This Review is from August 2024
Derek was born in the US, lived in the Netherlands for much of his life, and now resides in the UK. Broadly, this show explores the cultural and language differences between the territories.
The show title, Double Dutch refers to a term that originated in 15th century England. The English people, not known for being the world’s leading bilinguals, found Dutch incomprehensible. Nowadays, culturally, Dutch people have an often unfiltered honesty, while Americans, the comedian tells us, tend to voice what they think people want to hear. Amusing misunderstandings ensue.
Derek, making his Fringe debut as a solo act, has amassed over 250 million views across social media, but this was a very confident set from an experienced performer. The comedian is engaging and likeable. There’s some very solid stand up material here.
The Dutch people in the audience loved the show. Perhaps the comedian spends a little too much time sharing in-jokes with them, occasionally losing the rest of us, but he has the comedic chops to get the room back onside. For the most part he reads the room very well.
However, when a joke doesn’t quite land, Derek has a slightly unfortunate habit of using a hand gesture to suggest that the joke has gone over our heads. One time, the person sitting in front of me leaned over to their partner and whispered, “we get the joke mate, it just wasn’t that funny”, which made me giggle.
The biggest laugh of the night came from a routine demonstrating how the Dutch use diseases as swear words. I won’t go into detail here, but it had me howling with laughter. My favourite routine of the Fringe so far.
Overall, a strong, if slightly uneven solo debut. I’m looking forward to seeing his stock rise in the future.
Martin Walker
Podcast interview with Derek Mitchell
Reviews of Derek Mitchell: Double Dutch collated by the British Comedy Guide HERE
Tickets HERE
Derek’s Profile and Social Media HERE
