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 roles as Randy Monahan on the

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

series ''

Love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

'', and Cowan in the

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

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, a ...

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

Doughboys "Doughboy" was a popular nickname for the American infantryman during World War I. Though the origins of the term are not certain, the nickname was still in use as of the early 1940s, when it was gradually replaced by "G.I." as the following gene ...

'' (with comedian and writer

Nick Wiger Nicholas Frank Wiger (born August 28, 1980) is an American comedian, improviser, podcast personality, and television writer. He is the co-host (with actor and comedian Mike Mitchell) of the popular weekly podcast ''Doughboys'', which reviews c ...

), which reviews and discusses chain restaurants.

Early life

Mitchell was raised in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county. Quincy is part of the Greater Boston area as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in ...

. 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 St ...

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 tw ...

. He attended

Ithaca College Ithaca College is a private college in Ithaca (town), New York, Ithaca, New York. It was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a Music school, conservatory of music. Ithaca College is known for its media-related programs and entertainment program ...

, graduating in May 2005.

Career

Mitchell started as an improv and sketch comedian at the

Upright Citizens Brigade Theater 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, Adam ...

(UCB) in Los Angeles. He went on to write and star in ''The Birthday Boys'' for IFC which aired for two seasons. During this time he also appeared on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's '' Parks and Recreation'' and IFC's ''Comedy Bang! Bang!'' In 2014, he played a fictionalized version of himself in the short film ''The Badger's Promise'', the directorial debuts 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 How ...

. Mitchell was the head writer of ''

Hidden America with Jonah Ray ''Hidden America with Jonah Ray'' is a travel parody series that debuted on June 2, 2016 on Seeso. Parodying the style of Anthony Bourdain's travel show, viewers follow Jonah Ray as he explores and pokes fun at local restaurants, memorials and his ...

'' 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 ...

streaming service, and had the recurring role of Randy Monahan on the

comedy series ''Love''. He also played Cowan in the 2021 movie ''

''.

The Birthday Boys

In 2007, at UCB, Mitchell joined the sketch comedy group The Birthday Boys with Jefferson Dutton, Dave Ferguson, Mike Hanford, Tim Kalpakis, Matt Kowalick, and Chris VanArtsdalen. 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 an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

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! It is hosted by writer and ...

'' and called

Adam McKay Adam McKay (born April 17, 1968) is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. McKay began his career as a head writer for the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') from 1995 to 2001. After leaving ''SNL'', McKay co-w ...

's "favorite sketch group." The group met

Bob Odenkirk Robert John Odenkirk (; born October 22, 1962) is an American actor, screenwriter, comedian, and producer. He started his career as a comedian and comedy writer before expanding his career by acting in dramatic works. His List of awards and no ...

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. Known for his blend of slapstick humor and sharp wit, Stiller rose to fame through comedies such as ''There's Something About Mary'' (1998), ' ...

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

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 has received four Primetime Emmy ...

Haley Joel Osment Haley Joel Osment (born April 10, 1988) is an American 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 psychological thr ...

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian, actress, and writer. She first rose to prominence for her brief stint as a writer and cast member on the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'' during its ...

, 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 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 Villag ...

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 the ...

network. Mitchell and Wiger use

Patreon Patreon (, ) is a monetization platform operated by Patreon, Inc., that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service and sell digital products. It helps artists and other creators earn a recurring income by provid ...

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 (; born December 18, 1972) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter and podcaster. He is known for his roles as Rafi in the FX comedy series ''The League'' and as Nadal in '' The Dictator,'' and he is one of the three co-ho ...

offered Mitchell $15,000 if he could 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 advertis ...

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 Comedians from Massachusetts