Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
One of the most intelligent, authentic, and innovative shows of 2016 is already on the air, and if you’re not watching FX, then you’re missing out. I’m talking about Donald Glover’s ode to the southern rap scene, Atlanta.
Donald Glover isn’t exactly an unknown actor. He has a large and devoted fanbase and has been consistently creating art for a little over a decade now. However, considering the deserved critical praise Glover’s newest show is getting, and the rapt fan devotion it deserves to get, this revolutionary creator is about to blow up like never before, and you need a cheat sheet. Glover both created and stars in Atlanta, but those are just two of this innovator’s many professions. Glover is also known for creating original music under his stage name, Childish Gambino, and has had success both performing stand up and writing for television shows.
Whether you’re a diehard Glover fan or someone who agrees with Pitchfork’s notoriously horrible review of the the artist’s album (in which case, you’re wrong), Glover is a creator you needed to have on your radar yesterday. Consider this your “meet cute” to the artist’s revolutionary work.
Derrick Comedy (2006 – 2009)
It wasn’t a network or a film studio that brought Glover to mainstream attention. It was the internet. While he was still at New York University, Glover and two of his friends, Dominic Dierkes and DC DC Pierson, created an internet sketch group called Derrick Comedy that quickly achieved early internet viral status. Most of the group’s sketches were gleefully and stupidly juvenile before switching at the last moment to be unexpected. They also created a movie called Mystery Team. Fun fact: Ellie Kemper actually starred in one of the group’s videos, “Blow Job Girl.” However, Kemper regrets starring in the video.
[Where to watch Derrick Comedy]
[Where to watch Mystery Team]
30 Rock (2006 – 2012)
For several years, Glover was both a writer and producer for Tina Fey’s beloved cult comedy, and, as is the case with many of 30 Rock’s writers, he occasionally made cameo appearances. His biggest on camera role was as Young Tracy Jordan and as Gay Kid. You may remember him best from the “Live from Studio 6H” episodes.
Community (2009 – 2014)
Apart form his music career, Glover is probably best known for his role on this Dan Harmon show about community college. Glover played Troy Barnes, a good-hearted but often dumb jock-turned-mega dork who had a legendary fictional best friendship with Abed (Danny Pudi). Community was a show that was packed full of powerful comedy performances, but whether he was at the center or sidelines of an episode, Glover always dominated the scene. Two of his best episodes are not-coincidentally two of the best episodes of the series: “Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking” and “Remedial Chaos Theory.”
The Martian (2015)
Yes, one of your favorite rappers, stand up comedians, comedy actors, and soon to be show creators was in last year’s Oscar-bait space movie. Glover played an aerodynamicist named Rich Purnell, but you make remember him as the tech bro guy who concocted a risky plan to send Hermes to Mars faster using a stapler. Glover’s performance was funny in the way that annoying, narcissistic tech geniuses typically are, but that still doesn’t make The Martian quality for a comedy or musical, Golden Globes.
Atlanta (2016)
We’re only two episodes into FX’s new series about the Atlanta rap scene, and we’re already obsessed. Created by and starring Glover, this highly emotional and authentic feeling series watches like a finely tuned version of Glover’s internet comedy days. Subversion and the unexpected are still heavily in play in the series, but those element are used so seamlessly and intelligently it’s easy to overlook how brilliantly complicated this show is on first watch. Glover plays Earn Marks, a Princeton dropout and cousin of an up-and-coming rapper. Earn is a complicated character, someone who simultaneously understands his strengths and position in the world but doesn’t. Regardless, it’s addicting to watch this character on screen, and we can’t wait to see more.
New episodes of Atlanta premiere ever Tuesday on FX at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT.
