Beyond Double Dutch: Derek Mitchell on his church stage debut, Ted Lasso, & Dutch humor

Comedian and actor Derek Mitchell has become enormously popular over the last few years, building up audiences in the hundreds of thousands with his @letsdoubledutch social media accounts. Originally from Chicago, Mitchell found incredible success online building up his fanbase first in London, and then in Amsterdam.

But he is so much more than the internet comedian we know and love him to be. Zack Newmark of the Dam Yankee podcast, in partnership with NL Times, invited him to discuss his varied career including an appearance on Ted Lasso. The two talk about his stage debut, his creative approach to comedy, and discuss the psychology of being funny in other languages.

Dam Yankee: When was it that you first went on stage?

Derek Mitchell: I remember it was in a musical that we did in church. It was about Moses leading people through the desert for 40 years and the Pharaoh punishing them because they were slaves. I was five or six and I was in the chorus of biblical slaves among the Israelites. I went full method. I had my dad's undershirt that I soaked in tea and there were holes in it and I put dirt on my arms and stuff so I was really tattered.

I remember we had to sing a song and just wail and throw our hands in the air. And I completely lost myself in the character and the performance at age five in church. I would say that the first comedic performance I ever did was an activity in high school called speech team. This was like debate team for gay people.

DY: How did you find your footing in professional comedy?

DM: I would go to open mics mostly in London and also in Amsterdam sometimes. I would go up in a wig. I have to stress it. These were nights that couples went to have a date night. They want to be hearing jokes about Tinder and how annoying my girlfriend is. And I would go up in a wig and be Don MacIntosh, a Midwestern mom who made a big tureen full of hot dog salad.

I would get heckled. People would be like, “Get off the stage, you're not fucking funny!”

And I thought I was bad and that I couldn’t do this. I floundered for years and years and years. I wasn't making it easier for an audience to want to get involved with what I was doing up there on stage, which I think ultimately was good for me. I learned how to fail and I learned what the core fundamental parts of my comedic voice and vision are.

And then eventually I realized that there's a lot of standup that I love. There's a lot of standup I look up to. And I think if I can figure out how to package characters and sketches and stories in something that feels like standup, people will get on board with that. And then I can take them by the hand to some pretty weird places.

DY: You speak both Dutch and English. What differences do you see in comedy between the two languages?

DM: If you're an Anglophone person who's saying Dutch people aren't funny, it means your Dutch isn't very good because Dutch people are pervasively funny in Dutch. It's a different sensibility. It revolves more around a dryness and a different treatment of irony. But, it's fantastic. It's so funny.

There's a little bit of sarcasm to it and also a sort of bluntness. Not to play into a Dutch stereotype about directness or anything like that, not in that way, but more like not beating around the bush on a long set up to a punch. It just sort of is what it is.

Mitchell goes on to discuss growing up in Chicago and the secret to a great Dutch accent. He is currently working on a new Double Dutch Live show. Tickets will be available soon for his upcoming performance across the Netherlands, Belgium, Ireland and the United Kingdom

Listen to this entire episode of Dam Yankee wherever you get your podcasts, or watch the full videos on YouTube.