PROFILE: The Little Dum Dum Club
They have T-shirts that say “I’m aware of the Little Dum Dum Club”, and they refer to each other as dickheads, so the thing you immediately think about the Little Dum Dum Club and its hosts Tommy Dassalo and Karl Chandler is that these guys have a very self-deprecating sense of humour.
Throw in their own description of their show: “a hastily edited grab bag of stories and general dickheadery” and your thoughts are confirmed. Tommy and Karl do a fine job of trying to convince you that they’re not very funny or talented – yet to listen to these guys bounce off each other for even half an episode, you immediately understand why they have developed a pretty decent following, and how they finished runner up in The Earwolf Challenge – a worldwide competition to find the best new podcast.
As they approach 300 episodes (usually released weekly), their special guests list reads like a who’s who of comedy – with guests including Rove McManus, Dave Anthony, Mark Maron, Ronny Chieng, Wil Anderson, Shaun Micallef, Weird Al Yankovic, Kyle Kinane, and more.
Image: littledumdumclub.com
Dassalo and Chandler are funny guys – no two ways about it. Dassalo was a runner up in Triple J’s Raw Comedy competition back in 2005, and has written for such TV shows as Spicks and Specks, The Project, and Talkin Bout Your Generation. In 2014 he was invited to perform at the prestigious, invite-only San Francisco Sketchfest, appearing alongside the likes of Zach Galifianakis and Tenacious D.
Dassalo also hosts “Filthy Casuals”, a video-game themed comedy podcast, featuring Ben Vernel and Adam Knox.
“Most comedians remind me of other comedians, but then there’s Tommy Dassalo, whose stand up is full of genuine invention.” – Tom Gleeson
Karl Chandler is a Melbourne based stand up comedian, who is also a comedy promoter and event organiser within Melbourne. He is widely regarded as one of the strongest writers of a joke in the country and has completed three solo Melbourne International Comedy Festival shows, as well as previously being a writer for Spicks and Specks, and Good News Week.
The Little Dum Dum Club is a really funny podcast, and worthy of subscribing to you. If I were you, I’d go and download the live episodes first. Luckily for you – the last few episodes have all been live podcasts with guests from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival – a fine place to start.
If I rated podcasts, I’d rate this one as: I’m aware of the Little Dum Dum Club.
