Brian began his career as a performing waiter at the Stage Door Cabaret in Annapolis, MD where between serving prime rib and cocktails he did two sets of comedy a night and even sang a few show tunes when the need arose.
Moving from the comfort of an indoor venue to the uncertainty of the street, he started performing a street show at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Holding an audiences attention for up to thirty minutes, when their previous focus had been solely on finding a good place to eat crab cakes, proved to be a great learning experience and thus Brian began to hone his highly improvised and edgy style.
“ Certain acts of course stood out. Howard is outstanding as a juggler-cum-patter hand on stage”
Brian then brought his show to the Maryland Renaissance Festival performing under the name ‘Broon’ and within a few years became one of the more popular acts on the national Renaissance Faire circuit.
“A big hit with the crowd was a comedian named Broon (Brian)…he’s a fine ad-libber and armed with a booming voice and a large, expressive face, he looses nothing on the open-air crowd”
Around this time Brian became a regular cast member of the improvisational comedy troupe ‘Comedy Sportz Washington’, as well as the political satire group ‘Gross National Product’. There were a few weekends in the summer when Brian would spend his day doing shows at the renaissance festival, then make an eight-o-clock curtain for Gross National Product at the Bayou in Washington, DC and finally end his evening at the late show for Comedy Sportz. Tiring days indeed.
Along with James Newport, Brian went on to found and direct Comedy Sportz Orlando. After returning to the DC area he became the director of Comedy Sportz DC and created the experimental improv troupe Emitt’s Boys.
Brian teamed up with Philip Johnson to create ‘The MooNiE and Broon Show’ , a loosely structured variety-comedy show that relies heavily on improvisation.
“A brand of buddy comedy that I thought was a lost art”
Brian continues to travel, performing in theaters and festivals nationwide as well as hosting his podcast ’The Brian Howard Show’. He lives in Los Angeles with his family.
