May 28, 2026 • 54 mins
He wanted to be a journalist. Then one sketch changed everything. The guys sit down with comedian and creator Leo Gonzalez; from Univision newsrooms to DoorDash deliveries to the green-screen video that flipped his life overnight. A conversation about instincts, the grind, and what it means to be the next generation carrying the culture forward.
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Speaker 1 (00:10):
Leo came on that way, way that way.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is Freddie Rodriguez and.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I'm Wilmer Valderrama. Welcome to those amigos. Uh. I know
some of you guys are a long time subscribers, so
thank you so much for listening to the show. Thank
you for telling a friend, thank you for clicking and subscribing.
Today we have a very special episode. Yes we rarely,
but we rarely have guests, but when we do, we
prefer those.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Big, big deal for us.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Leo Gonzalez, Uh, welcome to those amigo in the house.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Thank you, and.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is nice. You guys have a live audience. I've
never seen that on your show. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
You play. Yeah, we got a video package and all
many that don't get any laps, but welcome man, welcome
having heard And I just want to do a quick
little bragget you know and and uh intro to you
because uh, Leo, I I've I've known about you for
(01:15):
a very long time. I came across your your content,
uh a very long time ago, and uh very quickly
then I shared it with my friends, and very quickly
I I I subscribe to it, and then I show
my wife and like, did you see this one?
Speaker 4 (01:28):
That you see this one?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
You are very very talented performer, and I can only
describe it as a great actor, because I think that's
more important to say. You know, there is like content
creators and influencers. You're just beyond that to me. You know,
you're not on the LA base, so like l A
you know, La Rosa stand up you know. But I
but I also recognize that you know, you you self
(01:53):
made an opportunity for yourself and carve the space for
you that only you can really perform in.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
And uh, there's not another Gonzalees, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
And I think the idea that there we get to
have a show where we can just give you some
flowers is super dope.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
And look, I think your grind is undeniable.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
For those of you who know you online, they they
have laughed with you, They've they've seen you grow, they've
seen you evolved, and now you're on to do some
really big things. And and I wanted to highlight those things, man,
because I feel proud to see another fellow comedian you
know that that basically puts himself in the game and
that's hard, right because you're knock on doors. But you
(02:30):
decided to just make your own house. Now they're knocking
on your door to try to be in your business.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
So that's that's exciting. And then this is fred Rodriguez.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Then Freddy, what do you have to say?
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Yo?
Speaker 6 (02:47):
Man?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
And congrats up.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
You know, before you walked in here, Wimer was telling
me about the stuff that you do on and and
I think your trajectory has been so fascinating to me.
What little I know and what little I've read, but
I'd love to jump into that.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Man.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Where where are you from? Where were you born?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Born in Hanford, calveard of Hanford, California.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
No, no, where is that?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It's three hours away. It's near Fresno. Okay, yeah you
should come by, love it with a little barbecue outside.
Speaker 6 (03:21):
No.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, I'm from there and I moved to LA during
the pandemic like five five years ago.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Where where are your parents from?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Juan? My dad and my mom's family from Trunck.
Speaker 6 (03:31):
Gun and and uh and they were born there and
went to northern California.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, my my my mom was my mom's from here
from women and then and and then and then my dad, Uh,
he's there, and then he went back to Mexico. Yeah,
but he comes back and forth?
Speaker 6 (03:48):
And so did did did I read write?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You were?
Speaker 6 (03:52):
You were a journalist first, So so take me through
the trajectory of how your parents go from Mexico to
northern California and then you were Latino, which I'm very
proud of whenever I see Latinos like you and who
go for professions like journalism and stuff that traditionally would
probably not have our people in it, right, Like, how
(04:12):
did that journey go from Northern California to journalism?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I mean, I'm obsessed with with with storytelling. I think,
like I do you remember? I mean, you know Anne Curry, right,
Like I was obsessed with her growing up because I
love I love She's so bad like everything, like everything
that she did. I was like, damn, like I believe her.
(04:37):
The way that she tells that person's story is is
is the way it should be told, you know? And
and I was and I thought from an early age,
I was like I want to I want to defend
someone because I feel like that was like journalism is
defending truth, that situation, that truth, that that journey, and
(04:59):
I'll like I want to do that what Anne is doing,
and and and so that's what I wanted forever. And
so when I was a little kid, I we had
in my hometown there's a lady that went missing. It's
a small city. It's like, you know, fifty five thousand
people wish and and and a lady went missing. And
(05:22):
so all the news was coming to town daily, and
I just was I was running to the news trucks.
I was like, I just want to see them go live,
you know I did. It was so sick to like
see to see this thing like right there, and and
and so as soon as I graduated school, I went
to UH to Eureka, to Humboldt. I spent a year
(05:45):
a little over a year there and and got my
first job doing like master control in a TV station.
And then from there I kind of went back to
friends of my mom, got sick. I went back got
a job at on NBC on for a few years
as a as a photographer. And I loved it, you know,
because it's like because like I don't know how, you
(06:06):
know what I mean, Like when it's on and then
like the other four channels are the English ones, like
this is ours like this is our like, this is
their safety and the communication to like, you know safety,
it's an institution.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I mean you turn on that TV. You turn on
that channel and he's on twenty four to seven. You
don't change the channel.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
Yeah, and probably something your parents as you were growing
up were watching, right, And then all of a sudden,
here you are like working there.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, so you look at like, you know, the anchor
that he's still the anchor and he was the anchor
when I was a little kid. So now I like
get a job there and he's my I'm like working
with one of my heroes, you know, and every day.
And he's a bad guy now I imagine, no, no, no, no,
I know he's and he's even better than I you know,
(06:56):
imagined and now and and he's and he's and it
was amazing because he was being for real, like it
wasn't like a it wasn't like an act. It wasn't
like it was really cares and being the one that
that translates the scary stuff, you know, And so that
was special. And so I was there for a while
(07:18):
and then I went to Reno and and it was
at a different news station, and and that's where I
was when I when I started, when I did my
first skit, I had no intention of doing any sort
of skit. Ever.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
What was that skin?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It was a news reporter skit because I had just
graduated school.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
And Bro, and I just just take a second, Bro,
because you have nailed that character on levels. That is
so really it's so comedic, it's so funny, it's awesome.
Right yeah, but when you really look at the nu ounces,
the beats, the process. I remember there one where like
there was a delay. Oh you know, the delay and
(07:59):
the and all of the little things. You knew that
you were coming from such a truthful place that you
just knew what it was like to actually be the
guy on that camera.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Was it was it modeled after anybody? They care all
of them.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
No, I mean there's there's I mean to this day,
I watch every single day. I'm like, I'm a fan.
You know, I don't watch any movies or TV shows.
I watch Good Morning America, you know, and like I love,
like there's people that I like watching, Like, oh, Rachel
Scott is on right now. Yeah, you know, Martha Raddits
is on right now, Like you know, gave good tierras
(08:37):
and and like, those are the people, and so, I mean,
they're all, they're all like nuances that I've like, i mean,
I've studied these people forever on a local level and
a national level, and I'm I'm very judgmental, you know,
I critique it.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, what's the common denominator? Like, what's one thing that
you're like, Oh, they all do this, they all.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
They all have just like the way that they do
like a little you know the movie their heads.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, when they're listening or where they're like clicking between
you know.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
My favorite is when they're about to go, when they're
about to get tossed to and the person is reading
their intro and they're like right right, yeah, Joey, you know,
and they like and they dip into the words.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Do you think that's that's purposeful or do you think
that's just Yeah, I think it is.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Let me let me pretend like I'm like revving up
to like, yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It's part of what makes them feel like, Yeah, they're all.
They're all. They're all going off of the last person
that they saw. And I and I also am critique
critique is sometimes I'm like sometimes I'm like, you know,
it's funny, but sometimes like you should not do the voice.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Right, I just talk like yourself, just.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Talk normally like some people do, like that little that
little voice thing like it was too fun. I'm like,
all right, what you're someone's family just died. Maybe you
should not do the voice. Maybe you should try to
know it sounds that cool, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
But you know, I just thought the other day I
was in I was in New York and I did
some press junket this week and I went to a
to a few you know, Latino publications and Longst Shore
and I, you know, I did like the you know
that the Today Show and CBS Mornings and whatever, and
then I went to the Latino stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
And I remember it was while I was sitting waiting
to do my interview, I.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Watched Interest or whatever and and I and I always
wonder why they always sound like this.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
When it will met Valderrama like what like soccer, but.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
It's it's like, okays, bien el puerto, like but what.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
That like you know, I'm kind of nailing it.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Like it's like like that does.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And that's so then like you you start seeing a
lot of them, like becomes the second issue. And I'm like,
I wonder if that's how you get people to remember
what you're saying, Like, is there a tactic?
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Is that a science?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Is that like a thing they teach, like you got
to get people to remember the operator moments and nothing.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I don't know, but they just talk.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
I mean, it's iconic enough that we talk about it, right, Yes,
you know that's it. I went to and they and
and I'm like, I want I was like curious, like
how do you guys do the voice over? You know,
like you know, like that type of thing, like the
way that they like, the way that they you know,
(11:50):
I'm like, damn, yeah, that's bro easy.
Speaker 6 (12:03):
How were you on this path to journalism? And then
one day you decided to do a skit.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Because I I, there's this there's this the creator whose
name is Adam, who does these videos that I saw.
And when I was working, because I was content, I
was I was perfectly like.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And you were doing photography in Reno.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I was a PA. So I was doing the graphics,
the tele a problem through all that stuff, and I
loved it. And I and you know, I had just
gone over like a like a like a really hard
year and and and so I was like very content
I'm doing. I was doing Instacart delivery during the pandemic.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Yeah and uh and uh and then uh uh door
dash and people were tipping and I you know what
I mean, Like I love delivering because like I eat
their ass, like when I show up, I'm like, I'm like, oh,
I got the eggs right on top up there.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Love you know, like treat them how yeah, yeah, thank
you so much. With my mask, I'm like walking with
a limp. And and so I was getting tipped good
and uh and I was doing I felt good about
everything and and and so anyways, I see this this
TikTok er Adam and I see his videos and I
was like, I need to I need to download TikTok
(13:22):
because they were on Twitter and and I just kept watching.
He's so funny, he's so creative and and I'd never
seen someone do such a such a Mexican comedy in
such a real way, because there's a lot of people
that do like, you know, very animated comedy and very
(13:43):
like dramatic situations. Yeah, and and I and I've just
never related to that, like I love like the dry,
little tiny things, and he did that tiny stuff a
lot I gotta download TikTok and so I downloaded it.
And then one day right after, I got rejected from
the state because I i it was a PA but
I had applied to be a reporter right when I
(14:05):
got my degree and they rejected me. And so then
I was like, all right, let me just do a
skit pretending to be a reporter. And then after that
it like changed, it flipped everything. Wow. After that, I
was like, oh, like, you know, and that was like
my first day. I got like thirty thousand followers and
I never had followers. I've never had anything. I never
had a first yet.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
What was the content of the first cast?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It was it was me impersonating the delay. It was
it was on the green screen. I've never used a
green screen before. I used the weather wall at work
and then he shot it at work, No no, no,
in at the at the Renal one, which is one
of the English networks. Yeah, and and we had like
(14:51):
three hours of a break because of the you know,
the newscasting, and nobody was in the studio, so I
would just be in there just doing my little you know.
Yeah and uh and yeah. So that that after that
one got that traction I was like, damn, I got
a lot of things that you guys might like, and
so I kept putting more, and then next day another
(15:11):
a few thousand followers and and.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
The same character did you did you try?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I was doing news, and then I was like, I'll
try this one too. Yeah, it was like a dad
or like you know, it's like a teacher, and then oh,
then I did a teacher one, and then that one
was like my next mountain, and then after and then
there you know, and and not ever knowing this type
of world, I was like, I then it got like
(15:37):
it started getting posted on like mean pages, and I
was like damn, Like I'm like, I'm on the snapchat homepage,
like it was so weird. And that all happened like
starting May of twenty twenty through like July August October,
I take a trip to La to collab with two
(16:00):
two people that were also doing comedy skits. I never
collapsed with anybody.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I've never done anything before.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No, I still wanted to report at that time, but
I was just like, this is a fun hobby and
and I came I met these two guys and and
that day I was like I don't know, I feel
like I have to be in la like genuinely, not
even like as a pick me, like I don't know,
I know, like genuinely like I didn't. I was like
I kind of like something is pooling me. And those
(16:29):
two guys, one was living in uh in t O
like like Newbury Park, and the other one was in Venice,
and they both wanted to move out of home and
and and so we got a place in Crenshaw. I've
never been to Crenshaw. And and we got an apartment
there and the living room was just a green screen
(16:50):
with like two like poles, like it was very like
just taped up. And I got like two ring lins
like you know. And every day was doing skits. Every day,
I was writing random things.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
But did you create kind of like a work flow
for you You're like from nine to you know, twelve,
I'm gonna do this many sketch and then take a break,
do some more stuff right, and then.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Go do door dash and then come back. Because I
was like I just told myself, I was like I
don't want to I don't want to have a job,
and then not be able to do it, and then
I lost the plot. You know, I'm like let me
just do that, make a little money, and then like
and then at the time TikTok was you know, they
were paying they paid their paint creators, and so I
was like making some money on there. I was like
(17:32):
and I got my first brandy. And then after I
was like, oh.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Oh, here we go, We're in business.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
I have a right, that's great, that's incredible. What an
incredible journey, right, Like how just when it's right right?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, you mentioned a lot of you know, different instincts
that were just evolving within you. Every time you will
see a person or a character or somebody that worked
through your life and then you do a video for it.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I remember you some of the restaurants.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
The ordering at a restaurant was hilarious, and the person
is waiting for you to finish ordering, but they you know,
every time the person gets to the register, they've had
like they've had ten minutes in line, and then when
they get there, they just don't know what they want. Yeah,
you know, so that stuff felt like it's such a
kind of human experiment, right like you're just you're you're
so intuitive to kind of listen, which I think back
(18:24):
to your passion for reporting. Half of the job is
to really listen and understand how to convey what you
what you're receiving to the people at home and to
you know, draw out performances, if you will, or truths
you know, from individuals. Since then, have you gotten the bug?
Just like I'm an actor, that's like, that's what I am.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I want to act, but I haven't called myself that yet.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
But you do realize that your sketches are full on
scenes and you're actually I know you're you're improving a
lot of it, but you're actually performing as an actor
in those scenes. And that's one of the reasons why
I appreciated it so much, is because you know, it's
not like you're working for a punchline. You're actually embodying
(19:14):
a character, and you're making that situation not just watchable,
but funny.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
And there's a beginning, middle and in to your sketches.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Most things that went viral in the era of influencers
or you know, even viners like Vine, you know, it
was just about like the one face or the one
thing or whatever, you know, but then they started getting
really sophisticated. I think you kind of caught onto that.
Why do you feel like you're hesitanting to call yourself
an actor.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Because I feel like I have to take a class. Though,
you know, I always feel so like I don't know,
you know, a lot of the time, I don't feel
this way necessarily anymore, and I don't mean it in
like to like downplay myself, but sometimes, like people, a
(20:02):
lot of the times, I'm like, I feel like I
cut in line. You know, as a content creator, you
get this constant feeling of like what are you doing here?
You know, like people went to to, uh, you know,
an improv school, they went to UCB, they went to
this and this, and they did drama in school and
(20:25):
then you just step in, you know. So I think
that there's like those parts of it that I've like
kind of like.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Is it that imposter syndrome thing or yeah, cause.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It's like you just you just and then And I
think because it also happened so fast sometimes, I mean
it's been yeah years now, but there's been so many
moments that you just forget it just you were in
it and they were so quick that you don't realize like, oh,
I I did do this, and you do this and
I don't know so and then I realized I did.
(20:55):
I did my first like acting. I mean I did
a few little things before, but I did the show
this full on Hulu and and I thought so natural
in that because I was playing a character that I
played that kind of was in my first year of
TikTok and.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
What did you play on this fool?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
It was like one of Chris Destrada's friends from high
school or something. I forgot the name, but but it
was so it was so fun and it was the
perfect day, like the perfect day from the top to end.
But then I but then I then I get cast
for the Keanu Reeves movie from last year with with
(21:45):
the Season Sorry, oh yeah, and like the this full
episode was like I did like half the episode. But
then then I do this uh what is it called fortune?
Good Fortune? I'm on there for like eleven seconds, and
it was the hardest thing I've ever done because I
(22:07):
was like, I don't know what I'm doing here, Like
I I literally had.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
To you think it was you just telling you, like
these guys have been doing it forever and here I
am like just pretending to do it or is it?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Like I realized, I was like I don't know how
to look like when it's in Provence skits. I know
who I'm impersonating. I know exactly what cashier I'm thinking about.
I know exactly what kind of customer. But then I'm
in this thing and I'm like, I'm a pool guy
with my pool equipment and I delivered my line and
(22:39):
now that he's talking, I don't know what to do
with my face.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Oh interesting?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And I was like, bro. And I remember like after that,
I did a I talked to someone else and I
was like, what do I do with my face? And
They're like, just listen? Yeah, And I was like, all right, cool,
next time?
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So what why did you next time?
Speaker 4 (23:01):
But is that a reporter thing?
Speaker 6 (23:02):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Like you know, you're you're listening to the words and
you know you're waiting for it to actually you know,
retort the energy, and you're like, you know, it's an
interesting thing.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
I I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
You know, you know there is this kind of little
window when like you're across from an actor who's done
it forever and it comes to so naturally for them,
and they're just flowing with words that are like.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
On a page.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
You're not just like flowing and just coming up with
something funny and cutting it liter or like you have
like a script and you you know, you're memorizing the script,
and then this other person also memorize the script and
they depend on you to say the line, and you know,
you got to find a rhythm together.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
You got to listen to it.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
There's a lot of elements that take a lot of practice,
but I think you've had I mean a million hours
of practice and embodying characters. I think probably in that
moment you probably you needed to do is this person?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, now I think about it, I'm like, let's run
it back right, do it again? And now I know
how to look.
Speaker 6 (24:02):
But but why did you feel in this fool that
you knew how to look? But when you did this
movie with Keanu you didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Know because I didn't know who the pool guy was,
Like I need to know who they are, Like does
he have kids? Like does he the younger brother? Is
his older brother in jail? Like I need to know that.
And if I would have known that, then I know
the stakes of what my pool job is. I guess,
(24:29):
and that's what I needed to know. And I think
in this fool, I was like, oh, I'm the I'm
the alcoholic friend who's still stuck on the past that
like I got you know, I can do that, you know,
because even I just did a thing that Eva directed
a few months ago, and that I didn't think I
(24:51):
could do that because that was you know, a major
The person I did it with was those major celebrity Yeah. Ok, yeah,
and I was like, that's crazy, Like I don't know,
but but I knew the character more. And Eva made
me feel sure because I love it, I love him,
(25:14):
and in that situation, I'm like, just let me if
I can, just let me hit the beats and then
just throw some other little words around. And Eva made
me feel so comfortable and give me so much room
for that.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
But by the way, just know, that's the hardest thing
to do for an actor. That's the hardest thing to
be free to say. Let me just fly here, let
me make some choices, let me add some blank pages
here and there. That's the thing that makes actors petrified.
Like some of us grew up doing that, right Like,
you know, we've done comedy, we've done drama, and we're
(25:50):
very comfortable flowing because we know these guys that were
playing before we come to set to your point. For
an actor, most actors, the scariest thing to do is
to get off that page. Well, when you get off
that page, everything falls apart for most most people.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
So the fact that you're feeling free to flow, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
On the page, I'm like, I can we change it.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
But then you do it enough that you know how
to like start with the page, go into the whole things,
bring it back to the middle of the page, start
the things, make sure that your partner doesn't you know,
it's not lost, and how to respond to you. You know,
but you're giving them their cues to make sense with
their lines, and that happens over time.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
What you're doing, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I mean, like it's your super powered and I think
the more you cultivate that, the more you're going to
you feel you know that you're going to be just flying.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I mean, I'm excited by it because I I think
so much about how much of a different story I
have than some of the people that I've seen in
LA things. You know, I think, like I used to
watch things back then where I'm like, all right, like
(27:07):
another movie about like another part of LA and I'm like,
we're in Fresno. We're over here, We're far away from La.
Like my dad is working in the fields and my
mom's at a tomato plant. Like that's not the same, like,
you know, and I'm like, and so I constantly think
I want to do a project where it feels more
like a Mexican in Yakima, you know, and a different part,
(27:32):
because there's so many things that are the same, but
it's not. It doesn't all feel like LA. And I
think that gave me like doing little things like this,
I'm like, okay, okay, I want I'm trying to you know,
collect more and save us. I introduce my own thing
that feels like like what I know, Yeah, something more familiar.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
You realize so much more about Los Angeles that kind
of almost no one is really from Los Angeles, you know.
They're from around Los Angeles and they congregate in Los Angeles.
They commute with the Los Angeles way of life, you know,
but they're from everywhere in the world, everywhere in the
in the country, right, Like everyone moves to Los Angeles
for that dream, right or you know, they commute with
(28:13):
De La for all reasons, you know. But I think,
you know, people think about Los Angeles and they think about
this like the four black radius. It's either downtown in
LA or Hollywood Boulevard that they think that's what LA is.
Around the planet, they think, Oh, it's the stars on
the floor, it's the sign on the on the hill,
you know, And in LA is so much more than that.
To your point, there's so many people that embody with
(28:34):
the culture of the LA and and they all deserve
to be told a story that can also feel mainstream.
And you know, and I think what you're doing is interesting.
Are you are you directing? Are you producing? Is that
something you have passion for it?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Yeah, I haven't started yet. That's why I'm here. Actually, no,
I I I'm developing something right now that I that
I wrote like a year ago. And and so yeah,
it's it's been getting close, right. I have these two
people that I've been working with who who I am
(29:10):
all mysterious and two people I can't say who. But
but it's you know, but it's stuff that I know.
It has, it's stuff that I that I grew up doing.
And and so the storyline that these characters are all
real people that that I show. Yeah, it's being written
as a as a series. But there's also you know,
(29:33):
there's also other little comedy ideas that I have, and
and then also like, seriously, I want to do something
serious like that'd be nice, you know because you know,
did you see Will Ferrell and the on the Apple
shows like Strength? I want to do bro that was
(29:56):
like that changed me. I want to be like that
word because I think we'll for as one of the
funniest people. And then to see that, yeah, we'll tell
you about that.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
Yeah, your stuff reminds me. It's almost like curb your enthusiasm.
There's a there's a letter there to David quality, to
your to your stuff, and and to just rewind a
little bit what you said, you know, a little while ago,
like oh man, did I jump a step or whatever?
You know, I can understand why you felt that way,
but like seeing what Wilmer has showed me with Leo
(30:28):
showed me, uh, your skits. Your stuff seems so grounded,
Your comedy seems so grounded. And and I could understand
if you were somebody who who wasn't necessarily good but
had a big following and maybe jumped the step, as
you said, because of your following. But but there's something
(30:48):
in the quality of your work that's deserve it. I
feel of of of where your trajectory is going, and
I can tell just by looking at the stuff that
that they showed me.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
So uh, I don't think you should feel that way.
I think that you're earning your your position.
Speaker 6 (31:03):
I just think that people are discovering how good you
are and how you know, how well you're writing.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
And every entry point is different.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Every actor has a very different way and how it
worked for them.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Some people went to juilliards. Some people get picked up
about a high school play or stand up or stand
up they're like, oh, you know, you'd be funny in
a movie, right and starts and and they started doing
drama and comedy, you know.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
So so I wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
I wouldn't be so worried about, you know, the runway
you've had before you got the shot, you know, I
would worry more about, you know, you know, about what
you do with it, you know, because that's that's how
you start paving the road ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
I think we both are.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Going on thirty plus years and you you're probably going
in what almost forty forty years.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I wasn't even born a little.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
A little older a little older.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Like like fifty five years in the game. I thing,
you know you started, you started when you were twenty.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You know that's right. I'm really seventy. Yeah, it's Latino.
It's good Latino jeans. Jeez, you know, you know sort
of vampire.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
Sorry, Brandon, what is it based on?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
She said? I said, well, sorry, you look great, man.
She was like Beige olt Age, whoa, I gotta use
that weeic.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
So your stand up is something that's become a destination
for you. How do you feel about stand up?
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Well?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
How did the people were like, oh, you should do
stand up now? Like it's very different than what you're doing.
We just discussed the fact that I, in my heart
think you're an actor, and and now people are like,
get on stage and tell us a story for for
you know, twenty minutes or whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
I mean it's crazy. I mean I didn't think I
was gonna do this part, and so the stand up
was even way out of ever, like why would you
even think of doing that?
Speaker 1 (32:59):
You know? But so you're doing stand up now right now?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Yeah? I just finished the tour like a few two
three weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
How long is your set?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
An hour?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
You put together an hour set. It's incredible. Man, that's
incredible man.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, but it you know, it's it's it's so nice
because like some of these people have been there since
the beginning. Yeah, they've been there since the since the pandemic. Yeah,
and I'm like, damn, like they're said, your old ass
come yeah this group.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Like it's like, how does it feel when you walk
into theater and you're like, Okay, I gotta put an
hour show right now, But then you look at the
audience that showed up and bought a ticket to see you.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
No, it's it's it genuinely is an honor because I'm like,
you know, it's I say, it's it's one thing to
to support and be so loving from home to pay
for parking, you know what I mean, Like that's a lot,
get a sitter, and then these clubs have two drunk
to drink minimums. Yeah, like they're spending a lot. So
(34:07):
I'm like, please laugh three times at least, like and
if not, like whatever you need after you know, vacuum.
But it's it's, I mean, it really is. It's crazy,
and it's I never you know, it's such a strange
feeling to go to another town and have like these
four sold out rooms at a place that you've never
(34:31):
been to too, and I've never been there, you know.
And then and like you guys like they're sponsoring my
my trip to go try random cool things in Chicago
or go blackout in San Antonio. I don't know, like
that's that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Is your is your is your Hour Special sort of reflected?
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Is it sort of a variation of the skits you
were doing already.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
It's there's it's you know, it's talking about some of
the people in society, but a lot of it is
is you know, they're they're kind of seeing the person
they're they're seeing the people watcher. They're talking to the
people watcher, you know, the person behind all this kids,
that's who's talking that night. And and I'm kind of
I like to think of it as I'm kind of
(35:16):
putting like a mirror on the stage and like about you,
like this is what the videos are. They're all about you, Like,
this is what you look like to me? Uh uh
an only child, you know, who's just like interested in everybody.
And and so that's what that well, that's what that is.
And it's been it's been cool. You know I've been
(35:39):
I just go with it, you know. I never thought
about doing it. And then I was with like a
little over a year ago, mar Solo Hernandez was performing
in UH in Ontario and and he uh we had
we had uh we had just had breakfasts a few
weeks before, and he was, you should do some stand up.
(36:01):
I was like, I'm good. And and then we're on
Ontario and he's like, if you come, like you're in
do five minutes. And I was like, all right, I
won't go then, and I was no, but I was
like I'll go.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
I was like, fine' so okay.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
So the process of your like five minutes, what do
I say for five minutes?
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah, I don't know what to say. I was like,
I was like, I don't in the last five years,
I don't think I've been a part of anything, you
know what I mean. But then when I was up there,
I was like, oh, I'll just talk about Marcelo. I'll
talk about I'll talk about this whole thing. And and
it felt good. It was it was nice and and yeah,
(36:40):
it was nice, you know, and I never have, like,
you know, had that experience, and and the good thing
is like, you know, Marcelo and I we have because
it matters. I've I've seen it. We have a similar audience.
I can't walk into Jay Leno's audience, you know, they're
not gonna know me, and and but with him, it
(37:01):
was very helpful that they did. And then a few
months later I went, I was in New York with
my eggs and I uh and I now and uh
and I'm Marcelo was I told him I want to
come to your show and He's like, all right, I
do five minutes all that. So I did it. And
(37:22):
then after I was like, damn, this is crazy, this
is cool whatever, But now I'm good from doing it again.
But then I'm in Paris for the Olympics and I
and I FaceTime Marcelo because we're leaving. He's at the
airport leaving. I'm getting there, and I was like that
day I was like on the bike, I was riding
through Paris by myself, got the music on and I
(37:44):
was like, fuck, let's go on to her, you know
what I mean, just like just like I'm in pair
like that, all like all that brought me to this.
Imagine if I just do more things that are like
feel foreign, you know, And I was like bonjoy, like sure.
Speaker 5 (38:02):
And.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
So I.
Speaker 6 (38:11):
Could go cout go Yeah, man, I feel like, you know,
I don't know what you call the universe god. People
they kind of tell you where you should be going, right,
And if enough people were saying go in this direction
and do stand up and do all, you know, everything
that you it almost seems like a lot of what
(38:32):
you are doing now is because the people around you
have been encouraging to do it right, because they're seeing
something in you that perhaps you weren't seeing in yourself
prior to.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
That, right, and I know, I feel like I had
a lot of that yeah. And then and then I
get to Marcello, and then he was the opposite of that.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
What do you mean?
Speaker 2 (38:52):
He tells me he's like the very first time, he's like,
do do five minutes at the Ontario Show. And I
was like, all right, if I go, I go. And
I'm used to people being so nice for years, like you're,
you know, super supportive, supportive. And then Marcelo tells me
he's like, come and do five minutes. But if you
(39:14):
don't do the five minutes, I won't ask you about it,
Like I won't be disappointed. I won't we don't talk
about it. Damn damn. Like I've never been challenged like that,
Like I had like a stern fathering.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
Yeah, it's almost like, man, if you don't if you
come and you don't do the five minutes, I know
you don't want it.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
Yeah, it's like, ah and sound that I don't want it.
It's just like okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
I was like, now I can't let him down by
not not letting him down, you know, Like I was like,
now I'm gonna go and I'm gonna be funny now.
And I was so scared, Like driving to Ontario went
by myself and I was driving, I was like shaking.
I was like, bro, I can't believe I'm gonna do this. Yeah,
And then I get there and.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
You don't understand, like how how much pressured being on
a stage with a microphone in a crowd who literally
paid to laugh, right, Like their return of their investment
has to be laughs, right. But you know, through this,
you put that pressure on yourself and then you don't
enjoy the crowd. You think the crowd is there already
(40:23):
judging you. You know, it's like it flips, but so wait,
your five minutes. What are the five minutes about?
Speaker 2 (40:28):
You know what I I talked about Paris and at
that time, because you remember the opening Life, I said
something about because it was during that time that that
the that the person in the in the he flipped
and you remember that he did what I can't really
do it on the podcast, but he was like he
(40:51):
was going over the thing and like all of him
went up and flipped. Oh okay, you remember that, Leo.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Oh he landed on the on the pole. Was that
that that.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Dude his his his pole went over the pole.
Speaker 4 (41:06):
Yes, yes, And I talked about that.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Yeah, yeah, I think that was my I think that.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Was then he hit himself with with with well he
was he's what's the name of that sport, the high jump? Right,
So you're rolling with the stick, right, and you hit
on the ground and then you you have it bring
you up to it to a high, to a certain high,
to a certain you know height, and then and then
(41:33):
you're supposed to flip over it and not and the
stick has to stay there. Apparently he flew over and
just missed it by like maybe an inch and a
half and basically his Monaco just off of the pole
and he was like, and then people saw it in
(41:54):
slow motion globally he became a global sensation.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah, and I think that's what I think. That was
what I something about that, like, I hope you guys
saw me at the Olympics or something. I forgot, but
that's why that was the biggest thing. And then just
about traveling pretty much being likening. Oh yeah, I just
got back from Paris.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
Yeah that's very good. Well that's how it works, you know.
So what's next for you? What is the next thing
you got lined up?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Well, by the time this is I have past, but
I'm doing the Netflix is a Joke festival on Saturday.
And when they told me about that, my agents they're like,
do you want to do it? And I was like, yeah,
I'll do it. I thought they were being like, you know,
maybe not. I thought I'd have to go through something.
And then the poster came out. I was like, damn,
(42:48):
I guess I'm gonna do the festival.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
And by the way, the best comedians of this entire
generation are on that lineup, which.
Speaker 4 (42:56):
You should be really proud of yourself for.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
That's wild. Yeah, it's crazy, and so yeah, thankfully it
sold out a few days ago, and and it's at
a theater and and like arts district, and and I
got some cool things planned because I wanted to feel very,
very prideful. I wanted to feel very because you know
(43:21):
what I always wanted to do. And if anybody wants
to talk about this, I want to do this thing
where you do a comedy show in a city, and
then that same place where you just do the show,
clear the chairs, and then at turans to just a
party like a club, you know, So maybe we'll started
in Fresno.
Speaker 4 (43:41):
At that point people would be losing goose, you know.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, because we just laughed. And now we all turn
up with it, right, you know, it's a proper follow
up the show.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
Yeah, that's awesome. That's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Man.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
Well congratulations and Netflix. Uh it's a joke. I mean,
I love that lineup. I love how it activates community.
I love how it just travels everywhere in this It
is really really fun and you're gonna you're gonna kill it.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Man.
Speaker 4 (44:04):
How long is that said?
Speaker 2 (44:05):
It's an hour, It's an hour. The show's ninety minutes.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Somebody opening for you. Yeah, think about that though.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
I think by the body opening.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Somebody's for you?
Speaker 2 (44:26):
No, I have you know Whidow. Yeah, yeah, he's doing
the opening and I'm such a fan of him. I
was he's opening for you, not like that, like I
was not going first?
Speaker 4 (44:39):
Okay, like that, how long is it said?
Speaker 2 (44:43):
He's doing fifteen minutes? I okay, Like okay, you know,
And there's some musicians before the show because when they
give me, you know, the doors open at six, so
I'm like, the show don't start till seven, but from
(45:04):
six to seven, I'm like, let's do some programming there too.
So I hired a band who's gonna just be doing
like gorrillas, you know, because I want them to. I'm like,
if we're there, let's use the space, you know, while
we have it. So so there's every everybody.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
You enjoying that now, like you enjoying the stage time? Now,
like are you flowing with it? I'm not enjoying it. No, No,
I don't get I don't get as stressed. I think
right now, this one feels like the higher stakes one
just because like.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Everybody, but they love you.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
Man, You're gonna you do great.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Yeah, it's at the specific electric It's it's like a
newer place you open this year. But it feels it
feels it feels nice, and it just feels like, you know,
I'm constantly having these moments of like, damn, like this
is it? Like we're in it? Like when when did
we go in it? When did it? You know you
(45:58):
kind of like don't realize what what Which moment in
the last few years was one of this, Oh yeah,
you know it.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
I don't know, Freddy, you can offer any instinct there
in there too, but you know from Tod've been uniform
for a long time. I would tell you that once
you're in it, some of us have a tough time
blink like being present because we blink and all of
a sudden, like oh ten years, we blink like you know,
not not for anything. I say this and like just
(46:28):
like to reflect in the fact that it just happened
to me. I was in New York doing press. It's
somebody said, congratulations on your two hundred episodes. I didn't
see I is, And I was like, bro, I just
got there right, So like you know, if you blink it,
it's going to go by.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
But it was like a.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
Decade that's almost ten years now, and I and I
just tied that seventy show for two hundred, So I
did two hundred seventy show. But so it's like it
just and I don't I don't remember it being that long,
you know what I'm saying. So the fact that you're
acknowledging that this moment that you're in it now, it's
(47:06):
just more of a reason to just don't forget to
enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
I constantly I'm like telling myself, I feel this, bitch, Yeah,
have fun. When I left the taping earlier, I was like,
give me my bagel, and I was like, oh my god,
this is cool. Like I just I got the nice
water bottle, you know, like we're in it, like this
is it, and it's it's so nice to have work,
to be able to like like this is this is
(47:30):
it working?
Speaker 1 (47:31):
This is it?
Speaker 2 (47:32):
This is it? In the version where ith.
Speaker 4 (47:34):
But this is you doing who you are. You understand that,
like you've just become what you what you wanted, either
accidentally or by manifestation.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
Now you are being who you are.
Speaker 3 (47:46):
And now when you perform and the strength of what
you decided, this is who you are.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Dude.
Speaker 4 (47:52):
It's it's it's magical because now you're in that road.
Now you all you have.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
All you can do now is grow, create, and it
and the more fun you have, the more fun they will.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
You know.
Speaker 4 (48:02):
That's the rule, and that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
And when something is not fun, stop, pause, fix it, yeah,
and then get back to the fun.
Speaker 4 (48:09):
Because this ship is supposed to be fun.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Yeah, yeah, and it and it is it is. I
I like to make sure that the that the magic
dust stays in it, you know, because there's certain people
like that I look up to that I'm like, I
don't ever want to meet them, not because of that
thing of like your heroes. I don't want to meet
them because I want still magic, you know. I want
(48:31):
there to still be something that I can't reach, that
I can't that I don't want to my favorite band.
I'm like, I don't want to meet them because I
who's your favorite band? They're from Colombia.
Speaker 7 (48:46):
Come in, God, my god, that'd be crazy. You should
have I know you.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Yeah, but now that you mentioned that, we're gonna have
to tell Carlos and to go home.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
You know, Oh no, come in.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
There's a stage right there, bro oh five minutes, because it's.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
How humble? Quick?
Speaker 4 (49:17):
Are you humbled?
Speaker 6 (49:18):
You know, yeah, no, man, but keep keep doing what
feels organic to you, because it's obviously who you are
is what's working.
Speaker 1 (49:26):
You know.
Speaker 6 (49:27):
I'm pretty sure the bigger you get, the more money
you're going to start to make. You know, you may
have other influences steering you in different directions, but just
stay true to ye who you are. Man.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
Yeah, well man, thank you so much for coming. And
I can't wait to see now just the next chapter
but hopefully all of us be a part of it somehow.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
And anyone want to do five minutes on my show ever,
let me know, let me know, I might on my
one day, on my one day.
Speaker 4 (49:55):
Come on one day.
Speaker 3 (49:56):
The only thing I can do for you if I
and like I said, I think if you ask me,
I like, if if Leo asked me one day, like,
hey man, I want you to do five minutes on my show,
and whatever could you do it.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Minutes?
Speaker 3 (50:09):
I'm like, I would have to be very obvious and
I would have to do like a dramatic monologue for
five minutes as faz.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Oh, that'd be great, That'd be crazy.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
It's the only thing I can pull out of that hat.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Would you come with the with the with the hair,
and I.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
Would ask everybody to close their eyes for five minutes.
That would be my five minute, you know moment. But
I don't know stand up communities. I mean I buy
down by the home. Who know how to tell a
story for an hour?
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Man?
Speaker 3 (50:43):
So yeah, I got to go to the cheap shot,
you know, like, but yeah, that's incredible, man, No, that'd
be great.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
Man. We're incredibly proud of you. Man.
Speaker 6 (50:51):
We always talk about the baton getting passed down the
different generations. We talk about the generations that came before us, right,
people that we were watching, and then all of a
sudden we're in their place and you're you're the note.
You're the new generation. Man, You're the baton has been
passed to you.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
I feel I feel lucky because I I have a
lot of you know, Constance Marie yesterday we were with
her and she said the similar type of.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
Thing was beautiful person.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
So and that's I feel so lucky because it's like
to be so helpful? Is so? Is it so important
when when you're doing this thing and you know, it
feels already weird, and then and then you know people
that you look up to being so nice, you know,
it's crazy and and you know, and and when when
(51:42):
I the night that we met at the that was
like twenty twenty two, maybe twenty three, I don't know,
the that dinner, you know, like the white suit on
and bro that night, I was like, bro, I have
to go meet them. I was I broke because I
I for who I was with, probably another X but
(52:02):
we were We were there and I was like, I
just want to see if I can say high cause
I get because I don't like to say hi to
anybody because I'm like I don't want to bother them,
like you know. But I was like, let me go.
And then you like when you said you do me already,
that was one of those moments. I was like, I
guess we can't. We have to stay in LA for
another year, you know what I mean. Like that's one
(52:25):
of those like you have those moments and it's like
for me honor to hear that it's true.
Speaker 4 (52:31):
I was very.
Speaker 3 (52:32):
Genuinely excited when you came up. I was like, bro,
I know exactly who you are.
Speaker 2 (52:36):
That's literally how you said it. Yeah, And it was
it was huge. It was It's happened only three times
in almost six years where it's like this is this
moment was like adding my adding you know, another year
to the contract of maybe this is fine, maybe this
(52:56):
is gonna be okay, And that was.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
To sign wow, thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 2 (53:03):
Man.
Speaker 4 (53:03):
I didn't know that that's.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
So now this is actually that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (53:09):
And now Freddy is doing five minutes.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
Five minutes, five minutes, I'll do forty five maybe wells.
Speaker 4 (53:19):
Congratulations, You're so proud of you man.
Speaker 3 (53:21):
And by the way, like we need you, right, we
need you to keep succeeding, we need you to keep
moving it forward. And uh, you know you said you're next, right,
so so go and go and enjoy it and then
tell everyone how beautiful our culture is too.
Speaker 6 (53:33):
Right.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
So that's part of that's part of the message of
of what you embodied with art. So I'm Wilma Valdorama,
Freddie Rodriguez, was Leo Gonzalez, and uh, thank you for
watching or listening to Those Amigos.
Speaker 6 (53:49):
Those Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
Michael Through That podcast network, hosted by me, Freddie Rodriguez,
and Wilmer Valdorama.
Speaker 3 (53:58):
Those Amigos is produced by Cooper and Sophie Spencer savels Our.
Speaker 6 (54:02):
Executive producers are Wilmri Valderrama, Freddie Rodriguez, and Leo Clem
at WV Sound.
Speaker 3 (54:08):
This show is mixed and mastered by Sean Tracy and
original music by Madison Devenport and Hala Boy.
Speaker 6 (54:14):
For more podcasts from My Heart, visit the R Heart
Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Speaker 4 (54:21):
See you next week.
Leo came on that way, way that way.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hey, how you doing.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is Freddie Rodriguez and.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
I'm Wilmer Valderrama. Welcome to those amigos. Uh. I know
some of you guys are a long time subscribers, so
thank you so much for listening to the show. Thank
you for telling a friend, thank you for clicking and subscribing.
Today we have a very special episode. Yes we rarely,
but we rarely have guests, but when we do, we
prefer those.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Big, big deal for us.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
I'll tell you that much.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Leo Gonzalez, Uh, welcome to those amigo in the house.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
Thank you, and.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
This is nice. You guys have a live audience. I've
never seen that on your show. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:53):
You play. Yeah, we got a video package and all
many that don't get any laps, but welcome man, welcome
having heard And I just want to do a quick
little bragget you know and and uh intro to you
because uh, Leo, I I've I've known about you for
(01:15):
a very long time. I came across your your content,
uh a very long time ago, and uh very quickly
then I shared it with my friends, and very quickly
I I I subscribe to it, and then I show
my wife and like, did you see this one?
Speaker 4 (01:28):
That you see this one?
Speaker 3 (01:30):
You are very very talented performer, and I can only
describe it as a great actor, because I think that's
more important to say. You know, there is like content
creators and influencers. You're just beyond that to me. You know,
you're not on the LA base, so like l A
you know, La Rosa stand up you know. But I
but I also recognize that you know, you you self
(01:53):
made an opportunity for yourself and carve the space for
you that only you can really perform in.
Speaker 4 (01:58):
And uh, there's not another Gonzalees, you know.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
And I think the idea that there we get to
have a show where we can just give you some
flowers is super dope.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
And look, I think your grind is undeniable.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
You know.
Speaker 3 (02:10):
For those of you who know you online, they they
have laughed with you, They've they've seen you grow, they've
seen you evolved, and now you're on to do some
really big things. And and I wanted to highlight those things, man,
because I feel proud to see another fellow comedian you
know that that basically puts himself in the game and
that's hard, right because you're knock on doors. But you
(02:30):
decided to just make your own house. Now they're knocking
on your door to try to be in your business.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
So that's that's exciting. And then this is fred Rodriguez.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Then Freddy, what do you have to say?
Speaker 5 (02:47):
Yo?
Speaker 6 (02:47):
Man?
Speaker 1 (02:48):
And congrats up.
Speaker 6 (02:49):
You know, before you walked in here, Wimer was telling
me about the stuff that you do on and and
I think your trajectory has been so fascinating to me.
What little I know and what little I've read, but
I'd love to jump into that.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Man.
Speaker 1 (03:00):
Where where are you from? Where were you born?
Speaker 2 (03:04):
Born in Hanford, calveard of Hanford, California.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
No, no, where is that?
Speaker 2 (03:07):
It's three hours away. It's near Fresno. Okay, yeah you
should come by, love it with a little barbecue outside.
Speaker 6 (03:21):
No.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Yeah, I'm from there and I moved to LA during
the pandemic like five five years ago.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
Where where are your parents from?
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Juan? My dad and my mom's family from Trunck.
Speaker 6 (03:31):
Gun and and uh and they were born there and
went to northern California.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Yeah, my my my mom was my mom's from here
from women and then and and then and then my dad, Uh,
he's there, and then he went back to Mexico. Yeah,
but he comes back and forth?
Speaker 6 (03:48):
And so did did did I read write?
Speaker 1 (03:51):
You were?
Speaker 6 (03:52):
You were a journalist first, So so take me through
the trajectory of how your parents go from Mexico to
northern California and then you were Latino, which I'm very
proud of whenever I see Latinos like you and who
go for professions like journalism and stuff that traditionally would
probably not have our people in it, right, Like, how
(04:12):
did that journey go from Northern California to journalism?
Speaker 2 (04:16):
I mean, I'm obsessed with with with storytelling. I think,
like I do you remember? I mean, you know Anne Curry, right,
Like I was obsessed with her growing up because I
love I love She's so bad like everything, like everything
that she did. I was like, damn, like I believe her.
(04:37):
The way that she tells that person's story is is
is the way it should be told, you know? And
and I was and I thought from an early age,
I was like I want to I want to defend
someone because I feel like that was like journalism is
defending truth, that situation, that truth, that that journey, and
(04:59):
I'll like I want to do that what Anne is doing,
and and and so that's what I wanted forever. And
so when I was a little kid, I we had
in my hometown there's a lady that went missing. It's
a small city. It's like, you know, fifty five thousand
people wish and and and a lady went missing. And
(05:22):
so all the news was coming to town daily, and
I just was I was running to the news trucks.
I was like, I just want to see them go live,
you know I did. It was so sick to like
see to see this thing like right there, and and
and so as soon as I graduated school, I went
to UH to Eureka, to Humboldt. I spent a year
(05:45):
a little over a year there and and got my
first job doing like master control in a TV station.
And then from there I kind of went back to
friends of my mom, got sick. I went back got
a job at on NBC on for a few years
as a as a photographer. And I loved it, you know,
because it's like because like I don't know how, you
(06:06):
know what I mean, Like when it's on and then
like the other four channels are the English ones, like
this is ours like this is our like, this is
their safety and the communication to like, you know safety,
it's an institution.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
I mean you turn on that TV. You turn on
that channel and he's on twenty four to seven. You
don't change the channel.
Speaker 6 (06:28):
Yeah, and probably something your parents as you were growing
up were watching, right, And then all of a sudden,
here you are like working there.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, so you look at like, you know, the anchor
that he's still the anchor and he was the anchor
when I was a little kid. So now I like
get a job there and he's my I'm like working
with one of my heroes, you know, and every day.
And he's a bad guy now I imagine, no, no, no, no,
I know he's and he's even better than I you know,
(06:56):
imagined and now and and he's and he's and it
was amazing because he was being for real, like it
wasn't like a it wasn't like an act. It wasn't
like it was really cares and being the one that
that translates the scary stuff, you know, And so that
was special. And so I was there for a while
(07:18):
and then I went to Reno and and it was
at a different news station, and and that's where I
was when I when I started, when I did my
first skit, I had no intention of doing any sort
of skit. Ever.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
What was that skin?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
It was a news reporter skit because I had just
graduated school.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
And Bro, and I just just take a second, Bro,
because you have nailed that character on levels. That is
so really it's so comedic, it's so funny, it's awesome.
Right yeah, but when you really look at the nu ounces,
the beats, the process. I remember there one where like
there was a delay. Oh you know, the delay and
(07:59):
the and all of the little things. You knew that
you were coming from such a truthful place that you
just knew what it was like to actually be the
guy on that camera.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
Was it was it modeled after anybody? They care all
of them.
Speaker 2 (08:14):
No, I mean there's there's I mean to this day,
I watch every single day. I'm like, I'm a fan.
You know, I don't watch any movies or TV shows.
I watch Good Morning America, you know, and like I love,
like there's people that I like watching, Like, oh, Rachel
Scott is on right now. Yeah, you know, Martha Raddits
is on right now, Like you know, gave good tierras
(08:37):
and and like, those are the people, and so, I mean,
they're all, they're all like nuances that I've like, i mean,
I've studied these people forever on a local level and
a national level, and I'm I'm very judgmental, you know,
I critique it.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
Yeah, what's the common denominator? Like, what's one thing that
you're like, Oh, they all do this, they all.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
They all have just like the way that they do
like a little you know the movie their heads.
Speaker 3 (09:00):
Yeah, when they're listening or where they're like clicking between
you know.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
My favorite is when they're about to go, when they're
about to get tossed to and the person is reading
their intro and they're like right right, yeah, Joey, you know,
and they like and they dip into the words.
Speaker 6 (09:23):
Do you think that's that's purposeful or do you think
that's just Yeah, I think it is.
Speaker 1 (09:28):
Let me let me pretend like I'm like revving up
to like, yeah, I think.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
It's part of what makes them feel like, Yeah, they're all.
They're all. They're all going off of the last person
that they saw. And I and I also am critique
critique is sometimes I'm like sometimes I'm like, you know,
it's funny, but sometimes like you should not do the voice.
Speaker 4 (09:53):
Right, I just talk like yourself, just.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
Talk normally like some people do, like that little that
little voice thing like it was too fun. I'm like,
all right, what you're someone's family just died. Maybe you
should not do the voice. Maybe you should try to
know it sounds that cool, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
But you know, I just thought the other day I
was in I was in New York and I did
some press junket this week and I went to a
to a few you know, Latino publications and Longst Shore
and I, you know, I did like the you know
that the Today Show and CBS Mornings and whatever, and
then I went to the Latino stuff.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
And I remember it was while I was sitting waiting
to do my interview, I.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Watched Interest or whatever and and I and I always
wonder why they always sound like this.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
When it will met Valderrama like what like soccer, but.
Speaker 3 (10:47):
It's it's like, okays, bien el puerto, like but what.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
That like you know, I'm kind of nailing it.
Speaker 6 (10:58):
Like it's like like that does.
Speaker 3 (11:08):
And that's so then like you you start seeing a
lot of them, like becomes the second issue. And I'm like,
I wonder if that's how you get people to remember
what you're saying, Like, is there a tactic?
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Is that a science?
Speaker 3 (11:19):
Is that like a thing they teach, like you got
to get people to remember the operator moments and nothing.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
I don't know, but they just talk.
Speaker 2 (11:26):
I mean, it's iconic enough that we talk about it, right, Yes,
you know that's it. I went to and they and
and I'm like, I want I was like curious, like
how do you guys do the voice over? You know,
like you know, like that type of thing, like the
way that they like, the way that they you know,
(11:50):
I'm like, damn, yeah, that's bro easy.
Speaker 6 (12:03):
How were you on this path to journalism? And then
one day you decided to do a skit.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
Because I I, there's this there's this the creator whose
name is Adam, who does these videos that I saw.
And when I was working, because I was content, I
was I was perfectly like.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And you were doing photography in Reno.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
I was a PA. So I was doing the graphics,
the tele a problem through all that stuff, and I
loved it. And I and you know, I had just
gone over like a like a like a really hard
year and and and so I was like very content
I'm doing. I was doing Instacart delivery during the pandemic.
Speaker 5 (12:44):
Yeah and uh and uh and then uh uh door
dash and people were tipping and I you know what
I mean, Like I love delivering because like I eat
their ass, like when I show up, I'm like, I'm like, oh,
I got the eggs right on top up there.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Love you know, like treat them how yeah, yeah, thank
you so much. With my mask, I'm like walking with
a limp. And and so I was getting tipped good
and uh and I was doing I felt good about
everything and and and so anyways, I see this this
TikTok er Adam and I see his videos and I
was like, I need to I need to download TikTok
(13:22):
because they were on Twitter and and I just kept watching.
He's so funny, he's so creative and and I'd never
seen someone do such a such a Mexican comedy in
such a real way, because there's a lot of people
that do like, you know, very animated comedy and very
(13:43):
like dramatic situations. Yeah, and and I and I've just
never related to that, like I love like the dry,
little tiny things, and he did that tiny stuff a
lot I gotta download TikTok and so I downloaded it.
And then one day right after, I got rejected from
the state because I i it was a PA but
I had applied to be a reporter right when I
(14:05):
got my degree and they rejected me. And so then
I was like, all right, let me just do a
skit pretending to be a reporter. And then after that
it like changed, it flipped everything. Wow. After that, I
was like, oh, like, you know, and that was like
my first day. I got like thirty thousand followers and
I never had followers. I've never had anything. I never
had a first yet.
Speaker 4 (14:28):
What was the content of the first cast?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
It was it was me impersonating the delay. It was
it was on the green screen. I've never used a
green screen before. I used the weather wall at work
and then he shot it at work, No no, no,
in at the at the Renal one, which is one
of the English networks. Yeah, and and we had like
(14:51):
three hours of a break because of the you know,
the newscasting, and nobody was in the studio, so I
would just be in there just doing my little you know.
Yeah and uh and yeah. So that that after that
one got that traction I was like, damn, I got
a lot of things that you guys might like, and
so I kept putting more, and then next day another
(15:11):
a few thousand followers and and.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
The same character did you did you try?
Speaker 2 (15:16):
I was doing news, and then I was like, I'll
try this one too. Yeah, it was like a dad
or like you know, it's like a teacher, and then oh,
then I did a teacher one, and then that one
was like my next mountain, and then after and then
there you know, and and not ever knowing this type
of world, I was like, I then it got like
(15:37):
it started getting posted on like mean pages, and I
was like damn, Like I'm like, I'm on the snapchat homepage,
like it was so weird. And that all happened like
starting May of twenty twenty through like July August October,
I take a trip to La to collab with two
(16:00):
two people that were also doing comedy skits. I never
collapsed with anybody.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I've never done anything before.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
No, I still wanted to report at that time, but
I was just like, this is a fun hobby and
and I came I met these two guys and and
that day I was like I don't know, I feel
like I have to be in la like genuinely, not
even like as a pick me, like I don't know,
I know, like genuinely like I didn't. I was like
I kind of like something is pooling me. And those
(16:29):
two guys, one was living in uh in t O
like like Newbury Park, and the other one was in Venice,
and they both wanted to move out of home and
and and so we got a place in Crenshaw. I've
never been to Crenshaw. And and we got an apartment
there and the living room was just a green screen
(16:50):
with like two like poles, like it was very like
just taped up. And I got like two ring lins
like you know. And every day was doing skits. Every day,
I was writing random things.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
But did you create kind of like a work flow
for you You're like from nine to you know, twelve,
I'm gonna do this many sketch and then take a break,
do some more stuff right, and then.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
Go do door dash and then come back. Because I
was like I just told myself, I was like I
don't want to I don't want to have a job,
and then not be able to do it, and then
I lost the plot. You know, I'm like let me
just do that, make a little money, and then like
and then at the time TikTok was you know, they
were paying they paid their paint creators, and so I
was like making some money on there. I was like
(17:32):
and I got my first brandy. And then after I
was like, oh.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Oh, here we go, We're in business.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
I have a right, that's great, that's incredible. What an
incredible journey, right, Like how just when it's right right?
Speaker 3 (17:48):
Yeah, you mentioned a lot of you know, different instincts
that were just evolving within you. Every time you will
see a person or a character or somebody that worked
through your life and then you do a video for it.
Speaker 6 (18:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (18:00):
I remember you some of the restaurants.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
The ordering at a restaurant was hilarious, and the person
is waiting for you to finish ordering, but they you know,
every time the person gets to the register, they've had
like they've had ten minutes in line, and then when
they get there, they just don't know what they want. Yeah,
you know, so that stuff felt like it's such a
kind of human experiment, right like you're just you're you're
so intuitive to kind of listen, which I think back
(18:24):
to your passion for reporting. Half of the job is
to really listen and understand how to convey what you
what you're receiving to the people at home and to
you know, draw out performances, if you will, or truths
you know, from individuals. Since then, have you gotten the bug?
Just like I'm an actor, that's like, that's what I am.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
I want to act, but I haven't called myself that yet.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
But you do realize that your sketches are full on
scenes and you're actually I know you're you're improving a
lot of it, but you're actually performing as an actor
in those scenes. And that's one of the reasons why
I appreciated it so much, is because you know, it's
not like you're working for a punchline. You're actually embodying
(19:14):
a character, and you're making that situation not just watchable,
but funny.
Speaker 4 (19:19):
And there's a beginning, middle and in to your sketches.
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Most things that went viral in the era of influencers
or you know, even viners like Vine, you know, it
was just about like the one face or the one
thing or whatever, you know, but then they started getting
really sophisticated. I think you kind of caught onto that.
Why do you feel like you're hesitanting to call yourself
an actor.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Because I feel like I have to take a class. Though,
you know, I always feel so like I don't know,
you know, a lot of the time, I don't feel
this way necessarily anymore, and I don't mean it in
like to like downplay myself, but sometimes, like people, a
(20:02):
lot of the times, I'm like, I feel like I
cut in line. You know, as a content creator, you
get this constant feeling of like what are you doing here?
You know, like people went to to, uh, you know,
an improv school, they went to UCB, they went to
this and this, and they did drama in school and
(20:25):
then you just step in, you know. So I think
that there's like those parts of it that I've like
kind of like.
Speaker 4 (20:32):
Is it that imposter syndrome thing or yeah, cause.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
It's like you just you just and then And I
think because it also happened so fast sometimes, I mean
it's been yeah years now, but there's been so many
moments that you just forget it just you were in
it and they were so quick that you don't realize like, oh,
I I did do this, and you do this and
I don't know so and then I realized I did.
(20:55):
I did my first like acting. I mean I did
a few little things before, but I did the show
this full on Hulu and and I thought so natural
in that because I was playing a character that I
played that kind of was in my first year of
TikTok and.
Speaker 1 (21:17):
What did you play on this fool?
Speaker 2 (21:21):
It was like one of Chris Destrada's friends from high
school or something. I forgot the name, but but it
was so it was so fun and it was the
perfect day, like the perfect day from the top to end.
But then I but then I then I get cast
for the Keanu Reeves movie from last year with with
(21:45):
the Season Sorry, oh yeah, and like the this full
episode was like I did like half the episode. But
then then I do this uh what is it called fortune?
Good Fortune? I'm on there for like eleven seconds, and
it was the hardest thing I've ever done because I
(22:07):
was like, I don't know what I'm doing here, Like
I I literally had.
Speaker 3 (22:11):
To you think it was you just telling you, like
these guys have been doing it forever and here I
am like just pretending to do it or is it?
Speaker 2 (22:18):
Like I realized, I was like I don't know how
to look like when it's in Provence skits. I know
who I'm impersonating. I know exactly what cashier I'm thinking about.
I know exactly what kind of customer. But then I'm
in this thing and I'm like, I'm a pool guy
with my pool equipment and I delivered my line and
(22:39):
now that he's talking, I don't know what to do
with my face.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Oh interesting?
Speaker 2 (22:44):
And I was like, bro. And I remember like after that,
I did a I talked to someone else and I
was like, what do I do with my face? And
They're like, just listen? Yeah, And I was like, all right, cool,
next time?
Speaker 1 (22:56):
So what why did you next time?
Speaker 4 (23:01):
But is that a reporter thing?
Speaker 6 (23:02):
Right?
Speaker 3 (23:02):
Like you know, you're you're listening to the words and
you know you're waiting for it to actually you know,
retort the energy, and you're like, you know, it's an
interesting thing.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
I I know exactly what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (23:13):
You know, you know there is this kind of little
window when like you're across from an actor who's done
it forever and it comes to so naturally for them,
and they're just flowing with words that are like.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
On a page.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
You're not just like flowing and just coming up with
something funny and cutting it liter or like you have
like a script and you you know, you're memorizing the script,
and then this other person also memorize the script and
they depend on you to say the line, and you know,
you got to find a rhythm together.
Speaker 4 (23:41):
You got to listen to it.
Speaker 3 (23:43):
There's a lot of elements that take a lot of practice,
but I think you've had I mean a million hours
of practice and embodying characters. I think probably in that
moment you probably you needed to do is this person?
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, now I think about it, I'm like, let's run
it back right, do it again? And now I know
how to look.
Speaker 6 (24:02):
But but why did you feel in this fool that
you knew how to look? But when you did this
movie with Keanu you didn't.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
Know because I didn't know who the pool guy was,
Like I need to know who they are, Like does
he have kids? Like does he the younger brother? Is
his older brother in jail? Like I need to know that.
And if I would have known that, then I know
the stakes of what my pool job is. I guess,
(24:29):
and that's what I needed to know. And I think
in this fool, I was like, oh, I'm the I'm
the alcoholic friend who's still stuck on the past that
like I got you know, I can do that, you know,
because even I just did a thing that Eva directed
a few months ago, and that I didn't think I
(24:51):
could do that because that was you know, a major
The person I did it with was those major celebrity Yeah. Ok, yeah,
and I was like, that's crazy, Like I don't know,
but but I knew the character more. And Eva made
me feel sure because I love it, I love him,
(25:14):
and in that situation, I'm like, just let me if
I can, just let me hit the beats and then
just throw some other little words around. And Eva made
me feel so comfortable and give me so much room
for that.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
But by the way, just know, that's the hardest thing
to do for an actor. That's the hardest thing to
be free to say. Let me just fly here, let
me make some choices, let me add some blank pages
here and there. That's the thing that makes actors petrified.
Like some of us grew up doing that, right Like,
you know, we've done comedy, we've done drama, and we're
(25:50):
very comfortable flowing because we know these guys that were
playing before we come to set to your point. For
an actor, most actors, the scariest thing to do is
to get off that page. Well, when you get off
that page, everything falls apart for most most people.
Speaker 4 (26:07):
So the fact that you're feeling free to flow, you know.
Speaker 2 (26:11):
On the page, I'm like, I can we change it.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
But then you do it enough that you know how
to like start with the page, go into the whole things,
bring it back to the middle of the page, start
the things, make sure that your partner doesn't you know,
it's not lost, and how to respond to you. You know,
but you're giving them their cues to make sense with
their lines, and that happens over time.
Speaker 4 (26:33):
What you're doing, it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
I mean, like it's your super powered and I think
the more you cultivate that, the more you're going to
you feel you know that you're going to be just flying.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
I mean, I'm excited by it because I I think
so much about how much of a different story I
have than some of the people that I've seen in
LA things. You know, I think, like I used to
watch things back then where I'm like, all right, like
(27:07):
another movie about like another part of LA and I'm like,
we're in Fresno. We're over here, We're far away from La.
Like my dad is working in the fields and my
mom's at a tomato plant. Like that's not the same, like,
you know, and I'm like, and so I constantly think
I want to do a project where it feels more
like a Mexican in Yakima, you know, and a different part,
(27:32):
because there's so many things that are the same, but
it's not. It doesn't all feel like LA. And I
think that gave me like doing little things like this,
I'm like, okay, okay, I want I'm trying to you know,
collect more and save us. I introduce my own thing
that feels like like what I know, Yeah, something more familiar.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
You realize so much more about Los Angeles that kind
of almost no one is really from Los Angeles, you know.
They're from around Los Angeles and they congregate in Los Angeles.
They commute with the Los Angeles way of life, you know,
but they're from everywhere in the world, everywhere in the
in the country, right, Like everyone moves to Los Angeles
for that dream, right or you know, they commute with
(28:13):
De La for all reasons, you know. But I think,
you know, people think about Los Angeles and they think about
this like the four black radius. It's either downtown in
LA or Hollywood Boulevard that they think that's what LA is.
Around the planet, they think, Oh, it's the stars on
the floor, it's the sign on the on the hill,
you know, And in LA is so much more than that.
To your point, there's so many people that embody with
(28:34):
the culture of the LA and and they all deserve
to be told a story that can also feel mainstream.
And you know, and I think what you're doing is interesting.
Are you are you directing? Are you producing? Is that
something you have passion for it?
Speaker 2 (28:48):
Yeah, I haven't started yet. That's why I'm here. Actually, no,
I I I'm developing something right now that I that
I wrote like a year ago. And and so yeah,
it's it's been getting close, right. I have these two
people that I've been working with who who I am
(29:10):
all mysterious and two people I can't say who. But
but it's you know, but it's stuff that I know.
It has, it's stuff that I that I grew up doing.
And and so the storyline that these characters are all
real people that that I show. Yeah, it's being written
as a as a series. But there's also you know,
(29:33):
there's also other little comedy ideas that I have, and
and then also like, seriously, I want to do something
serious like that'd be nice, you know because you know,
did you see Will Ferrell and the on the Apple
shows like Strength? I want to do bro that was
(29:56):
like that changed me. I want to be like that
word because I think we'll for as one of the
funniest people. And then to see that, yeah, we'll tell
you about that.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
Yeah, your stuff reminds me. It's almost like curb your enthusiasm.
There's a there's a letter there to David quality, to
your to your stuff, and and to just rewind a
little bit what you said, you know, a little while ago,
like oh man, did I jump a step or whatever?
You know, I can understand why you felt that way,
but like seeing what Wilmer has showed me with Leo
(30:28):
showed me, uh, your skits. Your stuff seems so grounded,
Your comedy seems so grounded. And and I could understand
if you were somebody who who wasn't necessarily good but
had a big following and maybe jumped the step, as
you said, because of your following. But but there's something
(30:48):
in the quality of your work that's deserve it. I
feel of of of where your trajectory is going, and
I can tell just by looking at the stuff that
that they showed me.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
So uh, I don't think you should feel that way.
I think that you're earning your your position.
Speaker 6 (31:03):
I just think that people are discovering how good you
are and how you know, how well you're writing.
Speaker 4 (31:07):
And every entry point is different.
Speaker 3 (31:09):
Every actor has a very different way and how it
worked for them.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
You know.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Some people went to juilliards. Some people get picked up
about a high school play or stand up or stand
up they're like, oh, you know, you'd be funny in
a movie, right and starts and and they started doing
drama and comedy, you know.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
So so I wouldn't.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
I wouldn't be so worried about, you know, the runway
you've had before you got the shot, you know, I
would worry more about, you know, you know, about what
you do with it, you know, because that's that's how
you start paving the road ahead.
Speaker 4 (31:40):
I think we both are.
Speaker 3 (31:41):
Going on thirty plus years and you you're probably going
in what almost forty forty years.
Speaker 2 (31:47):
I wasn't even born a little.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
A little older a little older.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Like like fifty five years in the game. I thing,
you know you started, you started when you were twenty.
Speaker 1 (31:56):
You know that's right. I'm really seventy. Yeah, it's Latino.
It's good Latino jeans. Jeez, you know, you know sort
of vampire.
Speaker 4 (32:06):
Sorry, Brandon, what is it based on?
Speaker 1 (32:10):
She said? I said, well, sorry, you look great, man.
She was like Beige olt Age, whoa, I gotta use
that weeic.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
So your stand up is something that's become a destination
for you. How do you feel about stand up?
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Well?
Speaker 3 (32:33):
How did the people were like, oh, you should do
stand up now? Like it's very different than what you're doing.
We just discussed the fact that I, in my heart
think you're an actor, and and now people are like,
get on stage and tell us a story for for
you know, twenty minutes or whatever it is.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
I mean it's crazy. I mean I didn't think I
was gonna do this part, and so the stand up
was even way out of ever, like why would you
even think of doing that?
Speaker 1 (32:59):
You know? But so you're doing stand up now right now?
Speaker 2 (33:03):
Yeah? I just finished the tour like a few two
three weeks ago.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
How long is your set?
Speaker 2 (33:09):
An hour?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
You put together an hour set. It's incredible. Man, that's
incredible man.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Yeah, but it you know, it's it's it's so nice
because like some of these people have been there since
the beginning. Yeah, they've been there since the since the pandemic. Yeah,
and I'm like, damn, like they're said, your old ass
come yeah this group.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Like it's like, how does it feel when you walk
into theater and you're like, Okay, I gotta put an
hour show right now, But then you look at the
audience that showed up and bought a ticket to see you.
Speaker 2 (33:42):
No, it's it's it genuinely is an honor because I'm like,
you know, it's I say, it's it's one thing to
to support and be so loving from home to pay
for parking, you know what I mean, Like that's a lot,
get a sitter, and then these clubs have two drunk
to drink minimums. Yeah, like they're spending a lot. So
(34:07):
I'm like, please laugh three times at least, like and
if not, like whatever you need after you know, vacuum.
But it's it's, I mean, it really is. It's crazy,
and it's I never you know, it's such a strange
feeling to go to another town and have like these
four sold out rooms at a place that you've never
(34:31):
been to too, and I've never been there, you know.
And then and like you guys like they're sponsoring my
my trip to go try random cool things in Chicago
or go blackout in San Antonio. I don't know, like
that's that's crazy.
Speaker 1 (34:47):
Is your is your is your Hour Special sort of reflected?
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
Is it sort of a variation of the skits you
were doing already.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
It's there's it's you know, it's talking about some of
the people in society, but a lot of it is
is you know, they're they're kind of seeing the person
they're they're seeing the people watcher. They're talking to the
people watcher, you know, the person behind all this kids,
that's who's talking that night. And and I'm kind of
I like to think of it as I'm kind of
(35:16):
putting like a mirror on the stage and like about you,
like this is what the videos are. They're all about you, Like,
this is what you look like to me? Uh uh
an only child, you know, who's just like interested in everybody.
And and so that's what that well, that's what that is.
And it's been it's been cool. You know I've been
(35:39):
I just go with it, you know. I never thought
about doing it. And then I was with like a
little over a year ago, mar Solo Hernandez was performing
in UH in Ontario and and he uh we had
we had uh we had just had breakfasts a few
weeks before, and he was, you should do some stand up.
(36:01):
I was like, I'm good. And and then we're on
Ontario and he's like, if you come, like you're in
do five minutes. And I was like, all right, I
won't go then, and I was no, but I was
like I'll go.
Speaker 4 (36:11):
I was like, fine' so okay.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
So the process of your like five minutes, what do
I say for five minutes?
Speaker 2 (36:16):
Yeah, I don't know what to say. I was like,
I was like, I don't in the last five years,
I don't think I've been a part of anything, you
know what I mean. But then when I was up there,
I was like, oh, I'll just talk about Marcelo. I'll
talk about I'll talk about this whole thing. And and
it felt good. It was it was nice and and yeah,
(36:40):
it was nice, you know, and I never have, like,
you know, had that experience, and and the good thing
is like, you know, Marcelo and I we have because
it matters. I've I've seen it. We have a similar audience.
I can't walk into Jay Leno's audience, you know, they're
not gonna know me, and and but with him, it
(37:01):
was very helpful that they did. And then a few
months later I went, I was in New York with
my eggs and I uh and I now and uh
and I'm Marcelo was I told him I want to
come to your show and He's like, all right, I
do five minutes all that. So I did it. And
(37:22):
then after I was like, damn, this is crazy, this
is cool whatever, But now I'm good from doing it again.
But then I'm in Paris for the Olympics and I
and I FaceTime Marcelo because we're leaving. He's at the
airport leaving. I'm getting there, and I was like that
day I was like on the bike, I was riding
through Paris by myself, got the music on and I
(37:44):
was like, fuck, let's go on to her, you know
what I mean, just like just like I'm in pair
like that, all like all that brought me to this.
Imagine if I just do more things that are like
feel foreign, you know, And I was like bonjoy, like sure.
Speaker 5 (38:02):
And.
Speaker 2 (38:07):
So I.
Speaker 6 (38:11):
Could go cout go Yeah, man, I feel like, you know,
I don't know what you call the universe god. People
they kind of tell you where you should be going, right,
And if enough people were saying go in this direction
and do stand up and do all, you know, everything
that you it almost seems like a lot of what
(38:32):
you are doing now is because the people around you
have been encouraging to do it right, because they're seeing
something in you that perhaps you weren't seeing in yourself
prior to.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
That, right, and I know, I feel like I had
a lot of that yeah. And then and then I
get to Marcello, and then he was the opposite of that.
Speaker 1 (38:51):
What do you mean?
Speaker 2 (38:52):
He tells me he's like the very first time, he's like,
do do five minutes at the Ontario Show. And I
was like, all right, if I go, I go. And
I'm used to people being so nice for years, like you're,
you know, super supportive, supportive. And then Marcelo tells me
he's like, come and do five minutes. But if you
(39:14):
don't do the five minutes, I won't ask you about it,
Like I won't be disappointed. I won't we don't talk
about it. Damn damn. Like I've never been challenged like that,
Like I had like a stern fathering.
Speaker 3 (39:31):
Yeah, it's almost like, man, if you don't if you
come and you don't do the five minutes, I know
you don't want it.
Speaker 4 (39:37):
Yeah, it's like, ah and sound that I don't want it.
It's just like okay, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (39:43):
I was like, now I can't let him down by
not not letting him down, you know, Like I was like,
now I'm gonna go and I'm gonna be funny now.
And I was so scared, Like driving to Ontario went
by myself and I was driving, I was like shaking.
I was like, bro, I can't believe I'm gonna do this. Yeah,
And then I get there and.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
You don't understand, like how how much pressured being on
a stage with a microphone in a crowd who literally
paid to laugh, right, Like their return of their investment
has to be laughs, right. But you know, through this,
you put that pressure on yourself and then you don't
enjoy the crowd. You think the crowd is there already
(40:23):
judging you. You know, it's like it flips, but so wait,
your five minutes. What are the five minutes about?
Speaker 2 (40:28):
You know what I I talked about Paris and at
that time, because you remember the opening Life, I said
something about because it was during that time that that
the that the person in the in the he flipped
and you remember that he did what I can't really
do it on the podcast, but he was like he
(40:51):
was going over the thing and like all of him
went up and flipped. Oh okay, you remember that, Leo.
Speaker 1 (40:56):
Oh he landed on the on the pole. Was that
that that.
Speaker 2 (40:59):
Dude his his his pole went over the pole.
Speaker 4 (41:06):
Yes, yes, And I talked about that.
Speaker 2 (41:09):
Yeah, yeah, I think that was my I think that.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Was then he hit himself with with with well he
was he's what's the name of that sport, the high jump? Right,
So you're rolling with the stick, right, and you hit
on the ground and then you you have it bring
you up to it to a high, to a certain high,
to a certain you know height, and then and then
(41:33):
you're supposed to flip over it and not and the
stick has to stay there. Apparently he flew over and
just missed it by like maybe an inch and a
half and basically his Monaco just off of the pole
and he was like, and then people saw it in
(41:54):
slow motion globally he became a global sensation.
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah, and I think that's what I think. That was
what I something about that, like, I hope you guys
saw me at the Olympics or something. I forgot, but
that's why that was the biggest thing. And then just
about traveling pretty much being likening. Oh yeah, I just
got back from Paris.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
Yeah that's very good. Well that's how it works, you know.
So what's next for you? What is the next thing
you got lined up?
Speaker 2 (42:26):
Well, by the time this is I have past, but
I'm doing the Netflix is a Joke festival on Saturday.
And when they told me about that, my agents they're like,
do you want to do it? And I was like, yeah,
I'll do it. I thought they were being like, you know,
maybe not. I thought I'd have to go through something.
And then the poster came out. I was like, damn,
(42:48):
I guess I'm gonna do the festival.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
That's crazy.
Speaker 3 (42:51):
And by the way, the best comedians of this entire
generation are on that lineup, which.
Speaker 4 (42:56):
You should be really proud of yourself for.
Speaker 2 (42:57):
That's wild. Yeah, it's crazy, and so yeah, thankfully it
sold out a few days ago, and and it's at
a theater and and like arts district, and and I
got some cool things planned because I wanted to feel very,
very prideful. I wanted to feel very because you know
(43:21):
what I always wanted to do. And if anybody wants
to talk about this, I want to do this thing
where you do a comedy show in a city, and
then that same place where you just do the show,
clear the chairs, and then at turans to just a
party like a club, you know, So maybe we'll started
in Fresno.
Speaker 4 (43:41):
At that point people would be losing goose, you know.
Speaker 2 (43:43):
Yeah, because we just laughed. And now we all turn
up with it, right, you know, it's a proper follow
up the show.
Speaker 4 (43:49):
Yeah, that's awesome. That's a good idea.
Speaker 1 (43:51):
Man.
Speaker 3 (43:51):
Well congratulations and Netflix. Uh it's a joke. I mean,
I love that lineup. I love how it activates community.
I love how it just travels everywhere in this It
is really really fun and you're gonna you're gonna kill it.
Speaker 1 (44:03):
Man.
Speaker 4 (44:04):
How long is that said?
Speaker 2 (44:05):
It's an hour, It's an hour. The show's ninety minutes.
Speaker 4 (44:08):
Somebody opening for you. Yeah, think about that though.
Speaker 1 (44:12):
I think by the body opening.
Speaker 4 (44:14):
Somebody's for you?
Speaker 2 (44:26):
No, I have you know Whidow. Yeah, yeah, he's doing
the opening and I'm such a fan of him. I
was he's opening for you, not like that, like I
was not going first?
Speaker 4 (44:39):
Okay, like that, how long is it said?
Speaker 2 (44:43):
He's doing fifteen minutes? I okay, Like okay, you know,
And there's some musicians before the show because when they
give me, you know, the doors open at six, so
I'm like, the show don't start till seven, but from
(45:04):
six to seven, I'm like, let's do some programming there too.
So I hired a band who's gonna just be doing
like gorrillas, you know, because I want them to. I'm like,
if we're there, let's use the space, you know, while
we have it. So so there's every everybody.
Speaker 3 (45:19):
You enjoying that now, like you enjoying the stage time? Now,
like are you flowing with it? I'm not enjoying it. No, No,
I don't get I don't get as stressed. I think
right now, this one feels like the higher stakes one
just because like.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
Everybody, but they love you.
Speaker 4 (45:34):
Man, You're gonna you do great.
Speaker 2 (45:36):
Yeah, it's at the specific electric It's it's like a
newer place you open this year. But it feels it
feels it feels nice, and it just feels like, you know,
I'm constantly having these moments of like, damn, like this
is it? Like we're in it? Like when when did
we go in it? When did it? You know you
(45:58):
kind of like don't realize what what Which moment in
the last few years was one of this, Oh yeah,
you know it.
Speaker 3 (46:07):
I don't know, Freddy, you can offer any instinct there
in there too, but you know from Tod've been uniform
for a long time. I would tell you that once
you're in it, some of us have a tough time
blink like being present because we blink and all of
a sudden, like oh ten years, we blink like you know,
not not for anything. I say this and like just
(46:28):
like to reflect in the fact that it just happened
to me. I was in New York doing press. It's
somebody said, congratulations on your two hundred episodes. I didn't
see I is, And I was like, bro, I just
got there right, So like you know, if you blink it,
it's going to go by.
Speaker 1 (46:45):
But it was like a.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
Decade that's almost ten years now, and I and I
just tied that seventy show for two hundred, So I
did two hundred seventy show. But so it's like it
just and I don't I don't remember it being that long,
you know what I'm saying. So the fact that you're
acknowledging that this moment that you're in it now, it's
(47:06):
just more of a reason to just don't forget to
enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (47:09):
I constantly I'm like telling myself, I feel this, bitch, Yeah,
have fun. When I left the taping earlier, I was like,
give me my bagel, and I was like, oh my god,
this is cool. Like I just I got the nice
water bottle, you know, like we're in it, like this
is it, and it's it's so nice to have work,
to be able to like like this is this is
(47:30):
it working?
Speaker 1 (47:31):
This is it?
Speaker 2 (47:32):
This is it? In the version where ith.
Speaker 4 (47:34):
But this is you doing who you are. You understand that,
like you've just become what you what you wanted, either
accidentally or by manifestation.
Speaker 1 (47:44):
Now you are being who you are.
Speaker 3 (47:46):
And now when you perform and the strength of what
you decided, this is who you are.
Speaker 1 (47:52):
Dude.
Speaker 4 (47:52):
It's it's it's magical because now you're in that road.
Now you all you have.
Speaker 3 (47:56):
All you can do now is grow, create, and it
and the more fun you have, the more fun they will.
Speaker 1 (48:02):
You know.
Speaker 4 (48:02):
That's the rule, and that's what it is.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
And when something is not fun, stop, pause, fix it, yeah,
and then get back to the fun.
Speaker 4 (48:09):
Because this ship is supposed to be fun.
Speaker 2 (48:11):
Yeah, yeah, and it and it is it is. I
I like to make sure that the that the magic
dust stays in it, you know, because there's certain people
like that I look up to that I'm like, I
don't ever want to meet them, not because of that
thing of like your heroes. I don't want to meet
them because I want still magic, you know. I want
(48:31):
there to still be something that I can't reach, that
I can't that I don't want to my favorite band.
I'm like, I don't want to meet them because I
who's your favorite band? They're from Colombia.
Speaker 7 (48:46):
Come in, God, my god, that'd be crazy. You should
have I know you.
Speaker 3 (49:01):
Yeah, but now that you mentioned that, we're gonna have
to tell Carlos and to go home.
Speaker 1 (49:05):
You know, Oh no, come in.
Speaker 3 (49:08):
There's a stage right there, bro oh five minutes, because it's.
Speaker 2 (49:15):
How humble? Quick?
Speaker 4 (49:17):
Are you humbled?
Speaker 6 (49:18):
You know, yeah, no, man, but keep keep doing what
feels organic to you, because it's obviously who you are
is what's working.
Speaker 1 (49:26):
You know.
Speaker 6 (49:27):
I'm pretty sure the bigger you get, the more money
you're going to start to make. You know, you may
have other influences steering you in different directions, but just
stay true to ye who you are. Man.
Speaker 3 (49:39):
Yeah, well man, thank you so much for coming. And
I can't wait to see now just the next chapter
but hopefully all of us be a part of it somehow.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
And anyone want to do five minutes on my show ever,
let me know, let me know, I might on my
one day, on my one day.
Speaker 4 (49:55):
Come on one day.
Speaker 3 (49:56):
The only thing I can do for you if I
and like I said, I think if you ask me,
I like, if if Leo asked me one day, like,
hey man, I want you to do five minutes on my show,
and whatever could you do it.
Speaker 2 (50:08):
Minutes?
Speaker 3 (50:09):
I'm like, I would have to be very obvious and
I would have to do like a dramatic monologue for
five minutes as faz.
Speaker 2 (50:19):
Oh, that'd be great, That'd be crazy.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
It's the only thing I can pull out of that hat.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Would you come with the with the with the hair,
and I.
Speaker 4 (50:27):
Would ask everybody to close their eyes for five minutes.
That would be my five minute, you know moment. But
I don't know stand up communities. I mean I buy
down by the home. Who know how to tell a
story for an hour?
Speaker 1 (50:42):
Man?
Speaker 3 (50:43):
So yeah, I got to go to the cheap shot,
you know, like, but yeah, that's incredible, man, No, that'd
be great.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
Man. We're incredibly proud of you. Man.
Speaker 6 (50:51):
We always talk about the baton getting passed down the
different generations. We talk about the generations that came before us, right,
people that we were watching, and then all of a
sudden we're in their place and you're you're the note.
You're the new generation. Man, You're the baton has been
passed to you.
Speaker 1 (51:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (51:08):
I feel I feel lucky because I I have a
lot of you know, Constance Marie yesterday we were with
her and she said the similar type of.
Speaker 1 (51:17):
Thing was beautiful person.
Speaker 2 (51:20):
So and that's I feel so lucky because it's like
to be so helpful? Is so? Is it so important
when when you're doing this thing and you know, it
feels already weird, and then and then you know people
that you look up to being so nice, you know,
it's crazy and and you know, and and when when
(51:42):
I the night that we met at the that was
like twenty twenty two, maybe twenty three, I don't know,
the that dinner, you know, like the white suit on
and bro that night, I was like, bro, I have
to go meet them. I was I broke because I
I for who I was with, probably another X but
(52:02):
we were We were there and I was like, I
just want to see if I can say high cause
I get because I don't like to say hi to
anybody because I'm like I don't want to bother them,
like you know. But I was like, let me go.
And then you like when you said you do me already,
that was one of those moments. I was like, I
guess we can't. We have to stay in LA for
another year, you know what I mean. Like that's one
(52:25):
of those like you have those moments and it's like
for me honor to hear that it's true.
Speaker 4 (52:31):
I was very.
Speaker 3 (52:32):
Genuinely excited when you came up. I was like, bro,
I know exactly who you are.
Speaker 2 (52:36):
That's literally how you said it. Yeah, And it was
it was huge. It was It's happened only three times
in almost six years where it's like this is this
moment was like adding my adding you know, another year
to the contract of maybe this is fine, maybe this
(52:56):
is gonna be okay, And that was.
Speaker 1 (53:00):
To sign wow, thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 2 (53:03):
Man.
Speaker 4 (53:03):
I didn't know that that's.
Speaker 2 (53:06):
So now this is actually that's crazy.
Speaker 4 (53:09):
And now Freddy is doing five minutes.
Speaker 2 (53:12):
Five minutes, five minutes, I'll do forty five maybe wells.
Speaker 4 (53:19):
Congratulations, You're so proud of you man.
Speaker 3 (53:21):
And by the way, like we need you, right, we
need you to keep succeeding, we need you to keep
moving it forward. And uh, you know you said you're next, right,
so so go and go and enjoy it and then
tell everyone how beautiful our culture is too.
Speaker 6 (53:33):
Right.
Speaker 3 (53:33):
So that's part of that's part of the message of
of what you embodied with art. So I'm Wilma Valdorama,
Freddie Rodriguez, was Leo Gonzalez, and uh, thank you for
watching or listening to Those Amigos.
Speaker 6 (53:49):
Those Amigos is a production from WV Sound and iHeartMedia's
Michael Through That podcast network, hosted by me, Freddie Rodriguez,
and Wilmer Valdorama.
Speaker 3 (53:58):
Those Amigos is produced by Cooper and Sophie Spencer savels Our.
Speaker 6 (54:02):
Executive producers are Wilmri Valderrama, Freddie Rodriguez, and Leo Clem
at WV Sound.
Speaker 3 (54:08):
This show is mixed and mastered by Sean Tracy and
original music by Madison Devenport and Hala Boy.
Speaker 6 (54:14):
For more podcasts from My Heart, visit the R Heart
Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Speaker 4 (54:21):
See you next week.
Hosts And Creators
Wilmer Valderrama
Freddy Rodriguez
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