Michael Donovan "Mitch" Mitchell is an American actor, comedian, and writer best known as a member of The Birthday Boys sketch comedy group. He is also known for his role as Randy Monahan on the Netflix series Love. He currently co-hosts the podcast Doughboys, which reviews and discusses chain restaurants.
Mitchell started as an improv and sketch comedian at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Los Angeles. He went on to write and star in The Birthday Boys for IFC until the show was canceled after two seasons. During this time he also appeared regularly on NBC's Parks and Recreation and IFC's Comedy Bang! Bang! In 2014, Mitchell played a fictionalized version of himself in the short filmThe Badger's Promise, the directorial debut of friends Harris Wittels and Armen Weitzman. He was the head writer of Hidden America with Jonah Ray on the Seesostreaming service and played the recurring role of Randy Monahan on the Netflix comedy seriesLove. Mitchell will play "Dan" in the 2021 movie The Tomorrow War, which began filming in Atlanta September 1, 2019.
The Birthday Boys
In 2007, at UCB, Mitchell formed the sketch comedy group The Birthday Boys with Jefferson Dutton, Dave Ferguson, Mike Hanford, Tim Kalpakis, Matt Kowalick, and Chris VanArtsdalen. With the exception of Kowalick, all members of The Birthday Boys graduated from Ithaca College. Mitchell and The Birthday Boys performed regularly at UCB and the group uploaded original sketches to their YouTube page. The Birthday Boys gained notoriety within the LA comedy scene, appearing on Comedy Bang! Bang! and called Adam McKay's "favorite sketch group." The group met Bob Odenkirk through a show that Odenkirk's wife, Naomi Yomtov, created at UCB. They began collaborating with Odenkirk and were picked up for a sketch show, The Birthday Boys, at IFC, with Odenkirk and Ben Stiller as executive producers. Mitchell featured frequently in The Birthday Boys sketches. His notable characters include Woosh, Pretty Dad, and September Santa. The series ran for two seasons before being canceled in 2014. Mitchell still performs sketch comedy with The Birthday Boys and other projects.
''Doughboys''
Mitchell created the comedy podcast Doughboys with comedy writerNick Wiger in 2015. Doughboys was named "The One Food Podcast to Start With" by pop culture site Vulture. The co-hosts review chain restaurants with a weekly guest, including Nicole Byer, Haley Joel Osment, Sarah Silverman, and all of the Birthday Boys, among others. Mitchell's fans call him "The Spoonman", "Mitchy Two-Spoons", "Spoon" and "The Artist Formerly Known as Spoon", all nicknames he gave himself. Wiger invites listeners to submit roasts of Mitchell to be read at the beginning of each episode, which often involve pop culture references and puns based on food or physique. As of early 2018, the podcast is no longer associated with Feral Audio and is now a member of the HeadGum network. Mitchell and Wiger use Patreon to bring exclusive paid Doughboys content to their subscribers beyond the weekly episodes. As of June 2019, the Doughboys Patreon is the 9th most popular podcast Patreon and the 25th most popular Patreon in general. On the June 13, 2019 episode of Doughboys, Wiger and Jason Mantzoukas offered Mitchell $15,000 if he can get an original song on the Billboard Hot 100 within a year.
''Mitch Live''
In 2018, Mitchell began hosting the talk show . On each episode he interviews celebrities such as Eric Andre, Paul Rust, and Johnny Impact, but does not know anything that will happen including what jokes he will tell, who the guests are, or sometimes when and where the show will take place. Mitch Live is performed for a theater audience in Los Angeles and streamed on Twitch. The show features an in-house band led by keyboardist. Mitch Live is based upon the premise of What's Going On? with Mike Mitchell, a talk show pilot that Mitchell filmed in 2011. What's Going On? was originally an untelevised show at UCB.
Personal life
In 2016, Mitchell adopted two kittens: Wolly, named for Wollaston, Quincy, Massachusetts, the neighborhood in which Mitchell grew up, and Irma. The pair appear or are referenced on Doughboys frequently. Mitchell keeps a poster of friend Armen Weitzman above his bed. Mitchell was bullied in high school by future NHL defenseman Ryan Whitney.
