Stand up is hard. I've performed as a musician probably close to a 100 times on stage over the years. I've done stand up about 15 times I think. No comparison in regards to how difficult it is to be good.
I've probably seen a few hundred low level and amateur comedians in my life, and Brendan is better than most of them. If he concentrated on nothing but stand up for a few years, he would be a legit top level comedian IMO. The problem is that he got a comedy special, when he should have been on the road doing a brick wall tour at the regional level. I'm not sure if he could do that because he was sorta famous. He got put in a difficult situation, and sorta puled it off if we're being honest. The hate for him on her is silly.