Michael Donovan Mitchell (born October 6, 1982) is an American actor, comedian, and writer best known as a member of The Birthday Boys sketch comedy group. He is also known for his role as Randy Monahan on the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

series ''

Love Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...

'', and Cowan in the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

film ''

The Tomorrow War ''The Tomorrow War'' is a 2021 American military science fiction action film directed by Chris McKay, written by Zach Dean, and starring Chris Pratt. It was produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, David S. Goyer, Jules Daly, and ...

''. He currently co-hosts the podcast ''

Doughboys Doughboy was a popular nickname for the American Infantry, infantryman World War I#Entry of the United States, during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s. Examples inclu ...

'' (with comedian and writer Nick Wiger), which reviews and discusses

chain restaurants A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

Early life

Mitchell was raised in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

. He briefly attended

Thayer Academy Thayer Academy (TA) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory day school located in Braintree, Massachusetts, United States. The academy, conceived in 1871 at the bequest of General Sylvanus Thayer, known as the father of the United Sta ...

before graduating from

North Quincy High School North Quincy High School (NQHS) is a public secondary school located in the North Quincy neighborhood of Quincy, Massachusetts, United States. The school serves grades 9 through 12, and has an enrollment of over 1,200 students. It is one of t ...

. Mitchell attended

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca (which is separate from the town), Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and go ...

, graduating in May 2005.

Career

Mitchell started as an improv and sketch comedian at the

Upright Citizens Brigade Theater 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 ...

(UCB) in Los Angeles. He went on to write and star in ''The Birthday Boys'' for IFC until the show was canceled after two seasons. During this time he also appeared regularly on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's ''

Parks and Recreation ''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...

'' and IFC's ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' In 2014, Mitchell played a fictionalized version of himself in the short film ''The Badger's Promise'', the directorial debut of friends

Harris Wittels Harris Lee Wittels (April 20, 1984 – February 19, 2015) was an American comedian. He was a writer for ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', a writer and executive producer for '' Parks and Recreation'', and a recurring guest on ''Comedy Bang! Bang!' ...

and

Armen Weitzman Armen Weitzman (born December 19, 1983) is an American actor and comedian best known for playing Garfield in the Comedy Central series ''Another Period''. Early life Weitzman was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, the son of lawyer Howa ...

. He was the head writer of '' Hidden America with Jonah Ray'' on the

Seeso Seeso was an over-the-top subscription streaming service owned by Comcast through NBCUniversal, launched on January 7, 2016, and closed on November 8, 2017. It provided comedy content such as original and broadcast television shows. History O ...

streaming service and played the recurring role of Randy Monahan on the

comedy series ''Love''. Mitchell played the role of "Cowan" in the 2021 movie ''

''.

The Birthday Boys

In 2007, at UCB, Mitchell formed the sketch comedy group The Birthday Boys with Jefferson Dutton, Dave Ferguson,

Mike Hanford Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and documen ...

, Tim Kalpakis,

Matt Kowalick Matt may refer to: *Matt (name), people with the given name ''Matt'' or Matthew, meaning "gift from God", or the surname Matt *In British English, of a surface: having a non-glossy finish, see gloss (material appearance) *Matt, Switzerland, a mu ...

, and

Chris VanArtsdalen Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name * Chris Abani (born 1966), N ...

. With the exception of Kowalick, all members of The Birthday Boys graduated from

. Mitchell and The Birthday Boys performed regularly at UCB and the group uploaded original sketches to their

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 ...

page. The Birthday Boys gained notoriety within the LA comedy scene, appearing on ''

Comedy Bang! Bang! ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' (formerly ''Comedy Death-Ray Radio'') is a weekly comedy audio podcast, which originally began airing as a radio show on May 1, 2009.A Special Thing Forums:Comedy Death-Ray Radio starts today! Popularly known as ''Humanit ...

'' and called Adam McKay's "favorite sketch group." The group met

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker best known for his role as Saul Goodman on ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off ''Better Call Saul'' (2015–2022). For the latter, he has re ...

through a show that Odenkirk's wife, Naomi Yomtov, created at UCB. They began collaborating with Odenkirk and were picked up for a sketch show, '' The Birthday Boys'', at IFC, with Odenkirk and

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is the son of the comedians and actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. Stiller was a member of a group of comedic actors colloquially known as ...

as executive producers. Mitchell featured frequently in ''The Birthday Boys'' sketches. His notable characters include Woosh, Pretty Dad, and September Santa. The series ran for two seasons before being canceled in 2014. Mitchell still performs sketch comedy with The Birthday Boys and other projects.

''Doughboys''

Mitchell created the comedy podcast ''

'' with comedy writer Nick Wiger in 2015. ''

'' was named "The One Food Podcast to Start With" by pop culture site Vulture. The co-hosts review chain restaurants with a weekly guest, including

Nicole Byer Nicole Byer (born August 29, 1986) is an American comedian, actress, and television host. She is known as the host of the Netflix comedic reality bake-off series ''Nailed It!'' (2018–present), for which she received two Primetime Emmy Award no ...

Haley Joel Osment Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an American actor and voice actor. Beginning his career as a child actor, Osment's role in the comedy-drama film '' Forrest Gump'' (1994) won him a Young Artist Award. His breakthrough came with the psyc ...

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

, and all of the Birthday Boys, among others. Mitchell's fans call him "The Spoonman", "Mitchy Two-Spoons", "Spoon", "The Artist Formerly Known as Spoon", "Night Spoon", "Dorito Kid" and "Mr. Slice" all nicknames he gave himself. His Co-Host, Nick Wiger invites listeners to submit

roasts Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization ...

of Mitchell to be read at the beginning of each episode, which often involve pop culture references and puns based on food or physique. As of early 2018, the podcast is no longer associated with

Feral Audio Feral Audio was an independent podcast network and production company, founded in 2012 as a podcasting collective by Dustin Marshall after Dustin left Earwolf. Feral launched from Executive Producer's Shadi Petosky's apartment in Franklin Village ...

and is now a member of the

HeadGum Headgum is an American podcasting network founded in 2015 by Marty Michael, Amir Blumenfeld, and Jake Hurwitz. The latter twoknown collectively as comedy duo Jake and Amirbuilt upon the success of their podcast '' If I Were You'' to launch t ...

network. Mitchell and Wiger use

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. It helps creators and artists earn a monthly income by providing rewards and perks to their subscribers. Patreon charges a co ...

to bring exclusive paid ''Doughboys'' content to their subscribers beyond the weekly episodes. As of June 2019, the ''Doughboys'' Patreon is the 9th most popular podcast Patreon and the 25th most popular Patreon in general. On the June 13, 2019 episode of ''

'', Wiger and

Jason Mantzoukas Jason Mantzoukas (, el, Ιάσων Μαντζούκας; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, writer and podcaster. He is best known for his recurring role as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'', and as one of the th ...

offered Mitchell $15,000 if he can get an original song on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 within a year. In 2020, the offer was extended indefinitely.

Filmography

Film

Television

Music videos

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Mike 1982 births Living people Male actors from Massachusetts American comedy musicians American male television actors American television writers American male television writers Ithaca College alumni People from Quincy, Massachusetts Upright Citizens Brigade Theater performers Screenwriters from Massachusetts 21st-century American comedians North Quincy High School alumni 21st-century American screenwriters 21st-century American male writers