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Brick Wall Comedy
Cover image credit: Thumbnail: YouTube · 800 Pound Gorilla Media

Dad Chaniels

Chad Daniels

YouTube · 2019 · 75 min

A tired father negotiates with his teenage roommates.

Watch it free on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Chad Daniels does not treat his children like precious gems. On Dad Chaniels, he treats them like roommates he is desperately trying to evict, or at least out-negotiate. He has built a massive streaming audience by being the father who refuses to pretend that parenting teenagers is anything other than a series of exhausting turf wars. His style relies on a quiet, exasperated pettiness that feels entirely earned.

Filmed at Comedy Works South in Greenwood Village, Colorado, the 2019 special caught Daniels at a point where his digital streaming numbers were astronomical, even if his mainstream name recognition had not quite caught up. He spends the hour leaning into middle age, detailing why growing a beard is the facial equivalent of wearing sweatpants and explaining the strict mathematics of pancake-to-syrup ratios.

The set is highly structured, culminating in an extended bit that compares the sheer productivity of psychopaths to the paralyzing politeness of ordinary citizens. It is an argument that somehow weaves together a public stroke in the frozen food aisle and a ruined birthday cake.

The set list

5 bits

  1. The ideal pancake-to-syrup ratio

    Cutting the center out of the pancake and pouring the syrup directly into the void to create the single greatest bite in pancake history.

  2. Beards as facial sweatpants

    Explaining that beards conveniently hide facial weight gain, and recounting an uneven beard-growing contest against his 18-year-old son.

  3. Finding teenage pubic hair on the toilet seat

    Waiting out a four-day custody split without cleaning the toilet, then putting his 18-year-old son in a Full Nelson over the bowl until he breathes in his own pube dust.

  4. Planning to punch his son on his 18th birthday

    Intending to deliver all the spankings his son never got, only to soften upon seeing him and opt for backyard hockey helmet locker-boxing instead.

  5. Cultural shifts and the #MeToo movement

    A bold comedic take examining modern dating scrutiny and referencing the Aziz Ansari incident.

How it plays

Tone
Clever, outlandish, unapologetic, and playful.
On stage
Unapologetic, observant Midwestern family man delivering sharp, personal domestic stories with an edge.
About
Fatherhood in the 21st century, Parenting teenagers, Aging and plans for growing old, Divorce and single parenting, Observations on America going soft

What the critics said

Praised by The Interrobang as a killer special and Daniels' best yet, while The Comedy Bureau highlighted him in top form with sharp observations and playful audience interaction.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: theinterrobang.com, catalog.ocls.org, blu-ray.com, willowmovies.com, thecomedybureau.com, allmusic.com, cbsnews.com, en.wikipedia.org, primevideo.com, janson.com, metro.us.

Backstory

Material developed over two years during and following Daniels' divorce, focusing on navigating life as a newly single father to a teenage son and daughter.

Details

Released
Taped
2018, Comedy Works South, Greenwood Village
Runtime
75 min
Where
YouTube
Director
Eric Abrams
Honors
Peak No. 6 on the Billboard Comedy Albums chart
Topics
Before
Footprints on the Moon (2017)
After
Empty Nester (2024)

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