Fans of comedy and epic rap battles will certainly want to join one local show in celebrating its three-year anniversary.
Eat Your Beats will be holding its highly anticipated anniversary show on Friday, August 11 at 10 p.m. at Good Good Comedy Theater in Chinatown. It’s one of the theater’s handful of long-running regular productions that definitely shows no signs of slowing down.
“Eat Your Beats is a food-themed rap battle game show,” creator and show co-host Alejandro Morales says. “Every month, between seven to 10 comedians create characters like ‘Mom’s Spaghetti’ and ‘Smooth E’ and compete in a series of freestyle challenges, culminating in a final battle for the crown,” he explains. “My co-host Alyssa Al-Dookhi and I write the games for the show, like ‘Last Meal,’ where we ask the contestants to freestyle about what they ate before coming to the show.”
According to Morales, Eat Your Beats was conceived following a very unique conversation at a 2013 house party attended primarily by his fellow Philadelphia stand-up comedians.
“Some of them were standing around the kitchen table at some point rapping about ham & cheese sandwiches,” Morales says. “It tickled me, and when it came time to pitch very short bits for the “The Bit Show” at the first Five Dollar Comedy Week, I conceived of Eat Your Beats as a 9-minute mini show.”
Needless to say, Eat Your Beats was an instant hit with the crowd at Five Dollar Comedy Week, a week of experimental comedy shows held by Good Good Comedy Theater several times a year. Now, with more than 30 shows in its archives, the hour-long offering has traveled outside of the confines of the Philadelphia comedy scene, to cities like Wilmington, Delaware and even Austin, Texas. It also has lured special celebrity guest judges, such as rapper Schooly D and comedian R. Eric Thomas.
“I’m proud of the format that we’ve come up with, because the competitors seem to intuitively understand what makes the show fun,” Morales says. “What’s always memorable for me is how invested the audience gets in the performers. By the time we reach the final showdown, the crowd is usually screaming for their favorite.”
For the third anniversary, Eat Your Beats will feature a performance by comedian Joe Bell, who was the winner of the very first show in 2014. Joining him will be fellow comedians Rachel Peters, Tommy Touhill, Michael Kelly, Michael S. Watkins, and Sarah Bell. Additionally, comics John Deary and Miguel Dalmau will be making their first-ever appearances on the show. Guest judges include DJ Uncle Ron and Gun$ Garcia.
“I love this show and it gives me an avenue to be silly characters and to interact with great audiences,” Touhill says. “Like many of the shows at the Good Good Comedy Theater, this show has challenged me to be funny in ways that I didn’t think I could be. It’s definitely a Philadelphia must-see.”
Fellow comedian and returning performer Michael Kelly could not agree more. “Eat Your Beats is equally exciting, entertaining and hilarious,” Kelly states.
Comedian and storyteller Rachel Peters, also a returning performer, is excited at what Eat Your Beats offers.
“This show is where my my inner everything comes out,” Peters says. “Party animal, dance queen, rapper — I get to fulfill my 00’s hip hop dreams.”
If You Go:
Eat Your Beats: Third Anniversary Show
Friday, August 11
10 p.m., $10
Good Good Comedy Theater
215 N. 11th St.
goodgoodcomedy.com/eatyourbeats
