Wheelan was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on August 21, 1986, and raised in Manchester, Iowa, the son of Chris and Jim Wheelan. Growing up, his interest mostly focused on science and mathematics. He performed regularly in Iowa City during his college years. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 2009 with a biomedical engineering degree.
Career
Wheelan started performing stand-up comedy in his late teens in Iowa, then went to Kansas City and Chicago, before eventually moving to Los Angeles where he began to perform stand-up comedy full-time. Before joining Saturday Night Live, he performed stand-up comedy in Los Angeles while he had a job as a biomedical engineer, doing research on eyes and heart valves. In 2013, Wheelan was hired to write for Saturday Night Live for the 2013–2014 season and was made a cast member the week before the season started. After being fired from Saturday Night Live, Wheelan embarked on a stand-up tour entitled 'Brooks Wheelan Falls Back On Standup Comedy Tour', in reference to his firing. As part of his promotion for the tour he performed on Conan. Wheelan's first stand-up comedy albumThis is Cool, Right? was released on 27 January 2015 to critical acclaim. The Laugh Button called it, "One of the best albums of 2015." While the A.V. Club wrote, "This Is Cool, Right? is at turns manic, honest, and completely absurd. Brooks crafts jokes not unlike sketches, and has an ear for storytelling that finds universal truths in the examining of his personal life." As part of the promotion for the record, he appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers. Wheelan also has a Comedy Central half-hour stand-up special airing in summer 2015.
''Saturday Night Live''
Wheelan was a recurring guest on Saturday Night Lives "Weekend Update," using his stand-up stories as public service announcements against irresponsible behavior. On the Bruce Willis / Katy Perry episode, the commentary centered on having tattoos that have no meaning, with Wheelan showing off three tattoos he had in his youth: A tribal stamp on his left arm meant to look like the one Anthony Kiedis from Red Hot Chili Peppers has, a nautical star on his right arm, and a weird oceanscape on his side. On the Anna Kendrick / Pharrell Williams episode, the commentary centered on the dangers of drinking alcohol, and the story of how his friends put butter down his pants while he was blacked out drunk and Wheelan worrying that he was dying of an undiscovered sexually transmitted disease. On July 14, 2014, Wheelan announced through Twitter that he was no longer a cast member of Saturday Night Live, stating, "FIRED FROM NEW YORK IT'S SATURDAY NIGHT!". A couple of days later, Wheelan admitted that he was not angry and that he is still close to some of the cast members. He claimed that he prefers stand-up.
On October 24, 2017, Wheelen launched a podcast called, "Entry Level with Brooks Wheelan". In each episode, Brooks interviews a guest on the often low-paying or undesirable jobs they had before they eventually achieved success in the entertainment industry.
