Derrick Comedy was an Internet

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

group from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

. The group has a large

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

following. Their YouTube channel has over 200 thousand subscribers and amassed over 100 million total video views as of 2020. Some notable YouTube videos include ''Bro Rape: A Newsline Investigative Report'' with over 11 million views, ''Girls Are Not To Be Trusted'' with over 10 million views, and ''National Spelling Bee'' with over 8 million views. They have released videos online, performed shows at venues such as New York's

Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre The Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre (shorter UCB Theatre) is an American improvisational theatre company and training center founded by the Upright Citizens Brigade troupe members Matt Besser, Amy Poehler, Ian Roberts and Matt Walsh. Prior to ...

, produced the 2009 film ''

Mystery Team ''Mystery Team'' is a 2009 American comedy film by the comedy group Derrick Comedy. The story was written by Donald Glover, DC Pierson, Dominic Dierkes, Dan Eckman and Meggie McFadden. It stars Glover, Pierson and Dierkes, was directed by Eckm ...

'', and have appeared on national television.

Members

Derrick Comedy consisted of Dominic Dierkes,

DC Pierson DC Pierson is an American comedian, author, and actor. He is best known for his involvement in the sketch and improvisational comedy group Derrick Comedy. Early life and education Pierson was born in Phoenix, Arizona. He attended New York Uni ...

, and

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American entertainer, writer, director, and producer. After working in Derrick Comedy while studying at New York University, Glove ...

. Derrick's director was

Dan Eckman Dan Eckman (born January 27, 1984) is an American director, writer, and producer. Eckman first came to attention for his work in the sketch group Derrick Comedy. Early life Eckman was born on January 27, 1984 in Manchester, New Hampshire. He has ...

, and their producer was Meggie McFadden.

History

The members of Derrick Comedy met at

while performing for the sketch comedy group Hammerkatz NYU and directing Wicked Wicked Hammerkatz. They chose the name "

Derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and a ...

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

Video sketches

Even though they are all experienced improvisers trained at the

, 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 A bicycle, also called a pedal cycle, bike or cycle, is a human-powered or motor-powered assisted, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A is called a cyclist, or bicyclist. Bic ...

; "Opposite Day", in which an office changes Fridays from "Casual Friday" to "

Opposite Day Opposite Day is a make believe game usually played by children. Conceptually, Opposite Day is a holiday where things are said and done in an opposite manner. It is not a holiday on any calendar and therefore one can declare that any day of the y ...

", 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 A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. To compete, contestants must memorize the spellings of words as written in dictionaries, and recite ...

was told to spell the word "

nigger In the English language, the word ''nigger'' is an ethnic slur used against black people, especially African Americans. Starting in the late 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been progressively replaced by the euphemism , notably in cases ...

faggot Faggot, faggots, or faggoting may refer to: Arts and crafts * Faggoting (metalworking), forge welding a bundle of bars of iron and steel * Faggoting (knitting), variation of lace knitting in which every stitch is a yarn over or a decrease * F ...

"; "Bro Rape: A Newsline Investigative Report", in which a news report showcases an imagined dilemma called "Bro Rape" in which partying young men known as "bros" utilize ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffin family, Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter Griff ...

'', Jack Johnson, and

Ultimate Frisbee Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a frisbee flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its ath ...

to sexually assault other bros. Part of the video is a parody of ''

To Catch a Predator ''To Catch a Predator'' is an American reality television series in the television news magazine program ''Dateline NBC'' featuring confrontations with host Chris Hansen, partly filmed with a hidden camera, of adult men arriving at a sting ho ...

'' as the reporter posed as a "bro" to lure unsuspecting "bro" rapists. 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 The following list of national founding figures is a record, by country, of people who were credited with establishing a state. National founders are typically those who played an influential role in setting up the systems of governance, (i.e. ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

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. It was released to promote their movie, ''

,'' being released on DVD.

''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 ''

'', a comedy involving a childish trio of senior high school students solving a serious crime. Mystery Team premiered at the

2009 Sundance Film Festival The 2009 Sundance Film Festival was held during January 15, 2009 until January 25 in Park City, Utah. It was the 25th iteration of the Sundance Film Festival. Award winners *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - ''We Live in Public'' *Grand Jury Prize: ...

and was released in the United States on August 28, 2009 by

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions is an American production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d’Arbeloff, specializing largely in independent films. Lionsgate Lions Gate ...

. 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". The film grossed $89,442 in the United States. The budget for the film came from their YouTube video sketches and producing online commercials for

Clearasil Clearasil is a brand of skin care and acne medication, whose products contain chiefly benzoyl peroxide, sulfur and resorcinol, triclosan, or salicylic acid as active ingredients. Clearasil has a wide range of products both for rapid and sometimes ...

. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 58% based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 5.4/10. On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film has a weighted average score of 42 out of 100, based on six critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

Derrick ComedyDC Pierson's blogCheckout - A Film by Dan EckmanDerrick Comedy Interview with Supernegro.comDerrick Comedy at Youtube.com
{{authority control American comedy troupes Sketch comedy troupes Student comedy troupes New York University Comedy collectives 2006 establishments in New York City 2000s in comedy