Meet Brian James O’Connell | Horror Feature Film Director & Professional Comedian

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brian James O’Connell and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brian James, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m from a small town called High Point in North Carolina. My home has an interesting dichotomy to it which is easily demonstrated by our two nicknames: The Furniture Capital of The World & Little Chicago.

While the High Point Furniture Market is a massive international event held twice a year that nearly doubles our population for the week, we earned the name “Little Chicago” for being the 259th largest city in the US but currently #34 in murders per capita.

I think living in a place that struggles with that sort of duality of identity has given me the luxury of being able to move through multiple community spaces, absorb those various experiences and then funnel them into my creative work as a professional comedian as well as a feature film horror director.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As an Irish Catholic, it is very difficult for me to talk about myself in any sort of way that could be potentially construed as bragging or self-promotion which is extremely unhelpful in the entertainment business where selling yourself at all times is strategically key, haha.

I would say I’m probably most well known in the industry as “the best dirty typewriter in town” which translates into a description of my ability to take any project put in front of me and problem solve the main issues you’ve been struggling with inside of 5 minutes.

I have an embarrassingly deep memory for everything from old black & white Japanese films to Roman infantry strategy and a vast mental rolodex of pop culture minutiae.

A large portion of my success has undoubtedly come from working with the incredibly talented folks I’ve met in my time in the global comedy community but what has kept me in the room with those people has always been some sort of version of “holy s*&t, how do you know that and why is that exactly the thing I’ve been banging my head against the wall with for months?!?”

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
The wonderful thing about Los Angeles is that it is a city of transients; LA is actually 90 cities in one and if you really put your mind to it, one could carve out an entire existence where you essentially never left where you are from. If you’re from Boston, you can find bars that play every Red Sox game and Emerson literally has a campus on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood.

Miss the hipster vibes of Williamsburg? Check out Silverlake. Miss surfing with your weón in Chile? Go to Venice, dude. Los Angeles has a food truck for everything from lobster bisque to steamed cheeseburgers to primanti sandwiches so whatever cuisine you’re feeling homesick for is rolling around town as I type these words.

I would send my friends on a smorgasbord scavenger hunt around the city to places like The Irish Times on Motor Avenue on the Westside for corned beef in a dive bar, Jessie Boy on Santa Monica Boulevard in Hollywood for Korean Fried chicken in a mini-mall and Tony’s Darts Away for sausages and board games on Magnolia in the Valley.

Then I would encourage them to take a walk around (yes, you can indeed walk in LA) and discover the millions of tiny pockets of homegrown culture by lifelong locals that you can only get in one of the greatest cities in the world.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My comedy mentor of the past 20 years is a man by the name of Miles Stroth, a legend in the long form improvisation community. I’m biased but I truly believe that if you want to be a comedian and haven’t studied with the “Warchief”, you’re fooling yourself.

Website: https://highwireimprov.com/boc-tour/

Instagram: @b3oc

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-james-o-connell-0327097/

Twitter: @b3oc

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8lqTmdo6AzGG2wF0wwNmuA

Other: https://improvutopia.org/

Image Credits
Amanda Barnes for the thumbs up photos.
B&W photos with Matt Berry, Steve Agee & Scoot McNairy c/o Steve Agee