Derrick Comedy was the memorable and influential sketch series of Donald Glover and two of his new classmates, and almost two decades later, their comedy still lives on. Sketch comedy shows have been a staple of the genre even long before that Saturday Night Live Gained control of the pop culture narrative in 1975. Monty Python, The Carol Burnett Showand other variety series popularized the rapid-fire style of often wild and occasionally outrageous comedy sequences.
Sketches can be traced back even earlier to vaudeville acts like the Marx Brothers, whose movies were more of a series of strung-together sketches than a complete film. Many famous comedians, actors and writers got their start in sketch comedy, with nearly Every notable comic actor has at least some history in this format. As the Internet emerged from its infancy, it quickly proved to be the perfect vehicle for sketch comedy, and smart and talented performers like the members of Derrick comedy Immediately capitalized.
Donald Glover, Dominic Dierkes and DC Pearson founded Derrick Comedy in college
The trio also befriended Maggie McFadden and Dan Eckman
Donald Glover, Dominic Dierkes and DC Pearson first met at NYU While performing together in college’s sketch comedy group, Hammerkatz, they quickly discovered they shared the same creative and comedic sensibilities (via Flour Magazine). All three performers took sketch comedy very seriously, one of the first reasons they found their way into each other’s orbit. The trio was joined by two other classmates, Dan Ekman, who moved on Derrick comedys director, and Meggie McFadden, who became the producer of the web series.
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Eckman and McFadden weren’t actors, but they wanted to make something, and Glover, Dierkes, and Pierson were the perfect people to do it with. McFadden described how the five creators shared a friendship that extended past Derrick comedy,
“We literally hung out all the time. When we weren’t making sketches, we were playing Street Fighter or Mario Kart. I’m nostalgic for the way we created the sketches. We were just hanging out at 3 a.m. and had a funny idea. .”
It is not difficult to see that the brilliant and unusual sketches that the troupe made were probably a result of the closeness and comfort that everyone in the room had with each other. They called themselves “Derrick Comedy” because it was a name that started with “D” that no one in the group shared (by. BoxAngeles).
Derrick Comedy was a 2006 sketch comedy channel on YouTube
The group never intended to become an Internet phenomenon
Derrick comedy Never intended to become a major internet phenomenon. They launched their YouTube channel, Derrick comedyIn 2006, just a year after the site launched and before anyone was sure how big it would become and how it would change the way people consume content. This was before YouTubers were figuring out how to game the system and algorithm to earn big paychecks. The only way to stumble upon something like Derrick comedy Was either by accident or because a friend passed it along.
Dierkes said the reason they started the channel was simply because it seemed like an effective storage option for the sketches they made. Better to put it on YouTube than let it rot on a hard drive hidden somewhere. Dierkes said,
“We never thought of ourselves as a YouTube sketch group. I don’t know if anyone did at the time. For most of Derrick’s life we ​​would joke around when we were going to get paid our ‘YouTube dollars’ not knowing That was the way things were headed at the time, most sketch groups we knew didn’t put videos online. A lot of groups that started after us completely surpassed us in that.
Even the name seems like it was accidental. While Derrick came from the founders’ names, Pearson had no idea why it was spelled that way. The “comedy” part was simply because Pearson wanted to make sure that anyone coming to their page would understand what type of videos they were about to see. The group uploaded their first video on April 16, 2006, which is the Frogle Rock Theme songOverlaid with Glover singing different lyrics to the show’s tune. It’s nonsense, but it tapped into something, and now the video has 447k views.
What was clear was that Derrick comedy touched an online nerve and the troupe braced itself for great things to come.
As much as people love this video now, it wasn’t until the unfortunately titled “Bro Rape” sketch that Derrick Comedy entered the mainstream. Despite much of their success, Pearson and the rest of Derrick comedy Never felt like the fame of YouTube touched their real life. What was clear was that Derrick comedy touched an online nerve and the troupe braced itself for great things to come.
The best derrick comedy sketches
Their sketches can be edgy but also goofy
There are so many famous Derrick comedy Sketches that some people may not even realize that they have seen a handful. The video that launched them, “Bro Rape”, has a much more violent name than anything the sketch actually depicts, though Eckman admits to being embarrassed by some of their more juvenile videos,
“You look back at yourself, and how can you not cringe? We’ve all grown a lot as people and artists. A lot of the stuff we wouldn’t do today. Not out of fear of backlash, it’s just not where our heads are at.” On.”
The video also stars a young Bobby Moynihan who appears in several Derrick comedy Sketches. Another of their famous sketches, “Spelling Bee”, includes the repeated shouting of two slurs over and over in increasing volume. Even then, Glover showed the left-brained comedic genius that would land him a writing job 30 stone.
Derrick comedy Wasn’t a slapstick humor channel and even their more eyebrow-raising sketches were serious and marked with a doofy nerdiness that blunted some of the edges.
The funniest part of the scene isn’t Glover’s character asking the white students to spell out the racist and homophobic word, it’s at the end when, after clapping happily for the winner, he grabs the microphone and tearfully declares, “I heard what you said“, and storms off. As offensive as some of their content sounds on its face, Derrick comedy Wasn’t a slapstick humor channel and even their more eyebrow-raising sketches were serious and marked with a doofy nerdiness that blunted some of the edges.
“Keyboard Kid” is a fantastic sketch about a young boy who performs a terrible and extended keyboard song during a talent show that slowly devolves into him sampling soundbites of his abusive relationship with his father. In “Girls are not to be trusted”, Glover’s character creates a short film for his class that is a desperate appeal to his ex-girlfriend Melanie. Although it may not be about her, of course, as the woman in the movie is referred to as “Belany”, and this is all scored to Radio Head’s Karma Police.
Glover has a secret wish for the YouTube channel. He hoped that his success would allow it Derrick comedy To eventually make a movie And, in 2009, after their channel stopped making videos, the group released Mystery teamA Knives Out-Like a comedy-mystery movie. The film follows a group of nerdy neighborhood crime stoppers who are recruited into a high-stakes murder case.
At this point, Glover is already written for 30 stone And was about to star in Community. Mystery team Has a decent 60% on Rotten tomatoes And has gained a cult following over the years, making for a fitting end cap to the whole thing Derrick comedy Experiment.
Where is the Derrick Comedy Troupe now?
Each member of the group continued to work in the industry
The Derrick comedy Troupe have all gone on to varying degrees of success with Glover being the obvious choice for the biggest star to come out of it. Donald Glover’s filmography is extensive, and he has successfully acted in, written and directed award-winning and commercially successful television shows and movies. He was two for four at the Golden Globes, five for twelve at the Grammys, two for 14 at the Emmys, and he was nominated for a SAG. Currently, Glover is working as the star, writer and showrunner for the Emmy-nominated Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
DC Pierson continued acting, briefly appearing in Captain America: The Winter Soldier As an Apple employee and have small roles in shows like 2 Broke Girls, Key & PeleAnd Community. Dominique Dierkes continues to act, write and produce with a great hand Solar opposites, Workaholics, The MicAnd Ash vs Evil Dead. Dan Ekman directed and still produced Derrick comedyBut he hasn’t done anything since Takeo Cinematic Universe in 2017.
Meggie McFadden produced after Derrick comedy Working on Song Voyage And Worst. Prom. Ever. She now consults on awards shows, recently working on The 28th Annual Critics’ Choice Awards in 2023. Derrick comedy is the poster child for 2000s sketch comedy and the union of Internet fame and creative output that really hasn’t been matched since. Each member of the group went to separate successes in the industry, but at least their videos are still on YouTube to let fans go back in time to see them together, if only for a few minutes.