News

All grown up and ready for laughs

Stand-up comedian back on home turf, building TV career

July 21, 2006

Commercial Appeal
by Chris Blank

He's 22 now, a college graduate, and legal enough for an Amstel Light.

The thing is, he's been doing stand-up comedy for seven years now, since before he owned a razor.

And anyone who was old enough to get in the club when he started can only remember him as the teenager who wanted to make people laugh.

Isn't that his mom in the lobby clipping coupons?

"They still look at me like somebody wasn't checking IDs," Dierkes said from a cell phone in the middle of Indiana. He looks a few years shy of a high school diploma.

He probably won't get too much trouble from the bartender this weekend when his chain of summer one-nighters on college campuses brings him to Comedy, TN.

Dierkes is back on his home turf.

He returns with a growing New York career, honing his stand-up material and performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre as a member of various sketch comedy groups.

Last October, he and a couple of his buddies pitched a new series for Comedy Central, and the cable network is considering putting it into production.

"It's a kind of mockumentary show like 'Reno 911,' but set in a fraternity," he said. "There's always the chance it'll end up in development limbo. It's by no means a sure thing, but it's looking pretty good. Right now, we're waiting on development notes."

Judging from some of the short viral videos posted on his comedy team's Web site, derrickcomedy.com, Dierkes could have a real future in television.

"We've got 80,000 hits on one of our videos," he said. "College kids are a great audience for comedy. They're up on pop culture. Everyone wants to be the first person to spread something around. It's kind of a weird compulsion."

Dierkes was born at Saint Francis Hospital and lived in Collierville until his parents moved to Bartlett. He later attended Christian Brothers High School.

Being funny was a way to fit in growing up, he said.

"You know, I think people who are funny have been that way because it was a defense mechanism," he said. "You're not a jock. You're not cool. So what can you do? You can either learn how to play an instrument or be funny. I knew that I wanted to perform, but I was never very good at the piano."

He was 15 when he announced to his parents that he wanted to do stand-up comedy. They bought into the dream wholeheartedly. His mother got him a book on how to be a working comedian.

His parents signed him up for a comedy writers conference in Los Angeles where he was offered 15 minutes on stage in front of industry folks. He'd never been on stage.

So he sent an e-mail to the owners of the Looney Bin, a now defunct comedy club on Overton Square. They invited him to a Wednesday open mic night. Before leaving for New York University, his parents would go to every show, nearly every week.

Picking a college was contingent upon one thing, he said.

"The college had to have a comedy club in town. That narrowed my choices."

On long drives, Dierkes keeps his notebook next to him in the car. He says his comedy style has changed.

"I think there are a few levels of funny," he said. "Every comic in the beginning goes for the laughs. But after a certain amount of that, you find yourself telling jokes that you don't find funny. I could dance like a monkey and make people laugh. I prefer funny ideas, exploring an irony."

Some recent things he jotted in his notebook:

How people revert in age 20 years whenever they find a microphone left on in a room.

How some of his 20-something friends are getting married already.

How celebrities make a big deal about helping the Make-A-Wish Foundation kids.

"My joke about being an only child used to be about playing catch with myself," he said. "Now it's about how I wish I had a brother to blame things on. The former is about getting to a punch line. The latter about exploring an idea."

-- Christopher Blank: 529-2305