TheGrio’s 100: Donald Glover, young comedian in a class by himself

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Thursday night NBC sitcoms are the major leagues of TV comedy, and Donald Glover knows how to play the field. Straight out of college, the NYU grad joined 30 Rock’s writing staff, where he stayed for two years. Now in his second season starring on Community, this young writer/actor/musician shares the screen opposite heavy-hitting comics like Chevy Chase and Joel McHale, and he’s knocking it out of the park.

Donald Glover is making history … as the youngest comedian in the classroom. After landing his first gig writing for the Emmy award-winning 30 Rock, Glover left in 2009 to pursue a stand-up and acting career with no new job on the line. He was unemployed for a total of six days — at which point, NBC scooped him up, casting Glover as dumb, ex-jock Troy on its new sitcom, Community.

Glover’s new day job, which has a young, devout following, subsidizes all of his other interests — ranging from self-produced content on YouTube, his sketch troupe Derrick Comedy’s first feature film, Mystery Team, and his rap project, Childish Gambino. Last year, he even launched a social media campaign to become the first African-American Spider-Man in the feature film’s upcoming remake. Despite Stan Lee’s support, Glover wasn’t awarded an audition — but there’s no doubt Glover has plenty of at-bats in his future.

What’s next for Donald?

Community returned on January 20th for the remainder of its second season, and while episodes air, Glover will be performing stand-up in addition to touring as Childish Gambino. Rumors are also circulating that Glover may make an appearance in the new Muppets movie, currently being filmed.

In his own words …

“In Hollywood, people are risking a lot of money on your weird ideas,” Glover told the New York Times in 2010. “They’re trying to make money, and so they should. It’s an expensive business. The vision will always be a bit corrupted, and I’m really fine with that. But online, hopefully, will always be like the Wild West, where anything goes.”

A little-known fact …

Donald Glover was hired as a writer for 30 Rock while still Resident Assistant at NYU. During his tenure, the show won two Emmy Awards for an Outstanding Comedy Series.

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