OG: Approved - Michael Somerville
Featuring the Next Generation of Storytellers Rising from the Creator Economy
Welcome to OG: Approved—where rule-breaking creators shape the future. Hand-picked by Open Gardens, they’re not following the playbook—they’re writing the next one.
Name: Michael Somerville
Instagram: 297K Followers
Youtube: 2.6K Subscribers
Tik Tok: 94K Followers
Who Is Michael Somerville?
Michael Somerville was making sketches for YouTube eighteen years ago, back when most comedians used the site to upload shaky clips from the back of a comedy club.
He opened his channel in 2006. By 2008, he was starring in two original web shows, Lunch Break with Somerville and Love, Somerville. He was already writing recurring formats for the internet before anyone had settled on what web comedy was supposed to look like.
Somerville started stand-up on a dare while attending Notre Dame. After graduation, he briefly worked in advertising before moving to New York and pursuing comedy full time. His career includes four appearances on The Late Show with David Letterman, several albums, years of touring, and more than 100 million views across his digital shorts.
Somerville releases three scripted sketch series each week on Instagram.
The Monday bar sketches pair Somerville with Adam Ferrara. The bar gives them a reason to keep meeting, while Ferrara and Somerville find a new way to irritate each other every Monday. Ferrara is not dropping in for a cameo. He is part of the series, and the videos rely on the rhythm between the pair.
Wednesday brings relationship sketches. Somerville has been writing about men, women, dating, and marriage for most of his career, but the newer videos come from a different stage of life. The fights are smaller, the history is longer, and both people usually know exactly which nerve they are touching.
Friday belongs to the dad sketches. Somerville has spoken about raising children while continuing to tour, and the videos stay close to the daily confusion of parenting. His dads want to look prepared, maintain authority, and get through a normal afternoon without exposing how much they are improvising.
The schedule keeps the page from feeling like a pile of unrelated reels. Monday has Ferrara at the bar, Wednesday returns to couples, and Friday goes back to the dads. He does not need one recurring character to connect the videos. The bar, relationship, and dad sketches all sound like him.
The habit goes back to Lunch Break with Somerville and Love, Somerville. Those early shows gave his comedy a form beyond the stage. Instagram offers a different screen and a faster release schedule, but Somerville is still writing recurring shows for an audience watching online.
Three Things We Love About Michael Somerville
He was making web shows before there was a playbook: Somerville was creating original online comedy in 2008, long before social video became an expected part of a comedian’s career. He kept working in the form while the platforms caught up.
The week has a real schedule: Bar sketches arrive Monday, relationship sketches Wednesday, and dad sketches Friday. Each series has its own subject, while Somerville’s point of view holds the page together.
He did not freeze the act in his thirties: The relationship jokes grew into marriage jokes, and fatherhood gave him an entirely new weekly series. Somerville kept the same comic voice without pretending his life had stayed the same.