Chris Rock Convinced Neal Brennan to Try Ayahuasca at David Spade’s House

Nothing says “spiritual awakening” quite like a couple of comedy A-listers losing their minds on ayahuasca in a Malibu beach house.

Chappelle’s Show co-creator Neal Brennan is no stranger to the mysterious corners of human consciousness. After all, he was there when Charlie Murphy told his Prince stories. In his post-Dave Chappelle era, Brennan found himself at the forefront of the sad-core stand-up movement, exploring the complexities of depression and mental struggle in projects like his critically acclaimed 2022 Netflix special Blocks. 

Like many depressives, Brennan has enlisted chemical assistance to change his brain, but when the usual antidepressants fell short of ensuring a full recovery, he stumbled upon a new psychoactive path to wellness, with a helping hand from none other than Chris Rock.

On the most recent episode of the Fly on the Wall podcast, Brennan told Saturday Night Live legends Dana Carvey and David Spade that Rock convinced him to undergo an ayahuasca experience in a Los Angeles home once occupied by Spade himself. As it turns out, the most effective way to fight depression is to trip balls on the granddaddy of psychedelics with Chris Rock in a beachfront mansion — but good luck getting your normal people insurance to cover it.

“I got less sad in a very risky way, which is ayahuasca, DMT and MDMA,” Brennan said of his successful fight against depression, telling his illustrious hosts, “I got into ayahuasca because our mutual friend Chris Rock sent me an article from The New York Times about ayahuasca and was like, ‘We gotta do this.’”

Brennan quipped, “You know you’re old when you get your drug ideas from The New York Times.” 

For many years now, patients suffering from severe cases of depression have found reprieve in psychedelic substances, and when faced with the opportunity to try a traditional and spiritual South American panacea that’s become increasingly trendy among American psychonauts, Brennan dove in head first. Upon learning that Rock had an ayahuasca experience, Carvey remarked, “That explains a lot.”

“We did it together twice, and it was pretty wild. … and I kept doing it,” Brennan continued. “Remember when Rock was renting a place (in) Malibu?” Brennan told the hosts of the setting of their joint psychedelic journey. “It might have been your old place, Spade.”

Said Brennan of the drug experience itself, “I got a guide — a guy came, and he was like a white guy, and Rock was like, ‘(He’s) a little Starbucks-y.’” 

Brennan, Rock and a few of Brennan’s friends all consumed the brew of psychoactive plants under the guidance of their ayahuasca sherpa, and Brennan found the experience absolutely invigorating, describing the high as, “(Psylocibin) mushrooms times a hundred.”

As for Rock’s reaction, Brennan told Carvey and Spade, “I saw Rock get his ass whooped by ayahuasca in a good way.” 

I guess that slaps the shit out of the Will Smith way.