funny. 00:03:36.389 --> 00:03:38.270 And he wasn't just telling knock -knock jokes. 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:41.550 No, he was trying to mimic David Brenner, Richard 00:03:41.550 --> 00:03:44.509 Lewis, Jerry Seinfeld for his classmates. I think 00:03:44.509 --> 00:03:46.530 about that. That's pretty advanced for a kid. 00:03:46.669 --> 00:03:49.400 He wasn't going for easy laughs. He was already 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:53.759 drawn to structure, observation, insight, even 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.419 then. And that foundation connects directly to 00:03:56.419 --> 00:03:58.900 the person who really showed him it could be 00:03:58.900 --> 00:04:01.580 a career. His older brother, Kevin Brennan. Right. 00:04:01.840 --> 00:04:03.699 Kevin was already doing stand up and writing 00:04:03.699 --> 00:04:05.560 while Neil was still in high school. Exactly. 00:04:05.699 --> 00:04:08.159 So Neil had this blueprint right there in the 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.740 family. He'd spend weekends going into New York 00:04:10.740 --> 00:04:13.580 City, watching Kevin perform at the improv. Soaking 00:04:13.580 --> 00:04:17.230 it all in. Totally. And he's backstage meeting 00:04:17.230 --> 00:04:20.769 guys who would become huge names. Dave Attell, 00:04:20.949 --> 00:04:24.350 David Jusko, Ray Romano, Mike Royce. He's seeing 00:04:24.350 --> 00:04:27.050 the whole scene up close as a teenager. That 00:04:27.050 --> 00:04:29.250 must have been incredible exposure. Yeah. And 00:04:29.250 --> 00:04:31.589 he said later that watching his brother seeing 00:04:31.589 --> 00:04:34.949 him actually do it made him realize, oh, you 00:04:34.949 --> 00:04:37.550 can actually make a living from this. It wasn't 00:04:37.550 --> 00:04:40.470 just some far off dream. It was. like a real 00:04:40.470 --> 00:04:43.149 job possibility and that realization seems to 00:04:43.149 --> 00:04:45.290 have lit a fire under him definitely because 00:04:45.290 --> 00:04:48.529 his next move was a big commitment moves to new 00:04:48.529 --> 00:04:51.610 york enrolls in film school at nyu but doesn't 00:04:51.610 --> 00:04:54.089 last long nope drops out after just one year 00:04:54.089 --> 00:04:56.649 it's like why study the theory when the real 00:04:56.649 --> 00:04:58.449 thing is happening right down the street you 00:04:58.449 --> 00:05:00.089 know he needed to be in it which leads to that 00:05:00.089 --> 00:05:04.149 first crucial maybe unglamorous job yeah doorman 00:05:04.149 --> 00:05:06.750 at the boston comedy club in greenwich village 00:05:06.750 --> 00:05:09.800 it's gone now but back then It was a hub. It 00:05:09.800 --> 00:05:12.540 wasn't fancy, but it put him right there. Proximity. 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:14.459 And that proximity paid off almost immediately. 00:05:14.860 --> 00:05:16.839 De Chappelle was performing there all the time. 00:05:16.959 --> 00:05:19.860 And they hit it off. Instantly, apparently. Became 00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:23.860 friends fast. And Brennan, this kid working the 00:05:23.860 --> 00:05:26.720 door, starts pitching jokes to Chappelle. Wow. 00:05:26.939 --> 00:05:29.560 Straight from checking IDs to, like, contributing 00:05:29.560 --> 00:05:31.439 material. Yeah, he was already thinking like 00:05:31.439 --> 00:05:33.439 a collaborator. And he was fully immersed. We 00:05:33.439 --> 00:05:35.279 know he shared an apartment with Jay Moore around 00:05:35.279 --> 00:05:37.699 then, too. Just living and breathing New York 00:05:37.699 --> 00:05:40.980 comedy. That environment sounds intense. It creates 00:05:40.980 --> 00:05:44.399 the opportunity, sure. But also, the pressure 00:05:44.399 --> 00:05:47.139 must have been immense. Huge pressure. And that 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:49.899 pressure leads to his first big creative setback. 00:05:50.079 --> 00:05:52.259 A failure that really knocked him back. Okay, 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:54.139 let's talk about that first time on stage. 1992. 00:05:54.720 --> 00:05:57.949 He's 18. Gets up to do stand -up. And just crickets. 00:05:57.970 --> 00:06:01.069 He said he got no laughs. Nothing. That's gotta 00:06:01.069 --> 00:06:03.769 hurt. Devastatingly, it seems. Because that one 00:06:03.769 --> 00:06:05.850 night of silence from the crowd, it apparently 00:06:05.850 --> 00:06:08.370 shut him down completely. He stopped doing stand 00:06:08.370 --> 00:06:11.310 -up for five whole years. Five years. Just from 00:06:11.310 --> 00:06:13.889 one bad set. That's the story. Five years of 00:06:13.889 --> 00:06:16.550 silence on stage. It shows how deeply that rejection 00:06:16.550 --> 00:06:19.310 hit him. So if you can't perform, you retreat 00:06:19.310 --> 00:06:22.050 to what you can control. Which for him was... 00:06:22.220 --> 00:06:24.740 Writing. Yeah, he needed another way in. And 00:06:24.740 --> 00:06:27.180 interestingly, his first writing gigs weren't 00:06:27.180 --> 00:06:30.019 even straight comedy. He wrote for The Source 00:06:30.019 --> 00:06:32.839 magazine in 92. The hip -hop magazine. Yeah, 00:06:32.980 --> 00:06:35.720 which is fascinating, right? Shows he was already 00:06:35.720 --> 00:06:37.839 tuned in to that cultural frequency, the stuff 00:06:37.839 --> 00:06:40.199 that would later become so central to Chappelle's 00:06:40.199 --> 00:06:43.199 show. Hashtag tag three, early career and the 00:06:43.199 --> 00:06:45.279 birth of a cult classic. Okay, so performing 00:06:45.279 --> 00:06:47.490 is on hold. He focuses on writing, moves out 00:06:47.490 --> 00:06:49.970 to L .A. in the mid 90s. And this is where he 00:06:49.970 --> 00:06:52.370 starts getting those like foundational TV writing 00:06:52.370 --> 00:06:54.389 jobs. Right. The dues paying gigs. He wrote for 00:06:54.389 --> 00:06:56.170 Singled Out. Remember that? With Jenny McCarthy 00:06:56.170 --> 00:07:00.589 and Chris Hardwick. Vaguely. 1995. Then it looks 00:07:00.589 --> 00:07:02.529 like a string of kids or teen focused shows. 00:07:02.589 --> 00:07:05.750 Yeah. The game show Blizz in 96. Then the Nickelodeon 00:07:05.750 --> 00:07:09.000 sketch show. All that for a bit. That was big. 00:07:09.160 --> 00:07:12.439 Yeah, 96, 97, and then the sitcom Kenan and Kel 00:07:12.439 --> 00:07:14.759 in 97. These might seem like, you know, just 00:07:14.759 --> 00:07:17.920 credits on a resume, but they're actually really 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:20.240 important, aren't they? Absolutely crucial. Writing 00:07:20.240 --> 00:07:22.180 for those kinds of shows forces you to learn 00:07:22.180 --> 00:07:25.079 structure. You need rapid -fire punchlines, clear 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:27.319 character voices, hitting time cues precisely. 00:07:27.879 --> 00:07:30.620 All the mechanics. Exactly. The content might 00:07:30.620 --> 00:07:33.560 have been, you know, safe and for kids, but he 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:36.060 was building the technical toolkit. learning 00:07:36.060 --> 00:07:38.100 how to structure comedy. Even if it was chaos, 00:07:38.240 --> 00:07:40.259 he'd structure later. And that technical skill 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:43.759 then gets combined with that old friendship with 00:07:43.759 --> 00:07:45.959 Chappelle. Right. They reconnect for their first 00:07:45.959 --> 00:07:48.720 really big swing together. Yeah. The movie Half 00:07:48.720 --> 00:07:51.019 -Baked. They co -wrote the script. It comes out 00:07:51.019 --> 00:07:54.800 January 1998. This feels like a huge moment for 00:07:54.800 --> 00:07:57.019 both of them, moving from clubs and TV writing 00:07:57.019 --> 00:07:59.839 to a feature film. Massive opportunity. But the 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:01.920 movie didn't land. Not at first, anyway. Now 00:08:01.920 --> 00:08:04.279 it's a cult classic, especially for... you know, 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:06.220 a certain audience. Oh, completely. It's iconic 00:08:06.220 --> 00:08:09.220 now. But back then, it was pretty much panned 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:11.680 by critics and it failed commercially. The irony 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:14.300 is thick considering its legacy now. And that 00:08:14.300 --> 00:08:17.019 initial failure wasn't just like a bad box office 00:08:17.019 --> 00:08:20.220 report. It hit them hard. Really hard. Brennan 00:08:20.220 --> 00:08:23.199 himself called that period, the time around the 00:08:23.199 --> 00:08:25.319 film's release, probably the worst year of my 00:08:25.319 --> 00:08:28.399 life, creatively and personally. Wow. Worst year 00:08:28.399 --> 00:08:30.899 of my life. That's heavy. He poured himself into 00:08:30.899 --> 00:08:33.279 this big collaboration and it just fell apart. 00:08:33.659 --> 00:08:35.740 And it wasn't just the project. It apparently 00:08:35.740 --> 00:08:37.879 wrecked their friendship, too, at least for a 00:08:37.879 --> 00:08:41.360 while. Chappelle described the aftermath. He 00:08:41.360 --> 00:08:44.629 said it was like leaving a crime scene. Leaving 00:08:44.629 --> 00:08:46.649 a crime scene. That tells you everything about 00:08:46.649 --> 00:08:48.549 the emotional fallout. Yeah, they lost touch 00:08:48.549 --> 00:08:50.950 completely after that. So for you listening, 00:08:51.029 --> 00:08:53.190 you have to clock this moment. This is maybe 00:08:53.190 --> 00:08:56.850 the first major sign that for Brennan, deep collaboration 00:08:56.850 --> 00:09:00.289 comes with this massive risk of trauma. It really 00:09:00.289 --> 00:09:02.769 sets the table for why he might crave more control 00:09:02.769 --> 00:09:06.409 later on. Yeah, the lesson seems to be when you 00:09:06.409 --> 00:09:09.000 pour everything into a shared project. You share 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.600 the failure just as deeply. It wasn't just the 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:14.240 movie that failed. Their partnership kind of 00:09:14.240 --> 00:09:16.580 died with it temporarily. Which makes the fact 00:09:16.580 --> 00:09:18.279 that they got back together for Chappelle's show 00:09:18.279 --> 00:09:20.320 even more remarkable, really. It really is. They 00:09:20.320 --> 00:09:22.179 somehow managed to take that half -baked disaster 00:09:22.179 --> 00:09:25.720 and channel it. They regrouped to co -create, 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:28.639 co -write, and co -executive produce this sketch 00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:32.379 show. Premiered January 2003. And you can almost 00:09:32.379 --> 00:09:34.340 see the lessons learned from Half -Baked and 00:09:34.340 --> 00:09:37.179 how they approached it. They were meticulous. 00:09:37.179 --> 00:09:39.600 They actually read that book live from New York, 00:09:39.779 --> 00:09:42.299 The Oral History of SNL. Right, like studying 00:09:42.299 --> 00:09:44.700 the masters. Yeah, looking for guidance, structure. 00:09:44.980 --> 00:09:47.200 They weren't just winging it. They were trying 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:49.460 to build something solid. And they had this pact, 00:09:49.679 --> 00:09:52.000 right, about the writing. Yeah, a really important 00:09:52.000 --> 00:09:54.259 creative pact. They wrote almost everything themselves, 00:09:54.620 --> 00:09:57.840 very few outside writers. But the key part was 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:01.399 they agreed never to reveal who wrote which specific 00:10:01.399 --> 00:10:05.059 sketch. Why do that? Well, maybe it wasn't just 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:08.080 about being humble. It created this shared ownership, 00:10:08.240 --> 00:10:11.559 maybe as a shield. A way to avoid the kind of 00:10:11.559 --> 00:10:13.779 blame or sole responsibility that might have 00:10:13.779 --> 00:10:16.799 hurt them after half -baked. Protect the partnership. 00:10:17.139 --> 00:10:19.779 A unified front. Yeah. Especially important given 00:10:19.779 --> 00:10:21.299 the kind of material they were doing. Exactly. 00:10:21.340 --> 00:10:23.679 And Brennan wasn't just writing. He was directing, 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:26.419 too. He directed some really major sketches in 00:10:26.419 --> 00:10:28.440 season two, including... The Rick James sketch. 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:30.960 The Rick James sketch, yeah. Which people sometimes 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:33.500 forget he directed. That sketch is legendary. 00:10:33.779 --> 00:10:37.759 But it's also pure chaos on screen. Directing 00:10:37.759 --> 00:10:39.940 that must have required incredible control. For 00:10:39.940 --> 00:10:42.980 sure. High energy, multiple moving parts, Chappelle 00:10:42.980 --> 00:10:45.860 giving that iconic performance. Brennan had to 00:10:45.860 --> 00:10:48.320 orchestrate all of that. And he got recognition 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.570 for it three Emmy noms in 2004. Director, writer, 00:10:52.809 --> 00:10:55.149 producer. And the show itself just exploded. 00:10:55.250 --> 00:10:57.669 By the end of season two, it wasn't just popular. 00:10:57.850 --> 00:11:00.669 It was huge. Comedy Central's highest rated show. 00:11:00.850 --> 00:11:02.590 It was the show everyone was talking about. It 00:11:02.590 --> 00:11:05.789 was shaping language, culture, comedy itself. 00:11:06.090 --> 00:11:08.269 You couldn't escape it. And its influence even 00:11:08.269 --> 00:11:10.929 spread to music. The Roots were the music directors 00:11:10.929 --> 00:11:13.509 for seasons two and three. That's cool. And here's 00:11:13.509 --> 00:11:15.269 a little tidbit showing Brennan's connections. 00:11:15.710 --> 00:11:18.269 He later recommended The Roots to Jimmy Fallon 00:11:18.269 --> 00:11:20.940 for Late Night. No way. So he'll make that happen. 00:11:21.000 --> 00:11:23.419 Apparently so. Shows he was thinking about the 00:11:23.419 --> 00:11:26.419 whole ecosystem connecting talent. Okay, so peak 00:11:26.419 --> 00:11:29.279 success. Everything's going amazingly well. Chappelle 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:31.720 signs this massive deal in 2004, right? Like 00:11:31.720 --> 00:11:35.200 $50 million for two more seasons. $50 million. 00:11:35.299 --> 00:11:37.379 They were on top of the world. Peak security, 00:11:37.580 --> 00:11:40.779 peak success. And then it all just collapses. 00:11:41.309 --> 00:11:43.610 Again. Yeah. Just like half -baked, but on a 00:11:43.610 --> 00:11:46.889 much, much bigger scale. Sudden, traumatic, and 00:11:46.889 --> 00:11:49.049 completely out of Brennan's control, it seems. 00:11:49.429 --> 00:11:52.929 April 2005, Chappelle just walks away. Before 00:11:52.929 --> 00:11:55.529 season three even premieres. Right. And here's 00:11:55.529 --> 00:11:57.429 the part that echoes the half -baked aftermath 00:11:57.429 --> 00:12:00.110 and really reinforces Brennan's later trajectory. 00:12:00.909 --> 00:12:03.629 Chappelle left without telling Brennan. Or the 00:12:03.629 --> 00:12:07.379 crew. Just gone. Man. Imagine that your partner, 00:12:07.500 --> 00:12:09.419 your co -creator on the biggest thing you've 00:12:09.419 --> 00:12:12.379 ever done just vanishes. The whole $50 million 00:12:12.379 --> 00:12:15.039 machine grinds to a halt. That's got to be immense 00:12:15.039 --> 00:12:17.000 creative trauma. The structure they built, that 00:12:17.000 --> 00:12:19.179 pact of shared ownership, it couldn't stop this 00:12:19.179 --> 00:12:21.299 internal implosion. It was totally outside his 00:12:21.299 --> 00:12:23.059 control. So what happens? Who cleans up the mess? 00:12:23.419 --> 00:12:25.720 Brennan, mostly. The season three premiere gets 00:12:25.720 --> 00:12:28.039 delayed. Comedy Central is freaking out. And 00:12:28.039 --> 00:12:30.159 it falls to Brennan to basically sift through 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:32.240 the wreckage. He compiles the sketches they had 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:35.039 shot. The lost episodes. Exactly. They finally 00:12:35.039 --> 00:12:38.659 aired in July 2006. But it's like this heartbreaking 00:12:38.659 --> 00:12:41.480 epilogue. A professional divorce played out on 00:12:41.480 --> 00:12:44.159 screen. He's left cleaning up the crime scene 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:46.720 again. But this time it's a $50 million one. 00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:48.980 That experience has got to fundamentally change 00:12:48.980 --> 00:12:52.129 how you view collaboration, right? Mm -hmm. especially 00:12:52.129 --> 00:12:54.429 massive high -stakes collaboration. How could 00:12:54.429 --> 00:12:56.710 it not? It seems like the immediate next steps 00:12:56.710 --> 00:12:59.529 in his career show this real, almost desperate 00:12:59.529 --> 00:13:02.330 need for autonomy. Okay, so Chappelle's show 00:13:02.330 --> 00:13:05.250 implodes. That massive collaboration ends traumatically. 00:13:05.750 --> 00:13:08.710 What does Brennan do next? It looks like he kind 00:13:08.710 --> 00:13:10.470 of splits his focus. Yeah, that's a good way 00:13:10.470 --> 00:13:12.950 to put it. On one hand, he needs to keep working, 00:13:13.029 --> 00:13:15.480 right? Prove he's still a viable talent in Hollywood. 00:13:15.580 --> 00:13:17.480 So you see him doing professional directing and 00:13:17.480 --> 00:13:19.360 high level writing gigs. Right. The commodity 00:13:19.360 --> 00:13:22.039 path, keeping the career going. He directed and 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:24.820 co -wrote that TV movie Totally Awesome in 2006. 00:13:25.179 --> 00:13:27.460 Yeah. And then directed the feature film The 00:13:27.460 --> 00:13:30.879 Goods, Live Hard, Sell Hard in 2009, showing 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:33.019 he could handle a movie set cinematic comedy. 00:13:33.179 --> 00:13:35.379 And his directing work continued. He did a bunch 00:13:35.379 --> 00:13:37.740 of episodes 10, I think, of Inside Amy Schumer 00:13:37.740 --> 00:13:40.740 in 2013. Which is significant, right? Another 00:13:40.740 --> 00:13:44.000 really successful, structurally interesting sketch 00:13:44.000 --> 00:13:46.679 show. It shows he hadn't soured on collaboration 00:13:46.679 --> 00:13:49.360 entirely, but maybe learned how to manage it 00:13:49.360 --> 00:13:51.559 on a different scale. Smaller, more contained, 00:13:51.720 --> 00:13:54.200 maybe. He also kept his hand in as a top -tier 00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:57.159 joke writer for big events, like the Oscars in 00:13:57.159 --> 00:14:00.879 2011. And Seth Meyers' speech at the White House 00:14:00.879 --> 00:14:03.279 Correspondents' Dinner that same year. Yeah, 00:14:03.340 --> 00:14:05.899 those games require serious professionalism, 00:14:06.000 --> 00:14:08.720 writing in someone else's voice. hitting specific 00:14:08.720 --> 00:14:12.120 marks under pressure, skills he honed way back 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:14.559 in those early TV jobs. And he became a regular 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:16.799 contributor on The Daily Show starting in 2016. 00:14:17.580 --> 00:14:19.919 Trevor's friend, Neil. Right. So all of that 00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.320 directing, writing speeches, The Daily Show, 00:14:22.419 --> 00:14:25.139 that's the steady professional side, kept him 00:14:25.139 --> 00:14:27.759 working, kept him relevant. But at the same time, 00:14:27.879 --> 00:14:30.480 something else was brewing, something totally 00:14:30.480 --> 00:14:31.919 different. This is where it gets really interesting 00:14:31.919 --> 00:14:34.360 for me. Because while he's doing all this high 00:14:34.360 --> 00:14:37.019 -level Hollywood stuff. Yeah. He makes this immediate 00:14:37.019 --> 00:14:40.000 jump away from that high pressure TV world, away 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:42.259 from Comedy Central's whole infrastructure. And 00:14:42.259 --> 00:14:44.980 dives in. Podcasting, like early podcasting. 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:49.259 Raw, unpolished, totally independent. Ah, right. 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:52.500 The Champs. That started back in 2011, ran until 00:14:52.500 --> 00:14:56.159 2016. With Moshe Kasher and DJ Doug Pound. Yeah. 00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:59.860 And that podcast feels like. Like a retreat almost. 00:14:59.940 --> 00:15:02.799 Low stakes compared to TV. Totally unscripted. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:05.580 Just a space to talk and figure things out without 00:15:05.580 --> 00:15:08.279 network notes or pressure. Complete autonomy. 00:15:08.600 --> 00:15:10.120 And the format itself was pretty unique. Kind 00:15:10.120 --> 00:15:11.919 of pushing boundaries in its own way. Definitely. 00:15:12.220 --> 00:15:15.139 Moshe Kachur described it as having a rotating 00:15:15.139 --> 00:15:17.759 black guy guest. A different black guest every 00:15:17.759 --> 00:15:19.960 week. And Doug Pound would be dropping beats 00:15:19.960 --> 00:15:22.340 and sound effects. So it let Brennan keep exploring 00:15:22.340 --> 00:15:25.179 those themes of race and culture. The stuff from 00:15:25.179 --> 00:15:28.440 Chappelle's show. but in this loose conversational 00:15:28.440 --> 00:15:30.720 way, almost like therapy through conversation. 00:15:30.820 --> 00:15:33.179 Totally. And they had great guests, Chris Rock, 00:15:33.360 --> 00:15:36.019 Wayne Brady, the Wayans brothers, Blake Griffin 00:15:36.019 --> 00:15:38.220 even. He sometimes went off format too, right? 00:15:38.299 --> 00:15:41.279 I'd guess like Bobby Lee, Sasha Gray, Jose Canseco. 00:15:41.440 --> 00:15:43.460 Yeah, they weren't totally rigid, but the core 00:15:43.460 --> 00:15:46.299 idea was that deep, funny, sometimes uncomfortable 00:15:46.299 --> 00:15:49.059 conversation about culture. And it got noticed 00:15:49.059 --> 00:15:52.659 LA Weekly named it Best Podcast in 2014. So what 00:15:52.659 --> 00:15:55.279 you're seeing here is Brennan finding a medium 00:15:55.279 --> 00:15:58.139 that values authenticity and gives him that control. 00:15:58.279 --> 00:16:00.340 The two things that seem to blow up on him in 00:16:00.340 --> 00:16:02.799 his big PV collaborations. Exactly. And this 00:16:02.799 --> 00:16:05.279 intimate, autonomous format, it feels like it's 00:16:05.279 --> 00:16:07.840 setting the stage perfectly for his next massive 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:10.340 creative leap. The stand -up special that would 00:16:10.340 --> 00:16:13.799 redefine him. So he explores this unstructured, 00:16:13.860 --> 00:16:17.240 intimate conversation on the champs. and then 00:16:17.240 --> 00:16:20.559 pivots hard into creating maybe his most structured 00:16:20.559 --> 00:16:24.139 work ever three mics yeah it feels like the absolute 00:16:24.139 --> 00:16:26.700 culmination of everything he learned writing 00:16:26.700 --> 00:16:30.399 directing performing and crucially using structure 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.759 to contain really difficult emotional stuff he 00:16:33.759 --> 00:16:36.019 started developing it around 2015 right working 00:16:36.019 --> 00:16:37.779 it out in l .a then took it to new york yeah 00:16:37.779 --> 00:16:40.100 ran it at the lynn redgrave theater and the core 00:16:40.100 --> 00:16:43.139 idea the innovation is just brilliant in its 00:16:43.139 --> 00:16:46.309 simplicity Three microphones on stage. Physically 00:16:46.309 --> 00:16:48.149 separate. Physically separate. And each one has 00:16:48.149 --> 00:16:51.250 a very specific, non -negotiable job. It's incredibly 00:16:51.250 --> 00:16:53.529 rigid. Okay, break down the three mics for us 00:16:53.529 --> 00:16:55.610 because the structure is the genius here. Right. 00:16:55.669 --> 00:16:59.070 So mic one, that was purely for reading one -liners 00:16:59.070 --> 00:17:01.889 off index cards. Like quick, punchy observational 00:17:01.889 --> 00:17:04.990 jokes. Bam, bam, bam. Exactly. Pure joke mechanics. 00:17:04.990 --> 00:17:07.230 The kind of stuff he admired in Seinfeld and 00:17:07.230 --> 00:17:09.990 Brenner way back when. Safe, controlled laughs. 00:17:10.329 --> 00:17:13.029 Okay. Mic one. One -liners. What about mic three? 00:17:13.089 --> 00:17:14.630 Let's skip two for a second. Okay, mic three. 00:17:14.930 --> 00:17:17.930 That was for traditional stand -up. Longer stories, 00:17:18.150 --> 00:17:21.029 bits with a setup, a build, a punchline, more 00:17:21.029 --> 00:17:23.829 narrative. This uses all that technical skill 00:17:23.829 --> 00:17:26.829 he built writing for TV shows. Got it. One -liners, 00:17:26.829 --> 00:17:29.950 traditional stand -up. So, mic two. The middle 00:17:29.950 --> 00:17:32.990 Mike. Mike 2 was the kill shot. That Mike was 00:17:32.990 --> 00:17:35.190 reserved only for talking about the heavy stuff. 00:17:35.569 --> 00:17:37.589 Dealing with his clinical depression, his really 00:17:37.589 --> 00:17:40.250 difficult relationship with his dad, deep personal 00:17:40.250 --> 00:17:42.690 trauma. It wasn't jokes. No jokes at Mike 2, 00:17:42.750 --> 00:17:45.789 just raw, painful honesty. Confession, basically. 00:17:45.829 --> 00:17:47.609 Oh, so you had these three totally different 00:17:47.609 --> 00:17:50.069 modes right next to each other. And the brilliance 00:17:50.069 --> 00:17:52.509 is how the structure forces them together. It 00:17:52.509 --> 00:17:54.250 stops the show from just becoming a depressing 00:17:54.250 --> 00:17:56.430 therapy session, but it also prevents it from 00:17:56.430 --> 00:17:58.829 being just surface level jokes. How so? Because 00:17:58.829 --> 00:18:01.630 the structure dictates the flow. He has to move 00:18:01.630 --> 00:18:04.990 between the mics. So a moment of intense, raw 00:18:04.990 --> 00:18:07.390 pain at mic two might be immediately followed 00:18:07.390 --> 00:18:11.309 by a quick, sharp one liner at mic one or a more 00:18:11.309 --> 00:18:14.089 structured comedic bit at mic three. It creates 00:18:14.089 --> 00:18:17.410 this emotional whiplash for the audience. Exactly. 00:18:17.569 --> 00:18:20.089 Which kind of mirrors the experience of depression 00:18:20.089 --> 00:18:23.390 itself, right? Dark periods broken up by moments 00:18:23.390 --> 00:18:26.049 of almost manic observation or forced humor. 00:18:26.230 --> 00:18:28.970 The structure contains the chaos. And the audience 00:18:28.970 --> 00:18:31.769 knows the rules. They know what each mic means. 00:18:31.990 --> 00:18:34.549 Right. So they can process the trauma from mic 00:18:34.549 --> 00:18:36.890 two and then laugh at mic one or three without 00:18:36.890 --> 00:18:39.710 feeling weird about it. It gives permission. 00:18:39.849 --> 00:18:41.930 The structure controls the experience for everyone. 00:18:42.130 --> 00:18:44.809 When Netflix dropped three mics in 2017, it felt 00:18:44.809 --> 00:18:47.549 like a landmark moment. It cemented him as this 00:18:47.549 --> 00:18:49.710 really singular artist, not just a writer or 00:18:49.710 --> 00:18:52.569 director. Totally. That format using rigid structure 00:18:52.569 --> 00:18:55.170 to deliver incredibly vulnerable honesty changed 00:18:55.170 --> 00:18:57.049 the game for what a stand -up special could even 00:18:57.049 --> 00:19:00.009 be. And that structural idea, that way of framing 00:19:00.009 --> 00:19:03.109 vulnerability, it carried over into his next 00:19:03.109 --> 00:19:05.990 big show, didn't it? Yeah. Unacceptable. It debuted 00:19:05.990 --> 00:19:08.950 in New York in August 2021. And significantly, 00:19:09.029 --> 00:19:11.369 it was directed by Derek DelGaudio. DelGaudio. 00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:14.130 The guy behind In and of Itself. The magician 00:19:14.130 --> 00:19:16.690 storyteller. The very same. An artist who is 00:19:16.690 --> 00:19:18.710 all about structure, narrative, and illusion. 00:19:19.390 --> 00:19:21.710 Bringing him in really underscores Brennan's 00:19:21.710 --> 00:19:25.390 continued focus on using form to shape the content. 00:19:25.609 --> 00:19:27.730 And Unacceptable eventually became the Netflix 00:19:27.730 --> 00:19:31.440 special Neil Brennan. Right. Released in 2022. 00:19:31.500 --> 00:19:34.740 And that title change, Blocks, is super indicative. 00:19:34.980 --> 00:19:36.960 The structure isn't three physical mics anymore. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:39.619 It's this concept of psychological blocks, the 00:19:39.619 --> 00:19:41.819 things that hold us back, the insecurities. So 00:19:41.819 --> 00:19:44.559 still using a clear framework for introspection, 00:19:44.700 --> 00:19:47.160 just maybe a more somatic one this time. Hashtag 00:19:47.160 --> 00:19:50.200 Shag7, mental health, ayahuasca, and the Blocks 00:19:50.200 --> 00:19:53.180 podcast. And this focus on mics, on blocks, it 00:19:53.180 --> 00:19:55.660 comes from a very real place. A long, hard struggle. 00:19:55.859 --> 00:19:57.299 Brennan's been open about dealing with depression 00:19:57.299 --> 00:20:00.309 for, what, 25 years? Yeah, 25 -year battle. And 00:20:00.309 --> 00:20:02.170 it wasn't just, you know, taking some pills and 00:20:02.170 --> 00:20:04.250 getting on with it. He went to extreme lengths 00:20:04.250 --> 00:20:07.829 to find relief. 25 years. That's most of his 00:20:07.829 --> 00:20:11.130 adult life defined by this struggle. And, yeah, 00:20:11.230 --> 00:20:13.509 the lengths he went to are pretty extraordinary. 00:20:13.589 --> 00:20:15.430 He talks about trying all sorts of treatments, 00:20:15.690 --> 00:20:18.069 including traveling all the way to China. For 00:20:18.069 --> 00:20:20.369 TMS, right, transcranial magnetic stimulation. 00:20:20.549 --> 00:20:22.470 Exactly. For anyone listening who doesn't know, 00:20:22.549 --> 00:20:25.869 TMS is this pretty intense non -drug treatment. 00:20:26.329 --> 00:20:28.869 uses magnetic fields to stimulate brain activity. 00:20:29.109 --> 00:20:31.970 The fact that he flew halfway around the world 00:20:31.970 --> 00:20:35.390 for this experimental procedure, it really tells 00:20:35.390 --> 00:20:38.410 you how severe the depression was and how desperate 00:20:38.410 --> 00:20:41.099 he was for something to work. that desperation 00:20:41.099 --> 00:20:43.980 must fuel the honesty we see on stage. Absolutely. 00:20:44.140 --> 00:20:45.799 And he didn't just keep it private. He was in 00:20:45.799 --> 00:20:48.720 that YouTube documentary in 2019, Laughing Matters, 00:20:48.720 --> 00:20:50.680 talking about mental health with other comics. 00:20:50.859 --> 00:20:53.299 He's consistently used his platform to try and 00:20:53.299 --> 00:20:55.960 destigmatize this stuff, turning his pain into, 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:59.839 well, art and maybe a public service too. Alongside 00:20:59.839 --> 00:21:01.559 the medical treatments, there was also this huge 00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:03.599 spiritual shift happening, right? Which ties 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:05.420 into his later podcasting work. Yeah, this is 00:21:05.420 --> 00:21:07.660 fascinating. For years, he identified as an atheist. 00:21:08.190 --> 00:21:10.869 Pretty firmly, it seemed. But that changed. Completely. 00:21:11.130 --> 00:21:14.109 In November 2020, he said he wasn't an atheist 00:21:14.109 --> 00:21:17.029 anymore. And the reason, he'd used ayahuasca 00:21:17.029 --> 00:21:20.359 several times. Whoa. ayahuasca that's a powerful 00:21:20.359 --> 00:21:23.180 psychedelic often used for intense spiritual 00:21:23.180 --> 00:21:26.319 or psychological experiences right often in these 00:21:26.319 --> 00:21:29.279 ritual settings aimed at profound insights ego 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:31.880 dissolution for him to go from atheism to embracing 00:21:31.880 --> 00:21:34.579 something like that driven by this search for 00:21:34.579 --> 00:21:37.680 mental peace it shows this radical reshaping 00:21:37.680 --> 00:21:40.259 of his whole world view he needed structure in 00:21:40.259 --> 00:21:42.960 his comedy but maybe transcendence in his personal 00:21:42.960 --> 00:21:45.890 life in this personal evolution The depression, 00:21:46.009 --> 00:21:48.470 the search for treatments, the spiritual shift, 00:21:48.569 --> 00:21:51.329 it all feeds directly back into his podcasting. 00:21:51.450 --> 00:21:54.089 After The Champs ended, he started How Neil Feel 00:21:54.089 --> 00:21:57.269 in 2019. With Bianca Siaibashi. And How Neil 00:21:57.269 --> 00:21:59.869 Feel feels like a bridge. Still conversational, 00:21:59.990 --> 00:22:02.289 talking current events, personal lives, interviewing 00:22:02.289 --> 00:22:05.720 friends. maintaining that intimacy but it had 00:22:05.720 --> 00:22:07.880 structure too didn't it like regular segments 00:22:07.880 --> 00:22:10.440 yes small structures to keep it focused doc watch 00:22:10.440 --> 00:22:12.559 where they discuss documentaries neil's gone 00:22:12.559 --> 00:22:14.539 apologize where he'd apologize for saying something 00:22:14.539 --> 00:22:17.500 dumb dumb purchase emails for listener questions 00:22:18.009 --> 00:22:20.049 Even in casual conversation, he's using these 00:22:20.049 --> 00:22:22.789 little frameworks. Exactly. But his latest podcast, 00:22:23.069 --> 00:22:26.049 The Blocks Podcast, starting December 2022, that 00:22:26.049 --> 00:22:28.410 feels like the true synthesis of everything. 00:22:28.789 --> 00:22:31.329 Suggested by Jimmy Carr, apparently. And David 00:22:31.329 --> 00:22:33.170 Letterman was the first guest. That's major league. 00:22:33.349 --> 00:22:36.670 Totally. And the format. It directly mirrors 00:22:36.670 --> 00:22:40.329 his Netflix special Blocks. He uses that concept, 00:22:40.410 --> 00:22:43.210 the internal barriers, the insecurities, the 00:22:43.210 --> 00:22:45.849 things that make us feel isolated or lonely. 00:22:46.190 --> 00:22:48.269 He uses that as the actual topic of conversation 00:22:48.269 --> 00:22:50.650 with his guests. Precisely. He gets these high 00:22:50.650 --> 00:22:54.289 profile, often very guarded people and asks them 00:22:54.289 --> 00:22:57.170 about their blocks. What isolates them? How do 00:22:57.170 --> 00:22:59.690 they try to overcome it? So he took the structure 00:22:59.690 --> 00:23:01.890 he used for his own vulnerability in Three Mics 00:23:01.890 --> 00:23:04.269 and Blocks and turned it into a framework for 00:23:04.269 --> 00:23:06.710 other people to be vulnerable. Yes. He transformed 00:23:06.710 --> 00:23:10.289 his personal coping mechanism into this shared, 00:23:10.289 --> 00:23:13.289 almost therapeutic platform for public figures. 00:23:13.410 --> 00:23:15.789 It's brilliant. And we saw that come full circle, 00:23:15.869 --> 00:23:17.250 right? There was an episode where Jimmy Carr 00:23:17.250 --> 00:23:19.279 actually interviewed him. Yeah, flip the script. 00:23:19.400 --> 00:23:21.920 And they talk specifically about how ayahuasca 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:24.619 had helped Brennan deal with his blocks. So it 00:23:24.619 --> 00:23:26.640 brings his spiritual journey, his mental health 00:23:26.640 --> 00:23:28.960 struggles, his core vulnerability right into 00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:31.440 the show's structure. The block concept became 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:34.440 this tool for broader conversation. Hashtag DBeth. 00:23:34.619 --> 00:23:37.359 Conclusion and final thought. Okay, so let's 00:23:37.359 --> 00:23:39.339 pull this all together. For you listening, what's 00:23:39.339 --> 00:23:41.539 the big picture here? We followed this really 00:23:41.539 --> 00:23:44.519 incredible path. Brennan starts as a writer, 00:23:44.599 --> 00:23:47.460 focused on external stuff, big sketch comedy. 00:23:47.819 --> 00:23:49.819 Massive collaboration with Chappelle's show. 00:23:49.960 --> 00:23:53.500 That huge mass market spectacle. And he transitions 00:23:53.500 --> 00:23:55.920 or maybe is forced to transition into this deeply 00:23:55.920 --> 00:23:58.680 personal, highly experimental, self -directed 00:23:58.680 --> 00:24:01.960 artist focused almost entirely inward on introspection. 00:24:02.099 --> 00:24:05.180 And the change in his main tools, his mediums, 00:24:05.180 --> 00:24:08.160 is stark. He basically abandons the shaky ground 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:10.059 of network TV collaboration. Because it burned 00:24:10.059 --> 00:24:14.160 him. Twice. Badly. Right. And instead, he finds 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:16.960 stability and control on the solitary stand -up 00:24:16.960 --> 00:24:19.079 stage and in the intimate space of the podcast 00:24:19.079 --> 00:24:22.519 booth. He swapped their shared writing pact on 00:24:22.519 --> 00:24:25.079 Chappelle's show for the absolute structural 00:24:25.079 --> 00:24:29.339 control of three mics. Every word was his, every 00:24:29.339 --> 00:24:32.200 feeling managed by his rules. And that structure 00:24:32.200 --> 00:24:34.670 is everything when it comes to the honesty. his 00:24:34.670 --> 00:24:37.250 later work three mics blocks the special blocks 00:24:37.250 --> 00:24:39.910 the podcast it all uses these formal constraints 00:24:39.910 --> 00:24:43.369 the mics the block concept they're like scaffolding 00:24:43.369 --> 00:24:45.549 they're necessary support beams that allow him 00:24:45.549 --> 00:24:48.069 to build something out of radical personal honesty 00:24:48.069 --> 00:24:49.970 about mental health it's like the structure isn't 00:24:49.970 --> 00:24:53.730 there to hide the pain but to make it Make it 00:24:53.730 --> 00:24:56.049 artistically coherent. Exactly. It's calculated 00:24:56.049 --> 00:24:58.730 vulnerability. The Strucker gives the audience, 00:24:58.950 --> 00:25:01.450 and maybe him too, a clear path through the difficult 00:25:01.450 --> 00:25:04.049 stuff. It stops the rawness from just being overwhelming 00:25:04.049 --> 00:25:06.849 or shapeless. It provides that necessary frame 00:25:06.849 --> 00:25:08.990 to discuss really heavy topics like clinical 00:25:08.990 --> 00:25:11.490 depression and trauma in a way that's still somehow 00:25:11.490 --> 00:25:13.730 entertaining and definitely insightful. Which 00:25:13.730 --> 00:25:16.089 brings us back to that core tension in his creative 00:25:16.089 --> 00:25:18.369 life. And it leaves us with a pretty provocative 00:25:18.369 --> 00:25:20.650 question, doesn't it? I think so. Considering 00:25:20.650 --> 00:25:22.730 the commercial failure of Half -Baked, that first 00:25:22.730 --> 00:25:25.150 big collaboration that damaged his friendship 00:25:25.150 --> 00:25:28.130 with Chappelle, and then the sudden catastrophic 00:25:28.130 --> 00:25:31.250 collapse of Chappelle's show, the peak of collaborative 00:25:31.250 --> 00:25:35.250 success, is Neil Brennan's current success, his 00:25:35.250 --> 00:25:38.170 resonant later work, fundamentally rooted in 00:25:38.170 --> 00:25:40.990 avoiding that kind of collaboration? Is it built 00:25:40.990 --> 00:25:43.430 on the intentional isolation and total creative 00:25:43.430 --> 00:25:46.109 control he found in his one -man shows and podcasts? 00:25:46.940 --> 00:25:49.700 It really suggests that for him, maybe the answer 00:25:49.700 --> 00:25:52.480 is yes. His biggest early successes were shared, 00:25:52.579 --> 00:25:54.980 but they both ended traumatically, seemingly 00:25:54.980 --> 00:25:57.200 teaching him that trusting his creative fate 00:25:57.200 --> 00:25:59.559 to others was just too risky. So his leader work 00:25:59.559 --> 00:26:02.380 becomes almost entirely self -driven, self -written, 00:26:02.480 --> 00:26:05.059 self -performed, structured by him alone. Which 00:26:05.059 --> 00:26:07.660 forces the focus inward. His whole career path 00:26:07.660 --> 00:26:09.779 seems to argue that Maybe for certain artists 00:26:09.779 --> 00:26:11.259 dealing with certain kinds of vulnerability, 00:26:11.579 --> 00:26:14.500 that deep honesty can only truly be accessed 00:26:14.500 --> 00:26:16.920 and controlled through complete creative autonomy. 00:26:17.240 --> 00:26:19.299 Making sure that if it all falls apart again. 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.259 He's the only one holding the pieces. He controls 00:26:22.259 --> 00:26:25.119 the cleanup. No more crime scenes left by others. 00:26:25.440 --> 00:26:27.680 From the wild energy of the Rick James sketch 00:26:27.680 --> 00:26:30.819 to the quiet, structured introspection born from 00:26:30.819 --> 00:26:33.720 ayahuasca and TMS. That's the journey of Neil 00:26:33.720 --> 00:26:36.799 Brennan. architect of comedy and architect of 00:26:36.799 --> 00:26:38.420 his own carefully constructed vulnerability. 00:26:38.839 --> 00:26:41.980 A truly fascinating deep dive. Shows how creative 00:26:41.980 --> 00:26:44.720 trauma can really shape an entire artistic life. 00:26:44.940 --> 00:26:46.859 Indeed it does. We've unpacked Neil Brennan.