Get to know David Brenner, the comedian coming to Or Ami for an unforgettable, one-night-only performance, with this brief feature – and check back in late March for an in-depth profile!
Brenner Returns to his Roots for “A Night of Comedy…and More”
Forget Las Vegas, Aspen, Hollywood or even St. Maarten – no matter where renowned comedian David Brenner has been, his heart has never left Philadelphia. Local audiences will feel the love on April 12, when the ultimate stand-up artist comes to Or Ami for a rare, one-night-only performance during “A Night of Comedy…and More.”
“When I come back to the area, I feel so at home compared to anywhere else I’ve been,” says Brenner, a West Philadelphia native who will perform in the region for the first time in more than a year. “I never really clipped the roots off. My heart belongs to Philly.”
Growing up poor near 60th and Market streets, the self-professed hard-scrabble street kid always had a natural bent for performing. As the grandson and nephew of four rabbis who praised his “gift of gab” and leadership skills, Brenner found a different calling after a childhood of playing practical jokes and using comedy for self-defense. Known for his many killer appearances on “The Tonight Show,” the talented Temple University graduate has enjoyed a multi-faceted career that includes stints as a best-selling author and an award-winning writer/producer/director of more than 100 television documentaries.
But it is his joy of connecting with audiences through his comedy – a mix of current event-oriented commentary and everyman humor – that continues to drive him at a time when he could understandably rest on his laurels. Especially in the post-9/11 era, the author of “I Think There’s a Terrorist in my Soup” says he feels people need a release from the daily onslaught of the world’s problems.
“As adults we laugh so much less than we did as kids, and there isn’t much in life that makes us laugh anymore,” Brenner points out. “We need to take the opportunity to laugh about personal problems and things in the world that bother us. I try to be the doctor who delivers the salve that makes the wound feel a little better.”
While he has sold countless tickets to his Las Vegas shows and earned glowing reviews for his highly rated HBO specials, he says there is nothing better than performing in a more intimate setting akin to the places where he got his start, such as Pip’s and The Improv in New York. At his April 12 gig – presented by Club Megillah as Or Ami’s primary “fun-raiser” – he will get that chance and then some as he mingles with patrons at a pre-event cocktail party and mans the gavel at a live auction after the show. Though he has been called “edgy” and “insightful,” the one thing audiences can count on is for Brenner to skewer popular culture in a clean fashion – just don’t expect self-censorship in the political arena.
“I respect people wanting to keep it clean and have no problem with that, but don’t tell me I’m not allowed to talk abut the economy or a certain person,” says Brenner, the only comic professional whose segment for “The Aristocrats,” a movie exploration of one of the dirtiest jokes in comedy, had to be censored for political references rather than for obscenities. “This is supposed to be a free and open society, but the past eight years or so have been pretty bad.”
Brenner’s local show comes hot on the heels of a four-part comedy series he’s been producing and performing in as an alternative to the late HBO comedy festival in Aspen, where he had lived before moving to Las Vegas to be with his three sons. “We were lamenting the fact that stand-up had become less of an art form and was being treated like a business, so we decided to produce a series on pure stand-up broken into themes and featuring 12 great comics,” he explains. “At the end of each show I do a 30-minute segment based on that night’s theme, which is something I’ve never really done before. It’s been a real challenge, but I’ve been enjoying it as these comedians have made me stretch myself and do as well I can.”
“A Night of Comedy…and More” begins at 7:30 p.m. with hors d’oeuvres and cocktails, followed by the performance and live auction. Tickets are $75 and $100, with a limited number of $300 seats that enable patrons to rub elbows with the comedian beforehand at the home of congregants Brad and Andrea Heffler. Tickets can be purchased through the website at www.or-ami.org or by calling the office at 610-828-9066.
