Neal Brennan Announces ‘Brand New Neal’ U.S. Tour
Today, Emmy-nominated writer, director, producer and standup comedian Neal Brennan announced his upcoming BRAND NEW NEAL Limited Tour. Produced by Live Nation, the 4-city tour kicks off Saturday, May 20th in San Diego, CA at The Observatory North Park and continues on through Philadelphia and New York before wrapping up on Friday, August 18th at Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, MN. The tour follows the release of his Netflix comedy special Neal Brennan: Blocks , which hits the streaming platform tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8th.
TICKETS: Tickets for the tour go on sale starting Friday, November 11th at 10am local time at ticketmaster.com
BRAND NEW NEAL TOUR DATES :
Sat May 20 – San Diego, CA – The Observatory North Park
Thu Jul 13 – New York, NY – Town Hall Theatre
Fri Jul 14 – Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore Philadelphia
Fri Aug 18 – Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
About Neal Brennan
Three-time Emmy nominated writer, director, producer, and standup comedian Neal Brennan has become a force in the comedy world. An across-the-board talent, Neal has found success in almost every creative vein in the comedy community. His latest Netflix comedy special Neal Brennan: Blocks premieres globally on November 8.
Neal Brennan: Blocks was adapted from Neal’s hit one-man show Unacceptable . Beloved Magician/Artist Derek Delgaudio (HULU’s In & Of Itself ) directed both the Netflix special and the theatre run. The stage show had a sold-out NYC residency in the Fall of 2021, with Interview Magazine lauding “together, Brennan and DelGaudio have crafted a genre-bending show focused as much on fun and laughter as it is on intimacy and honesty” and Theatermania gushing “The comedians Neal Brennan has written for is insane….Even more insane (in the best way), is the material Brennan writes for himself.”
Neal’s critically acclaimed first off-Broadway one-man show 3 Mics also enjoyed a sold-out NYC run in 2016 with superstar musician John Legend serving as Executive Producer. 3 Mics was taped as a stand-up special, which premiered on Netflix in 2017, with Paste Magazine offering “It will floor you in the best way possible.”
As in-demand behind the camera as he is in front of it, Neal was recently a writer, creative consultant, and on-air correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. He is a longtime collaborator of iconic comedian Dave Chappelle, with whom he has created multiple comedy fan favorites including the legendary Chappelle’s Show and the Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live episode immediately following the 2016 presidential election. Neal served as Executive Producer on Chris Rock’s recent standup special Chris Rock: Tamborine and as Director on fellow Daily Show Correspondent Michelle Wolf’s HBO special Michelle Wolf: Nice Lady . He has helped create and performed in numerous TV series and films, developing what The New York Times calls his “hip-hop and Frontline aesthetic.” He regularly headlines the good standup venues in the good parts of America.
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About Live Nation Entertainment
Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV) is the world’s leading live entertainment company comprised of global market leaders: Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts, and Live Nation Sponsorship. For additional information, visit www.livenationentertainment.com .
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Live Nation Concerts
Monique Sowinski | [email protected]
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Neal Brennan Announces ‘Brand New Neal’ U.S. Tour
Three-time Emmy nominated standup comedian Neal Brennan revealed his 2023 ‘Brand New Neal’ Limited Tour which includes four shows from May through to August. He previously announced 25 performances across the U.S. Tickets went on sale November 11.
The creative talent of the comedy industry, who has participated in different roles as a writer, director, producer, and standup comedian so far, will start his performances at The Observatory North Park in San Diego on May 20, visit New York’s Town Hall Theatre on July 13 and The Fillmore Philadelphia in Philadelphia next day before wrapping the tour up in Minneapolis’ Varsity Theater on August 18.
Many became familiar with Brennan through his early career work with Dave Chappelle, which included co-writing duties on the film Half Baked and co-writer and co-executive producer time with the Chappele’s Show on Comedy Central.
Brennan’s tour announcement just came ahead of the release of his Netflix comedy special “Neal Brennan: Blocks”, which hit the streaming platform early this week. The programme was adapted from Brennan’s one man show “Unacceptable”.
Neal Brennan tickets
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Neal Brennan show dates
MAR 2, 7:30 PM, Madison, WI – Comedy Club On State MAR 3, 7:30 PM, Madison, WI – Comedy Club On State MAR 3, 10:00 PM, Madison, WI – Comedy Club On State MAR 4, 7:30 PM, Madison, WI – Comedy Club On State MAR 4, 10:00 PM, Madison, WI – Comedy Club On State MAR 10, 7:00 PM, Salt Lake City, UT – Wiseguys MAR 10, 9:30 PM, Salt Lake City, UT – Wiseguys MAR 11, 7:00 PM, Salt Lake City, UT – Wiseguys MAR 11, 9:30 PM, Salt Lake City, UT – Wiseguys MAY 11, 7:00 PM, Nashville, TN – Zanies MAY 12, 7:00 PM, Nashville, TN – Zanies MAY 12, 9:15 PM, Nashville, TN – Zanies MAY 13, 7:00 PM, Nashville, TN – Zanies MAY 13, 9:15 PM, Nashville, TN – Zanies *MAY 20, 7:00 PM, San Diego, CA – The Observatory JUN 2, 7:00 PM, Washington, DC – The Kennedy Center (PRE-SALE BEGINS 11/16 @10AM LOCAL) JUN 2, 9:00 PM, Washington, DC – The Kennedy Center (PRE-SALE BEGINS 11/16 @10AM LOCAL) JUN 3, 7:30 PM, Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage JUN 16, 8:00 PM, New Orleans, LA – The Joy Theater JUN 17, 7:00 PM, Austin, TX – Paramount Theatre *JUL 13, 8:00 PM, New York, NY – Town Hall *JUL 14, 7:00 PM, Philadelphia, PA – The Fillmore JUL 15, 7:00 PM, Boston, MA – The Wilbur *AUG 18, 7:00 PM, Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater AUG 19, 7:30 PM, Chicago, IL – The Vic SEP 15, 7:00 PM, San Francisco, CA – Palace of Fine Arts Theatre SEP 16, 7:00 PM, Seattle, WA – The Neptune SEP 17, 7:00 PM, Portland, OR – Revolution Hall *‘Brand New Neal’ Limited Tour
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Neal Brennan’s building blocks to comedy success: Be fast. Be funny. Don’t get too famous
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“I was writing a joke the other day about the upside of psychopathy and drugs, and I started to think about how Rick James said, ‘Cocaine is a hell of a drug’ to me,” Neal Brennan says, his hands wrapped around a crispy Milanese sandwich. “It’s a meme now. You see it every day even if you don’t know anything about it. But I was actually there. That was the first thing he said to me during that conversation we filmed. It’s so funny and so weird.”
As the “Chappelle’s Show” co-creator tells the story behind arguably the most noteworthy meme from the now-iconic show, the TMZ Celebrity tour bus pulls up right behind him. It’s the tour’s usual Thursday afternoon drive along Melrose Avenue, and Brennan is seated at a corner table on the patio outside Crossroads Kitchen — one of his usual vegan spots.
“I was eating here at one of these tables once, and [the TMZ bus] stopped and asked if I would talk to the bus,” Brennan says, laughing. “I was like, ‘None of those people know who I am.’ I always say I have the NBA referee level of fame. Where people have seen you but they have no idea who you are. Ironically, I ended up in an elevator with somebody who worked in the NBA once, and I was like, ‘Do you work for the Clippers? Are they gonna stay in L.A.?’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, but what’s your name? You’ve come up on my algorithm.’”
But even if Brennan never reaches the levels of fame above Tim Donaghy (barring an FBI investigation), he’s carved out a space for himself in the comedy world that works for him. He’s able to sell out midsize venues around the world with his stand-up, bring a slew of big-name comedians, actors, musicians and more on to his latest podcast, “Blocks,” and still go about doing things in his own way — whether that means breaking down the usual “two guys talking” podcast format into structured chunks about the guests’ emotional weaknesses, having his first Netflix special dive into more trauma and depression than most therapy sessions or turning his most recent special of the same name into an ongoing podcast series.
“I love doing podcasts, but booking them is such an utter humiliation,” Brennan says, his pink button-down backlighted against afternoon traffic. “The plan was to release the ‘Blocks’ special and then people would be banging down the door to get on the podcast — but no one’s ever gonna bang the door down for a podcast. Ever. David Spade once called podcasts ‘jury duty,’ and I guess that’s the right way to think of it. Having said that, Letterman was the first guest, so that helped legitimize it.”
The uncancelable comedy of Dave Chappelle
On his Brand New Neal tour (coming to the Wilshire Ebell Theatre on Saturday), the same comedic freedom that let him launch a podcast with a David Letterman interview also means being able to break away from being America’s leading depression comic to focus on more traditional stand-up. Rather than going into the dark depths of emotional shortcomings, Brennan can focus on the bits and jokes that brought him success in the first place — both in the TV/film world and onstage.
“I don’t think I would have succeeded as much without the emo stuff, but the Brand New Neal tour isn’t emo at all,” Brennan says. “I have to make an announcement at the beginning of each show now, because I did a show in Washington, D.C., a couple of months ago and a kid DM’d me after and was like, ‘Dude, I was waiting the whole show for the real you to arrive.’ I wrote back like, ‘So you’re saying I wasn’t sad enough … .’ So now I have to tell people at the beginning of my set that if they need me to be sad, I have some horrible news. Some people might want to see me be sad, but I’m not going to fake it. Ali Wong had a sweet burn on me when I did my ‘Blocks’ special here in L.A. There was a 5:30 show and an 8, but no late show. Ali goes, “You know why that is? Because all your fans are depressed and have to go to sleep early.”
Twenty years after “Chappelle’s Show” premiered on Comedy Central (and 25 after his first collaboration with Chappelle when they co-wrote “Half Baked”), Brennan’s comedy career has extended far beyond Rick James memes and clinical depression. He’s written, directed and acted in both TV shows and movies. Dozens of his TV sketches are now classic cultural moments — particularly as the pendulum of popular comedy swings back toward sketches thanks to the rise of shows like “I Think You Should Leave.” His poignant stand-up hits the highs and lows of modern life, and he’s seemingly incapable of not coming up with new bits for every new topic he comes across.
While constantly churning out new material may seem necessary standard fare for most comics, the biggest difference for Brennan is that he’s both aware of how fast comedy content moves in the algorithm-based internet and perfectly capable of keeping up with that speed. While some of his more famous friends are selling out arenas with the same material they’ve been using for a year or two, Brennan can come up with the jokes of tomorrow while filling theaters virtually anywhere he wants today.
“Comedy now has fewer gatekeepers and an almost infinite amount of gates,” Brennan says. “In some ways, the YouTube algorithm and the Instagram algorithm are the bookers now, but it still favors the same s—. It’s about having a sticky premise and memorable jokes, but you have to be way faster. People in my generation will release specials, and it’s like, ‘Oh, dude, all of these premises were done six months ago … .’’”
If Brennan never wrote, directed or performed comedy again, his legacy would be perfectly secure. As the Keith Richards to Chappelle’s Mick Jagger, even the trolls lurking in YouTube comments are aware of Brennan’s contributions over the years. He’s revered by other comedians for his work new and old, and he’s adapted to the times and rolled with the punches better than many of his contemporaries. He’s done just about everything there is to do in the comedy world before the age of 50 and in recent years has accepted that just because some of his peers are able to sell more tickets or bring in bigger paychecks doesn’t necessarily mean things are any better for them. After all, no one is going to bother wasting time “canceling” him when a lot of people’s only response would be, “Who?”
“The only people who get canceled — and they’re not even totally canceled, but more like ‘reduced’ — were the people who did vaguely illegal sex things,” Brennan says. “No one’s been hindered by their material. Dave and Joe Rogan are both still doing arenas. I know like 12 people who do arenas, which is insane. Cancel culture is just a matter of eyeballs. If you get to be Dave’s size or Joe’s size, there are so many eyeballs on you that someone is going to have a problem with you. You just have to hire more security guards and know that someone’s more likely to heckle you when there’s 16,000 people in an arena.”
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Comedian Neal Brennan's New Show Centers On The Ways He Feels Unacceptable
"Neal Brennan: Unacceptable" will run in New York City through November. Matt Murphy hide caption
"Neal Brennan: Unacceptable" will run in New York City through November.
Comedian Neal Brennan has thought a lot about whether he's accepted in comedy — and whether or not he even should be. Now, he's tackling those feelings of self-criticism, harsh inner-monologues, and mental health in a new comedy show.
He's best known for co-creating Chappelle's Show with Dave Chappelle , a critically acclaimed comedy sketch show rooted in Black culture.
But these days, Brennan is wondering whether he, a white man, is helping or hurting America when he makes those racial jokes.
"The tension is that it's unknowable whether I'm making fun of stereotypes or encouraging them," he tells Morning Edition host A Martínez. "People don't know your intentions. And then people will take the joke and put their intentions on it."
Brennan has spent north of two decades in comedy, writing for, producing and directing with some of the biggest names in the industry.
He's now performing a theatrical comedy show off-Broadway titled Neal Brennan: Unacceptable , in which he explores why he feels like something is wrong with him. The show will run in New York City through Nov. 21.
Brennan acknowledges that using the word "unacceptable" may be a little harsh on himself.
"My inner monologue can just be rough. I've never walked past the mirror and been like, 'There's my guy.' You know, it's all just sort of like, 'OK, all right,' " he says.
Brennan has also been very open about his struggles with mental health. He says he has no shame about it.
"It's like having plantar fasciitis or something," he says. "It's not my fault. I don't know. My foot just started being weird."
Brennan's outspoken nature has opened eyes. On an appearance on The Breakfast Club , a radio show with millions of listeners both through broadcast and their online presence, host Charlamagne tha God told Brennan that Brennan inspired him to learn more about mental health. Charlamagne now advocates heavily for education on mental health.
"I might be proud of that. Can you believe it?" Brennan says. "Take that, that inner monologue. We might have done some good."
This story originally published in the Morning Edition live blog .
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