Brandt has been told by multiple individuals that he has a funny brain–which served as his main source of entertainment as a child who grew up in a small town in New Mexico during the 80s. His overactive imagination provided him with the tools to turn dumb little ideas into things that were stupidly entertaining. Eventually that ability led him into advertising, where—somewhat miraculously—people started paying him to come up with these ideas.

He worked as an art director at Deutsch, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, 72andSunny, and Wieden+Kennedy; the whole while wondering how he managed to find a career where he basically told jokes for a living. It went well, mostly. But somewhere along the line he realized he really hated filling out timesheets, so he switched to directing.

Brandt’s approach to comedy is pretty simple: dig until you hit something painfully relatable. He loves the kind of casting and performance that makes people laugh because they’ve 100% been there. He’s drawn to moments that are awkward, a little uncomfortable, and impossible to ignore. 

Somewhere between growing up in New Mexico and becoming a director, Brandt got married, had four kids, adopted a 30-pound Maine Coon cat named Oscar, moved in and out of 11 houses across five states, and embraced the cliché—but oh-so-true—motto: "But first, coffee.”