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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy

Doug Mellard

Rapid-fire absurdism hiding behind deliberately crude branding.

4 specials · 2015–2021

Start with Fart Safari, the breakout (2015 · 48 min · Stand Up! Records)

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Doug Mellard works at a sprint. He steps to the microphone and immediately establishes a rapid rhythm that leaves almost no empty space in the room. He does not use long pauses to sell a punchline. Instead, he drops a strange premise and follows its internal logic to the end before the crowd has fully processed the setup. He stands with the casual posture of a guy leaning on a bar, but his speech moves constantly.

Specials

On stage

He came up in the mid-2000s Austin comedy scene before heading out west, eventually becoming a reliable national headliner. For people who track comedy albums, he is the guy who managed to hit the top of the digital charts with a three-part series titled Fart Safari.

The title is a bait and switch. The branding suggests cheap shock humor, but Mellard actually writes elaborate, escalating hypotheticals. He takes a standard premise about the daily routines of zoo animals or his own hypochondria and stretches it until it snaps. He lists off his physical ailments and fears while sounding entirely upbeat. He will start with a basic thought and add increasingly specific, bizarre details until the original observation is completely detached from reality.

He won the major comedy contest at Cap City in 2006 before leaving Texas. His material occasionally tracks his living situations, notably when he recounted fleeing California to ride out a lockdown with his in-laws in the desert.

Turning points

  1. Wins Funniest Person in Austin Contest

    Mellard won the 21st annual Funniest Person in Austin Contest at the Cap City Comedy Club, evaluated by judges from Comedy Central, The Tonight Show, and Montreal Comedy Festival.

  2. Semifinalist Run on Last Comic Standing

    Reached the televised semifinals on season 4 of NBC's Last Comic Standing, bringing his stand-up to national television.

  3. Fart Safari 3 Reaches iTunes Number One

    The third installment of his Fart Safari album series on Stand Up! Records reached number one on the iTunes comedy chart.

At a glance

On stage
since 2003
Style
observational, absurdist, surrealism
Breakout
Fart Safari
Influences
Mitch Hedberg, Steven Wright
Topics
Elsewhere
Website, Wikipedia, Instagram

Fans also like

  • Doug Benson

    Mellard frequently collaborates with Benson on live shows and co-hosts the weekly comedy podcast Wide World of Dougs.

  • David Huntsberger

    Both emerged from the Austin comedy community and collaborated in the sketch-comedy troupe The Hooligan Show.

Podcasts

  • Wide World of Dougs · co-host

    Doug Benson and Doug Mellard interview guests about people named Doug, names in general, their careers, and their quest to get Douglas Emhoff on the show.

    Spotify · Apple Podcasts

  • 69th Base With Doug Mellard · host

    A sports-themed comedy podcast hosted by Doug Mellard that ran for 44 episodes.

    Spotify · Apple Podcasts

Also on screen

Law of the Land Bomb Squad Guy
No Offense Creepy Guy 4
Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie General BG (as Douglas Mellard)
The Disappearance of Toby Blackwood Toby Blackwood

A clip to start with

A clip of Doug Mellard