Is this comedian with a Kendall tattoo Miami’s next big star? Check her out this weekend
Over the summer, Brittany Brave came up with a genius idea.
A few months after feds raided Sean “Diddy” Combs’ mansions in Miami Beach and L.A. in a sex trafficking probe, the local comic had her light bulb moment.
Brave would organize a roast of the fallen rapper, who was accused of shocking allegations of abuse. Proceeds would go to the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
The hilariously dark show at the Dead Flamingo at Casa Tiki in Little Havana went viral. The “absolute cooking” not only made Brave national news (including an interview with TMZ), but Diddy’s No. 1 troll, 50 Cent, even made a cameo.
“Sean Combs got his nickname ‘Puffy,’” Brave joked to a full house during the June fundraiser, “because that’s how he leaves his girlfriends after every relationship.”
The 33-year-old Kendall native speaks from personal experience; she was left traumatized by an abusive relationship with a toxic ex while living in New York City. The two split in 2017 after a tumultuous three years, but she credits the breakup as the springboard for her stand-up career.
What started as tearful gabfests with girlfriends took Brave to open mic nights in New York, back to Miami during the pandemic where she hit the ground running, doing shows anywhere she could, sketches on social media until she was eventually headlining at the few clubs that make up South Florida’s emerging comedy scene. Now, barely five years into her career, she’s headlining two shows at the Adrienne Arsht Center this Saturday, a tremendous honor for a comic who hopes to be the next big thing to come out of Miami after her fellow Only in Dade alum, Marcello Hernandez.
‘That’s where I was meant to be’
Her ex boyfriend is thankfully in the rear view mirror now, but the pain served as an invaluable lesson.
“My life was a tornado with him,” Brave says over lunch at west Kendall favorite, Finka, near the home where she grew up. “When I would complain to my friends about how evil and terrible he was, they would literally laugh-cry and say you need to use this as material.”
Rock bottom turned out to be the ideal place to be. The University of Florida grad had been slogging along in corporate marketing with Columbia Records in New York, a job she got after interning with Sony Music in college, and was just not happy or fulfilled.
Her first love was performing, not sitting in an office 9 to 5.
“I was always the goof as a kid, a weirdo,” the Felix Varela grad admits. “I would do routines and skits and make everyone laugh.”
Despite her last name (yes it’s real; her grandfather came from Ellis Island as “Bravo”), she just wasn’t ready to take the step of doing comedy professionally.
“I’m of that second generation Italian-immigrant mentality: You’re not going to make it. You’re gonna starve and DIE!” she says with faux drama, adding seriously that there was no other choice.
“I hated my life. I wasn’t sure I liked myself. I didn’t know what I could turn to. With this sobering mindset, I finally mustered up the gall.”
The next two-plus years were busy, full of open mic nights, small clubs and improvs, Instagram reels and any other gigs Brave could pick up. She was hitting her stride with a laser focus.
“It’s so cliche and cheesy, but once I got up on stage, talking to the crowd,” says Brave, who counts Joan Rivers as one of her inspirations, “that was where I was meant to be.”
The audience agreed. Brave’s mostly NSFW jokes ran the gamut, with a female focus. No topic was off limits, from issues like ovulation, Ph balance, drinking too much, BBLs, dating nightmares, sex and aging. Also in the mix: politics, teasing the audience, and of course, observations about her hometown.
But just as the jobs were piling up, COVID happened.
Lockdowns were especially harsh and confining in the concrete jungle of New York. Brave couldn’t escape to the beach, drive around the suburbs of Kendall or even sit in her backyard.
“Shows were getting canceled left and right,” says the former Hits 97.3 personality. “The situation was absolutely apocalyptic with people shaking each other down over toilet paper. I was like, yeah, there’s no effing way. I needed to go ride this thing out in Miami.”
There’s no place like Kendall
Home she went, back to her childhood bedroom at her folks’ house in The Hammocks. Close to the old haunts like Bird Bowl, Arbetter’s hot dogs, Town & Country mall, and the Barnes & Noble at Kendall Village Center, where she worked at the Starbucks as a teen. Brave leaned all in, even getting a sizable “Kendall” tattoo on her left rib at Bird Road institution Inkaholik.
She was ready to be a 305-er again. What was originally a temporary refuge turned out to be base camp yet again.
Brave went at the South Florida comedy circuit hard, from Miami-Dade to Palm Beach County. Her work ethic paid off, as did her wickedly smart brand of ribald humor. Within months, the New Times named her best comedian:
“Her sets are frenzied blends of self-deprecation and feminism, with a healthy smattering of raunch,” the newspaper wrote. “Her crowd work is natural, playful, and (mostly) kindhearted, aside from instances of putting hecklers in their place every now and then, which she accomplishes with admirable tact.”
Translation: She knew how to read the room — because the room was packed with her people.
“I love Miami. It’s a very beautiful city. Every girl here is beautiful,” she cracked during a 2021 set at now closed Yumbrella at Sunset Place. ”All the men look like characters from ‘Grand Theft Auto.’ Like, you’re all one step away from a face tattoo.”
Her act hasn’t changed much over the years. Brave, who hosts a hysterical podcast “Big Yikes” every Wednesday, is still a potty mouthed open book. But even a wisecracking girl from Kendall can get excited about headlining her hometown’s performing arts center.
“That’s a big deal, like our MSG. I grew up watching Broadway shows there,” she says of the downtown Miami venue. “Anyone who ever doubted me is taking it all back right now. A total win-win.”
“She is brilliantly funny and witty,” says Rae Lucas, the Arsht’s programming director. “We’re proud to have the opportunity to showcase an emerging Miami comedian here.”
Melissa Echavarria, general manager of the Miami Improv in Doral, also sings Brave’s praises.
“From the moment she walked into the club a couple of years ago, I was enamored with her,” she says. “She has such big energy and brings so much to the scene. Brittany offers a different take on every topic imaginable and it resonates with people down here. Someone from Ohio could do the same bit but it wouldn’t have the same flavor.”
On her Instagram announcement, Brave told followers about her big break in that typical, self-effacing, conversational way.
“I’m playing the gd-damn @arshtcenter and I’m the first comedian to do it,” she wrote. “Sure, Leno and Whoopi have technically graced the stage before but neither of them are from Kendall and have a horrific tattoo to prove it.”
You can bet Kendall will creep into this weekend’s act, which Brave proudly promises will be neither toned down or cleaned up.
“We’re scrappy, we’re tough,” she says of her fellow denizens. “I lost my virginity at Santa’s Enchanted Forest… to Santa.”
As the bucket list keeps getting ticked off, we had to ask: What’s the end game?
“Saturday Night Live” would be awesome, obviously. But Brave, who is moving back to NYC early next year, is looking at the bigger picture and remembering how she got to where she is now.
“Whatever the next platform is, be it a Netflix special, acting, touring more or doing my own talk show so I can use my yapping skills,” she says. “Existentially? I’d like to help women, whether it’s opening for shelters or rehab centers, doing what I can to help them get out of bad situations. That’s the real goal.”
Echavarria believes her friend is not only going places and kicking butt, but sees her as one of the most important comedic female voices to emerge from South Florida. The entertainment industry vet notes that some of our town’s biggest comics (think Cisco Duran, Orlando Leyba and Forrest Shaw) are men.
“How quickly Brittany made a name for herself I have no doubt she will go on to do amazing things,” she gushes. “I see her headlining bigger theaters than the Arsht and even doing TV and movies. There’s no stopping her.”
BRITTANY BRAVE
When: 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Saturday.
Where: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-949-6722; arshtcenter.org.
Tickets: From $30.
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 4:30 AM.
