Have you ever felt as if you were “floating from event to event “, faking it till you made it while loneliness caught up with you? If yes, then Neal Brennan: Blocks, the latest comedy special act put up by the comedian/ writer, taking a deep dive into his entangled psyche, is something that you need to tune into right away.
Filmed at The Belasco in Los Angeles, the special was directed by Derek DelGaudio and has a runtime of 62 minutes. Putting together the various pieces that make up his life as well as his identity, Brennan remembers to call out certain things about human relationships and their further romanticized notions of them in his second Netflix comedy special.
The official synopsis of the special reads:
From the weird relationship humans have with dogs to how dating a model is like owning a dune buggy, Neal Brennan muses on his life in this stand-up special.
-Neal Brennan Blocks Review Contains Mild Spoilers-
Netflix uses the words “offbeat” and “cerebral” to define Brennan’s show while its trailer doesn’t even come close to capturing the essence of the message he seeks to convey. His episode fires away with a bunch of vibrant blocks marking the backboard, with each of them being placed in a haphazard pattern. A mental note to self – these are not just random pieces of embellishments, he’ll keep coming back to them, only for them to paint a holistic picture at the end of the show.
From talking about his pitbull Keith to his grand family’s terms with his alcoholic father, former relationships that didn’t fit, liberal talk that often feels like “conversational Jenga” and his position as a comedian among his peers (and idols), he connects all the blocks of his life and picks them up apart one by one in this hour of honest unpacking of his mind. Many viewers may attempt to put down his act as “preachy” at some places, but it’s not so much comedy that he hopes to present as a piece as much as his self-proclaimed “stand-up traumedy”.
Without relying on any artifice or a grand extravagant affair, he sticks to making a direct hit at standing alone and feeling like a misfit – addressing a higher personal conflict that acknowledges itself in the style of classic self-deprecating humor, while Brennan calls out his ways with his recurring statement “something is wrong with me”. His destructive inner monologues take shape and own up to the years of white privilege, which again, he’s not afraid to call out.
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Whether you want to admit it or not, there’s something likable about his way of threading his own story, which obviously had its hurtful origins. While watching this comedy special, I encountered a sort of empathy in his words, that too, so jarring that it may hurt you either emotionally or offensively, there’s no in-between. Comments like “We all judge each other for our failures at relationships. We judge ourselves. We should have empathy” makes it a tad bit too personal just like the tonality of the episode is, which may not necessarily warm up to some viewers who are strictly here for the raucous comedy.
Neal Brennan Blocks: Final Thoughts
His words push you into a thought-provoking zone and are in no way meant to direct mindless jokes at anyone to dismiss them. The blocks that he’s dealing with or seems to be playing with after every two minutes are actually metaphysically playing with his life as they represent not only the building blocks of his life saga but also the “alchemy of (one’s) personality.
As the show ends, those colorful blocks all come together to shape the final somber conclusion of the special, thus making room for an overturning serious and grave internal monologue. His innate psyche’s externalization in this way projects a first half centered around his image as a comedian, while the latter exemplifies his stance as a writer, mapping out the emotional and cultural baggage that can turn even “self-help into self-damage” at times, representing an endless tug of war with one’s self.
Once again, it’s not your usual piece of comedy. Due to this unusuality of its tone and closure, the special may not interest everyone but if you give it a chance, shedding aside whatever preconceived notions you may have about his work or him, you might even find yourself appreciating what he’s done. It’s not entirely comedy, just like life isn’t, and that’s the best way to look at and then indulge in his stimulating interaction with his mind, leaving room for a bit of catharsis as well.
Neal Brennan: Blocks is now streaming on Netflix.
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