Based on his Netflix comedy special, “Blocks.” Neal Brennan interviews friends and colleagues about the things that make them feel lonely, isolated, and like something’s wrong – and how they are persevering despite these blocks.
In this week’s episode, Neal Brennan interviews comedian Gary Owen (‘Think Like A Man,’ ‘Ride Along,’ ‘Comic View,’ & more) about the things that make him feel lonely, isolated, and like something’s wrong – and how he is persevering despite these blocks.
Brennan continues to perform stand-up regularly in the Los Angeles area as well as nationally. His first one-hour stand-up special Women and Black Dudes premiered on Comedy Central in 2014. In 2017, Brennan released his second one-hour stand-up special 3 Mics on Netflix to widespread critical acclaim. 3 Mics features Brennan switching between three different microphones symbolizing three different styles of comedy. On January 1st, 2019 Brennan released an all new half hour of material on Netflix as part of the Comedians of the World series. Brennan has also performed stand-up on Last Call with Carson Daly, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Lopez Tonight, and Conan.
As a film director, Brennan has helmed feature films, television episodes, documentaries, stand-up specials and nationally syndicated commercials. His directing credits include the feature film The Goods starring Jeremy Piven, multiple episodes of Inside Amy Schumer, JAY-Z’s 4:44 documentary series that featured Will Smith, Chris Rock, Kendrick Lamar, Michael B. Jordan, Trevor Noah, and other celebrities, comedian Michelle Wolf’s critically acclaimed one-hour HBO special Nice Lady, a series of commercials for the ESPY’s, and several nationally syndicated commercials for major brands featuring celebrities and athletes including Lebron James.
In 2011, Brennan, comedian Moshe Kasher, and DJ Douggpound, started a podcast called The Champs which ran until 2016. Guests on the show included actor/comedians Wayne Brady, Chris Rock, Mario Joyner, Shawn and Marlon Wayans, and David Alan Grier, adult film star Lexington Steele, rapper Too $hort, and professional basketball player Blake Griffin.
Brennan co-wrote the cult classic film Half Baked with Chappelle as well as episodes of SNL that featured Chappelle and Aziz Ansari as hosts. He also wrote comedy material for the 83rd Academy Awards and for Seth Meyers’ speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner in 2011. In that speech, Meyers infamously poked fun at Donald Trump, who was in the audience.
Starting in 2016, Brennan became a contributor to The Daily Show with Trevor Noah as “Trevor’s friend Neal.”
This Week’s Special Guest:
Gary Owen: Gary Owen has been entertaining American audiences for more than a decade with his side-splitting comedy. Having performed to sold-out audiences in all the major comedy clubs and theatres across the country, Owen is one of America’s most beloved comedians and was proclaimed by Ebony magazine as Black America’s “Favorite White Comedian.”
Audiences can now see Owen in his fourth Showtime comedy special, “GARY OWEN: DOINWHATIDO” which premiered on Saturday, September 7th. This is the follow-up to his three previous Showtime specials titled “I Got My Associates,” which came out in Fall 2018, and “I Agree with Myself” and “True Story,” both of which aired on Showtime in 2015.
Owen has had massive success as a comic actor on the big screen. Up next, he will appear in Universal 1440 Entertainment’s SUDDEN DEATH. In 2016, he starred opposite Mike Epps and Mike Tyson in the comedy MEET THE BLACKS and in 2014, he starred in the Universal comedy RIDE ALONG with Ice Cube and Kevin Hart.
He is also one of the stars of the popular Screen Gems’ franchise THINK LIKE A MAN (2012), having appeared in the first installment and its successful follow up THINK LIKE A MAN TOO (2014). In additional to their commercial successes, both opening #1 at the box office, the films were warmly received by critics and fans alike. Other film credits include LITTLE MAN (2016) opposite The Wayans Brothers and DADDY DAY CARE (2003) opposite Eddie Murphy. He is also widely known for his stealing role as “Bearcat” in the MGM film COLLEGE (2008).
In 2016, Owen starred in the BET docuseries “The Gary Owen Show,” which chronicled his dynamic and interracial family life with his wife and children in small-town Ohio. The series marked the first time a Caucasian actor had starred in his own series on the network.
On the small screen, Owen co-hosted TruTV’s sketch series “Upload with Shaquille O’Neal” (2013). After meeting Tyler Perry on The Tom Joyner Morning Show, Owen was cast as the recurring role of Zach the barber in the 5th season of the TBS comedy series “Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.”
In 2014, he served as the host of the hugely popular comedy special “Shaquille O’Neal Presents: All Star Comedy Jam – Live from Orlando”. Other standout comedy performances include “Mike Epps Presents: Live from Club Nokia” as well as “Breakin’ out the Park” and “Urban Legend,” the latter two which he also produced. He also starred in “Martin Lawrence Presents: 1st Amendment,” which aired on Starz in 2005.
In addition to his breadth of comedic work in films, television, and standup, Owen works closely with the nonprofit Facing Addiction, an organization dedicated to finding solutions to the addiction crisis in America. Having lost his own brother to heroin addiction, Owen regularly speaks and performs to raise awareness and support for the organization’s mission.
Owen grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio and has always had a passion for comedy. He enrolled in the US navy following high school, where he was chosen for the prestigious Presidential Honor Guard. After leaving his ceremonial position, Owen became a military police officer at the Naval Installations on Coronado Island in San Diego. During this time, he returned to his true calling: standup comedy. After only a year of doing stand-up, he was named “Funniest Serviceman in America.” Two appearances on the multicultural comedy showcase, “BET’s ComicView,” won him his own one-hour “grandstand” show. At the end of the season he was selected from the year’s four “grandstanders” to be the host.
Checkout more episodes of Blocks w/ Neal Brennan featuring Ralph Barbosa, Matt Rife, Dan Soder, Sarah Silverman, and more HERE
