Chad Daniels

Chad Daniels entered the world on March 2, 1975, in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, and built a comedy career around routines that expose his off-kilter, frequently bleak perspective on domestic existence. He first stepped onto a stage during an open-mike evening at Minneapolis’s Acme Comedy Company; the set earned him an immediate offer to serve as MC at Westward Ho, the comedy venue in Grand Forks, North Dakota. Daniels later characterized that position as “performing six shows a week and having to host karaoke after each show in the dead of winter 60 miles from the Canadian border while living in a 6x8 motel room next to a french fry factory.” Whether fortunate or otherwise, the Westward Ho engagement marked his transition to full-time professional status, after which he began crisscrossing the United States on the club circuit.

In 2003 he advanced to the finals of Comedy Central’s Laugh Riots contest; the next year he performed at Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival. Momentum from those appearances led to his network-television debut in 2004 on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn. Subsequent spots followed on Craig Ferguson’s program and on both of Conan O’Brien’s series, first on NBC and later on TBS. Daniels issued his debut album, Two Minutes for Stale Hacking, independently before Stand Up! Records released Busy Being Awesome in 2009, You’re the Best in 2012, and Natural Selection in 2014. Between road dates and broadcast outings, he starred in the special As Is and captured the $10,000 top prize at the 2012 Gilda’s Laughfest competition. In 2017 he partnered with 800 Pound Gorilla Records for the release of his fifth album, Footprints on the Moon.