Derrick Comedy: Donald Glover's Internet Sketch Group Explained (& Where They Are Now)

Derrick Comedy was the memorable and influential sketch series by Donald Glover and two of his NYU classmates, and almost two decades later, their comedy still holds up. Sketch comedy shows have been a staple of the genre even long before Saturday Night Live gained control of the pop culture narrative in 1975. Monty Python, The Carol Burnett Show, and other variety series popularized the rapid-fire style of often absurd and occasionally scandalous comedy sequences.

Sketch can be traced back even earlier to vaudeville acts like the Marx Brothers, whose movies were more like a series of strung-together sketches than a complete film. Plenty of famous comedians, actors, and writers have got their start in sketch comedy, with nearly every notable comic actor having at least some history in the format. When the internet was coming out of its infancy, it was quickly proven to be the perfect vehicle for sketch comedy, and clever and talented performers like the members of Derrick Comedy immediately capitalized.

Donald Glover, Dominic Dierkes, And DC Pierson Formed Derrick Comedy In College

The Trio Also Befriended Meggie McFadden And Dan Eckman

Donald Glover, Dominic Dierkes, and DC Pierson first met each other at NYU while performing together in the college's sketch comedy group, Hammerkatz, and quickly discovered that they had the same creative and comic sensibilities (via MelMagazine). All three performers took sketch comedy very seriously, one of the initial reasons they found their way to one another's orbits. The trio were joined by two other classmates, Dan Eckman, who went on to become Derrick Comedy's director, and Meggie McFadden, who became the producer of the web series.

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Eckman and McFadden weren't actors, but they wanted to create something, and Glover, Dierkes, and Pierson were the perfect people to do it with. McFadden described how the five creators shared a friendship that extended past Derrick Comedy,

"We literally hung out all the time. When we weren't making sketches, we were playing Street Fighter or Mario Kart. I have nostalgia for the way we were creating those sketches. Us just hanging out at 3 a.m. and having a weird idea."

It's not hard to see that the brilliant and unusual sketches the troupe came up with were likely a result of the closeness and level of comfort everyone in the room had with one another. They named themselves, "Derrick Comedy" because it was a name that started with "D" that no one in the group shared (via BoxAngeles).

Derrick Comedy Was A 2006 Sketch Comedy Channel On YouTube

The Group Never Intended To Become An Internet Phenomenon

Derrick Comedy never intended to become a major internet phenomenon. They launched their YouTube channel, DerrickComedy, in 2006, just a year after the site launched and before anyone was sure just how big it would become and how it would change the way people consume content. This was before YouTubers were figuring out how to game the system and algorithm to earn big paychecks. The only way to stumble upon something like Derrick Comedy was either by accident or because a friend passed it along.

Dierkes said that the reason they began the channel was only because it seemed like an effective storage option for the sketches they made. Better to put it on YouTube than let it rot on a hard drive hidden away somewhere. Dierkes said,

"We never thought of ourselves as a YouTube sketch group. I don't know if anyone did at the time. For most of the life of Derrick we would joke around about when we were going to get paid our 'YouTube dollars' not knowing that was where things were headed. At the time, most sketch groups we knew weren't putting videos online. We felt a little ahead of the curve there, but we never invested much in trying to figure out how to maximize our reach on YouTube. Many groups that started after us completely surpassed us in that regard."

Even the name seems like it was accidental. While Derrick came from the founders' names, Pierson has no idea why it's spelled that way. The "Comedy" part was simply because Pierson wanted to make sure anyone who came to their page would understand what type of videos they were about to see. The group uploaded their first video on April 16, 2006, which is the Fraggle Rock theme song, overlaid with Glover singing different lyrics to the show's tune. It's nonsensical, but it tapped into something, and now the video has 447k views.

What was apparent was that Derrick Comedy had touched an online nerve and the troupe had set themselves up for big things to come.

As much as people love that video now, it wasn't until the unfortunately titled "Bro Rape" sketch that Derrick Comedy entered the mainstream. Despite much of their success, Pierson and the rest of Derrick Comedy never felt like the fame of YouTube touched their real lives. What was apparent was that Derrick Comedy had touched an online nerve and the troupe had set themselves up for big things to come.

The Best Derrick Comedy Sketches

Their Sketches Could Be Edgy But Also Goofy

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There are so many famous Derrick Comedy sketches that some people may not even realize they've already seen a handful. The video that launched them, "Bro Rape", has a much more violent name than anything the sketch actually depicts, though Eckman admits he's embarrassed by some of their more juvenile videos,

"You look back on yourself, and how can you not cringe? We've all grown a lot as people and artists. A lot of that stuff we wouldn't do today. Not out of fear of backlash, it’s just not where our heads are at."

That video also stars a young Bobby Moynihan who appeared in several Derrick Comedy sketches. Another of their famous sketches, "Spelling Bee", includes the repeated shouting of two slurs over and over at increasing volume. Even then, Glover was showing off the left-brained comedy genius that would land him a writing job on 30 Rock.

Derrick Comedy was not a shock humor channel and even their more eyebrow-raising sketches are earnest and marked with a doofy nerdiness that blunts some of the edge.

The funniest part of the scene isn't Glover's character asking the white students to spell the racist and homophobic word, it's at the end when, after clapping happily for the winner, he grabs the microphone and tearfully admonishes, "I heard what you said", and storms off. As offensive as some of their content sounds on its face, Derrick Comedy was not a shock humor channel and even their more eyebrow-raising sketches are earnest and marked with a doofy nerdiness that blunts some of the edge.

"Keyboard Kid" is a fantastic sketch about a young boy performing a terrible and extended keyboard song during a talent show that slowly devolves into him sampling soundbites of his abusive relationship with his father. In "Girls Are Not To Be Trusted", Glover's character creates a short film for his class that is a desperate appeal to his ex-girlfriend Melanie. Though it couldn't be about her, of course, as the woman in the movie is referred to as "Belanie", and it's all scored to Radio Head's Karma Police.

Glover had a secret wish for the YouTube channel. He hoped that its success would allow Derrick Comedy to eventually make a movie and, in 2009, after their channel stopped making videos, the group released Mystery Team, a Knives Out-like comedy-mystery movie. The film follows a group of nerdy neighborhood crime stoppers who are recruited into a high-stakes murder case.

At this point, Glover was already writing for 30 Rock and was about to star in Community. Mystery Team has a respectable 60% on Rotten Tomatoes and has gained a cult following over the years, making for an appropriate end cap to the whole Derrick Comedy experiment.

Where Is The Derrick Comedy Troupe Now?

Each Member Of The Group Continued Working In The Industry

The Derrick Comedy troupe have all gone on to varying degrees of success with Glover being the obvious pick for the biggest star to come out of it. Donald Glover's filmography is extensive, and he has successfully acted in, written, and directed award-winning and commercially successful TV shows and movies. He's gone two for four at the Golden Globes, five for twelve at the Grammys, two for 14 at the Emmys, and he's been nominated for a SAG. Currently, Glover is working as the star, writer, and showrunner for the Emmy-nominated Mr. & Mrs. Smith.

Donald Glover is also an award-winning singer and rapper who performs under the stage name Childish Gambino.

DC Pierson has continued acting, briefly appearing in Captain America: The Winter Soldier as an Apple Employee and having small roles in shows like 2 Broke Girls, Key & Peele, and Community. Dominic Dierkes has continued acting, writing, and producing, with a big hand in Solar Opposites, Workaholics, The Mick, and Ash vs Evil Dead. Dan Eckman directed and produced after Derrick Comedy, but he hasn't made anything since Takeo Cinematic Universe in 2017.

Meggie McFadden produced after Derrick Comedy working on Song Voyage and Worst. Prom. Ever. She now consults on awards shows, recently working on The 28th Annual Critics' Choice Awards in 2023. Derrick Comedy is the poster child for 2000s sketch comedy and the union of internet fame and creative output that really hasn't been matched since. Each member of the group has gone on to separate successes in the industry, but at least their videos are still up on YouTube to let fans go back in time to see them together, if only for a few minutes.