Brian Copeland
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Brian Copeland (born 1964)[1] is an American actor, comedian, radio talk show host, playwright and author based in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Copeland has been the opening act for artists such as Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Aretha Franklin and Ringo Starr. For more than 27 years, he hosted a radio program for San Francisco radio station KGO.[2] His program formerly aired weekdays from 2pm–4pm. On September 13, 2010, he became the host of "7 Live," a new hour-long, weekday program on KGO-TV in San Francisco.
In 2015, Copeland was officially recognized as a Legend of San Francisco Comedy by Comedy Celebration Day. In 2025, he was inducted into the Bay Area Radio Hall of Fame.[citation needed]
Early life
[edit]Copeland was born in Akron, Ohio and grew up in Hayward, California and San Leandro, California.[3]
He attended Moreau Catholic High School, located in Hayward, California. He studied political science at Holy Names University.
Plays
[edit]In 2004, Copeland premiered his first one-man show, Not a Genuine Black Man, at The Marsh. The show is an account of his experiences growing up in the East Bay suburb of San Leandro, California in the 1970s, when it was considered a racist enclave due to its 99.99% white population and the coordinated policies of housing discrimination and segregation which were in place until the 1960s.[1] The play, originally scheduled for a six-week run, went on to run 7 years, becoming the longest-running one-man show in San Francisco history.[4]
Further solo shows followed in 2012, The Waiting Period; 2013, The Jewelry Box; and 2014, The Scion2016 and Grandma & Me 2022, which won the regional Broadway World award for Outstanding Performance in a Solo show.
Books
[edit]In 2006, the publishing house Hyperion released a memoir by Copeland based upon his play.[5] In 2009, the book was selected by Silicon Valley Reads to read and discuss as a community. This organization represents this Northern Californian region's libraries, bookstores, and schools, along with some civic leaders.[6]
Copeland has written two crime fiction novels in the Topher Davis series, Outraged (2024), which was a 2025 nominee for the McCavity award for Best First Mystery and Shadows of Justice (2025).
Film career
[edit]In 2006, Copeland was cast as the son of Morgan Freeman's character in the Rob Reiner film The Bucket List, also starring Jack Nicholson.[4] In 2020 he played a television news reporter in the blockbuster Venom 2: Let There Be Carnage which starred Tom Hardy and Woody Harrelson.
References
[edit]- 1 2 Joan Ryan (2004-11-07). "Bearing life in all-white San Leandro". The San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
- ↑ "Brian Copeland". Archived from the original on 2007-06-12. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
- ↑ "Not a Genuine Black Man Or, How I Claimed My Piece of Ground in the Lily" (PDF). www.briancopeland.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2024-08-28. Retrieved 2026-04-29.
- 1 2 "Bay Area playwright ready for swan song". Retrieved 2007-07-24.[dead link]
- ↑ "Not a Genuine Black Man". Archived from the original on 2007-09-26. Retrieved 2007-07-24.
- ↑ "Not a Genuine Black Man". Silicon Valley Reads. Archived from the original on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2010-09-14.
External links
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| National | |
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- 1964 births
- Living people
- American male film actors
- American talk radio hosts
- Actors from Hayward, California
- People from San Leandro, California
- Radio personalities from San Francisco
- Male actors from Alameda County, California
- Writers from the San Francisco Bay Area
- African-American male actors
- 21st-century American comedians
- Comedians from San Francisco
- 21st-century African-American people
- 20th-century African-American people
- Comedians from Ohio
- African-American male comedians
- African-American comedians
- American male comedians
- Comedians from Alameda County, California