Press Pack
Contact: Tommy Calloway
Mailing Address: 27 Stone River Dr – Asheville, NC 28804
Phone Number: (828) 280-0107
Email: feralcomedy@yahoo.com
Website: feralchihuahuas.com
Members: Tommy Calloway, Drew McDermott, Adam Meier, George “the” Bastard, Wyman Tanehill, Richard Davis
LINK TO HI RES PRESS PHOTO
LINK TO HI RES LOGO
Feral Chihuahua Accolades
*Voted Western North Carolina’s Best Comedy Troupe 2010 according to the Mountain Xpress Reader’s Poll
*Tommy Calloway voted WNC’s Best Comedian in the Mountain Xpress Reader’s Poll.
*2010 Black Box Comedy Festival in Atlanta, GA
*2010 Cape Fear Comedy Festival in Wilmington, NC
*2010 Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival
*2011, 2010, 2009 Shadowbox Sketch Comedy Festival in Columbus, OH
Feral Chihuahua Reviews and Comments
Shadowbox Sketch Comedy Festival 2010
“You guys had more consistent energy through every sketch than any other group we’ve seen tonight.” -Garret Morris original SNL cast member, Shadowbox Sketch Fest Judge
“Oh, The Feral Chihuahuas, how we love thee. Imagine Dr. Seuss as a perverted Peeping Tom and you’ve got the subject for the Asheville, N.C., troupe’s third installment of “People You Should Never Date.” The sketch featured a number of Dr. Seuss-like rhymes that were just as hilarious as they are unprintable.” - Dwayne Steward, Columbus Metro Mix
Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival 2010
“Two groups—Asheville, North Carolina–based Feral Chihuahuas and local jokers Robot vrs Dinosaur—did a fine job shelling out the ridiculous. The Chihuahuas impressed me with its wig-donning, glitter-throwing theatrics. In one sketch, the troupe pays homage to the awkwardness of acquaintanceship with a fully choreographed dance number inspired by ’70s variety shows. I also loved a video clip in which a member of the Blue Man Group gets a blow job, a sketch that peddled hip-hop for the deaf and an imagining of what it would’ve been like if Facebook had been around during medieval times…I’ll be keeping my eye on these guys.” – Jason Heidermann, Time Out Chicago
Shadowbox Sketch Comedy Festival 2009
“I really appreciate the different styles that you guys can do. I also think you guys showed a lot of range in the different characters that you can play. I think you have something for lots of different comedy tastes.” – Julie Klein Shadowbox Sketch Comedy Festival Judge.
“Gangsta Rap (For the Hearing Impaired) is the best sketch we’ve seen tonight.” -Jerry Elliot Shadowbox Sketch Fest Judge.
“FaceScroll is as good a sketch as you might see on SNL or on TV” -Garret Morris original SNL cast member, Shadowbox Sketch Fest Judge.
“My staff is still talking about the sketches pretty much non-stop, quoting things and copying physicality. In our soundcheck for our matinee today we have a rap song and the guys jokingly were doing the hip hop music stuff from one of your sketches!” – Katy Psenicka Shadowbox Marketing Director
“This may have been the single funniest sketch of the evening. In Gangsta Rap(For the Hearing Impaired), the North Carolina troupe combine hilarious physical slapstick with parodic dialogue. The concept is that one overbearing rap performer speaks and rhymes to longwinded extremes of repetition while another performer acts out his rap in sign language for the deaf. But that simple description of the concept fails to convey just how brilliant was the writing and the performances.” Michael Grossberg, Columbus Dispatch
“Feral Chihuahuas was probably the most risqué group of the night, but taking some chances definitely paid off, as their material received some of the largest crowd reactions.” – Dwayne Steward, Columbus Metro Mix
“Gangsta Rap (For The Hearing Impaired) a mimed and “signed” piece that may be the funniest skit I’ve ever seen…Even with the extra sketches, tonight’s show (At The Shadowbox Sketchfest) will leave out some of my favorites. One was the Feral Chihuahuas’ piece about “Facescroll,” the medieval predecessor to Facebook. Surprisingly, host Steve Guyer warned the Chihuahuas that such skits might leave some viewers in the dark, as if the whole world hadn’t at least heard of social networking.” – Richard Ades, The Other Paper (Columbus, OH)
Asheville, NC Reviews
“The Feral Chihuahuas front-load their strongest material: “Gangsta Rap for the Hearing Impaired” is hilarious, with an invented, preposterous movement vocabulary deftly employed to translate a live rap.” – Steve Samuels, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
“And if The Feral Chihuahuas work too hard at trying to promote catchphrases, they’re just following the established path. Similarly, their proclivity to focus on the “taint” (the flesh between a man’s anus and scrotum) isn’t any more gross than, say, Mad TV’s periodic obsession with anal warts.” – Steve Samuels, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Feral Chihuahuas Bio
Founded in 2003, The Feral Chihuahuas sketch comedy troupe has performed over 150 shows in the Asheville area…everywhere from proper theaters to smoky bars. However, their most committed following erupted humbly in a two-car garage in Asheville, North Carolina. The members, who at that time lived together, took it upon themselves to convert the simple building into a small black box theater that would seat about twenty-three. Their first season in “The Shed”, as it’s affectionately known, built to some success, where even in the cold of December crowds of up to thirty would pile into “The Shed” with some even shivering outside peeking through the windows to watch the show. The second season in “The Shed” grew an even larger following where the last three weeks of performances saw as many as seventy people per show crowding around the garage to catch a glimpse of the funny. With parking at a premium and the neighbors beginning to complain, it was time for an upgrade.
The Chihuahuas began performing at an area theater called 35 Below in 2007, a theater that seated almost eighty people, and they sold out every one. 2008 was an even bigger year with a twenty-show season, selling out completely for sixteen of those dates and in fact having to turn people away on most occasions.
In recent years the Chihuahuas have been selected to perform at a number of Sketch Comedy Festivals around the country, including the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, The Shadowbox Sketch Comedy Festival in Columbus, Ohio, Cape Fear Comedy Festival in Wilmington, NC, and the The Black Box Comedy Festival in Atlanta, GA. They were also voted Western North Carolina’s Best Comedy Troupe 2010 by local paper The Mountain Xpress reader’s poll.
Why the name Feral Chihuahuas? It was story related one night in the early days of the group by a founding member who has since left. He had met a friend at a grocery store who appeared broken up about something. The friend related that the family’s litter of baby goats had been killed the night before by a pack of feral Chihuahuas. As unbelievable as this sounds there have been other eyewitnesses to corroborate this phenomenon in the rural outskirts of Asheville. When the story was finished, a light went off in their heads and they realized that the style of humor that they enjoyed was dark, but funny. Dark and funny like a pack of vicious little dogs on the prowl.
The Feral Chihuahuas formed and continue to perform through a common love of comedy and especially the form of sketch comedy. Drawing from several different styles, the Chihuahuas love to create comedy with social and political commentary, absurdism, satire and even existentialism. Their biggest influences are disparate but notable and include: Monty Python, Mr. Show, Upright Citizen’s Brigade, Kids in the Hall and numerous other non traditional sources. With a nod to Lenny Bruce, they are also known to push the bounds of comedy to at times an offensive level. Not without a purpose, a message is often imbedded in even the most disturbing moments. Working hard not to skimp on production value, a Chihuahuas show is always a multimedia affair; complete with live sketches, detailed sound effects, elaborate costumes, music, well crafted video sketches, songs and yes, they own lots of wigs.