Movies are grander, with (in my experience) more heavy weight chefs in the kitchen: the studio, the producers, the writers. All of them get to weigh in and you have to listen to all of them because they hired you. With TV, it's a way smaller scale, with only a few people weighing in.

Neal Brennan

Categorized in : People Weight Kitchen

There was a thing in the Andy Kaufman movie that Jim Carrey [Man On The Moon] about how he would do it. I didn't even see the movie. I read the script. But someone asked me, "Do you know what the best part of the Jim Carrey/Andy Kaufman movie is?" And I said, "me lee see ree bee." I just knew that would be the best part.

Neal Brennan

moon would-be men

Whoever has the most at stake should have the most power.

Neal Brennan

stakes should should-have

If you're into social justice it's hard not to be on black people's side.

Neal Brennan

black justice people

Slavery is the most insane thing... I don't know that we've ever seen in history, but it's got to be close. The idea of slavery is such a base impulse. It's like, "I'm going to kidnap you and then you're going to do everything I want." Like, what? And then there's the historical aspect. It had a huge effect on human history.

Neal Brennan

insane historical ideas

The rules may seem obvious but when you think about them they're not. For somebody who has my job they're not as obvious as one would think.

Neal Brennan

may jobs thinking

People get way too much credit at funerals.

Neal Brennan

funeral too-much people

If the word police want to come and get me, they can come and get me. If someone wants to blog about me, fine. The bloggers can come and get me. I clearly say the n-word in public, eight times. I think that's the count.

Neal Brennan

eight police thinking

[Robert Smigel] is one of the greatest comedy writers in the last 50 years. "TV Funhouse" and Triumph and all those sketches.He's really unique, and he has an amazing comedy mind.

Neal Brennan

unique mind years

I think it's naïve to think white people aren't singing along directly!

Neal Brennan

white people thinking

Team America must have been the biggest pain in the ass. And if we want to talk well-organized, they got Bill Pope, who is the DP on The Matrix, because he was just like, "I want to do something less serious."

Neal Brennan

pain team america

The victory of the show is in the writing. Coming up with sketches and stand-up bits. The rest is just hitting buttons on a machine more or less.

Neal Brennan

machines victory writing

When I say the n-word, black people are clear that I'm on their side. And it's not disingenuous - I am on black people's side, clearly.

Neal Brennan

black sides people

I'm making fun of midwestern homophobia [in the joke], but I'm still saying faggot. And almost every month as I'm doing that joke it gets five percent less of a laugh.

Neal Brennan

months fun laughing

With comics it's very close, like, "I don't want to say anything onstage that I wouldn't say offstage." Or vice versa. I say "faggot" in my special and in the joke I am the faggot, if that makes sense.

Neal Brennan

vices special say-anything

I just think [Gangster Party Line] is funny and stupid and all the dudes in it are real dudes. It's just a funny construction.

Neal Brennan

party real stupid

There are words that I wouldn't say because they hurt people's feelings. I just happen to be a white guy who writes for a lot of black comedians but if I wrote for a lot of gay comedians there might be stuff I would say then.

Neal Brennan

gay hurt writing

I guess I like people doing roasts in public. That's my thing.

Neal Brennan

people

Brent Weinbach made [Gangster Party Line].I guess I saw it when it first came out. And that is so goddamn funny to me. The guys are real dudes and they're not good, but they're also good enough.

Neal Brennan

party guy real

I think that [Eddie Murphy's famous "White Like Me"] is probably the first time I thought, "Oh. Being black is different. That is a totally different experience."

Neal Brennan

different-experiences white thinking

Models never say, "I'm hot." They say, "Look at these clothes." Whereas, with comedy, you have to say, "I'm hot."

Neal Brennan

clothes hot looks