“Big Dog Eat Child”: Dynamite Comedy

Posted by Robyn Gee on February 16, 2011

You have to look outside the Sketchfest scene to catch some of the comedy highlights these days.  Big Dog Eat Child is a group of eight Chicago-based comedians that happen to be best friends, and they measure their performances in “laughs per minute.”

“We’re sketch comedy for people with A.D.D. We don’t want to waste anyone’s time. We want to be a machine gun of funny.  We don’t even want the audience to breathe,” said Ramiro Castro, one of the members of Big Dog Eat Child (BDEC).  The group holds the record for the longest looping sketch comedy performance.  “When we do that well, it’s like dynamite… or crack – you get it once and then you want it again,” he said.

The group first applied to Chicago’s Sketchfest in 2004 and was rejected. “We made a youthful mistake. We thought it would be funny to stage a protest outside of the festival.  We were protesting the price of bananas and whatever we thought was funny.  We weren’t trying to mess up the festival, but just do some guerrilla comedy.  We gathered a crowd of about 60 people, and the director of the festival was super mad at us,” said Castro.

“We just wanted to perform.  It was a lesson for us, and you have to live with your decisions,” he added.  Though the group has not reapplied to Chicago’s Sketchfest, they learned to define themselves as larger than just sketch comedians.

BDEC has had great success in translating their sketches into short films, and was nominated by Rooftop Comedy in 2010 as one of the top up and coming comedic film makers.

“Our sketch performances are minimalist – we don’t want to waste time – just tell the joke and get the hell off stage. If people aren’t laughing, then there must be a missing element, and we should probably make a video!” said Castro.  The sketch below was released in December 2008 and now has over three million views:

But whether they’re coming up with content for video or the stage, the group’s creative process revolves entirely around making each other laugh.  Castro explained that the group of guys met while doing high school and college speech competitions. “We were constantly criticized, so the eight of us became very close and protective of ourselves,” he said.

In recent and upcoming news, BDEC just released a podcast called, “Finish da Six Pack,” where the group members each try to finish a six pack of beer while talking about… stuff. In addition, they just released their first ever music video called, “What Up Little Kid?”  You can also access an entire album of their music parodies on iTunes.

Related posts:

1. Ten Years of Funny: SF Sketchfest
2. Comedy’s Special [Online] Place
3. Huck Finn Robot Edition Takes Kickstarter By Storm
4. Slideshow: Same Hill, Different Day
5. Portlandia: The Next Great Sketch Show?