October 6, 2025, Chileans and the whole world were amazed by 31 Minutos presentation on the YouTube show Tiny Desk.
What is 31 Minutos?
31 Minutos (English: 31 Minutes) is a Chilean comedy television series and band created by Álvaro Díaz, Pedro Peirano, and Juan Manuel Egaña. It premiered on March 15, 2003, on the National Chilean Television (TVN).
The show is structured as a news program played by puppets and hosted by Tulio Triviño, presenting humorous and unexpected events involving the news team. It blends educational messages with comedic content. The show was intended for kids, but with funny Chilean and pop-cultural references, so it not only appealed to kids but for grown-ups.
Besides, they featured songs that were catchy and funny, played by rock musicians of the Chilean funk band Chancho en Piedra (Ilabaca brothers, and Toño Corvalán).
The show grew so popular that it was also broadcast by Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Netflix, and it became a great success in Mexico as well as other Latin American countries.
They have also played their show as a band in rock concerts like Lollapalooza.
Band Members
- Álvaro Díaz – voices, guitar, keyboards
- Pablo Ilabaca – guitars, keyboards
- Pedro Peirano – voices
- Felipe Ilabaca – bass
- Pedropiedra – guitar
- Toño Corvalán – drums
- Jani Dueñas – voices
- Daniel Castro – voices
- Patricio Díaz – voices
What is Tiny Desk?
Tiny Desk is a music show played on YouTube on the American National Public Radio (NPR). It invites bands and artists to perform literally on a tiny desk offices of this radio, so they have to adapt to play in this close space. I only found out about this because Turnstile did a show there a while ago.
Other Chilean artists, such as Ana Tijoux and Mon Laferte, have also been featured here, but what happened with 31 Minutos it’s another level. Following their witty and fun style, the band featured 7 songs and cracked subtly some political jokes and social criticism too. They also brought, besides the puppets, other figures that are part of the show, and the band used shirts that camouflaged them onto the shelves, so the puppets would stand out even more. They thought about everything.
The view count has rapidly risen since it was posted, and it keeps growing by the hour, and that makes us think how something that started locally in Chile more than 20 years ago has a universal impact like this.
I started to watch the show since it began, at that time I was studying at the University, and even the teachers played us some songs. I’m a big fan of their music and their jokes and stories, and I even had their MP3 tracks to listen to.
For my generation, older and younger, 31 Minutes brings us so much nostalgia, and the people who have kids have transmitted this love to their children. This caused many of us watching this presentation to get emotional, remembering all these olden days, and we were proud of these geniuses who created 31 Minutos, who totally deserved this recognition and all the love that they are receiving now. And I hope that more people become aware of this show and their songs, that’s why I post the link below to their presentation, which, even though it’s in Spanish it has English subtitles.
A video I made on the topic: