3 Mics' has gotten me fans who actually like me. Now they have a sense of what I'm like, so I get to talk in a way that I really want, and it's fun to go on the road.
— Neal Brennan
You’re supposed to not like the 'Austin Powers' movies because people ruin the catchphrases. 'Austin Powers' is so funny.
People doing rhymes that are nonsense - nothing can make me laugh like that.
Like, your body has to get used to being in front of people. Like - and you have to be like - you have to be kind of a ham, you know? Like, the thing about writers is they're generally self - comedy writers - self-loathing, sort of play small. And as a, like, performer, you have to think like a comedy writer but act like a performer.
You know, like, real paying attention and real observation and deep thought and deep consideration can be a bit, you know, miserable-making.
It wasn't surprising to me because I've had the conversation with him personally, but Will Smith is more interesting a guy that you could ever capture in a movie or TV show.
I love doing stand up. I think it's a really worthwhile art form. It's so unique in all the things it combines, in terms of it being philosophizing, preaching, speaking truth to power and basic communicating. It's a good way to talk back to the world.
If you just want money and tax cuts and stuff, fine - just stop acting like you’re moral.
People don’t like doing podcasts.
The thing about comedians is, we’re generally pretty smart. So, if we can be smart and funny, that is the victory.
It wasn’t so much figuring out my voice comedically, because that was always pretty clear. It was more about performing and being a good, watchable performer.
I don't really have a process. I just get agitated or aroused by an idea in the world, and then I want to give my rebuttal.
I just love well-organized, very serious nonsense.
When you're in a friend circle, you all kind of talk the same way. And it's hard to do on-the-fly radio edits of yourself.
Like, I feel like I'm funny, despite the fact that I keep getting rejected by people less funny than me.
You know, I liken it to - when you write a joke for somebody else, it's like you - you know, like the Wile E. Coyote dynamite plunger, where he pushes the plunger down and then you see the fuse go then there's an explosion in the distance? That's like writing a joke for somebody. When you tell the joke, you're in the explosion.
Everyone has some secret and some source of pain or sadness and I just said mine first and then everybody went after me. I get it every day in my Instagram direct messages, people thanking me for talking about depression and telling me how it helped them.
With most specials, even the best comedians will tell you they could have cut 15 or 20 minutes out of it.
With '3 Mics', there’s nothing I’m talking about that’s too hot button.
Sentimental is not bad, but it’s probably the most likely to go awry. It’s the hardest to do and not have it end up being 'Forrest Gump' or something. Maudlin - I just don’t want it to be maudlin.
I’m obsessive, I’m a control freak, I get snappy with people.
I know from doing stand-up, I don’t want to do a joke that I don’t trust.
I'm not dripping with charisma like many of my friends are. But I do have candour, which is close.
Steve Allen was on Johnny Carson one time - I looked for it, but I couldn’t find it - and he read the lyrics to 'Hot Stuff' by Donna Summer like a poet. He read them very seriously. I was maybe 8, but it killed me.
My entryway into hip-hop was - my biggest introduction was obviously like, you know, the Def Jam, Run D.M.C., Beastie Boys, like, that conglomerate.
In true, narcissistic fashion, when my father was diagnosed as a narcissist, he called us all up individually to tell us, and he did it with true pride.
You know, when I was a kid, I used to cry every day, like, when I was like, you know, 7 through 11 or 6 through 11, to the point where my brother and sisters would like - there was an ongoing joke where they would make me cry to keep my streak alive of crying every day.
There were some things I wanted to talk about. I wanted to talk about depression in public, I wanted to talk about being in the shadow of people I've dated and people I worked with publicly.
I get that money is important, and it’s scary to think that you won’t have enough. At the same time, we can set up reasonable social safety nets and take care of everybody.
You can say whatever you want, but there’s going to be consequences to it.
I don’t think people understand what comedy is supposed to do. We will observe things, we will make fun of things.
I’m not the easiest dude to work with.
Whoever is saying the joke is my biggest priority.
