Brooks Wheelan at the Raccoon Motel -- November 8.
Wednesday, November 8, 7 p.m.
Raccoon Motel, 315 East Second Street, Davenport IA
An Iowa native who served as a cast member and co-writer for the 2013-14 season of Saturday Night Live, touring comedian Brooks Wheelan headlines a special November 8 evening at Davenport's Raccoon Motel, the funnyman's additional credits including a vocal performance in the Oscar-winning Big Hero 6 and acting as the opener for numerous sets by Emmy winner John Oliver.
Born in Cedar Rapids in 1986 and raised in Manchester, Iowa, Wheelan's early interests largely focused on science and mathematics. Although he graduated from the University of Iowa in 2009 with a biomedical engineering degree, Wheelan also started performing stand-up comedy in his late teens in Iowa. He then went to Kansas City and Chicago before eventually moving to Los Angeles, where he began to perform standup comedy full-time. Before joining Saturday Night Live, he did standup in Los Angeles while he had a job as a biomedical engineer, doing research on eyes and heart valves. In 2013, however, Wheelan was hired to write for Saturday Night Live and was made a cast member the week before the season started.
After only one season, Wheelan was fired from the show and embarked on a standup tour entitled "The Brooks Wheelan Falls Back on Standup Comedy (Sorta) Tour" in reference to his being let go. As part of his promotion for the tour, he performed on Conan, and Wheelan's first comedy album This Is Cool, Right? was released in early-2015 to critical acclaim. The Laugh Button called it "one of the best albums of 2015,": while The A.V. Club wrote, "This Is Cool, Right? is at turns manic, honest, and completely absurd. Brooks crafts jokes not unlike sketches, and has an ear for storytelling that finds universal truths in the examining of his personal life." As part of the promotion for the record, Wheelan appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers, also performing a standup set on a September 2015 episode of Comedy Central's The Half Hour.
During his SNL tenure, Wheelan was a recurring guest on the "Weekend Update" segment, using his standup stories as public-service announcements against irresponsible behavior. On the Bruce Willis/Katy Perry episode, the commentary centered on having tattoos that have no meaning, with Wheelan showing off three tattoos he had in his youth: a tribal stamp on his left arm meant to look like the one Anthony Kiedis from Red Hot Chili Peppers has; a nautical star on his right arm; and a weird ocean-scape on his side (which came from a doodle he drew in his freshman year of high school, and which does not make sense to him because he grew up in Iowa). Meanwhile, on the Anna Kendrick/Pharrell Williams episode, Wheeler's commentary centered on the dangers of drinking alcohol, as well as a story of how his friends put butter down his pants while he was blackout drunk. On July 14, 2014, Wheelan announced through Twitter that he was no longer a cast member of Saturday Night Live, stating, "FIRED FROM NEW YORK IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!" Shortly after his firing, though, Wheelan admitted that he was not angry and that he was still friends with some of the cast members, and also that he prefers to perform standup.
Brooks Wheelan performs his Davenport engagement on November 8 with a music set by The Minks, admission to the 7 p.m. show is $12, and tickets are available by visiting TheRaccoonMotel.com.
