Grizzly Spotlight: Donald Glover

I’m sure all of you have been checking in every week to see who is the latest to be featured as a Grizzly Girl, I know I have. But I figured why stop there? Now, that doesn’t mean I’m about to start showing you a bunch of pics of shirtless guys or anything, I’ll leave that up to the femme fatales on staff here at GB. But I do want to bring you some of the celebs or up and comers out there that deserve their time to shine. Which brings us to Grizzly Spotlight.

For the debut of Spotlight we’ll be showcasing Donald Glover. Comedian, Actor, Writer, Rapper, DJ, the list keeps going. You may recognize him from his stint on Community as Troy, or even further back with his part on the Derrick Comedy team. What you may not know is he was a staff writer for 30 Rock, as well as a rising Hip-Hop star known as ‘Childish Gambino’. We’ll cover all of this here.

Chances are if you’ve checked out a funny video on the internet, you’ve seen something from Derrick Comedy. Glover, Dominic Dierkes, DC Pierson, Dan Eckman and Meggie McFadden brought us some of the funniest videos you can find out there. They performed sold out shows and produced a movie called Mystery Team. But this was only the start. here’s a few of my favorite videos, for you to get a taste. Oh, these are probably not appropriate for work, unless you have earphones.

Donald graduated from New York University with a degree in Dramatic Writing. He became a staff writer for 30 Rock, which is arguably one of the best written shows on TV. It even netted him a ‘Writers Guild of America Award’ for Best Comedy Series in 2009.

And then of course the role most people know him for; Troy on NBC’s Community. This is a character that I watch every week, and am never let down. Glover really brings out the hilarity in the smallest spaces, with a simple line delivered as only he can. Don’t get me wrong, the rest of the cast is dynamite, but I watch it for Troy. And Annie. And Annie’s Boobs.

“That’s a monkey… isn’t it?”

Troy has great relationships with the whole cast, and you can always count on a funny moment no matter who’s in the scene with him. When I first started watching Community he was just that dude from Bro Rape, but I soon learned to appreciate his character and his comedy even more.

He’s also done some stand-up comedy, and received his own special on Comedy Central Presents. Check out some of the funny bits below:

I advise you to find the full special and enjoy it. But if you think that’s the limit to what we can see from Donald Glover, then I have to introduce you to Childish Gambino.

He uses a pseudonym as opposed to rapping under Donald Glover to enforce how serious he is about it, as opposed to the comedian aspect in other forms. Not to say that he doesn’t drop some hilarious lines, but it’s definitely not joke rap. And it isn’t bling bling, gangster rap either. At times it can be a deeply personal look into his childhood, his rise to fame, and his brutally honest understanding of his position in life.

Like the music? Yea, he makes that too. Known as MC dj, he’s been making beats for a long, long time, for his pretty huge discography. And all of his discs are downloadable… for free. You can find them at his website, iamdonald, along with some other swag.

I could post more and more music, because I honestly haven’t stopped listening to his discs in weeks. But I’ll just point you in the direction of some of my favorite songs.

• Bitch, Look At Me Now
• Hero
• Almost There
• Sunshine
• So Much Better

Literally too many great songs to list. It’s easy to find your favorite tracks, and I highly recommend you find them yourself. Childish Gambino has such a wide range of music that whatever your preference your going to find something you like.

And what do we have to look forward to from Donald Glover? Well, Season 3 of Community, plus the IAMDONALD tour across the CONTINENT. Not to mention The Muppets and The To-Do List on the big screen, plus his new album Camp which drops in September, so I would expect Glover’s star to keep rising over the next few years.

“To all of my fans saying Donald Glover ’bout to blow, just give me 6 months so you can say I told you so.”

Deal.