Derrick Comedy was an Internet

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

group from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

. Their YouTube channel has over 240,000 subscribers and amassed over 115 million total video views as of 2024. 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 (UCB) is an improvisational and sketch comedy group that emerged from Chicago's ImprovOlympic in 1990. The original incarnation of the group consisted of Amy Poehler, Matthew Walsh, Matt Besser, Ian Roberts, Ad ...

, 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, and

Donald Glover Donald McKinley Glover Jr. (; born September 25, 1983), also known by his musical stage name Childish Gambino (), is an American actor, comedian, musician, and filmmaker. While he studied at New York University and after working in Derrick ...

. Derrick's director was Dan Eckman, 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 Wicked may refer to: Books * ''Wicked'' (Maguire novel), a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', a 1997 novel series collaboration between Australian children's authors Paul Jennings and Morris G ...

. 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 Guy-wire, guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower ...

" 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, push-bike or cycle, is a human-powered transport, human-powered or motorized bicycle, motor-assisted, bicycle pedal, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, with two bicycle wheel, wheels attached to a ...

; "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, ''nigger'' is a racial slur directed at black people. Starting in the 1990s, references to ''nigger'' have been increasingly replaced by the euphemistic contraction , notably in cases where ''nigger'' is Use–menti ...

faggot ''Faggot'', often shortened to ''fag'', is a Pejorative, slur in the English language that was used to refer to gay men but its meaning has expanded to other members of the queer community. In American youth culture around the turn of the 21s ...

"; "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 created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series premiered on January 31, 1999, following Super Bowl XXXIII, with the rest of the first season airing from April 11, 1999. Th ...

'', Jack Johnson, and

Ultimate Frisbee Ultimate frisbee (officially simply called ultimate) is a non-contact team sport played with a disc flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by Joel Silver, Buzzy Hellring, and Jonny Hines in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate rese ...

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 of host Chris Hansen, partly filmed with a hidden camera, with adult men arriving at a Sting oper ...

'' 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 is a list of national founders of sovereign states 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., political system ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

is still alive and proceeds to have an exclusive interview with him. The video has over 850,000 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. Awards *Grand Jury Prize: Documentary - '' We Live in Public'' *Grand Jury Prize: Drama ...

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

Roadside Attractions Roadside Attractions, LLC is an American independent production company and film distributor based in Los Angeles, California, founded on July 27, 2000, by Howard Cohen and Eric d'Arbeloff. Lionsgate Films Lionsgate Films (spelled as Lions ...

. ''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 an American 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 ...

. On

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, 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 ...

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

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, 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