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Not very many people are both a biomedical engineer and a Saturday Night Live alum. In fact, Brooks Wheelan might be the only person on earth with both on his résumé.
Born and raised in Iowa, the 29-year-old Wheelan appeared on both Conan and Late Night With Seth Meyers, and wrote and performed on SNL. Now he's touring the country after releasing the critically acclaimed comedy album This Is Cool, Right?
Wheelan pulled over on his way to a gig in Big Bear, Calif., to talk with Willamette Week:
WW: You were working as a biomedical engineer, so how did you get on
Saturday Night Live?
Brooks Wheelan: I was an engineer right up until SNL hired me. I held on to my job way too long because I was terrified to quit. Things were going really well in comedy and I was being the worst engineer. I got fired from one job for leaving too much to do comedy. I got another job, and they were in the process of demoting me when I got SNL. I had to be like, "Guys, I'm not going to be at work tomorrow. I'm going to be on Saturday Night Live."
Nobody just gets randomly hired by SNL.
I never planned on being on that show. I was just doing standup, and Seth Meyers saw it and he liked it, so they had me audition and brought me on to write, and then they put me in the cast. It was a rocky situation after that because it's tough to get on that show, and first-year guys have it pretty rough there. It just didn't work out.
Were you able to still do your own comedy while you were on SNL?
I did a lot of standup when I was on SNL. It was like taking a breath of fresh air. You're trapped in this writers room, and you write three sketches and they wouldn't make it on the show. I wouldn't feel very funny, and I then I would go do standup and I would be like, "Oh yeah, I love comedy." It was a great reminder that it's not all rejection.
Did being an engineer help you become a better comedian?
I think it really motivated me to not just lay around not writing because I have a background in getting up and going to work. I'm also terrified of ever having to go back to engineering, so I want to keep this comedy thing going. I'm trying to do my own tour more as a DIY, which is how the comedians I really love are doing it, like [Kyle] Kinane and Nick Thune.
Growing up, who were the guys in comedy that you watched and wanted to emulate?
The reason I got into comedy was Adam Sandler on âWeekend Update,â 100 percent. But then you drift away from what you loved when you were 10 and 11.
I moved to Chicago and that's when I learned about Pete Holmes and T.J. Miller and Kyle Kinane and Matt Braunger. Kinane is all about doing weird stuff—he does Sturgis. There's no reason comedy shouldn't start changing and evolving. And Kinane shaving his beard [when he performed at Bridgetown this year] was, as lame as it sounds, really fucking cool. He was like, "I don't want to be about the beard anymore, I want to be about my jokes."
It was a bit of a shock, but of course he still killed it.
What a fucking indie comedy conversation weâre having right now, like, âOhh, Kinane shaved his beard.â
SEE IT: Brooks Wheelan is at Helium Comedy Club, 1510 SE 9th Ave., 888-643-8669, 8 pm Thursday, 7:30 and 10 pm Friday-Saturday, Sept. 3-5, $15-$30. 21+.
WWeek 2015