Derrick Comedy

Derrick Comedy was an Internet sketch comedy group from New York University. The group has a large YouTube following. Their YouTube channel has over 200 thousand subscribers and amassed over 100 million total video views as of 2020.[1] Some notable YouTube videos include Bro Rape: A Newsline Investigative Report with over 11 million views,[2] Girls Are Not To Be Trusted with over 10 million views,[3] and National Spelling Bee with over 8 million views.[4] They have released videos online, performed shows at venues such as New York's Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre,[5] produced the 2009 film Mystery Team, and have appeared on national television.

Members

Derrick Comedy consisted of Dominic Dierkes, DC Pierson, and Donald Glover.[6] Derrick's director was Dan Eckman, and their producer was Meggie McFadden.[7][8]

History

The members of Derrick Comedy met at New York University while performing for the sketch comedy group Hammerkatz NYU[9] and directing Wicked Wicked Hammerkatz.[10][11]

They chose the name "Derrick" for Derrick Comedy because it was another name that started with the letter "D" other than their first names Donald, Dominic, or Dan.[12]

Video sketches

Even though they are all experienced improvisers trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre, all of Derrick's videos are tightly scripted.

Some of their videos include: "New Bike," in which a boy hires an assassin to kill his parents because they failed to buy him a new bicycle;[13] "Opposite Day," in which an office changes Fridays from "Casual Friday" to "Opposite Day," likely in response to the boss's wife's infidelity; "Girls Are Not To Be Trusted", in which a film student makes a series of movies chewing out his girlfriend; "National Spelling Bee", in which every contestant in a spelling bee was told to spell the word "niggerfaggot"; "Bro Rape: A Newsline Investigative Report", in which a news report showcases an imagined dilemma called "Bro Rape" in which preppie, partying young men; "bros" utilize Family Guy, Jack Johnson, and Ultimate Frisbee to sexually assault other bros. Part of the video is a parody of To Catch a Predator as the reporter posed as a "bro" to lure unsuspecting "bro" rapists.[14]

The group's last video sketch posted on their YouTube channel was titled "Thomas Jefferson" in which a news report presents the fact that Founding Father, Thomas Jefferson is still alive and proceeds to have an exclusive interview with him. The video has over 700 thousand views and was posted on May 26, 2010.[15] It was released to promote their movie, Mystery Team, being released on DVD.[16]

Individual work

Donald Glover used to be on the writing staff for 30 Rock. He also played Troy Barnes on the NBC sitcom Community from 2009 to 2014.[17] He was discovered and offered the part of Troy after series creator Dan Harmon attended a showing of Mystery Team.[18][19] In 2016, Glover is the creator, director, and star of the critically acclaimed, Golden Globe- and Emmy-winning series, Atlanta (TV series). Glover has appeared in films such as Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), and The Lion King (2019). Glover raps and sings under the stage name Childish Gambino, having made three albums: Camp, Because the Internet, and most recently, "Awaken, My Love!".[20] In 2018, Glover released the song and music video for "This Is America", which debuted at number-one on the Hot 100. The song was nominated and won four Grammy Awards at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards for Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap/Sung Performance and Best Music Video. Overall, he has twelve total Grammy Award nominations with five wins.

Dominic Dierkes has made a cameo appearance on a video released by The Onion on a fictional World of Warcraft expansion titled The World of World of Warcraft, where he praises the game's "realism" such as calling an in-game internet service provider. In the video, his name is Kyle Dierkes. He and fellow Derrick member DC Pierson also appeared in the CH: LIVE video series for CollegeHumor.[21][22] Dierkes was a staff writer for the animated show Allen Gregory created by and starring Jonah Hill.

DC Pierson has published a novel entitled The Boy Who Couldn't Sleep and Never Had To.[23] He hosted New York University's Ultra Violet Live Talent Competition in 2010[24] Pierson also appeared in a 2012 Allstate Insurance commercial. Both Dierkes and Pierson also appeared in the Showtime series Weeds.

A then-unknown Ellie Kemper, a friend of the group, appeared in the 2007 video Blowjob Girl with Pierson. In a 2010 interview by The A.V. Club, Kemper stated she did not like the video when it went viral.[25] She played the receptionist Erin Hannon in the NBC comedy series The Office (2009–2013) and the leading role in the Netflix comedy series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015–2019), for which she has received two Emmy Award nominations.

Bobby Moynihan, who appeared in several sketches as well as Mystery Team, went on to Saturday Night Live where he was a cast member from 2008 to 2017.

Mystery Team

In January 2008, the group announced that they were taking a break from making internet videos while they worked on their first full-length feature film entitled Mystery Team, a comedy involving a childish trio of senior high school students solving a serious crime.

Mystery Team premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and was released in the United States on August 28, 2009 by Roadside Attractions. Mystery Team was later released on DVD on May 25, 2010. They also released a Mystery Team EP performed by Glover as Childish Gambino featuring six tracks such as, "The Stand" and "Get Like Me".[26] The film grossed $89,442 in the United States.[27] The budget for the film came from their YouTube video sketches and producing online commercials for Clearasil.[28]

On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 58% based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 5.4/10.[29] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on six critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews."[30]

gollark: Before I can answer that, let's go on an extremely long tangent into epistemology.
gollark: A tensor is something which transforms like a tensor, if you must know.
gollark: Ah, heavdronic escrow?
gollark: I wonder if I still have that 16lc currencioform.
gollark: ++deploy contracontra¬☭

References
  1. "derrickcomedy". YouTube. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  2. Bro Rape: A Newsline Investigative Report, retrieved 2019-02-16
  3. derrickcomedy (2006-12-07), Girls Are Not To Be Trusted, retrieved 2019-02-16
  4. derrickcomedy (2006-08-15), National Spelling Bee, retrieved 2019-02-16
  5. "DERRICK Comedy @ FIT". UCB Theatre. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  6. Lynch, John. "How Donald Glover went from unknown comedy writer to a triple-threat Hollywood star playing Lando in the new 'Star Wars'". Business Insider. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  7. "Donald Glover's Internet-Sketch Group 'Derrick Comedy' Collaborators Think 'Atlanta' Is 'So Donald'". Complex. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  8. "We Asked Donald Glover's Old Comedy Team, Derrick, Who Was Funniest – Turns Out Stephen Glover Is". www.thewrap.com. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  9. "BA #076: Dominic Dierkes". the Box Angeles podcast.
  10. SideReel "More Information", 2008
  11. Klocksien, Jake. "Interview: Derrick Comedy" Archived 2009-07-01 at the Wayback Machine, 30 March 2007.
  12. "BA #077: DC Pierson". the Box Angeles podcast.
  13. "New Bike". Retrieved November 16, 2019 – via www.youtube.com.
  14. Molloy, Tim (November 13, 2013). "Donald Glover-Bobby Moynihan 'Bro Rape' Video Horribly Foreshadows Real Case (Video)". www.thewrap.com. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  15. derrickcomedy (2010-05-26), Thomas Jefferson, retrieved 2019-02-17
  16. Goldberg, Matt (2010-05-25). "New DERRICK Comedy Sketch, "Thomas Jefferson"". Collider. Retrieved 2019-02-17.
  17. "Community" – via www.imdb.com.
  18. Angelo, Megan (March 14, 2010). "His Day Job Subsidizes All That Other Stuff". The New York Times.
  19. Pietzman, Louis. "Chevy Chase Is, And Always Will Be, Funnier Than You", tv.com, 04 March 2010.
  20. Strauss, Matthew (November 10, 2016). "Donald Glover Details New Childish Gambino Album Awaken, My Love!". Pitchfork. Retrieved November 11, 2016.
  21. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-03-08. Retrieved 2010-02-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-09-27. Retrieved 2010-02-11.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  23. "ham fisted theatrics heard that you always kinda wondered". www.dcpierson.com.
  24. Anandpara, Shradda. "Unique Performances Showcased at Ultra Violet Live 2010" Archived 2011-07-15 at the Wayback Machine, Washington Square News, 28 February 2010.
  25. "Ellie Kemper". 2010-04-20. Retrieved 2017-01-07.
  26. "Mystery Team - EP by Childish Gambino". Genius. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  27. "Mystery Team (2009) - Box Office Mojo". www.boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 2019-02-16.
  28. Barshad, By Amos; Published Nov 29, 2009. "Overachiever: Donald Glover". NYMag.com. Retrieved 2019-02-17.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  29. "Mystery Team (2009) - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes.
  30. "Mystery Team Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
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