Brett Davis (comedian)

Last updated

Brett Davis
Born
New Jersey, US
Occupation(s)Comedian, actor, television host
Years active2006–present
Television The Special Without Brett Davis
Website www.brettdavis.rip

Brett Davis is an American comedian, actor and voice actor. He hosted a television show called The Special Without Brett Davis in the New York City metro area. He has also hosted The Podcast for Laundry and The Macaulay Culkin Show. In 2015, he won the Andy Kaufman Award. In 2019, he joined the cast of the National Lampoon Radio Hour .

Contents

Career

Davis grew up in New Jersey, and as a teenager, he was a caller and contributor to The Best Show with Tom Scharpling, and guest-hosted NYCTV's New York Noise. He also performed regularly around the New Brunswick punk scene, which was the topic of an early short film, BANANAZZZ. [1]

Davis hosted the public access show The Special Without Brett Davis , taking over the time slot previously held by The Chris Gethard Show , on the Manhattan Neighborhood Network. The show aired over 170 episodes, with Davis as a different character hosting a different show each week. The show featured performers including Jo Firestone, Cole Escola, Joe Pera, Patti Harrison, Cole Escola, Conner O'Malley, Ikechukwu Ufomadu, Julio Torres, John Early, Matt Rogers, Zach Cherry, Ana Fabrega, Ziwe Fumudoh, and Bridey Elliott. The show also featured interview guests, often drawn into the bits such as Gilbert Gottfried, Michael Shannon, Richard Kind, Janeane Garofalo, Lita, Rose McGowan, The Thermals, and Screaming Females. [2]

Davis hosted The Podcast For Laundry, "a satire of podcasting" about a host being driven crazy by doing a podcast about laundry. He also performs character-based comedy around New York City, [3] and won the Andy Kaufman Award in 2015 for his interactive live performances. [4] [5]

Along with Sally Burtnick, he has hosted The Macaulay Culkin Show, a monthly comedy show held at the Shea Stadium DIY Venue in East Williamsburg from 2013 to 2017. [6] The show has an annual summer comedy festival. The show had previously been unaffiliated with the actor until Macaulay Culkin made an appearance in 2019. [7]

In 2019, he became a cast member of the rebooted National Lampoon Radio Hour alongside Cole Escola, Jo Firestone, Alex English, Maeve Higgins, Megan Stalter and others.

Filmography

Television

YearTitleRoleNotesRefs
2006 New York Noise MC Steinberg4 episodesWebsite
2011Weird Vibesvarious3 episodesWebsite
2014 The Chris Gethard Show Smith3 episodes [1] [8]
2015–2019 The Special Without Brett Davis Host, various charactersAlso creator, cable access show [8]
2016Boy BandShane6 episodes; also creator [9]
2016 Jon Glaser Loves Gear AgentWebsite
2017 Animals. Lizard Man2 episodesWebsite
2018 The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Roy Orbison Website
2018 The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Various characters2 episodesWebsite
2018-2020 Our Cartoon President Anderson Cooper Voice role [10]
2020 National Lampoon Radio Hour Various characters11 episodes [11]
2022 The Best Show with Tom Scharpling Various characters [12]
2024The John Gentle ShowJohn Gentle [12]

Film

YearTitleRoleNotes
2009SteinjiveMC Steinberg
2016 Long Nights Short Mornings Grokkq
2018 Clara's Ghost Driver

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Kaufman</span> American entertainer (1949–1984)

Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes been called an "anti-comedian". He disdained telling jokes and engaging in comedy as it was traditionally understood, once saying in an interview, "I am not a comic, I have never told a joke. The comedian's promise is that he will go out there and make you laugh with him. My only promise is that I will try to entertain you as best I can."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Macaulay Culkin</span> American actor (born 1980)

Macaulay Macaulay Culkin Culkin is an American actor and musician. One of the most successful child actors of the 1990s, Culkin was placed 2nd on VH1's 2005 list of the "100 Greatest Kid-Stars". His awards include a MTV Movie Award from three nominations, a Young Artist Award, and a nomination for a Golden Globe Award. In 2023, he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

<i>Home Alone</i> 1990 film by Chris Columbus

Home Alone is a 1990 American Christmas comedy film directed by Chris Columbus and written and produced by John Hughes. The first film in the Home Alone franchise, the film stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, John Heard, and Catherine O'Hara. Culkin plays Kevin McCallister, a boy who defends his suburban Chicago home from a home invasion by a pair of robbers after his family accidentally leaves him behind on their Christmas vacation to Paris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dino Stamatopoulos</span> American actor (born 1964)

KonstantinosPolluxAlexandros "Dino" Stamatopoulos is an American writer, producer, and actor. He has worked on TV programs such as Mr. Show, TV Funhouse, Mad TV, The Dana Carvey Show, Late Show with David Letterman, and Late Night with Conan O'Brien. He has also created multiple animated TV shows such as Moral Orel, Mary Shelley's Frankenhole, and High School USA!. As an actor, he is best known for his recurring role as the character Alex "Star-Burns" Osbourne on the NBC comedy series Community, on which he also worked as a producer, a consulting writer, and wrote two animated episodes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kieran Culkin</span> American actor (born 1982)

Kieran Kyle Culkin is an American actor. Culkin starred as Roman Roy in the HBO television series Succession from 2018 to 2023, for which he won a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Downey (comedian)</span> American actor and comedian

James Woodward Downey is an American comedy writer and occasional actor. Downey wrote for over 30 seasons of Saturday Night Live, making him the longest tenured writer in the show's history. SNL creator Lorne Michaels called Downey the "best political humorist alive".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Shehori</span>

Steven Shehori is a multiple award-winning Canadian writer, director, journalist, playwright, actor, author, and comedian from Toronto, Ontario. He contributes to Vulture and The Onion's The A.V. Club, and worked as a writer, editor, and celebrity interviewer for The Huffington Post from 2008 to 2018, contributing humor, film, music, political, and journalism pieces. In 2010, his satirical musical comedy Stephen Harper The Musical became the first-ever play to be staged at the international comedy festival Just For Laughs. In 2011, he broke the front-page Huffington Post story of the Toronto Catholic School Board dropping a lesbian comedian from its homophobia awareness event after discovering she was gay married. That same year, Shehori made headlines for securing the first post-series finale interview from Lost creator Damon Lindelof, where instead of discussing the show, the two men wrote out a beat-by-beat alternate version of Sex and the City 2

The National Lampoon Radio Hour was a comedy radio show which was created, produced and written by staff from National Lampoon magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bert Kreischer</span> American comedian and actor (born 1972)

Albert Charles Kreischer Jr. is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, reality television host and actor. In 1997, he was featured in an article in Rolling Stone while attending Florida State University. The magazine named Kreischer "the top partyer at the Number One Party School in the country." The article also served as inspiration for the 2002 film National Lampoon's Van Wilder. Kreischer has served as host of the television series Hurt Bert on FX as well as Bert the Conqueror and Trip Flip on Travel Channel. He appeared in The Machine, a comedy film loosely based on his life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earwolf</span> American podcasting network

Earwolf is an American comedy podcasting network founded by Scott Aukerman and Jeff Ullrich in August 2010. In 2011, they announced a partnership with Funny Or Die. It merged with podcast advertising network The Mid Roll in 2014, a separate company founded by Ullrich, to form Midroll Media. Midroll was acquired by the E. W. Scripps Company in 2015. In July 2020, Sirius XM acquired Midroll Media, which includes Stitcher Radio and Earwolf, for $325 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brett Gelman</span> American actor and comedian (born 1976)

Brett Clifford Gelman is an American actor and comedian. He is best known for his role as Murray Bauman in Netflix's horror-supernatural series Stranger Things and as Martin in the BBC comedy Fleabag.

Jeffery Self is an American actor, writer, and comedian.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theo Von</span> American comedian

Theodor Capitani von KurnatowskiIII, known professionally as Theo Von, is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, actor, and former reality television personality. He is the host of the This Past Weekend podcast and former co-host of The King and the Sting podcast with Brendan Schaub.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brett Goldstein</span> English actor and writer

Brett Goldstein is an English actor, comedian, writer, producer, and podcaster. Known for his role as Roy Kent in the Apple TV+ sports comedy series Ted Lasso, he received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for each of the first two seasons. He is also the co-creator of the comedy series Shrinking (2023).

Jacqueline Novak is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer, and published author. Her off-Broadway, one-woman show Get On Your Knees was a New York Times "Critic's Pick.", and her performance was nominated for a 2020 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. In 2024, Get On Your Knees was made into a Netflix special, directed by Natasha Lyonne.

The Special Without Brett Davis is a public-access television show on Manhattan Neighborhood Network. The show takes the form of an ever-changing live "special" with a new format and performers, and a host portrayed by comedian Brett Davis.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jo Firestone</span> American comedian, writer, and actor

Joanna Firestone is an American actress, comedian, and television writer. She played Sarah Conner on the television series Joe Pera Talks with You.

<i>Hollywood Handbook</i> Comedy podcast

Hollywood Handbook is a weekly comedy podcast hosted by Hayes Davenport and Sean Clements. Episodes generally consist of Davenport, Clements, and a guest offering advice, telling stories, and doing segments, all in a highly satirical, absurdist manner. Guests have included Donald Glover, Ellie Kemper, Aubrey Plaza, Kumail Nanjiani, Nick Kroll, Patton Oswalt, Nick Wiger, and Sharon Horgan. The show has been described as "essentially a mockery of entertainment niceties — with Clements and Davenport taunting industry bigwigs [...] about whatever projects they are promoting, all while pleading to be involved with them".

Anna Drezen is an American writer, actress, and comedian who has written for television comedies like Miracle Workers, Girls5eva, Murderville, and Saturday Night Live, where she served as Head Writer during seasons 46 and 47. She is the creator of the Freeform series Praise Petey.

Megan Stalter is an American comedian and actress. In her videos, Stalter specializes in desperate, deluded characters who are prone to theatricality, frequent mispronunciations, and botched suicide attempts. "I feel like all my characters are people whose lives didn't turn out a certain way, but they're still trying to pretend like it did," Stalter has said.

References

  1. 1 2 Goldstein, Ian (August 25, 2017). "On the Verge: Brett Davis". Vulture . Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  2. Malin, Sean (June 13, 2019). "10 of the Weirdest and Most Surreal Moments From The Special Without Brett Davis". Vulture . Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  3. Zinoman, Jason (April 10, 2018). "The Sociopathic Comedy of Brett Davis" . The New York Times . ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  4. McCarthy, Sean L. (October 12, 2015). "Brett Davis wins 2015 Andy Kaufman Award". The Comic's Comic. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  5. "Winners Hall of Fame". Andy Kaufman Award. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  6. "The Return of The Macaulay Culkin Show and More Performance Picks". Bedford + Bowery. August 8, 2018.
  7. Pearis, Bill (July 25, 2019). "Macaulay Culkin appearing at Brett Davis' 'Macaulay Culkin Show' for 1st time ever". BrooklynVegan . Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  8. 1 2 Yanick, Joseph (September 1, 2015). "'The Special Without Brett Davis' Is the Best Punk Rock Comedy Show on Public Access TV". Vice .
  9. Wright, Megh (March 22, 2016). "Brett Davis Assembles the Next Big Boy Band in His New IFC Web Series". Vulture .
  10. "Showtime to Premiere Season Two of Our Cartoon President on May 12". Broadway World . April 9, 2019. Retrieved August 9, 2019.
  11. "Watch National Lampoon Radio Hour". Roku . April 9, 2019. Retrieved August 16, 2020.
  12. 1 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_f6KOONnfw