Ben O'Brien (born November 4, 1984) is an American

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

and

filmmaker Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

from

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

. They are a member of the

Wham City Wham City is an art and performance collective based in Baltimore, Maryland. Members of Wham City include musicians Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader, visual artists Jimmy Joe Roche, Peter Ryan O'Connell, Mason Ross, Adam Endres, Dina Kelberman, April C ...

arts collective and founding member of Wham City Comedy. They have directed videos for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

and

Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expand ...

. They are the co-creator of the web series Showbeast (2006–2013) and they manage and perform with Wham City Comedy (2010–present). The website

Brightest Young Things ''Brightest Young Things'', or BYT Media Inc., was an online magazine and event production and marketing agency based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. Founded in 2009 by Svetlana Legetic, a former Architecture Designer from Serbia, ''Bri ...

posted this about Wham City Comedy "...you should make a point to see them, as they’re super funny and doing DIY comedy like few others." Most prominently they have co-created multiple short films and live performance shows on Adult Swim along with Alan Resnick, Cricket Arrison, and Robby Rackleff, including '' Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick'', '' Unedited Footage of a Bear'', and '' This House Has People in It'' which aired on

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

the week of March 14, 2016.

Life and education

O'Brien was born and raised in Oswego, New York, and went on to attend college at

SUNY Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by G ...

where they met Alan Resnick. In 2008 they moved to

where they maintained a studio at the

Copycat Building The Copycat Building is a former manufacturing warehouse at 1501 Guilford Ave, Baltimore, Maryland, today used as an artists' studio and living space. Built in 1897, it is home to the city's creative class and a landmark of the Station North A ...

and joined

, an arts and music collective.

Live performance

Ben performs live, doing standup comedy and multimedia performances with their group Wham City Comedy, and has toured with found footage group Everything is Terrible! and electronic musician

Dan Deacon Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland. Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major elemen ...

. In April 2015 they began performing as Earth Universe, a spiritual guru who claims to be the reincarnation of

Emanuel Bronner Emanuel Theodore Bronner (born Emanuel Heilbronner; February 1, 1908 – March 7, 1997) was the founder of Dr. Bronner's Magic Soaps. He used product labels to promote his moral and religious ideas, including a belief in the goodness and unity ...

Video work

Their notable projects include multiple music videos for

, a music video for the band

Wye Oak The Wye Oak was the largest Quercus alba, white oak tree in the United States and the State Tree of Maryland from 1941 until its demise in 2002. Wye Oak State Park preserves the site where the revered tree stood for more than 400 years in the ...

for the song "The Tower," the short films for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

, and their self-produced web series "Showbeast".

Personal life

They are a member of the

Democratic Socialists of America The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) is a political organization in the United States and the country's largest Socialism, socialist organization. Sitting on the Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left of the politic ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Ben State University of New York at Purchase alumni Living people 1984 births American LGBTQ directors American LGBTQ comedians American non-binary entertainers American non-binary artists American non-binary writers Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from New York (state) Members of the Democratic Socialists of America from Maryland Non-binary comedians Non-binary directors Comedians from Baltimore 21st-century American comedians