Donald Glover is a comedian who’s on the come up. He was a writer for NBC’s hit comedy 30 Rock and his viral videos with comedy group Derrick Comedy get millions of hits on youtube. This Fall, he’s gearing up for the release of his first feature film Mystery Team and a starring role on a new NBC show called Community. The Source caught up with Don to talk about doing comedy, his new projects and his passion for hip hop.
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What inspired you to pursue comedy?

Uhh I was really into cartoons as a kid and… I saw Eddie Murphy Delirious and thought “I gotta do that”. I was like, that’s my… that’s my future.

What was the first step you took towards that?

I was actually at a performing arts high school. I guess before that, as a kid, I used to do these talent shows. I would do this stuff with puppets and I was like a ventriloquist and it was weird. After that I went into performing arts high schools and studied plays and got into that. When I started writing plays I realized they were really short and they were like sketches, like stuff you would see on Chappelle show so I started following that.

Then, you got to the UCB (Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre) and hooked up with Derrick Comedy?

Well, I met the rest of Derrick at NYU actually. Except for Meggy McFadden who is our producer. She went to Fordham. She was dating, Dan, our director. I met the rest of them at NYU and we were in a group called Hammerkatz together. We started making stuff together on our off time, Dan would direct it and we would write it.

You guys have some pretty crazy camera cuts and angles..

Yeah our director, Dan, was always big on the quality of the film. When our internet thing was starting, he said they should be shot like short films. That’s why a lot of the angles are like that, he said they should be shot like feature films and not like we didn’t care about it.

You guys have a Hip Hop sketch, can you tell us what inspired that?

At Derrick, we’re a bunch of hip hop heads. We love hip hop. We’re crazy about Kanye, crazy about Lil Wayne. That’s all we talk about (laughs). So, we always wanted to do something like that, it just kinda seemed like second nature. A lot of people in NY that will come up to you on the street like “ay man, you like hip hop? You like hip hop dawg?” It’s like what do those guys want. They offer you stuff and I’m just like, “if you really like hip hop man? Yo I got Jay-z’s body.”

(laughs)

Yeah, so we’re big hip hop heads. We love biggie, Jay-z, you know Outkast. Because I’m from the South.

You guys made the jump from youtube sketches to a full-length feature film called Mystery Team, how’s that doing right now?

Yeah, it’s a feature film, full-length. It’s coming out late summer or early fall, around October. It will be out in theatres and we’re really excited about it. We’ll be on tour before that too, promoting it.

Who picked it up?

Roadside/Lions Gate.

Word, that’s official. How about 30 Rock (Donald was a writer on the show), how’d you get that gig?

You know, I was lucky. I just graduated and I didn’t know what I was going to do. I get this e-mail from the executive producer of the show, David Miner. He asks me if I have any stuff and I said ‘yeah’ I had written a couple spec scripts and some sketches. I turned those in. I met with Tina Fey and Robert Carlock and I got the job. I was very lucky.

You were there from the beginning?

Yeah, I was there at the very beginning.

What are some things that we can credit specifically to you?

I guess the biggest thing is, Kenneth from 30 Rock is from Stone Mountain, ’cause I’m from Stone Mountain. They say ‘oh, that sounds real country’, but Stone Mountain is actually pretty suburban. It doesn’t have pig farms, used to have a cow farm but now that’s a middle school. So they make it sound real country on the show. I was also very happy about them going to The Source Awards in the first season. I pitched the idea around that and I was glad that they did.

Word, I saw that. The Source was on 30 Rock! What about Tracy Morgan, it’s no secret that he’s known to say some wild shit. You have any stories?

The first day I met him. He’s like “hey man, you got long hair man”. I was like, “aw thanks man”. He’s like, “you wanna make dreads? What you do is, you get your girl pregnant and you take part of the placenta and rub it in your hair.”

Wow. (laughs) First thing he ever said to you?

First interaction I had with him. Dude is nuts. He’s really funny though, that’s my man.

Can you tell us about your new gig on the show Community?

It’s a show that’s coming out on NBC this Fall. I play a football player that breaks both of his shoulders doing a keg stand. It’s really funny show, Joel McHale’s hilarious, all those guys are really funny and I’m just happy to be on it.

Cool. Let’s talk about your rapping. I heard the Sick Boi mixtape. I thought it would be all jokes but it’s pretty legit stuff.

Yeah, I just did that for fun. A lot of people are like, ‘this is actually pretty good’. I wanted it to be somewhat funny but the more I did it the more I thought ‘i’ll do this for real.’ I never really wanted it to be a comedy album. I make beats for fun and I wanted to use them. DC from Derrick he raps too, so I put him on a track once in a while. MC Chris and those guys. A lot of comedians who actually rap for real and don’t do joke raps. I love that stuff but personally, I want to do stuff that can be funny but we’re always about being versatile and can go anywhere. Even with our comedy, it can be very dark and very scary but very funny. We want to do stuff that can do both things at the same time. If you label it a funny rap nobody’s going to take it seriously. If you find funny things in it, y’know, more power to you. Either way, you’re listening to it which makes me happy.

You mentioned a lot of comedians rap? Who else?

Well, MC Chris, he’s a rapper. He’s been around for a while and tours as a rapper. He was a comedian and used to do stuff at the Upright Citizens Brigade. He used to be on Aqua Force Hunger Team a lot, Sealab 2021. He’s a comedian. DC from Derrick Comedy. A lot of the guys from UCB have a love for it. You look at Lonely Island, they obviously have a true love for hip hop and they do what they like. I feel like comedians we kind of share that. Jay-z makes references to Delirious and Chappelle… there’s an actual mutual love and respect.

Childish Gambino. Where you come up with that name?

That’s my Wu-tang name. If you put my name, Donald Glover, into an online Wu-tang generator, my name is Childish Gambino.

(laughs) That’s pretty dope man. Are you going to put out an official LP anytime soon?

I’ll have the next one coming out called Poindexter. It should be out within a month or two. I’m dropping a mixtape first in a couple of weeks. It’ll be free online and people can download it. It’ll be done and I’m very excited about it.

What are some of the funniest moments in hip hop to you?

I guess, Kanye’s mullet. (laughs) Nah. Let me think.. It’s weird because the thing about hip hop is everyone’s supposed to be so serious all the time. Hmmm.. Oohh, when Dave Chappelle plays 2pac, who died years ago and he’s still putting out new shit. That’s.. fucking great.

Check Donald’s blog at IamDonald.com and check out more hilarious sketches at Derrick Comedy’s site at: http://www.derrickcomedy.com/