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Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways. The most common method of presenting animation is as a motion picture or video program, although there are other methods.

Etymology[link]

From Latin animātiō, "the act of bringing to life"; from animō ("to animate" or "give life to") + -ātiō ("the act of").

Early examples[link]

Five images sequence from a vase found in Iran

Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion drawing can be found in paleolithic cave paintings, where animals are depicted with multiple legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion.

A 5,000 year old earthen bowl found in Iran in Shahr-i Sokhta has five images of a goat painted along the sides. This has been claimed to be an example of early animation. However, since no equipment existed to show the images in motion, such a series of images cannot be called animation in a true sense of the word.^[1]

A Chinese zoetrope-type device had been invented in 180 AD.^[2] The phenakistoscope, praxinoscope, and the common flip book were early popular animation devices invented during the 19th century.

These devices produced the appearance of movement from sequential drawings using technological means, but animation did not really develop much further until the advent of cinematography.

There is no single person who can be considered the "creator" of film animation, as there were several people working on projects which could be considered animation at about the same time.

Georges Méliès was a creator of special-effect films; he was generally one of the first people to use animation with his technique. He discovered a technique by accident which was to stop the camera rolling to change something in the scene, and then continue rolling the film. This idea was later known as stop-motion animation. Méliès discovered this technique accidentally when his camera broke down while shooting a bus driving by. When he had fixed the camera, a hearse happened to be passing by just as Méliès restarted rolling the film, his end result was that he had managed to make a bus transform into a hearse. This was just one of the great contributors to animation in the early years.

The earliest surviving stop-motion advertising film was an English short by Arthur Melbourne-Cooper called Matches: An Appeal (1899). Developed for the Bryant and May Matchsticks company, it involved stop-motion animation of wired-together matches writing a patriotic call to action on a blackboard.

J. Stuart Blackton was possibly the first American film-maker to use the techniques of stop-motion and hand-drawn animation. Introduced to film-making by Edison, he pioneered these concepts at the turn of the 20th century, with his first copyrighted work dated 1900. Several of his films, among them The Enchanted Drawing (1900) and Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) were film versions of Blackton's "lightning artist" routine, and utilized modified versions of Méliès' early stop-motion techniques to make a series of blackboard drawings appear to move and reshape themselves. 'Humorous Phases of Funny Faces' is regularly cited as the first true animated film, and Blackton is considered the first true animator.

Fantasmagorie by Emile Cohl, 1908

Another French artist, Émile Cohl, began drawing cartoon strips and created a film in 1908 called Fantasmagorie. The film largely consisted of a stick figure moving about and encountering all manner of morphing objects, such as a wine bottle that transforms into a flower. There were also sections of live action where the animator’s hands would enter the scene. The film was created by drawing each frame on paper and then shooting each frame onto negative film, which gave the picture a blackboard look. This makes Fantasmagorie the first animated film created using what came to be known as traditional (hand-drawn) animation.

Following the successes of Blackton and Cohl, many other artists began experimenting with animation. One such artist was Winsor McCay, a successful newspaper cartoonist, who created detailed animations that required a team of artists and painstaking attention for detail. Each frame was drawn on paper; which invariably required backgrounds and characters to be redrawn and animated. Among McCay's most noted films are Little Nemo (1911), Gertie the Dinosaur (1914) and The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918).

The production of animated short films, typically referred to as "cartoons", became an industry of its own during the 1910s, and cartoon shorts were produced to be shown in movie theaters. The most successful early animation producer was John Randolph Bray, who, along with animator Earl Hurd, patented the cel animation process which dominated the animation industry for the rest of the decade.

El Apóstol (Spanish: "The Apostle") was a 1917 Argentine animated film utilizing cutout animation, and the world's first animated feature film.^{[citation needed]}

Techniques[link]

Traditional animation[link]

An example of traditional animation, a horse animated by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's 19th century photos

Traditional animation (also called cel animation or hand-drawn animation) was the process used for most animated films of the 20th century. The individual frames of a traditionally animated film are photographs of drawings, which are first drawn on paper. To create the illusion of movement, each drawing differs slightly from the one before it. The animators' drawings are traced or photocopied onto transparent acetate sheets called cels, which are filled in with paints in assigned colors or tones on the side opposite the line drawings. The completed character cels are photographed one-by-one onto motion picture film against a painted background by a rostrum camera.

The traditional cel animation process became obsolete by the beginning of the 21st century. Today, animators' drawings and the backgrounds are either scanned into or drawn directly into a computer system. Various software programs are used to color the drawings and simulate camera movement and effects. The final animated piece is output to one of several delivery media, including traditional 35 mm film and newer media such as digital video. The "look" of traditional cel animation is still preserved, and the character animators' work has remained essentially the same over the past 70 years. Some animation producers have used the term "tradigital" to describe cel animation which makes extensive use of computer technology.

Examples of traditionally animated feature films include Pinocchio (United States, 1940), Animal Farm (United Kingdom, 1954), and Akira (Japan, 1988). Traditional animated films which were produced with the aid of computer technology include The Lion King (US, 1994) Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited Away) (Japan, 2001), and Les Triplettes de Belleville (France, 2003).

• Full animation refers to the process of producing high-quality traditionally animated films, which regularly use detailed drawings and plausible movement. Fully animated films can be done in a variety of styles, from more realistically animated works such as those produced by the Walt Disney studio (Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King) to the more 'cartoony' styles of those produced by the Warner Bros. animation studio. Many of the Disney animated features are examples of full animation, as are non-Disney works such as The Secret of NIMH (US, 1982), The Iron Giant (US, 1999), and Nocturna (Spain, 2007).
• Limited animation involves the use of less detailed and/or more stylized drawings and methods of movement. Pioneered by the artists at the American studio United Productions of America, limited animation can be used as a method of stylized artistic expression, as in Gerald McBoing Boing (US, 1951), Yellow Submarine (UK, 1968), and much of the anime produced in Japan. Its primary use, however, has been in producing cost-effective animated content for media such as television (the work of Hanna-Barbera, Filmation, and other TV animation studios) and later the Internet (web cartoons).
• Rotoscoping is a technique, patented by Max Fleischer in 1917, where animators trace live-action movement, frame by frame. The source film can be directly copied from actors' outlines into animated drawings, as in The Lord of the Rings (US, 1978), or used in a stylized and expressive manner, as in Waking Life (US, 2001) and A Scanner Darkly (US, 2006). Some other examples are: Fire and Ice (USA, 1983) and Heavy Metal (1981).
• Live-action/animation is a technique, when combining hand-drawn characters into live action shots. One of the earlier uses of it was Koko the Clown when Koko was drawn over live action footage. Other examples would include Who Framed Roger Rabbit (USA, 1988), Space Jam (USA, 1996) and Osmosis Jones (USA, 2002).

Stop motion[link]

A stop-motion animation of a moving coin

Stop-motion animation is used to describe animation created by physically manipulating real-world objects and photographing them one frame of film at a time to create the illusion of movement. There are many different types of stop-motion animation, usually named after the medium used to create the animation. Computer software is widely available to create this type of animation.

• Puppet animation typically involves stop-motion puppet figures interacting with each other in a constructed environment, in contrast to the real-world interaction in model animation. The puppets generally have an armature inside of them to keep them still and steady as well as constraining them to move at particular joints. Examples include The Tale of the Fox (France, 1937), The Nightmare Before Christmas (US, 1993), Corpse Bride (US, 2005), Coraline (US, 2009), the films of Jiří Trnka and the TV series Robot Chicken (US, 2005–present).
  • Puppetoon, created using techniques developed by George Pal, are puppet-animated films which typically use a different version of a puppet for different frames, rather than simply manipulating one existing puppet.
    

    

    Clay animation
• Clay animation, or Plasticine animation often abbreviated as claymation, uses figures made of clay or a similar malleable material to create stop-motion animation. The figures may have an armature or wire frame inside of them, similar to the related puppet animation (below), that can be manipulated to pose the figures. Alternatively, the figures may be made entirely of clay, such as in the films of Bruce Bickford, where clay creatures morph into a variety of different shapes. Examples of clay-animated works include The Gumby Show (US, 1957–1967) Morph shorts (UK, 1977–2000), Wallace and Gromit shorts (UK, as of 1989), Jan Švankmajer's Dimensions of Dialogue (Czechoslovakia, 1982), The Trap Door (UK, 1984). Films include Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run and The Adventures of Mark Twain.
• Cutout animation is a type of stop-motion animation produced by moving 2-dimensional pieces of material such as paper or cloth. Examples include Terry Gilliam's animated sequences from Monty Python's Flying Circus (UK, 1969–1974); Fantastic Planet (France/Czechoslovakia, 1973) ; Tale of Tales (Russia, 1979), The pilot episode of the TV series (and sometimes in episodes) of South Park (US, 1997).
  

  

  A clay animation scene from a Finnish television commercial
  • Silhouette animation is a variant of cutout animation in which the characters are backlit and only visible as silhouettes. Examples include The Adventures of Prince Achmed (Weimar Republic, 1926) and Princes et princesses (France, 2000).
• Model animation refers to stop-motion animation created to interact with and exist as a part of a live-action world. Intercutting, matte effects, and split screens are often employed to blend stop-motion characters or objects with live actors and settings. Examples include the work of Ray Harryhausen, as seen in films such Jason and the Argonauts (1963), and the work of Willis O'Brien on films such as King Kong (1933 film).
  • Go motion is a variant of model animation which uses various techniques to create motion blur between frames of film, which is not present in traditional stop-motion. The technique was invented by Industrial Light & Magic and Phil Tippett to create special effects scenes for the film The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Another example is the dragon named Vermithrax from Dragonslayer (1981 film).
• Object animation refers to the use of regular inanimate objects in stop-motion animation, as opposed to specially created items.
  • Graphic animation uses non-drawn flat visual graphic material (photographs, newspaper clippings, magazines, etc.) which are sometimes manipulated frame-by-frame to create movement. At other times, the graphics remain stationary, while the stop-motion camera is moved to create on-screen action.
  • Brickfilm A sub genre of object animation involving using LEGO or other similar brick toys to make an animation. These have had a recent boost in popularity with the advent of video sharing sites like YouTube, and the availability of cheap cameras, and animation software.
• Pixilation involves the use of live humans as stop motion characters. This allows for a number of surreal effects, including disappearances and reappearances, allowing people to appear to slide across the ground, and other such effects. Examples of pixilation include The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb and Angry Kid shorts.

Computer animation[link]

A short gif animation of Earth

Computer animation encompasses a variety of techniques, the unifying factor being that the animation is created digitally on a computer. This animation takes less time than previous traditional animation.

2D animation[link]

2D animation figures are created and/or edited on the computer using 2D bitmap graphics or created and edited using 2D vector graphics. This includes automated computerized versions of traditional animation techniques such as of, interpolated morphing, onion skinning and interpolated rotoscoping.

2D animation has many applications, including analog computer animation, Flash animation and PowerPoint animation. Cinemagraphs are still photographs in the form of an animated GIF file of which part is animated.

3D animation[link]

3D animation is digitally modeled and manipulated by an animator. To manipulate a mesh, it is given a digital skeletal structure that can be used to control the mesh. This process is called rigging. Various other techniques can be applied, such as mathematical functions (ex. gravity, particle simulations), simulated fur or hair, effects such as fire and water and the use of motion capture to name but a few, these techniques fall under the category of 3D dynamics. Well-made 3D animations can be difficult to distinguish from live action and are commonly used as visual effects for recent movies. Toy Story (1995, USA) is the first feature-length film to be created and rendered entirely using 3D graphics.

Terms[link]

• Cel-shaded animation, is used to mimic traditional animation using CG software. Shading looks stark, with less blending colors. Examples include, Skyland (2007, France), Appleseed Ex Machina (2007, Japan), The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (2002, Japan)
• Machinima, Films created by screen capturing in video games and virtual worlds.
• Motion capture, is used when live action actors wear special suits that allow computers to copy their movements into CG characters. Examples include Polar Express (2004, USA), Beowulf (2007, USA), A Christmas Carol (2009, USA), The Adventures of Tintin (2011, USA)
• Photo realistic animation, is used primarily for animation that attempts to resemble real life. Using advanced rendering that makes detailed skin, plants, water, fire, clouds, etc. to mimic real life. Examples include Up (2009, USA), Kung-Fu Panda (2008, USA), Ice Age (2002, USA).

2D animation techniques tend to focus on image manipulation while 3D techniques usually build virtual worlds in which characters and objects move and interact. 3D animation can create images that seem real to the viewer.

Other animation techniques[link]

• Drawn on film animation: a technique where footage is produced by creating the images directly on film stock, for example by Norman McLaren, Len Lye and Stan Brakhage.
• Paint-on-glass animation: a technique for making animated films by manipulating slow drying oil paints on sheets of glass, for example by Aleksandr Petrov.
• Erasure animation: a technique using tradition 2D medium, photographed over time as the artist manipulates the image. For example, William Kentridge is famous for his charcoal erasure films, and Piotr Dumała for his auteur technique of animating scratches on plaster.
• Pinscreen animation: makes use of a screen filled with movable pins, which can be moved in or out by pressing an object onto the screen. The screen is lit from the side so that the pins cast shadows. The technique has been used to create animated films with a range of textural effects difficult to achieve with traditional cel animation.
• Sand animation: sand is moved around on a back- or front-lighted piece of glass to create each frame for an animated film. This creates an interesting effect when animated because of the light contrast.
• Flip book: A flip book (sometimes, especially in British English, called a flick book) is a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change. Flip books are often illustrated books for children, but may also be geared towards adults and employ a series of photographs rather than drawings. Flip books are not always separate books, but may appear as an added feature in ordinary books or magazines, often in the page corners. Software packages and websites are also available that convert digital video files into custom-made flip books.

Other techniques and approaches[link]

• Character animation
• Chuckimation
• Multi-sketching
• Special effects animation
• Animatronics
• Stop motion

See also[link]

	Animation portal
	Film portal
	Arts portal
	Visual arts portal

	Book: Animation
Wikipedia books are collections of articles that can be downloaded or ordered in print.

• 12 basic principles of animation
• Adult animation
• Animation database
• Animation software
• Architectural animation
• Tradigital art
• Avar (animation variable)
• Blocking (animation)
• Computer generated imagery
• History of animation
• International Tournée of Animation
• List of movie genres
• List of animation studios
• List of animated feature-length films
• List of animated shorts available on DVD
• List of animated short series
• List of animated television series
• List of computer-animated films
• List of stop motion films
• List of traditional animated feature films
• List of motion picture topics
• Wire frame model
• Motion graphic design
• Motion capture
• Model sheet

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Anderson, Joseph and Barbara, "The Myth of Persistence of Vision Revisited", Journal of Film and Video, Vol. 45, No. 1 (Spring 1993): 3-12
• Culhane, Shamus, Animation Script to Screen
• Laybourne, Kit, The Animation Book
• Ledoux, Trish, Ranney, Doug, & Patten, Fred (Ed.), Complete Anime Guide: Japanese Animation Film Directory and Resource Guide, Tiger Mountain Press 1997
• Lowe, Richard & Schnotz, Wolfgang (Eds) Learning with Animation. Research implications for design Cambridge University Press, 2008
• Masson, Terrence, CG101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference Unique and personal histories of early computer animation production, plus a comprehensive foundation of the industry for all reading levels. ISBN 978-0-9778710-0-1
• Serenko, Alexander, The development of an instrument to measure the degree of animation predisposition of agent users, Computers in Human Behavior Vol. 23, No. 1 (2007): 478-495.
• Thomas, Frank and Johnston, Ollie, Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life, Abbeville 1981
• Walters, Faber and Helen (Ed.), Animation Unlimited: Innovative Short Films Since 1940, HarperCollins Publishers, 2004
• Williams, Richard, The Animator's Survival Kit ISBN 978-0-571-20228-7
• Bob Godfrey and Anna Jackson, 'The Do-It-Yourself Film Animation Book' BBC Publications 1974 ISBN 978-0-563-10829-0 Now out of print but available s/hand through a range of sources such as Amazon Uk.
• Lawson, Tim and Alisa Persons. The Magic Behind the Voices: A Who's Who of Cartoon Voice Actors. University Press of Mississippi. 2004. (A history of cartoon voice-overs and biographies and photographs of many prominent animation voice actors.)
• Ball, R., Beck, J., DeMott R., Deneroff, H., Gerstein, D., Gladstone, F., Knott, T., Leal, A., Maestri, G., Mallory, M., Mayerson, M., McCracken, H., McGuire, D., Nagel, J., Pattern, F., Pointer, R., Webb, P., Robinson, C., Ryan, W., Scott, K., Snyder, A. & Webb, G. (2004) Animation Art: From Pencil to Pixel, the History of Cartoon, Anime & CGI. Fulhamm London.: Flame Tree Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84451-140-2
• Crafton, Donald (1982). Before Mickey. Cambridge, Massachusetts.: The MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-03083-0
• Solomon, Charles (1989). Enchanted Drawings: The History of Animation. New York.: Random House, Inc. ISBN 978-0-394-54684-1

External links[link]

Look up animation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Animations

• Animation at the Open Directory Project
• Experimental Animation Techniques
• How An Animated Cartoon is Made
• "Animando", a 12-minute film demonstrating 10 different animation techniques (and teaching how to use them).
• CARTOON, the European association of animation film, organising coproduction forums and training seminars for animation professionals.
• Animation Magazine, The News, Business, Technology and Art of Animation

Neal Brennan
Born	1973/1974 (age 37–38)[1]
Medium	Stand-up comedy, television, film, webcast
Nationality	American
Years active	1995–present
Genres	satire/political satire, sketch comedy, observational comedy, black comedy, blue comedy
Subject(s)	American politics, American culture, current events, mass media/news media, race relations, pop culture
Influences	Chris Rock,[2] Mort Sahl,[2] Dave Attel,[3] Mike Royce,[3] Dave Juskow[3]
Notable works and roles	Chappelle's Show
Website	nealbrennan.com

Neal Brennan (born c. 1974)^[1][4][5] is an American writer, stand-up comedian, actor, director and producer. He is best known for co-creating and co-writing the Comedy Central series Chappelle's Show with Dave Chappelle.^[6][7][8]

Early life[link]

Brennan grew up in Villanova, Pennsylvania near Philadelphia^[1][9] and spent part of his childhood in Wilmette, Illinois from 1978 to 1986.^[2][10] He was born into an Irish Catholic family and is the youngest of 10 children.^[1][2][11] According to Brennan, his father's side of the family was funny, as were his 5 older brothers.^[1][11] Brennan said that he realized he was funny and liked comedy at about 8 or 9 years of age and was already doing pre-planned material for his classmates in a style that emulated comics Richard Lewis, Jerry Seinfeld and David Brenner.^[3] He also watched a large amount of comedy in high school, often staying up late to watch Late Night with David Letterman and The Arsenio Hall Show.^[3]

Brennan's older brother, comedian and writer Kevin Brennan, started doing stand up while Neal was still in high school.^[10] Neal would attend his brother's performances at the The Improv in New York on weekends^[1] and hang around with comedians such as Ray Romano, Dave Attel, Mike Royce and David Juskow.^[3][12] Brennan stated in an interview with Independent Film Channel (IFC) that he realized that it was possible to make a living in comedy after watching his brother Kevin do stand-up.^[2]

Brennan moved to New York to attend NYU film school, but he dropped-out after a year^[3][10][12] and got a job as a doorman at the (defunct) Boston Comedy Club in Greenwich Village where he met Dave Chappelle, a frequent performer at the club.^[4][13] The two became friends and Brennan would often pitch jokes to Chappelle.^[10][13] Brennan also shared an apartment with comedian Jay Mohr while in New York.^[1]

After 6 months of working at the Boston Comedy Club, Brennan first performed stand up in 1992 at 18 years of age;^[5] Brennan later recounted: "I got no laughs" and as a result he didn't perform stand up again until 1997.^[5] Brennan also wrote for The Source magazine in 1992.^[2][14]

Career[link]

In the mid-90s Brennan moved to Los Angeles and in 1995 he became a writer for the Jenny McCarthy dating show, Singled Out.^[3][10][15] This was followed by writing jobs for the game show Bzzz! in 1996, the sketch comedy-variety show All That from 1996 to 1997, and the teen sitcom Kenan & Kel in 1997.^{[3][10][15][16]}

In 1997 Brennan and Dave Chappelle collaborated for the first time on the screenplay for the film Half Baked.^[3][13] The film was released in January 1998 and starred Chappelle, Jim Breuer, Harland Williams and Guillermo Díaz.^[3][17] Half Baked was commercial failure and received mainly negative reviews.^[1][18][19] In a 2006 interview Brennan referred to the year of the film's release as "probably the worst year of my life, creatively and personally."^[3] In an interview that same year on Inside the Actor's Studio, Chappelle recounted how he and Brennan lost touch with each other after the release of Half Baked: "It just was like leaving a crime scene" Chappelle said.^[20][21]

Four years later Brennan and Chappelle came together to co-create, co-write and co-executive produce the sketch comedy show Chappelle's Show, which premiered in January 2003.^[1][7][13] Brennan stated that he and Chappelle read the book Live from New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live (2002), by Tom Shales when they started writing sketches for the show and found the book very helpful.^[22] The duo wrote the show's sketches themselves with minimal outside help^[5][23] and agreed to never divulge who was responsible for writing which Chappelle's Show sketches.^[6][24] Brennan directed some sketches in the show's second season, including the sketch featuring Chappelle as musician Rick James.^[1][3][15] Brennan was nominated for three Emmy Awards in 2004 for his work on the show as a director, writer and producer.^[25][26] By the end of its second season, Chappelle's Show was Comedy Central's highest-rated program.^[27]

Members of the musical group The Roots worked as music directors on the second and third seasons of Chappelle's Show.^[28][29] Brennan would later recommend the band to Jimmy Fallon as his house band on the talk show Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.^[28][29][30]

Although Chappelle's Show was doing well and Chappelle had signed a $50 million dollar deal in 2004 to produce two more seasons,^{[4][7][23][31]} Chappelle abruptly left the show for Africa in April 2005 prior to the premiere of the show's third season,^[4][23][31] without giving prior warning to his show's crew, including Brennan.^{[22][23][32][33]} As a result, the premiere of season three was delayed and Brennan compiled the remaining sketches into the "lost episodes" that aired in July 2006.^[32][34]

In an interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show on February 3, 2006, Chappelle stated that Brennan made no attempt to contact him after he left the show: "How many times do you think he's called his sick buddy since he went to Africa?"^[31] Brennan stated in a 2011 interview for ChicagoNow that he was hurt that his longtime friend Chappelle didn't even warn him prior to abruptly leaving the show for Africa and that "he owes me a phone call, if anything."^[22] Brennan also stated his dismay at the fact that he was not given prior warning of Chappelle's interview with Oprah, nor was he contacted by The Oprah Winfrey Show's producers for his side of the story.^[22] Brennan stated in the ChigacoNow interview, as well as during his appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast on June 14, 2011, that he felt Comedy Central played a role in pitting he and Chappelle against one another.^[22][35]

In an interview in the July 2006 issue of Maxim magazine, when asked if he would ever work with Chappelle again, Brennan said there was "no chance."^[36] In 2009 he repeated this sentiment in an interview with the New York Times when he said: "“The relationship is charred. I don’t think Dave ever wants to be in showbiz again, and I wouldn’t want to work with him."^[1] In a 2012 interview with the Vancouver Sun Brennan said working on the show was stressful: "I don’t miss [Chappelle's Show], I’m glad I was decent at it, but I always feel [a sketch comedy show] takes years off your life.”^[6]

Brennan stated in 2011 during the aforementioned Joe Rogan interview that he and Chappelle were "still friendly...and hang out when he is in LA."^[37] On February 1, 2012 Chappelle and Brennan both performed comedy sets at Yoshi's Jazz Club in Oakland, California.^[38][39] Brennan also suggested that Chappelle might appear on his podcast, The Champs, saying: "I'm sure Dave will do it at some point".^[40]

In 2006 Brennan directed and co-wrote the made-for-TV movie Totally Awesome.^[25][41] Brennan directed the 2009 film The Goods starring Jeremy Piven.^[10][25] In 2011 he directed a series of commercials for the ESPYS.^[5][12]

As an actor Brennan had small roles in the films Half Baked and Get Him to the Greek and he also appeared in various sketches on Chappelle's Show.^[15] Neal Brennan has also written comedy material for the 83rd Academy Awards as well as for Seth Meyers' speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in 2011.^[10][42]

Brennan continued to perform some stand up while working on Chappelle's Show, but he stopped after the end of the show:^[5][18][41] "I didn't want to get up on stage and have people yell, 'Where's Dave?' once I got on stage."^[41] He returned performing stand up in 2007 and has expressed enjoying stand up more than writing for television and working in movies.^[5][8][41] Brennan continues to perform stand up regularly in the LA area as well as nationally.^[40][42] He has also appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Lopez Tonight, and Conan.^[10][25][43]

In 2011 Brennan, along with comedian Moshe Kasher and DJ Douggpound (Doug Lussenhop of Tim and Eric Nite Live!), started a podcast called The Champs.^[44][45] Kasher said the following of the podcast: "It’s Doug dropping sound effects and beats over me and Neal kind of hosting an hour of ridiculous chat. We have a rotating black guy guest, there’s a different black guest every week."^[44] Guests of the show have included actor/comedians Wayne Brady, and David Alan Grier, adult film star Lexington Steele and professional basketball player Blake Griffin. The show has strayed from its guest format on four occasions with episodes featuring comedian and actor Bobby Lee, former pornographic actress Sasha Grey (although she was accompanied by musician Flying Lotus), former Major League Baseball player Jose Canseco and comedian Felipe Esparza.

Television Work[link]

• Singled Out, writer (1996)
• All That, writer (1996–1997)
• Kenan & Kel, writer (1997)
• Chappelle's Show, writer and director (2003–2004)
• Totally Awesome, writer and director (2006)

Filmography[link]

• Half Baked, writer (1998)
• The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, director (2009)
• Get Him to the Greek, actor (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Neal Brennan at the Internet Movie Database
• The Champs with Neal Brennan, Moshe Kasher and DJ Douggpound on iTunes
• The Champs with Neal Brennan, Moshe Kasher and DJ Douggpound on LibSyn