Neal Brennan Shares His New Hour at JFL42 in Toronto
Toronto’s annual JFL42 comedy festival is in full swing, and if you’ve never been, its the perfect comedy pilgrimage. Not only does the Just for Laughs team pick an incredible lineup each year, but the city of Toronto itself is such a worthy destination for comedy fans and travelers alike. The local clubs and rooms are first rate. The history of comedy is deeply embedded there. And to top it off, the food and bar scene are not to be missed. Marty Younge is in Toronto covering all the best shows for us, and she’s the perfect guide. Toronto is her home city, and she lives in the venues all year round.
This year the organizers of JFL Toronto have brought a street festival set up that emulates the experience of Montreal’s Just for Laughs Festival. The streets between the Meriden Centre for the Arts and the St. Lawrence Center for the Arts is closed off with an outdoor stage featuring free performances by acts such as The Goddamn Comedy Jam, Monet Exchange and Bob the Drag Queen.
This was a nice welcoming energy also present at the Jane Mallet Theatre where Neal Brennan performed this weekend. There was not a bad seat in the house at the 500 seat ranked venue. Neal seems to prefer shows like this. It was oddly and wonderfully intimate.
Neal was performing his new hour entitled Unacceptable. The hour is great deal more introspective than his previous work, dealing with deep themes of feeling like an outsider in many aspects of his life. From political belifs, to being a career bachelor, this new hour really got down to his relationship with himself. Although not in the exact structure of of his ground breaking 3 mics special. Brennan’s material stayed in the range he is best at– uncomfortable truths sandwiched with whip smart observations– some times physical sometimes not– that is so accessibly funny you can’t help but be reminded how his mind was attached to Chapelle’s early zanier work.
Speaking of Chappelle, Brennan took some time to skewer Chappelle’s recent controversy with the transgender community, without taking a stance of his own, by making his commentary about the din of public outcry.
Brennan has a soft spot for Toronto, as the city was where Half Baked was filmed. “Is windchester a street that sort of seems like your culture xerox of British things” he asks?
Neal Brennan once said Chapelle liked him because he seemed like he didn’t give a fuck. Born too soon to let mental labels define him, there is something about that matter of fact control he has over his issues that resonates with his fans. To be at a Neal Brennan show is to be with a bunch of intelligent people in the know. who aren’t afraid of all shades of their human experience.
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Marty Younge
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