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Promotional art for Women and Black Dudes
Cover image credit: Promotional image via Prime Video

Women and Black Dudes

Neal Brennan

Paramount+ · 2014 · 60 min

The co-creator of Chappelle's Show steps in front of the mic.

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Neal Brennan spent years as the co-creator and head writer of Chappelle’s Show before its abrupt end left him professionally unmoored. Women and Black Dudes is his debut hour, an effort to finally plant his own flag in front of the mic. He leans into standard observational fare about texting and dating, but the set finds its footing when he mines his strange career trajectory. He recounts taking grief from Barack Obama over the show’s cancellation, planning an absurdly elaborate funeral, and gaining an exclusive, six-person pass from his friends to use a certain racial slur.

Filmed at the Civic Theatre in New Orleans in 2014, the Comedy Central broadcast proves Brennan can hold a room on his own. The title is a literal nod to the only two demographics that consistently hire him. He is still dialing in his stage persona, sometimes carrying a nervous energy, but his joke-writing mechanics are airtight. Paste Magazine named the set one of the ten best specials of the year.

The set list

4 bits

  1. White people solving racial issues by censoring Huckleberry Finn

    Satirizes white statisticians ignoring systemic disparities in lifespan, loans, and education while proposing the removal of racial slurs from classic literature.

  2. Black friends granting permission to use the N-word

    Recounts a meeting where his Black friends discussed and told him when he could use the N-word.

  3. Men as salesmen and constant rejection

    Compares himself and men in the audience to salesmen who face constant rejection, explaining why men cannot afford to have feelings.

  4. Women's focus on cuteness

    Examines gender differences and the societal and behavioral emphasis women place on cuteness.

How it plays

Tone
Bold, fearless, philosophical, and personal.
On stage
Plainspoken, blunt, confessional, and unhurried; avoids gimmicky high energy or aggressive tough-guy posturing.
Pace
Frank, unhurried discourse with a measured and calm cadence.
About
race and race relations, gender and male-female dynamics, religion, politics

What the critics said

Praised for measured, piercing analyses of race and gender that move beyond hackneyed tropes to deliver philosophical and deeply personal observations.

Summed up from reviews, articles and listings. Sources: nealbrennan.comedydirect.com, tv.apple.com, laweekly.com, imdb.com, vulture.com, rollingstone.com, en.wikipedia.org.

Backstory

Known extensively as a behind-the-scenes collaborator with prominent Black comedians; titled the hour based on Dave Chappelle's wife advising them to focus only on work and girls, noting that work for him was Black dudes.

Details

Released
Taped
Civic Theatre, New Orleans
Runtime
60 min
Where
Paramount+
Director
Neal Brennan
Topics
Before
The Half Hour (2012)
After
3 Mics (2017)

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