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'SNL' alumnus Brooks Wheelan brings his comedy home

Nick Fetty
For the Press-Citizen

Brooks Wheelan first got involved with comedy in the summer of 2005 after graduating from Dubuque Hempstead High School.

The Manchester native drove all around the state and even as far as Chicago, Minneapolis and Kansas City to perform at open mic nights and build his reputation in the industry. Immediately after taking the last final of his academic career at the University of Iowa, Wheelan — who studied biomedical engineering — packed up his car and headed to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of comedy.

Wheelan spent the next four years doing stand-up and other gigs before landing a coveted spot last year on "Saturday Night Live." His contract with SNL was terminated earlier this summer, but he's still in the comedy game and has been touring ever since.

On Saturday, he will return to Iowa City to perform at The Mill Restaurant, his first Iowa City performance since his college days.

You were pretty lighthearted about your dismissal from "SNL." What's the biggest thing you took away from your one season on the show?

You've got to make fun of your life if you're a comedian, and getting fired from that show is definitely something I need to make fun of because you can't take anything seriously as a comedian. It's always ridiculous anyway. The fact I got to be on that show is crazy. So getting fired is just part of being a comedian. Anything bad that's happened to me my entire life, I've immediately dealt with it by making fun of it. It kind of takes away the power of whatever bad happens.

Other comedians and industry people — such as Andy Samberg and Judd Apatow — reached out and offered support to you after your "SNL" departure. How did it feel to have your colleagues be so quick to support you?

Samberg just said, in general, if you were even on that show, you were doing something right. I don't know Andy super well from working with him on the show, but he's just the nicest guy ever. And then Judd is just a really good dude I met when we were both freaking out over Pearl Jam one time. That's how I met him. He introduced me to Pearl Jam, and I shook wildly while I asked Judd Apatow to take a photo of me and Eddie Vedder (lead vocalist and guitarist for Pearl Jam). They're just really nice guys who are fans of comedy and understand that stuff's always worked out. It's just crazy that people in comedy are understanding of "Oh yeah, man, not everything is going to work out."

Looks like you have four performances in Iowa in as many days in September. How often are you able to make it back to Iowa these days?

Almost never. This is the first time I've been in Iowa not for Christmas in about six years. I'm excited to be in Iowa when it doesn't look like the Hoth system from "Star Wars." I went to the University of Iowa and full-on love Iowa City. I was coming back to Iowa for my grandparent's birthday, and I thought if I'm back I might as well set up a show in Iowa City. Then once I set up that show, people in Des Moines were like, "You should do a show in Des Moines," and I was like, "OK." Then people in Cedar Rapids were like, "you should do a show," and I was like, "OK." Then people in Dubuque were like, "You should do a show," and I was like, "OK." So it just kinda snowballed into all of this.

Is your Iowa upbringing or other jokes about Iowa ever part of your routine, especially when performing outside of the Hawkeye state?

I just talk about my life and how I grew up out in the country in Iowa. A lot of jokes are about just weird stuff that happened to me when I was little just being isolated out in the woods and playing by myself a lot. It's just a lot of how I grew up as a little idiot and now I'm an adult idiot. There are jokes in there but it's really story-based telling. I did two "Weekend Updates" on Saturday Night Live, and both of them were just about mistakes I've made in my life, and if you watch those "Weekend Updates," that's pretty much how my stand-up act is.

Your Iowa City show will be on the same day as the Iowa-Iowa State football game. Growing up in Iowa, you know that's a big deal around here. Do you plan on going to or watching the game?

I'll watch the game for sure. As a student there, I watched all the games. I just never went into the stadium because you couldn't drink beer inside the stadium. So we'd just watch from outside and drink beer and be really excited. I genuinely love Iowa football. At "SNL" last season, Seth Myers had to buy me a beer because Iowa beat Northwestern. So that was pretty cool. He's a big Northwestern guy, and I was always talking about Iowa so we bet a beer for whoever won. I was pretty stoked they won, but it was kind of nerve-racking going up to Seth Meyers and being like, "Hey man you owe me a beer!"

So were you still able to follow the Hawkeyes as much as your schedule allowed?

Yeah. "SNL" happens on Saturdays, so I'd always try to find the Hawks game in my dressing room and follow along while bouncing in and out.

You have several shows scheduled into November, but what are your plans for after that?

I'm just on a group stand-up tour right now, but I filmed a couple things over the summer, like a movie and TV show. Just keep doing stand-up and then acting. I'm working on writing my own television show because I really enjoy "It's Always Sunny (In Philadelphia)" and "Workaholics," so that's a real goal of mine — to create that type of show where I create it and write it, and I'm in it with a bunch of my friends, and we just write all the episodes.

If you go

What:Brooks Wheelan.

When: 9 p.m. Saturday.

Where:The Mill Restaurant, 120 E. Burlington St. in Iowa City.

Cost: $10 advance, $12 day of show.