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Brick Wall Comedy
Brick Wall Comedy
Gary Gulman

Gary Gulman

Treats minor administrative errors with the gravity of a hostage negotiation.

Portrait credit:

Photo: Matt Kleinschmidt / CC-BY-2.0

4 specials · 2005–2023

Start with The Great Depresh, the breakout (2019 · HBO)

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Gary Gulman can stretch a typographical error into a multi-character saga. He speaks with deliberate enunciation, pausing to savor the sound of an antiquated word. He will imagine a 1970s committee tasked with standardizing postal codes, populating the scene with bickering bureaucrats and office politics. He paces the stage slowly, mapping out the story with his hands, acting out both sides of an argument over punctuation.

Specials

  • Born on 3rd Base

    Gary Gulman targets the wealth gap with highly detailed class frustration.

    HBO Max · 66 min

  • The Great Depresh Start here

    A stand-up comedy special about surviving clinical depression.

    HBO

  • It's About Time

    Sprawling observational comedy about state abbreviations and grocery shopping.

    Netflix · 54 min

  • Conversations With Inanimate Objects

    A highly analytical audit of cookies, citrus, and minor anxieties.

    New Wave Entertainment · Album · 52 min

On stage

He is the comic other comics study for structure. He spent years posting daily writing tips online, acting as an informal professor for the scene. He plays theaters, but he retains the energy of a guy pulling you aside to complain about a grocery store policy.

He treats minor details like historical crises. He doesn’t just point out that it is hard to abbreviate the A-states; he acts out the boardroom panic when the workers realize they painted themselves into a corner. His 2019 special The Great Depresh aimed this same pedantic rhythm at his own severe depression and hospitalization. He brought the exact same annoyance to his psychiatric treatment that he usually reserves for font choices.

He grew up in Massachusetts and briefly played tight end at Boston College on a football scholarship. At six-foot-six, his physical size serves as a permanent visual contrast to his sensitive, highly anxious demeanor.

Turning points

  1. 2003–2004

    Finalist on NBC's Last Comic Standing

    Gulman reached third place in season 2 and returned for season 3 of the NBC reality competition, bringing him wide national recognition.

  2. Viral State Abbreviations Routine on Conan

    Gulman performed an elaborate standup routine parodying the creation of two-letter US state postal abbreviations, which became a viral sensation.

  3. Landmark HBO Special The Great Depresh

    Produced by Judd Apatow, the special interwove documentary footage and standup detailing Gulman's severe clinical depression, psychiatric hospitalization, and recovery.

At a glance

Born
, Peabody, Massachusetts
On stage
since 1993
Style
observational, satire, sarcasm, storytelling
Breakout
The Great Depresh
Influences
David Brenner, Johnny Carson
Topics
Elsewhere
Website, Wikipedia

Fans also like

  • Tom Papa

    Both comics specialize in affable, thoughtful observational humor centered on domestic life, personal absurdities, and human foibles.

    Photo: Stephen Settanni / CC-BY-3.0

  • Myq Kaplan

    Both Boston-rooted comedians rely on hyper-articulate wordplay, linguistic precision, and cerebral joke construction.

  • Sam Morril

    Both are fixture club headliners in the New York City comedy circuit with high-density joke writing and sharp observational punchlines.

Also on screen

Inside Amy Schumer Guest appearance
Crashing Fictionalized version of himself
Joker Comedian
2022–2024
Life & Beth Shlomo
Irving Berlin’s View of East River Matthew Cronin

A clip to start with

A clip of Gary Gulman