Neal Brennan

Patrice O'Neal, Mark twain, and Doug Stanhope. Three of the most original minds in American comedy history. I would also throw in Bill Hicks and Bill Burr and Billy Wilder.

Only worked with him that one day on Chappelle. I really loved Patrice. But he had complicated energy. I sort of diffused on chappelle by whispering to him, "I know you don't listening to people, but..." And he was like, "Nahh...Where'd you hear that?" Meanwhile, he hated listening to people. One things about Patrice: He's the only person in my entire life who ever called me on the phone out of the blue just to tell me he thought I was funny. Another thing: I wanted to act in a pilot I co-wrote and was directing with Dov Davidoff. This is in 2009. I call Patrice. I go, "Dude, I want you to be in this pilot. But are you gonna be a pain in the ass?" He's like, "Neal, how the fuck you gonna cal...[Read more]

That was on Louie ck's first short film called "Caesar's Salad" I played the part of "crazy pumpkin head" where I charged a group of people with a knife. Nick was one of them. We used a real knife and I dropped it on nick's foot in the scene. Went through his shoe and everything. He had to go the hospital. But he did get a bit out of it.

Portnoy's Complaint, Ten Minute Toughness, Denial of Death.

WTF with Marc Maron, Radiolab, the Moth, The Leonard Lopate show, Freshair.

The thing I try to remember with hecklers is just to take my time and listen to them. I believe it was Chappelle who said, "A heckler's first punch is their best punch." They're generally not clever people. You don't see a lot of scientists going to comedy clubs and heckling. They're just drunk. And mostly women. So you just have to take your time and then eviscerate them.

That before 9/11 he was on a commuter jet that didn't have a bathroom so he relieved himself in the cockpit in front of the pilots into a mountain dew bottle.

I was funny from an early age. I remember saying something when I was like, 9, that was legit funny. My family was cool with it. My older brother, Kevin Brennan is a comedian, so he was massively helpful.

Because of the episode where we used all of the outtakes, you pretty much got to see all of the stuff that cracked us up. People always talk about Chappelle's Show being quotable. Dave and I will quote it ourselves, but it's more obscure stuff. Like Rick James saying, "People think I do things just to do them. I got a little more sense than that. Yes I remember putting my feet on Eddie's couch." Dave and I will meet for coffee and say shit like, "People think I do things just to do them. I got a little more sense than that. Yes I remember going to get coffee with Neal." It's pretty stupid.

The one that aired was great. Very rarely does my brain come through for me at just the right time. In that case, it did. Marc is very smart, but sometimes he can use his intelligence to be reductive and disrespectful. That's what I felt he did on the WTF episode that I asked him not to air. One of the things about my career is, I used to work the door at a comedy club in the early 90's. Some of the guys from that era (Marc, Attell, Jeff Ross) had to adjust to me becoming a comedian/writer. They still see me as a doorman at times.

Right now? Kanye West. Been my favorite for the last decade. Probably the greatest all around artist in the history of hip-hop. writes his own rhymes, largely makes his own beats. Triple double no assist. And he's 7 for 7 in terms of albums as far as I'm concerned. Dark Beautiful Fantasy is a fucking masterpiece. Blame Game makes me tear up. Never been anyone like him in hip-hop. Come to think of it, he's one of the greatest musicians of all times. Now I'm talking like him. YOU DON'T HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS, JKLAP.

When Moshe Kasher (my co-host) and I set out to do the podcast, we needed a hook, and I figured that only black guests was one we could deliver on. I know way more black dudes than Marc Maron, Chris Hardwick, and if you can believe it, Pete Holmes. Now, having said all that, our most downloaded episode it with Aziz Ansari, so our hook clearly doesn't work.

I still got a bunch of money, just not as much as I would have gotten. I sort of knew a foul wind was a-blowing. We hadn't really been getting along.