Birth name Brandon Scott Wardell Years active 2010–present Name Brandon Wardell | Nationality American Website brandonwardell.net Role Comedian | |
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Subject(s) Adolescence, Narcissism, Hip-hop, Drake, Current events Medium Stand-up comedy, Television, Music Similar People David Dineen‑Porter, Hampton Yount, Mark Normand, Tommy Johnagin, Bob Odenkirk | ||
Brandon Scott Wardell (born September 5, 1992) is an American comedian, writer for Vice News, and the host of the Comedy Central Snapchat account.
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Early life
Brandon Wardell was born in the Seattle area before moving to Northern Virginia when he was a child. He grew up in Fairfax, Virginia and attended Robinson Secondary School. After attending Robinson, Wardell briefly attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, but ultimately dropped out to pursue a career in comedy.
Career
Wardell's career began at the age of 17 in early 2010 doing open-mics, before being invited to comedy hours in the Washington, D.C. region. Garnering local success, Wardell was scouted to perform at SXSW in Austin, Texas and the Bridgetown Comedy Festival in Portland, Oregon in the Spring 2012, eventually leading him to be featured in The Washington Post in October 2012.
In mid-2013, an agent in Los Angeles noticed Wardell through the Washington Post article, and scouted Wardell to be part of his organization. After spending two weeks at VCU, Wardell accepted the terms, dropped out of VCU, and moved to Los Angeles to further pursue comedy.
After Wardell appeared on several podcasts, his work was noticed by Bob Odenkirk, who featured Wardell on his late 2014 live comedy album, Amateur Hour, in which Wardell is featured on the opening four tracks.
While the album was well received, Wardell's performance received negative reviews, with many fans and critics questioning Wardell's presence on the album. One critic panned his performance, saying that Wardell starts the album off with a "thud" and "unmemorable bits". A writer for The A.V. Club found it "strange" that Wardell was included on the album.
In 2015 he toured with Bo Burnham. He then became the host of Comedy Central's Snapchat series "Hot Takes." On January 27, 2016 he made his TV debut appearing on the Comedy Central show @midnight.
In addition to stand-up, Wardell writes comedy-related articles for Vice. He has also written articles for The Washington Post and Four Pins.