Millennial Dan Nainan has been the go-to millennial in a whole lot of news stories in the past year. He was 35 in an AP story that appeared in the Chicago Tribune about undecided voters on Nov. 6, two days before the election. A few weeks later, he was 35 in a Vocativ story about Obama voters who wound up voting for Donald Trump.
I think people who felt like an underdog might have identified with Trump more, because he was being picked on so much, Nainan said. I felt it was very liberating to vote for him and thumb my nose at everybody.
There he was again in Cosmopolitan in July. This time he was a millennial who swore off porn.
Of course I liked looking at it, but after awhile, something about it struck me as wrong, he said.
He claimed once in an interview that the website Help a Reporter Out had gotten him 100 media placements, large and small by 2013, from Fox News to CNN to NPR. For reporters, Nainans a unicorn: a punctual, on-topic, quasi-funny man with a hell of a life story.
Just ask Forbes. Nainan left his career as a senior engineer at Intel to travel the world and tell jokes. Twenty-eight countries and a Tesla, all by the age of 35.
Hes performed for Donald Trump. Hes met Hillary Clinton. Barack Obama endorsed him in a four-second YouTube video.
And on Sept. 11, 2001, while at Intel, Nainan was able to watch both towers fall from his corner in Manhattan, NYC, according to Business Insider in 2011.
After watching so many people die right in front of him, he realized that he needed a change. He left his job to pursue comedy full time, Business Insiders Personal Branding Blog wrote.
Wait a minute.
A few years prior to September 11th, 2001, Dan Nainan was a senior engineer with Intel Corp., the story reads. Its written by Millennial Branding LLC media branding expert Bill Connolly. His job was to travel the world with Chairman Andy Grove, doing technical demonstrations on stage at events.
After years of giving technical demonstrations with the chairman of Intel, millennial Dan Nainan, then 20 years old, watched the towers fall from his corner office as a senior engineer, and decided he needed a career change?
His story is incredible, though as we are learning, not unique, Connolly writes.
Sounds pretty unique.
Nainan was 36 in 2012 in The Wall Street Journal, but 31 in The New York Times in the same year. In 2006, he remembered when he got the bug to do comedy: In 1998, while he was working as a senior engineer at Intel. As a 17-year-old.
Then, there it is on paper: a Maryland traffic court case from last year. Failure to display registration card upon demand by police officer. Daniel Nainan of New York City. Date of birth: May 1961.
And then, for good measure, theres a Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Police Department incident report for the time a sprightly 32-year-old Nainan punched then-Daily Beast reporter Josh Rogin after he made fun of his set at a D.C. comedy club in 2013. (Rogin and I have never met, for what its worth.)
Under exact age or range it says this: 52. Nainan pleaded guilty and served probation.
