Shain Brenden Recounts His Most Dangerous Mission: Buying Avocados

In Kandahar, he remembers hiding next to a concrete wall in the middle of the night, waiting for enemy rockets to land and kill everyone. That’s where his comedy was born.

Shain Brendan (Abby Gordon)
By Anthony Effinger

WW presents “Distant Voices,” a daily video interview for the era of social distancing. Our reporters are asking Portlanders what they’re doing during quarantine.

Apologies to Bill Murray, but comedian Shain Brenden was in the shit.

He was a medic in the Navy, which meant he spent almost no time on ships and lots of time patching up Marines in places like Kandahar Province in Afghanistan.

Those tours of duty were a little tougher than being quarantined with his wife and two dogs in Portland. In Kandahar, he remembers hiding next to a concrete wall in the middle of the night, waiting for enemy rockets to land and kill everyone. That's where his comedy was born.

"What's funnier than ripping a fart in dead silence while everyone is nervous about a rocket hitting us?" Brenden asks. Humor doesn't get much darker.

But quarantine is hard for a comedian. Brenden was chosen by his peers as one of the funniest people in Portland in 2018, and he can't wait to get back onstage. And Portland needs him back. Anyone who can make Marines laugh while fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan can surely make Portlanders see the funny side of COVID-19.

In the meantime, you can get a taste of his stuff by following him on Instagram at @shainbrenden and checking out his website.

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