Neal Brennan: 3 Mics

Part comedy part deep life reflection. Great comedy is about life, and with 3 mics you get both the good and the bad of it. You can be rolling back in your seat with laughter one minute, but on the edge of it the next. Amongst the waves of laughter, lay brutal life reflections, both funny and tragic. Definitely worth a watch.

My buddy, whose opinion I respect, ,sent me this and was raving so that was my expectation. I was underwhelmed at first. There was also the Hannah Gadsby comparison for the content, which was unfair because it came out before Nanette. So after stopping it and allaying that last bias as well as lowering my high expectation I went back to it; and it had some funny parts.

His personal narrative was the best part as well as offering up the funniest lines. It was never boring, just some of the jokes seemed a little cliche or low effort. His switch from personal story/anecdotes to one-liners was a little off-putting at first but by midway a flow had been developed.

Is this a constant flow of snickers and guffaws, no, very few are,, but it's darn insightful, funny and enjoyable to watch all the way through and I recommend giving it a go. I like the dude and look forward to hearing more.

In case you haven't heard of him before this like me, he was a writing partner with Dave Chapelle for the Dave Chapelle Show. But he stands on his own completely! (You really do, Neil.) Great work!

Distinctive comedy with emotional core which doesn't feel boring even in the sad parts which for Neal is cathartic (I assume) and relational to many viewers who suffer from depression but unable to voice it. Stand-Up Part: brilliant, to the point, hilarious. Emotional Part: honest, heart felt, moving, unique part of the show. One-liner Part: really really small to judge.

Neal Brennan could hide (and probably he does hide to this day) behind the familiar, behind supremely talented Dave Chappelle, to-an-extent-talented Amy Schumer. Some of his directions are lame, some are okay, none of them are exceptional. I have never liked his stand-up either. Amd this one changes it. I was little apprehensive about the gimmicky use of 3 microphones, but in the end, everything falls into place.

What is similar with a Dave Chappelle stand up is the thoughtfulness, the introspection, the meditation. Now to look at three acts separately, at least a few one-liners are more like dad-jokes, the regular stand-up bits are mostly funny but not laugh-out-loud variety except the last bit which is very Amy Schumer-ish and brought nothing new to the table. What stands out is the meditation of the center mic, the non-rant version of everything that can be rant on, and the satire and the irony living a life that is partly felt and mostly numb. But Neal creates the vehicle that gives you a taste of his own life and reflected on it, a taste of your own life, partly felt, mostly numb.

I rated it 10 on 10, although I do not think it will be counted as classic, but somehow this standup resonated with me, reminded me of Tig Notaro, Dave Chappelle among others.

Neal Brennan has a rare talent to make a large room of people laugh when necessary... or sit in silence, not sure to weather to cry... or just empathize with him.

Most of us probably watched this in the comfort of our homes, but that didn't lessen the pure impact of his message, and the heart behind his humor. I did NOT expect to receive that from a comedian I've never heard of before today.

Within the last ten minutes of the show, I was in tears. The subject matter he covers in the last bit is so brutal, and hard to listen to, but I think the reward is to know that he is who he is today because of it.

I don't know what else to say without giving anything away except... go watch it! See for yourself. The very idea of 3 microphones was brilliant, and frankly kept me guessing a few times to see which mic he was going to go to next after the lights went out. It puts a nice twist on the "One Man Show" Concept.

I certainly hope this guy builds a larger following. The more people who watch this will understand where I'm coming from. I've been deeply impacted by this, and I hope I'm not alone on that.