COMEDIAN AND WRITER BRIAN KILEY, THE TONIGHT SHOW

COMEDIAN AND WRITER BRIAN KILEY

By

JC Sullivan


“My grandfather came to this country from Ireland in search of a better life. My grandmother tracked him down and put a stop to that.” That was a one-liner pitched to the audience on his most recent appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman. “We called him poppy….cause of his opium addiction.” A 2007 Emmy Award recipient for Writing in a Comedy/Variety Series, Brian Kiley appeared as natural as they come – looking as if he was totally enjoying himself. His humor is genuinely funny and refreshing clean.

A staff writer for Late Night with Conan O’Brien since 1994, he’s native of Newton, Massachusetts, where he had a girlfriend when he was ten years old. “We didn’t do anything. We didn’t kiss or hold hands or anything….I think it was good practice for married life.” He has four siblings who are spread out around the country, Mary Lou, San Diego, Paul, Fort Lauderdale, Dan, Phoenix and Clare, the only one who’s remained in their home state. Even his father is elsewhere.

Ed Kiley, living in St. Augustine, Florida, just turned 82 and is a veteran of World War Two’s Battle of the Bulge. In the movie about it, Henry Fonda played a pilot named Kiley. “My older brother told all my friends that was his Dad. When they’d come over they’d ask if he was in the Battle of the Bulge and he say “Uh huh!” Then they’d whisper “It’s him.” Our friends would kiss up to him and he had no idea why.

Kiley was educated in the public school system in Newton and later at Boston College. “I actually met Conan O’Brien when I went to CPD. “I was in Conan’s brother’s class and my brother was in Conan’s class when we were kids.” He and his family have been living in New York. When the writers’ strike occurred he reverted to stand-up comedy to bring home a paycheck. For his stand-up act of one-liners, his children and wife are his inspiration. His kids love that he’s a comedian. Their friends say, “Oh, I saw you on YouTube Mr. Kiley.” “It’s a strange world we live in now. My kids are quoting my jokes from the Internet. You have to behave yourself these days!”

He can be seen at 10:30 pm Thursday evenings on the Cartoon Network’s show, Delocated.
He does admit to being bothered by seeing so much sex on TV, “ …especially when I’m home alone….I can’t get anything done.”

Kiley is relocating to California, following O’Brien as he takes over The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The first show airs June 1st. “Its a little tough on my kids (son 13, daughter 11) but I think they’re OK with it. He’s trying to spend a little more quality time with them before the upcoming separation. “Last Friday my eleven year old had his eleven year old friends over for poker night. It was pretty cute, I must say…..I won close to 400 bucks!”

While obviously exaggerating about his kids, he says “they they’re a fantastic source of material. They’ll be coming out to California in July and my wife Sandra is coming out In 20 years,” Kiley quipped.