In the 1960’s The Rat Pack was an iconic group of actors and performers consisting of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. The group was best known for performing together and filming such classics as Oceans Eleven. Fast forward over 50 years later and a new version of the Rat Pack is slowly emerging out of Los Angeles. They go by the name Dormtainment and the group’s six members are poised to overtake the television, film and comedy landscape.
Hailing from Detroit, Miami, Raleigh and Washington DC, the group consists of two brothers (Chaz and Cameron) and a group of childhood friends and former classmates (Mike, Tay, Jerome and Amanuel). The group was initially formed in Atlanta while several of the members were students at the Art Institute of Atlanta. For those curious about the origin of the name “Dormtainment,” the story goes as follows: Chaz, a licensed massage therapist, initially started his own company under the name “Spatainment” and when the company folded, the members borrowed portions of that company name to create the name “Dormtainment.” The group’s initial mission was to form a nonprofit organization but the group soon realized they actually needed a profit to get the nonprofit off the ground. They briefly dabbled in club promotion as a source of profit before finally creating short comedy videos for the web.
When the group first began releasing videos, building an audience proved difficult. According to group member Amanuel, contacting bloggers was key. At one point they inundated the inbox of a well-known blogger to the point where the blogger responded that their communication constituted “spam.” Amanuel’s rebuttal to the blogger: “Spam is a canned meat, what we’re doing is promoting.” Although building an audience was initially met with challenges, their YouTube page now boasts over 697,330 subscribers. Some of their most popular videos include, “Black People Laughing” and “If Rap Ended Today.”
After a successful college tour last year, the group recently relocated from Atlanta to Los Angeles where they are currently working on several different projects. Group member Mike revealed that they are currently working on a cookbook that will feature some of their favorite breakfast dishes. They are also working on a web series pilot with Comedy Central, which will begin shooting in the next 2-3 weeks. All of the group members have the ability to write, edit and direct content.
Referring to themselves as “old consistency,” the group releases new comedy sketches on YouTube every Sunday evening at 7pm EST/4 pm PST. Be sure to check them out at www.dormtainmenttv.com.
Jaia Thomas is a Los Angeles-based sports and entertainment attorney. For more information: www.jathomaslaw.com or @jaiathomaslaw.