August 12, 2025 • 49 mins
Felipe talks about his new book, coming to the USA under an EXTRAORDINARY ARTIST visa, writing for Colbert, growing up in Columbia, the beauty of curious Americans, the danger of being too comfortable, and losing emmy awards to his wife.
Bio: Felipe Torres Medina is a Peabody and Writers Guild of America Award–winning writer from Bogotá, Colombia. His writing for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has earned him five Emmy nominations. His humor has appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and others. He lives in New York City with his wife and is totally chill when you misspell his birth country’s name. (He is not.)
Bio: Felipe Torres Medina is a Peabody and Writers Guild of America Award–winning writer from Bogotá, Colombia. His writing for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has earned him five Emmy nominations. His humor has appeared in The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and others. He lives in New York City with his wife and is totally chill when you misspell his birth country’s name. (He is not.)
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Straw Hut Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi, I'm Felipeto Rosmina And as it was originally reported
on Telemundo, No So Cogan. Do not be alone with
j Cogan. Don't be alone with JJ Cogan.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hello Cogan Nation, This is me Jake Cogan, and you
are watching to are listening to Don't be Alone with
Jake Cogan. I'm so glad you're here. I'm really really
excited that you could be here. We have a great
show for you. If you have a message you want
to email me directly, please email me at dbawjk at
gmail dot com. Tell me your compliments, your criticisms, your suggestions,
(00:44):
and really really would love any viewer mail suggestions where
you have a question a life question that you can
ask me. Uh and my guest, whoever that guest is
that week, That would be really helpful if you send
me some interesting and fun questions. Again that email address
dbawjk at gmail dot com. We have a great guest today.
(01:07):
His name is Philippe Torres Medina and he is a
writer comedy writer for Colbert. Really smart, funny, interesting guy
who's just written a very interesting book called America. Let
me in a choose your immigration story. So it's this
comedy look at immigration. He is an immigrant from Colombia.
(01:29):
He's got a great perspective on this country, a very
interesting perspective on growing up in Colombia. It was great
to talk to him because I feel like I've lost
touched a little bit with what it's like to be
an immigrant. I feel like I'm an American, sure, but
I'm not that far away from my immigrant grandfather and grandmother.
(01:51):
But I also don't feel like I have the spirit
of those people who left the Ukraine with nothing and
came to this country to build a life. Like I
showed up up when I was born. There's a pretty
good life waiting for me, and I'd like to figure
out if I can have a little bit more grit
and a little bit more toughness, a little bit more
discipline to be more like those ancestors, and also just
(02:14):
check out what Felipe's experience is on what it's like
to be here now, in this very turbulent time to
be an immigrant in this country. How we treat immigrants
and talk about immigrants, both legal and illegal, has been
very disheartening, I would say to people like me, but
we'll hear his perspective and his comedy and about his
(02:34):
book right after this, don't be alone with pleasure to
meet And I have done I would say a modicum
of research. Not I wouldn't say a fair amount, but
a modicum of research. And you have a very interesting story.
(02:57):
But I mean I'm first first, always interested in the
comedy side of people. Yeah, and then I'm talking to
the human side. Who gives a shit about the human exactly?
So you come to comedy by way of UCB. What's
your what's your home base for? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I think UCB was my like my kindergarten, my comedy pridergarden.
So yeah, I moved to the States in twenty thirteen.
I spent some time in Boston, did some open mics there,
kind of testing it out. But I was really into
like sketch and improv and I was excited to do that.
And so when I was done with my masters at
(03:40):
Boston University, I moved to New York to do basically
pursue comedy there.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And do you see masters in screenwriting?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Screenwriting? Okay, now as a professional writer, yes, do you
look back on that master's in screenwriting and say, was
that time and money? Well? Spent.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Well, it did allow me to come to the United States.
So for that, yes, and I learned some really good stuff,
Like I think the biggest thing. My wife is also
a television writer, and I think the thing I tell
her all the time is like the biggest thing, because yeah,
I wrote a bunch of screenplays and they're fine, right,
not very good, but it was my first time trying.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
They're not fine. Is fine, Yeah, some of.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Them are bad, and there's like two that are fine.
But what I tell my wife is like the biggest
thing that the masters gave me was I have a deadline.
I have to finish writing this screenplay by the end
of the weekend. And so you just sit down and
you write, right, And that is like such a huge
skill that I feel like a lot of people who
are writers or call themselves writers are like, I started
(04:41):
this thing.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, I've still I've been doing this for forty years
and still starting sitting down at the computer and doing
the thing is still very hard.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
It's the hardest part.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, it sucks. Okay, So Felipe, yes, you wrote this
great book about what it's like to be an immigrant
this country. Okay, so let's start with your immigrant story.
How'd you get here?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So I was born in Columbia in South America. I
have to say that because my wife's from Missouri, and
so they when I say in Missouri, they're like, oh yeah,
just like before the first.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Thing when somebody says Columbia, I don't necessarily think Missouri.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I do think. I think of the movie studio, right,
I think of the district of and British and British Ya.
And then at some point I go to your Columbia, yes,
and wait on the list after Hannibal and other places
in Missouri, Saint Louis, do I reach Columbia.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That's true, and I will say it's the only one
that's spelled differently the country. So I come from Columbia.
I lived there most of my life till I was
like twenty one, and then I came here to do
my masters at Boston University. And then that was getting that.
I had a student visa, and then I had a
work permit, and then I got something that's called an
(05:55):
Alien of Extraordinary Ability visa, which it is adiculous.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Now it's like superpower.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yes, it sounds like you're in the X Men, but
it really is a visa to proof that you have
a sort of talent. And it can be art, which
is I applied as a writer, but you know, it
can be like you're really good at soccer, like athletes
get this, sciences that could academian.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
I mean this, this country has grown great and wonderful
on the on the idea of taking people from around
the world and pouring them into this country. I mean,
I know we're stopping that, right, and I understand that's
no longer the policy of this country.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
But which, yeah, which is a bummer because it is
like truly a way to be like, are you excellent
at what you do?
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Come be here and be excellent here. And that's what
I did. And so I got my artist visa, and
I was an alantic, extraordinary ability. I worked a lot
of I did a lot of comedy in New York,
but I was also like working at an advertising agency.
And then and eventually I met my wife or the
(07:03):
woman who become my wife, and we got married and
I have a green card.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
What's the comedy scene like in Columbia?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
My answer always about this is that it's getting so
much better. When I left, it was so bad. It
was just a couple of stand up places, and I
feel like the comedy was a lot of punching down.
If there were like people doing sketches and characters, it
was kind of like really racially dicey and like not
(07:31):
in sexist and like just not very It's just not
very what made me laugh, I guess. And there's only
two television networks in Colombia that aren't like public Access TV,
so there's not a lot of opportunities to like become
a comedian or a writer in a like level that
you would want, not talking about fame, but talking about
(07:54):
like making a living working.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Sure, is Bogata the big place, like.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, Bogata is the capital, and so it's like I.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
But I mean the big comedy scene place.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yes, And now there's like a bunch of like comedy
theaters and you know, younger people, I think millennials kind
of like either came here and moved back or saw
the scene in other countries and were like, wait, we
should just have that here, right, And so now there's
a scene and it's really.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Cool, fantastic. That's that's growth. And so you obviously speak
English very well better than me. Did you study it back?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
In Yeah, I got really lucky.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
My mom finished her she's a doctor, she's like an
incredible surgeon, and so she finished her studies in the
UK when I was three, so she took me there.
And so I English is my second language, but I
learned English. I learned to read in English before I
learned to read in Spanish. If that makes sense, it does.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
But a lot of people. You know, my son learned
Spanish very early at three, and then you know, he's
great at languages, but he doesn't speak it as fluently
because he doesn't use it all much. Yeah, were you
able to use English in Colombia?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, And so after we came back from England, I
went to a school that was found as a Catholic
school and it was founded by American priests. So it
was very much like you have to like keep doing
your English, and most of our classes were in English,
but your life is in Spanish, so you're living in
both languages.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
The whole fantastic surprise. You don't have a little bit
of tinge of an English British accents.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I have.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I make mistakes with prepositions sometimes because they make they
change propositions.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
A little bit, say math or maths.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I do s a math because there's one.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yes, I didn't know. I just I was I was
not sure. So so all right, so you you came
here on this extraordinary, uh alien business, and congratulations on them.
You have that certificate.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Somewhere I have.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I have three stamps on my passport for the three
VSAs that say A.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And then started doing stand up. Now that's brave. That's
a brave thing. So yeah, what I made you think?
You know what, I'm his writer, but you know what
I really need to do.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I really need to.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Get involved in the stand up community. You know in Boston,
Boston the toughest stand up scene in the world.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, I think. I just was like, I need to
do something to like.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Do comedy. You know, I was writing comedic scripts. But
I was like, well, what I like late night television.
I like sitcoms. And I looked at the careers of
the people who had those jobs and I was like,
well a lot of them started doing improv and sketch
and stand up, and I was like, well, I should
just try. And I like watched a lot of stand
(10:40):
up and then I got on stage and was bad,
like anyone who tries to do stand up, and I'm
glad I did it, And I still like, will do
some stand up sets and each Erica runs in a while.
But I don't think I'm like a stand up and
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I'm glad I did it to know that I'm not
necessarily a Do you hate.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Watch yourself to stand up?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I don't hate it, but I'm like, it's clearly not
what I have the most fun at. You know, I'm like,
I look like I can write a great joke and
deliver it. I can deliver a joke, but I'm not
like I look at a great stand up, but I'm
like that person should be on that stage holding that microphone.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, I think I think that's just a skill that
people develop. I just don't know that. Maybe you feel
like you haven't. I certainly feel like I haven't gotten
there yet. I do stand up, I look at myself
and go like, what I thought I was doing was this. Yeah,
what I'm really doing is this, And it's like, oh,
you know, I thought I think I'm smoother, more glib,
(11:36):
a little bit more, you know, even more handsome. There
are things that are going on on stage that are
not actually happening in real life.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I certainly don't notice the ums. How many freaking ums?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I do? Then I'm like, oh, this is not right.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Right, Okay, So so you went to stand up, you
come to New York, you go to UCB, and then
how do you wind up at Colbert?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I did a lot of I did improv there, I
did sketch there. I put on a house team for
sketch at UCB. And I was also like writing satire
and like humor for like McSweeney's and The New Yorker
and like these humor publications that will do like what
to me. Sometimes I'm like, well, this is just kind
of like a sketch but narrated right right, or like
(12:23):
from a first person perspective or whatever. So it was
like a pro sketch. And so I was doing a
lot of that, and you start to get the invites
to the packets, and I got invited to submit.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So do you submit a McSweeney's thing in your packet?
Is that what your packet is? In a New Yorker
article and a McSweeney's thing, And.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
It was part of it.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You know, the packets, they ask you like do a
full mono or do like two pages of monologue jugs
and some sketches or whatever depends on the show. But
in the more recent ones, again this was five years ago,
but they started to ask, like, also includes something like
from your writing that is, so, don't give us your
like sixty minute pilot, but include some of your short
(13:06):
writing that you think would be good. And so I
think for that one I included. For the Colbert one
that got me hired, I included a McSweeney's piece that
was my daily aid tenerary as a job stealing immigrant
and so I was like six am, wake up, like
steal my roommate's job and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I've always wanted to write something for McSweeney's or The
New Yorker and never did, never tried because I thought,
there's your fancy magazine. So you know, yeah, but it's
to get in. Yeah, I know. I have friends who do.
I have friends who do cartoons for all that stuff.
But so like it. So somehow it's it feels like
(13:46):
I'm a TV writer. I feel like I'm less. I'm
not as good as that. Like I've written movies and
TV but not The New Yorker.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Right, But I think the fun thing about that is
that you can get away with disgracing the pages of
them New York with really silly stuff sometimes.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, I mean sometimes it's very funny shouts and murmurs
and yeah, and really adorable things. I mean Steve Martin's written.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
But again that's intimidating to me.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
It's scary.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, all right, so you you get how many how
many times did you try to reach out to a
job before you landed something great? Countless?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Like so so much.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
You seemed like, I'm glad to hear that, because she
seemed like the guy who was just like on a
track for greatness, like just like you know from you know,
going to the applying to great schools and getting in
and then going into the Red comedy programs getting in,
and then writing for these great magazines and then doing
that and then getting on Colbert, which is arguably the
best of the talk shows.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Thank you so much. Tell the Academy. I think the
biggest thing is, like you are rejected all the time.
I still submit to McSweeney's and The New York because
sometimes I'm like, oh, I have this idea and it
doesn't really fit the show, or like a screenplay I'm
just gonna write it, and I love it.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I think it's the funniest thing I've ever written.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Every time, like I'm like, I'm gonna submit it, like anytime,
I'm like, oh, this is actually good, right, I'm like this,
this might be my best one. Submit it and they're like,
hell no, you know. So it happens.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
But that's okay. Once you're in the club and you
submit something and they say not this one, that it
doesn't hurt as much as when you're not in the club.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
But no, I submitted to I think at the time
every show that was accepting packets when I was before
I got my job.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Don't be alone, all right. So now let's oh to
your book, because which just came out and it's and
it's I don't know anything about it except it's catching
on like wildfire. Yes, yes, America, let me in choose
(16:10):
your immigration stories.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
That's that's the that's the title.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Okay. So and what was the what's the rationale the
raison debt for writing your book?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Honestly is that I was kind of tired of explaining
my own immigration stresses to my very liberal and progressive
friends during the first Trump administration, right right, because I
think when you're an immigrant, it's kind of like the
only thing you can ever think about, you know, even
(16:39):
like I'm on a green card right now, which means
I'm a resident of the United States. I'm here like
this is my home and everything, and I'm like, it
still feels tenuous.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Oh my god, like it should feel very tenuous right now,
especially being shoved into vans exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
But even before the current administration, it was like still like, well, yeah,
but if I don't have.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
This is home.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
But I feel like I have to justify that it's
home a lot rather than just you know, if I
were a citizen, it'd be like, well, I was born here, right,
you know.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
And why aren't you a citizen?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Because it's a processing I've applied.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Okay, all right, all right, all right?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
But and how dare my mother not be presently here
when I was born?
Speaker 1 (17:25):
What's going on with that? Yeah? Didn't she know enough
to have a tourist visa and just come here and
have you She's.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Supposed to be a doctor, she's supposed to be smart. Smart,
But so I you know, I had first, I had
a student visa, and I had this work permit, but
you know, it has a bunch of rules. It's called
OPT And so I was in New York, this was
twenty fifteen, surrounded by a bunch of like like Bernie
(17:52):
progressives in the comedy world in New York.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
They were like, oh, but you went to school here,
you're good man.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I'm like, no, right, you have no idea, Like what
are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
And so that happened, and then I got my oh one,
which is the artist the Alien of Exraordinary Ability visa,
and it.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Was so weird.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It was so absurd, right, just starting from the title, right,
Alien of Extraordinary Ability. And the process was really complicated,
and I had to explain to people even like and
they're they're great, I love them. But I had to
explain my professors, to my professors in college, like I
can't just go to la and get a barista job, right,
and then like, you know, write my screenplays and hope
(18:36):
something gets made, like the path that so many people
had or used to have, And so I kind of
had to explain all these things. And I was like,
I need to find a way to explain this, and
I need to exercise it in the way that I
do everything with is comedy, and I like try to
do some stand up bits about it and some sketches,
(18:57):
and I kind of land on this idea of like
what if I just write it down? But there's so
many kinds of visas and there's so many paths, and
so that's kind of what led me to this like
interactive kind of like choose your Yeah, exactly, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Okay, So this show Don't Be Alone with Jay Coogan
is about really smart people like you coming on and
helping me with my problems. So fuck your problems. It's
all about me. Yeah, Yeah, that's that is and U.
And my problem is what am I taking for granted
as an American? As somebody born here and like the
(19:38):
same like you were telling your friends, what's the problem
you're here? Like what am I taking for granted about
being having the privilege of being born here and then
assuming everything's great for everybody?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I think the biggest thing that I've noticed about Americans,
which is an asset but also to their detrimental right,
is that Americans love of comfort. Americans are very comfortable.
There's a c everywhere, Like you go to Europe in
the middle of the summer, it's like, you know, I've
never learned fahrenheit.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
That's one of the things that I'm like, I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Keep that from Celsius is fine.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, So like it's thirty eight to forty degrees celsius,
which is very very hot, very hot. And they're like, no,
this is this is just the summer. It's right, you
guys are this is horrible. And Americans, that's one of
the good things. But I think the other things is
Americans the way that can manifest is any sign of discomfort,
any sign of like things not going exactly catered to you.
(20:40):
Americans can be a little bit like, well, someone has
to fix this, right, No, And I think there's a
beauty and there's something that Americans miss out and that
you might be missing out Jay in like learning to
be a little uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You know, you're exactly right. I don't. I've lived my
from day one in great comfort. I've actually said this
to my parents, Like if we were in the middle
of of a Fiddler on the Roof and we were
in Antefka and we had to move because everybody's going,
we wouldn't make it like we would just be in
(21:16):
their condo and wush and Boulevard, just sitting there waiting
to die.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, And I think that that that does give you
a little bit of like restlessness in a good way
that I think sometimes I see that Americans missed a
little bit and another big thing with comfort, And it's
different in la and certain parts of the country, you know,
but language learning to be a little uncomfortable because you
(21:42):
don't speak the language in another part of the world
or in your own like city, but in a neighborhood
that maybe you don't live in. It's actually like, oh well,
I am going to learn to be a little uncomfortable
with not knowing the language perfectly and maybe not being
understood perfectly, but still trying to communicate and going to a.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
New culture and a new place and trying to absorb
that difference is kind of fun and interesting exactly the
thing that we.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Miss and messing up, you know, I think there's a
there's a beauty in messing up when you're in a
different country.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I will say that and then not to that. The
modern world is making it a lot easier to do.
Like I have Google Translate yes in Japan, and I
pulled a taxi driver tried to explain where I wanted
to go, could not communicate the fumfering way, and so
I pulled out the translate. I said it into the machine.
It repeated out loud. Where we want to go? He
(22:38):
said into the machine. What he said a lot of English.
He was done.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
But yeah, and that's I think that's super cool and great.
I will say, like, even just trying what I've discovered,
especially here in the States, when you meet someone from
a community that speaks another language and you attempt to
speak the language, everyone's like, oh my god, this is great.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
You know you're trying, and that.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Is, But what about people who say barrito instead of burrito?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Like they're trying a little too they're trying a little
too hard, and so it it's a fine line.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, yeah, I can roll my arms a little bit.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
That's a great that's a great role.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah that was really good newscaster style.
Yeah all right. So I'm yes, I'm an American, and
I like I like to be comfortable. I don't want
to press myself too hard for being discovered. What other
things am I taking for granted? I used to take
for it. I'll tell you something again, I don't want
to get too crazy political. But I used to take
(23:34):
for granted the system of democracy.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yes, that used to exist here, That's what I was
going to say. That was my next thing. Yeah, a
system that works. You know, I grew up in Columbia
and I love my country. And the way I speak
about your home country is kind of like the way
you speak about your family, and now I have a
lovely family. I love my family, but it is kind
of like you don't get to pick it right, and
you there's a lot of stuff about your family that
(23:58):
you're like, Wow, if I had to a person, I
would probably not pick a person.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
With this trait.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
And you can't do that with your family, and you
can't do that with your home country. And so I
love my country. But do you know how magic it
is that you can grab a piece of paper, put
it in an envelope, put a tiny sticker on it,
and then it magically appears wherever you wanted to go
(24:25):
in the country. That doesn't work in Colombia. Every time
we try to mail anything, it got stolen or lost.
It just does not work.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So how do you get something document from A to B?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
You drive it there like truly, and I mean, we
were lucky that we were in both with that which
is the administrative center. So no, the mail is not
a thing in Columbia. You get courier services, like it
doesn't work, and so like the fact that there is
a system that works, that you can trust, that you
can be like, well, the rules say this, therefore it
(25:00):
won't happen. That's something that you guys really took for granted,
and they really did, you know, you really did disastrous
consequence exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Now it's very becoming very clear that that the rules
weren't rules. They were just sort of ideas norms, right,
that customs and people were keeping and sometimes you apparently
don't have to keep the customs.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Exactly, and so like stuff like that, and like even
at the basic level of the male but a little
bit like the belief in consequences. You know, Columbia beautiful country,
pretty violent in its history and also pretty oligarchic in
(25:41):
its history. Like it's always been kind of like the
same group of rich, lighter skin Latin people who have
owned most of the land and they govern and whatever.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
And you see.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
You see people who have rebelled against the system suffered
those consequences, even though they might be right or wrong,
and their actions might not be like the best. But
also when you see like, oh this guy is a
corrupt politician, he's been caught, nothing happens, you know, really
they there's a trial and then you know, oh, you'll
(26:17):
do house arrest, maybe because you know he's old. And
then oh, actually, well he's behaved so well during the
house arrest. So you know, we said twenty years, but
what if it's two years and he's done.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Wow, you know, well, I mean I'm getting to experience
a little Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Yeah, it's fun, it's it's exciting. I think it's a
little bit like we've seen the movie. Yeah, you know,
we like Latin Americans or people who lived under more
under less effective democracy. We've all seen the movie. So
now it's like when when The Red Wedding aired and
the people who had read the books and everyone was like,
oh my god, the Red Wedding and everyone read the books,
(26:52):
is like, yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Right, That's kind of how I feel.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Right, I'm hoping that we can reclaim I hope so
a bit of normalcy, some bit of rule keeping, some
bit of even more stringent laws that would bend this
country back into shape. But where where? Where has America
let you down?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
America?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Like when you came, before you got here, like what
were you thinking it would be? And where what is
it not?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I thought there would?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I mean, I think the lie of the meritocracy is
even before the current, like everyone gets fired if they
support DEI I think I thought a little bit more
of meritocracy as a thing that existed in America, and
I think it It certainly exists more than in other countries,
I think, but it is something that's like it is
(27:46):
so much of who you know, and it is so
much of like especially in the arts, Colbert's brothers and
sisters all in the payroll over there, but you know,
that kind of stuff. And I think a thing that
sometimes disappoints me of Americans an American general, is a
little bit of a lack of curiosity, because I think
(28:08):
when Americans are curious, they're great Americans. Really, Like you
see American tourists anywhere in the world, They're like, ooh,
tell me more, to the point where sometimes Europeans are
like these Americans are stuff, asking questions, you know, But
when they're when Americans choose to be incurious, it's like
one of the most frustrating things.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
It's like, well, I don't like that, and I just
don't want to do that. You're being a brat, right,
You're acting like a toddler.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It is you're describing fifty percent of this country. Right.
My ancestors came here, they were rugged. They my grand
my grandfather came here alone on a ship when he
was twelve from Ukraine. You know, I have none of that,
Like there's not even that sense of again, of any
(28:54):
that desperation slash adventure, yeah, slash will to like make
something strive. Something I lived. I was born in Brooklyn,
New York, and moved to Los Angeles when I was five,
and I have not moved from this town. Like I
still live in the same five mile radius of where
I was born. Like there's no sense of like there's
(29:15):
a great wide world out there and I got to
conquer it.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, but you have that, Well, I have a like
what I call I have like a little fire up.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
My ass, I think is what it is.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
And I think also the system, the immigration system now,
particularly when I was getting this artist visa, you have
to show achievement to the government to be able to stay.
So I was like, well, if what I want is
to do this, which is right television, right film in
the United States, because it is the best place to
(29:47):
do it, then I need to do things. I just
need to do them. There is no there are no
non negotiables here, right, so I need to prove it
to the government. Therefore I need to actually do them.
And so there's a like I would I love not
doing anything.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I love just.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Playing video games and you know, reading my book. I
was reading Frankenstein recently, and the doctor Frankenstein, like, sure,
he's a scientist and he built the monster spoiler alert,
I guess, but he doesn't have a job. He's just
a nobleman and so he like went to college and
did the monster thing and then he left and all
(30:29):
he does is like hang out at like Geneva and read.
And I'm like, that's what I want for myself. Yes,
but obviously, you the situation of me moving here kind
of created that sense of like, I have to just
keep doing things. And I would counter, you're you're a writer.
You do have that sense of adventure. You're doing something
that's not like a stable career. You're doing something that's
(30:53):
not necessarily like you're not a lawyer, not a doctor.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
But but my dad's a writer, so a neo baby, Yeah,
slide right in Like Okay, I see it's possible. Like again,
my sense of adventure didn't have to be up here
to sort of slide into there.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
But but but I guess yes. What I would say
is everyone has that sense of adventure. I think it's
circumstantial what leads you to do it? And obviously, like
I would never compare my story to your ancestors story
because they needed to leave.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
I chose to leave.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
They were being chased out of the country. Progroun exactly.
Don't be alone. When my government tries to find an
(31:53):
extraordinary artist and they they there's a people, a line
of people outside an embassy to all of them are
in berets, acting enigmatic yes, yes, yes, presenting you know, uh,
wild ideas, representations, abstract paintings like were you in competition?
Are there a limited number of not this one?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Which is very cool.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
That's one of the coolest things about these extraordinary ability
visas is that it's like, if you can prove that
you're good enough for the threshold that the government has
you're good. It has like time limits, like it's you
can get it for three years and then you can
reapply every year, which is tedious but and expensive. The
biggest barrier to all this stuff is always money.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
You know.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
I am very fortunate that I was born like upper
middle class in Columbia. My parents were professionals, they had
studied abroad. Like this is a very particular life I
led compared to any other person born in Columbia or fantastic,
none of them. I got to look after each other.
That's how we come from Nepo.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
You got to keep the the upper middle class, upper
middle class. You know what I'm saying exactly. Yeah, that
is lucky. And I don't know who's it's kind of fascinating.
It should be part of a screenplay or something that
you're writing about who's judging who's an extra artist? I
know it's like what counts, what qualifies?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
My immigration lawyer told me, like, you know, it's you
learn about these places, like there's a town that I
want to visit because it's the town that adjudicated all
my artists visas. It's this town in Vermont called Saint Albans,
Saint Albans, Vermont, and it has a US Citizenship and
Immigration Services uscis a place like processing center and they
(33:39):
process all those visas in the.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
East Coast, Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
And so it's this one town. And what my immigration
lawyer told me was like, it's it's a group of
people that they're just they're just public servants, you know.
They sometimes they have a college education, sometimes they don't,
and you kind of sometimes have to remind them or
you have to tell them that what you did is
(34:03):
a big deal. So like you need to get like
ten letters of recommendation from artists who have worked with you,
and you might have like the best improviser in the
world or whatever. They have no idea who that is,
so you have to like give them like a little
bio of the people writing your letters and stuff like that.
You have to tell people, no, this is a big deal.
(34:26):
Who's this John Mulaney right exactly. It's hard to quantify
art too, so it's like no, no, no, this this artwork
or this piece of art that I did actually was
performed in a place that a lot of people saw maybe,
or things like that.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
It seems like that it was a good way to
sneak in to say that you were a brilliant artist
and have nobody be able to counter it because art
is so subjective.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yes, I mean, but they do ask you to kind
of quantify it. That was really interesting. It's like, how
many like have you sold a lot of tickets for
one man show? Have you performed at a gallery or
been at a like have your art exposed in a
gallery that also had other great artists perform. So it's
a it's a weird way to try to quantify art.
And I'm fascinated how they do it with sports, because
(35:13):
sure there's like stats, but like, just because you didn't
go to the Olympics doesn't mean you're not an incredible athlete.
You know, I say to someone who is not an
athlete at all, tell.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Me about the Colbert Show. Yeah, what is it like?
Do you are you like do they divvy it up
like somebody does monologue? Somebody does these pieces? Does everybody
do monologues? Is everybody?
Speaker 3 (35:34):
We all do everything?
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah, And it's it's great. It's a it's a great place.
It's a fun like I think to me looking at
the news, and I think this would apply to most
late night shows. Now that they're also political. Sometimes the
only way to deal with all of this is to
just be able to like, oh, I cansider around with
(35:56):
my friends and write jokes about it, right, So that's
something that I really appreciate of. It's just like I
get to just have fun even though amidst the horrorse
You know.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
So I knew Stephen years and years ago, and he
was a ball of energy. He was just a ball
of energy. He was unstoppable, ball of energy. Yeah, to
the point where people would say, like, get him into
the next room sometimes. But brilliant, Yeah, fantastic because he
mean you have to say, is a good boss. I
know where he's publicly, but like blink twice if there's
(36:27):
a problem. Though.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I mean, he's a great guy. He is.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Incredibly kind and also a comedic genius. Like it's one
of those things where you know, you'll you'll write a
joke and you're like this is really great, and then
he'll perform it and it's like he made it so
much better.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
And he right, like he's he's he's a genius.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah, he's a whip smart. I like this, Yes, he's
whipped because he he turns on a dime and he's fantastic,
but he's also just smart. Like the other part about
it is, which I like, is he's well thoughtful and considered.
The Colbert Report when he used to do that was
so magnificent and so genius. And I can understand why
it was burdened to play that character night after night,
(37:13):
but it was so smart to sort of take it
from the other side.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it was. It's brailliant. It
was a huge inspiration for me growing up to watch
that and you know, Stuart's Daily Show in the original run,
to be like, oh wow, you can just like do this.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
You know.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
It's one of those unlocking moments when you see a
piece of art that you didn't know could be done.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Are they Is there a mandate on the show, which
would be if I was running the show, to not
only have great moments of the show, but find things
that we can make viral videos from. In other words,
we need to we need to expand our audience, not
just from the late night thing, but we got to
put stuff on YouTube and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
And we certainly have social media people and they run
an incredible account. They do incredible work on social I
don't think there's necessarily a mandate. I think it's just
like that's the reality of the business these days. It's like, well,
it's the reality of late night. People aren't consuming it
(38:12):
at eleven thirty five PM in their homes like some
people are. They stayed on, they kept the TV on while.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Tracker was on.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
But the majority of people are consuming like clips on
social be it like TikTok or Instagram or YouTube. So
I think it's not a mandate. It's just what the
show is. So you have to be thinking of like
I don't necessarily think of like is this clippable when
I think of writing a joke. But I think it's
(38:44):
it's just how it informs your writing, just because that's
how you watched it, Like I watched I kind of
like grew up with the transition of like tuning in
to I'll watch it the next morning on YouTube because
I'm not going to stay up. And so I think
that does just knowing by watching the form of delivery,
(39:05):
it informs your writing just by.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Doing that, I mean, because it does. My friends who
work on late night shows are all saying that we get,
you know, a couple hundred thousand viewers at night but
the real audience is out there. Millions of people are
watching the next day and on different clips.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
And yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
What do you think your kids, assuming you have kids,
I don't have them, Assuming you have them someday may
imaginary hypothetical children, what would you want them to have
from your immigrant perspective and still maintain within them if
they're born here in American citizen.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I think the biggest thing is knowing that they come
from two cultures, that they are American, that they were
born here, but that their home is also Columbia. And
I think that's something that we discussed with my wife,
is like if we have kids, like the.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Whole summer is that in Colombia is like a thing,
like we want to do that.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
We want we want them to know their culture and
their their language. I think it's important to me that
they are fully bilingual.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
At least.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
What age do they have to join a cartel?
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Well, they should follow their dream and really like think
about it and don't go into a cartel just because
because you're eighteen. It's what everybody does right now, Like
you follow the dream, you know, sometimes sometimes cartels are
not for everyone.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
I didn't go to a.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Sometimes medical school exactly exactly. Yeah, they'll have the culture
if they spend enough time there, for sure. But I'm
talking about like spiritually, Like what what if you could
say what is the spirit of you know, Colombia or Columbia,
then then you have like I know, I could to
(41:00):
say the lazy spirit is the spiritual lazy American. That's
the spirit that you want them to have to carry
with them.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
I think, I mean, these are values that I think
are good always. Uh, Curiosity, I think it's it's a
huge value. But also like Colombians don't take things seriously,
and I think it's because and it might be a
Latin trait because when we come we come from a
country where, like again, consequences are hard to come by,
and horrors happen often.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
You kind of have to like be a little yes
in Colombia.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
Okay, and did you did you witness a lot of horrors?
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
I mean I grew up in the nineties in Columbia,
which was a much much more turbulent and violent time
than it is now. Like now it's much better. It's
it's a really great place to go vacation. It's really
you get traumatized, I think so. Yeah, I think there
were some you know, there were car bombs, there were kidnappings,
(42:00):
times where it was like, well, maybe we shouldn't go on.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
You know, from your bio in your book, it seems like,
you know, cushy, upper middle class life. I didn't. I
didn't know.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
I mean I I very lucky compared to like most
Columbia's right, But yeah, in my family there was a
person who was kidnapped by like Marxist gorilla group that
claimed to be a Marxist guerrilla group fighting for the people,
and it's just a cartel, right, you know.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
So survive. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
Yeah, I've had friends.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Who were kidnapped and killed, so I know what. I
know what that's like.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Yeah, So it's you know, it's a country that I
think we have worked very hard to make it better. Yeah,
And I think no one wants to go back to
those days. And I think the cartels are a plague.
We consider the drug trade like one of the worst
things that has ever It's a curse upon our nation, Cain,
(43:00):
and it would be great if y'all would stop consuming it.
I mean really, specifically, the city of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Although I grew up here, I've not I don't see cocaine. No.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Yeah, I mean I think it's a very particular club
of people.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
But they really love love it. They really love it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
But it is one of those things where it's like, oh,
it's this is one consumption driven upon of course. So
I think I think we who have witnessed the horrors
have to have developed you know. Some people would call
it makes you nearer to it, but I think it's
just a way to react. And I think laughter is
a way to react that isn't crying. You know, you're
(43:40):
eliciting emotion from people.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
But doesn't growing up in what amounts to a moderately
dangerous situation also either make you appreciate life or also
seem to give you the sense of, well, better enjoy now,
because exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
And I think that that creates a lack of seriousness
in life, a silliness in life in front of most situations.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
That I really appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
And I think I am a professional comedy writer, and
I think I am the least funny person in my
family in you know, because everyone is just so quick
and so funny, because that is, that is the way
to survive, you know. And so I think that is
something that I would like my kids to have, that
kind of like, yeah, we gotta we gotta laugh, we
(44:28):
gotta laugh at life.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
All right. Well, now it's time for a listener mail.
Now it's time for listener man the listener Jeremy Rights.
If you could live in a country besides your own,
where would you choose to live and why?
Speaker 3 (44:46):
Well?
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Okay, so now, and it can't be the United States
can't be Columbia for you, Okay, it should be another place.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Well, curiously, I've been thinking about it a lot.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Yeah. Sure.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
My sister lives in England and I have, as I
said before, I am antimer an archic, so I have
a problem with that. But I would love to be close.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
It's not really a monarchy anymore.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
It's true. It's it's like a play. It's a it's
a play monarchs.
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Yeah, It's like it's if you were to Disneyland. It's
like Mickey Mouse isn't really running that place. What I
went yesterday, he was on every single money. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, So I mean I would like to be close
with my sister, but I uh, I went to Spain
for the first time, like three years ago, and I
don't I'm not a particularly woo wu person, but I
am very much.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
Like a mutt.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Like my last name is Medina, which is an Arab
like Arabic word. But also like if you are if
you're Hispanic, there's a very high possibility that you have
like in your DNA like Tefardic jew who was forced
to convert.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
And then you know, but also native and whatever.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
But I may be related to the funky exactly.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Well, we are actually cousins. We have a chat.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
But I think there was a like weird I went
to Spain to like for the first time, I did
feel that weird like vibration of like these are the this,
this is the motherland kind of like something in me
was like, oh wait, this feels weird. So I think
I would like to live in Spain. But I don't
think I would like to work in Spain because I
(46:28):
don't think they worked. They seem to just have fun, fun,
And I think I'm not built for that much fun.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Oh I would be built just for that much fun.
It seems like one of the reasons I have not
been to Spain is I don't think I ever leave.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
It is the highest risk I think of going to Spa.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
People people.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
Great, that's a great answer. My answer to Jeremy is
where where would I go if I couldn't be here?
And uh, I don't know. I mean, I guess this
is going to sound dumb, but like New.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Zealand, Oh that's nice.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
New Zealand seems awfully pretty. Yeah, I mean awfully pretty.
And it's got a few actual cities. It's just filled
with nature and beauty and hiking and and and everybody
there seems so happy.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
I would do it if they let me live in
the Hobbiton set. If they let me live in Hobbiton
I'd be like, yeah, I'll move to the Zealand.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Right. So I mean that's who knows. That's I don't
see myself leaving anytime soon, but a lot of my
friends talk about going going somewhere, So that's good.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Well, so tell us the name of the book again
is America. Let me in a choose your immigration story?
Speaker 1 (47:42):
And why should we all read it?
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Because everyone needs Everyone has a freaking opinion about immigration,
and everyone's like four against but they're so loud about
it and they don't know anything about the system, and
this book breaks it down and it's funny and it's
really silly, but also actually teaches you a little bit
about the system.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Fantastic. I can laugh and I can learn at the
same time. Yes, fantastic, all right, ideally, ideally, Well, I'm
they didn't send me one. Oh my god, they didn't
send me on so I'm gonna have to buy it.
So I'm gonna go buy it. I'm gonna go No, no,
I'm gonna go to Amazon. I will buy it and
then I'll read it and so then I'll be informed.
Speaker 3 (48:19):
Well, thank you for that too.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
It's been a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for being here,
Thank you for having me to the West coast briefly
to see this Disneyland whatever, whatever reason you're here, but
it was really really cool meeting you. And I'm really
proud that you've come here and found some really great
things about this country, not just things.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
No, this country is great, don't don't you know? You
don't need to make it great again because it is
already great.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
I agree, I agree, And thank you for being here
and for watching, and please subscribe to this show on
YouTube or wherever you see it, tell a friend if
you like it, and don't be alone. Spend some time
with somebody. Get to know. I didn't know Felippe until
I just met him, and he's really cool. So he
spent some time with somebody and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Don't be alone with j J cogain
Straw Hut Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Hi, I'm Felipeto Rosmina And as it was originally reported
on Telemundo, No So Cogan. Do not be alone with
j Cogan. Don't be alone with JJ Cogan.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Hello Cogan Nation, This is me Jake Cogan, and you
are watching to are listening to Don't be Alone with
Jake Cogan. I'm so glad you're here. I'm really really
excited that you could be here. We have a great
show for you. If you have a message you want
to email me directly, please email me at dbawjk at
gmail dot com. Tell me your compliments, your criticisms, your suggestions,
(00:44):
and really really would love any viewer mail suggestions where
you have a question a life question that you can
ask me. Uh and my guest, whoever that guest is
that week, That would be really helpful if you send
me some interesting and fun questions. Again that email address
dbawjk at gmail dot com. We have a great guest today.
(01:07):
His name is Philippe Torres Medina and he is a
writer comedy writer for Colbert. Really smart, funny, interesting guy
who's just written a very interesting book called America. Let
me in a choose your immigration story. So it's this
comedy look at immigration. He is an immigrant from Colombia.
(01:29):
He's got a great perspective on this country, a very
interesting perspective on growing up in Colombia. It was great
to talk to him because I feel like I've lost
touched a little bit with what it's like to be
an immigrant. I feel like I'm an American, sure, but
I'm not that far away from my immigrant grandfather and grandmother.
(01:51):
But I also don't feel like I have the spirit
of those people who left the Ukraine with nothing and
came to this country to build a life. Like I
showed up up when I was born. There's a pretty
good life waiting for me, and I'd like to figure
out if I can have a little bit more grit
and a little bit more toughness, a little bit more
discipline to be more like those ancestors, and also just
(02:14):
check out what Felipe's experience is on what it's like
to be here now, in this very turbulent time to
be an immigrant in this country. How we treat immigrants
and talk about immigrants, both legal and illegal, has been
very disheartening, I would say to people like me, but
we'll hear his perspective and his comedy and about his
(02:34):
book right after this, don't be alone with pleasure to
meet And I have done I would say a modicum
of research. Not I wouldn't say a fair amount, but
a modicum of research. And you have a very interesting story.
(02:57):
But I mean I'm first first, always interested in the
comedy side of people. Yeah, and then I'm talking to
the human side. Who gives a shit about the human exactly?
So you come to comedy by way of UCB. What's
your what's your home base for? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:16):
I think UCB was my like my kindergarten, my comedy pridergarden.
So yeah, I moved to the States in twenty thirteen.
I spent some time in Boston, did some open mics there,
kind of testing it out. But I was really into
like sketch and improv and I was excited to do that.
And so when I was done with my masters at
(03:40):
Boston University, I moved to New York to do basically
pursue comedy there.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
And do you see masters in screenwriting?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Screenwriting? Okay, now as a professional writer, yes, do you
look back on that master's in screenwriting and say, was
that time and money? Well? Spent.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Well, it did allow me to come to the United States.
So for that, yes, and I learned some really good stuff,
Like I think the biggest thing. My wife is also
a television writer, and I think the thing I tell
her all the time is like the biggest thing, because yeah,
I wrote a bunch of screenplays and they're fine, right,
not very good, but it was my first time trying.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
They're not fine. Is fine, Yeah, some of.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
Them are bad, and there's like two that are fine.
But what I tell my wife is like the biggest
thing that the masters gave me was I have a deadline.
I have to finish writing this screenplay by the end
of the weekend. And so you just sit down and
you write, right, And that is like such a huge
skill that I feel like a lot of people who
are writers or call themselves writers are like, I started
(04:41):
this thing.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, I've still I've been doing this for forty years
and still starting sitting down at the computer and doing
the thing is still very hard.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
It's the hardest part.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, it sucks. Okay, So Felipe, yes, you wrote this
great book about what it's like to be an immigrant
this country. Okay, so let's start with your immigrant story.
How'd you get here?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
So I was born in Columbia in South America. I
have to say that because my wife's from Missouri, and
so they when I say in Missouri, they're like, oh yeah,
just like before the first.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Thing when somebody says Columbia, I don't necessarily think Missouri.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
That's true.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
I do think. I think of the movie studio, right,
I think of the district of and British and British Ya.
And then at some point I go to your Columbia, yes,
and wait on the list after Hannibal and other places
in Missouri, Saint Louis, do I reach Columbia.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
That's true, and I will say it's the only one
that's spelled differently the country. So I come from Columbia.
I lived there most of my life till I was
like twenty one, and then I came here to do
my masters at Boston University. And then that was getting that.
I had a student visa, and then I had a
work permit, and then I got something that's called an
(05:55):
Alien of Extraordinary Ability visa, which it is adiculous.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Now it's like superpower.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yes, it sounds like you're in the X Men, but
it really is a visa to proof that you have
a sort of talent. And it can be art, which
is I applied as a writer, but you know, it
can be like you're really good at soccer, like athletes
get this, sciences that could academian.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
I mean this, this country has grown great and wonderful
on the on the idea of taking people from around
the world and pouring them into this country. I mean,
I know we're stopping that, right, and I understand that's
no longer the policy of this country.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
But which, yeah, which is a bummer because it is
like truly a way to be like, are you excellent
at what you do?
Speaker 1 (06:41):
Right?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Come be here and be excellent here. And that's what
I did. And so I got my artist visa, and
I was an alantic, extraordinary ability. I worked a lot
of I did a lot of comedy in New York,
but I was also like working at an advertising agency.
And then and eventually I met my wife or the
(07:03):
woman who become my wife, and we got married and
I have a green card.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
What's the comedy scene like in Columbia?
Speaker 2 (07:08):
My answer always about this is that it's getting so
much better. When I left, it was so bad. It
was just a couple of stand up places, and I
feel like the comedy was a lot of punching down.
If there were like people doing sketches and characters, it
was kind of like really racially dicey and like not
(07:31):
in sexist and like just not very It's just not
very what made me laugh, I guess. And there's only
two television networks in Colombia that aren't like public Access TV,
so there's not a lot of opportunities to like become
a comedian or a writer in a like level that
you would want, not talking about fame, but talking about
(07:54):
like making a living working.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Sure, is Bogata the big place, like.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
Yeah, Bogata is the capital, and so it's like I.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
But I mean the big comedy scene place.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
Yes, And now there's like a bunch of like comedy
theaters and you know, younger people, I think millennials kind
of like either came here and moved back or saw
the scene in other countries and were like, wait, we
should just have that here, right, And so now there's
a scene and it's really.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Cool, fantastic. That's that's growth. And so you obviously speak
English very well better than me. Did you study it back?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
In Yeah, I got really lucky.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
My mom finished her she's a doctor, she's like an
incredible surgeon, and so she finished her studies in the
UK when I was three, so she took me there.
And so I English is my second language, but I
learned English. I learned to read in English before I
learned to read in Spanish. If that makes sense, it does.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
But a lot of people. You know, my son learned
Spanish very early at three, and then you know, he's
great at languages, but he doesn't speak it as fluently
because he doesn't use it all much. Yeah, were you
able to use English in Colombia?
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Yeah, And so after we came back from England, I
went to a school that was found as a Catholic
school and it was founded by American priests. So it
was very much like you have to like keep doing
your English, and most of our classes were in English,
but your life is in Spanish, so you're living in
both languages.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
The whole fantastic surprise. You don't have a little bit
of tinge of an English British accents.
Speaker 3 (09:23):
I have.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
I make mistakes with prepositions sometimes because they make they
change propositions.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
A little bit, say math or maths.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
I do s a math because there's one.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Yes, I didn't know. I just I was I was
not sure. So so all right, so you you came
here on this extraordinary, uh alien business, and congratulations on them.
You have that certificate.
Speaker 3 (09:46):
Somewhere I have.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
I have three stamps on my passport for the three
VSAs that say A.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
And then started doing stand up. Now that's brave. That's
a brave thing. So yeah, what I made you think?
You know what, I'm his writer, but you know what
I really need to do.
Speaker 3 (10:04):
I really need to.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
Get involved in the stand up community. You know in Boston,
Boston the toughest stand up scene in the world.
Speaker 3 (10:11):
Yeah, I think. I just was like, I need to
do something to like.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
Do comedy. You know, I was writing comedic scripts. But
I was like, well, what I like late night television.
I like sitcoms. And I looked at the careers of
the people who had those jobs and I was like,
well a lot of them started doing improv and sketch
and stand up, and I was like, well, I should
just try. And I like watched a lot of stand
(10:40):
up and then I got on stage and was bad,
like anyone who tries to do stand up, and I'm
glad I did it, And I still like, will do
some stand up sets and each Erica runs in a while.
But I don't think I'm like a stand up and
I didn't.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
I'm glad I did it to know that I'm not
necessarily a Do you hate.
Speaker 1 (10:58):
Watch yourself to stand up?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
I don't hate it, but I'm like, it's clearly not
what I have the most fun at. You know, I'm like,
I look like I can write a great joke and
deliver it. I can deliver a joke, but I'm not
like I look at a great stand up, but I'm
like that person should be on that stage holding that microphone.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, I think I think that's just a skill that
people develop. I just don't know that. Maybe you feel
like you haven't. I certainly feel like I haven't gotten
there yet. I do stand up, I look at myself
and go like, what I thought I was doing was this. Yeah,
what I'm really doing is this, And it's like, oh,
you know, I thought I think I'm smoother, more glib,
(11:36):
a little bit more, you know, even more handsome. There
are things that are going on on stage that are
not actually happening in real life.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
Yeah, I certainly don't notice the ums. How many freaking ums?
Speaker 3 (11:45):
I do? Then I'm like, oh, this is not right.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Right, Okay, So so you went to stand up, you
come to New York, you go to UCB, and then
how do you wind up at Colbert?
Speaker 2 (12:00):
I did a lot of I did improv there, I
did sketch there. I put on a house team for
sketch at UCB. And I was also like writing satire
and like humor for like McSweeney's and The New Yorker
and like these humor publications that will do like what
to me. Sometimes I'm like, well, this is just kind
of like a sketch but narrated right right, or like
(12:23):
from a first person perspective or whatever. So it was
like a pro sketch. And so I was doing a
lot of that, and you start to get the invites
to the packets, and I got invited to submit.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
So do you submit a McSweeney's thing in your packet?
Is that what your packet is? In a New Yorker
article and a McSweeney's thing, And.
Speaker 3 (12:43):
It was part of it.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
You know, the packets, they ask you like do a
full mono or do like two pages of monologue jugs
and some sketches or whatever depends on the show. But
in the more recent ones, again this was five years ago,
but they started to ask, like, also includes something like
from your writing that is, so, don't give us your
like sixty minute pilot, but include some of your short
(13:06):
writing that you think would be good. And so I
think for that one I included. For the Colbert one
that got me hired, I included a McSweeney's piece that
was my daily aid tenerary as a job stealing immigrant
and so I was like six am, wake up, like
steal my roommate's job and stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (13:25):
I've always wanted to write something for McSweeney's or The
New Yorker and never did, never tried because I thought,
there's your fancy magazine. So you know, yeah, but it's
to get in. Yeah, I know. I have friends who do.
I have friends who do cartoons for all that stuff.
But so like it. So somehow it's it feels like
(13:46):
I'm a TV writer. I feel like I'm less. I'm
not as good as that. Like I've written movies and
TV but not The New Yorker.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Right, But I think the fun thing about that is
that you can get away with disgracing the pages of
them New York with really silly stuff sometimes.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Yeah, I mean sometimes it's very funny shouts and murmurs
and yeah, and really adorable things. I mean Steve Martin's written.
Speaker 3 (14:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
But again that's intimidating to me.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
It's scary.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, all right, so you you get how many how
many times did you try to reach out to a
job before you landed something great? Countless?
Speaker 3 (14:26):
Like so so much.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
You seemed like, I'm glad to hear that, because she
seemed like the guy who was just like on a
track for greatness, like just like you know from you know,
going to the applying to great schools and getting in
and then going into the Red comedy programs getting in,
and then writing for these great magazines and then doing
that and then getting on Colbert, which is arguably the
best of the talk shows.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
Thank you so much. Tell the Academy. I think the
biggest thing is, like you are rejected all the time.
I still submit to McSweeney's and The New York because
sometimes I'm like, oh, I have this idea and it
doesn't really fit the show, or like a screenplay I'm
just gonna write it, and I love it.
Speaker 3 (15:08):
I think it's the funniest thing I've ever written.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Every time, like I'm like, I'm gonna submit it, like anytime,
I'm like, oh, this is actually good, right, I'm like this,
this might be my best one. Submit it and they're like,
hell no, you know. So it happens.
Speaker 1 (15:23):
But that's okay. Once you're in the club and you
submit something and they say not this one, that it
doesn't hurt as much as when you're not in the club.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
That's true.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
But no, I submitted to I think at the time
every show that was accepting packets when I was before
I got my job.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Don't be alone, all right. So now let's oh to
your book, because which just came out and it's and
it's I don't know anything about it except it's catching
on like wildfire. Yes, yes, America, let me in choose
(16:10):
your immigration stories.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
That's that's the that's the title.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Okay. So and what was the what's the rationale the
raison debt for writing your book?
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Honestly is that I was kind of tired of explaining
my own immigration stresses to my very liberal and progressive
friends during the first Trump administration, right right, because I
think when you're an immigrant, it's kind of like the
only thing you can ever think about, you know, even
(16:39):
like I'm on a green card right now, which means
I'm a resident of the United States. I'm here like
this is my home and everything, and I'm like, it
still feels tenuous.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
Oh my god, like it should feel very tenuous right now,
especially being shoved into vans exactly.
Speaker 2 (16:54):
But even before the current administration, it was like still like, well, yeah,
but if I don't have.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
This is home.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
But I feel like I have to justify that it's
home a lot rather than just you know, if I
were a citizen, it'd be like, well, I was born here, right,
you know.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
And why aren't you a citizen?
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Because it's a processing I've applied.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
Okay, all right, all right, all right?
Speaker 2 (17:20):
But and how dare my mother not be presently here
when I was born?
Speaker 1 (17:25):
What's going on with that? Yeah? Didn't she know enough
to have a tourist visa and just come here and
have you She's.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Supposed to be a doctor, she's supposed to be smart. Smart,
But so I you know, I had first, I had
a student visa, and I had this work permit, but
you know, it has a bunch of rules. It's called
OPT And so I was in New York, this was
twenty fifteen, surrounded by a bunch of like like Bernie
(17:52):
progressives in the comedy world in New York.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
They were like, oh, but you went to school here,
you're good man.
Speaker 2 (17:58):
I'm like, no, right, you have no idea, Like what
are you talking about?
Speaker 1 (18:04):
Uh?
Speaker 2 (18:04):
And so that happened, and then I got my oh one,
which is the artist the Alien of Exraordinary Ability visa,
and it.
Speaker 3 (18:11):
Was so weird.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
It was so absurd, right, just starting from the title, right,
Alien of Extraordinary Ability. And the process was really complicated,
and I had to explain to people even like and
they're they're great, I love them. But I had to
explain my professors, to my professors in college, like I
can't just go to la and get a barista job, right,
and then like, you know, write my screenplays and hope
(18:36):
something gets made, like the path that so many people
had or used to have, And so I kind of
had to explain all these things. And I was like,
I need to find a way to explain this, and
I need to exercise it in the way that I
do everything with is comedy, and I like try to
do some stand up bits about it and some sketches,
(18:57):
and I kind of land on this idea of like
what if I just write it down? But there's so
many kinds of visas and there's so many paths, and
so that's kind of what led me to this like
interactive kind of like choose your Yeah, exactly, fantastic.
Speaker 1 (19:15):
Okay, So this show Don't Be Alone with Jay Coogan
is about really smart people like you coming on and
helping me with my problems. So fuck your problems. It's
all about me. Yeah, Yeah, that's that is and U.
And my problem is what am I taking for granted
as an American? As somebody born here and like the
(19:38):
same like you were telling your friends, what's the problem
you're here? Like what am I taking for granted about
being having the privilege of being born here and then
assuming everything's great for everybody?
Speaker 3 (19:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
I think the biggest thing that I've noticed about Americans,
which is an asset but also to their detrimental right,
is that Americans love of comfort. Americans are very comfortable.
There's a c everywhere, Like you go to Europe in
the middle of the summer, it's like, you know, I've
never learned fahrenheit.
Speaker 3 (20:10):
That's one of the things that I'm like, I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Keep that from Celsius is fine.
Speaker 2 (20:14):
Yeah, So like it's thirty eight to forty degrees celsius,
which is very very hot, very hot. And they're like, no,
this is this is just the summer. It's right, you
guys are this is horrible. And Americans, that's one of
the good things. But I think the other things is
Americans the way that can manifest is any sign of discomfort,
any sign of like things not going exactly catered to you.
(20:40):
Americans can be a little bit like, well, someone has
to fix this, right, No, And I think there's a
beauty and there's something that Americans miss out and that
you might be missing out Jay in like learning to
be a little uncomfortable.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
You know, you're exactly right. I don't. I've lived my
from day one in great comfort. I've actually said this
to my parents, Like if we were in the middle
of of a Fiddler on the Roof and we were
in Antefka and we had to move because everybody's going,
we wouldn't make it like we would just be in
(21:16):
their condo and wush and Boulevard, just sitting there waiting
to die.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Yeah, And I think that that that does give you
a little bit of like restlessness in a good way
that I think sometimes I see that Americans missed a
little bit and another big thing with comfort, And it's
different in la and certain parts of the country, you know,
but language learning to be a little uncomfortable because you
(21:42):
don't speak the language in another part of the world
or in your own like city, but in a neighborhood
that maybe you don't live in. It's actually like, oh well,
I am going to learn to be a little uncomfortable
with not knowing the language perfectly and maybe not being
understood perfectly, but still trying to communicate and going to a.
Speaker 1 (22:02):
New culture and a new place and trying to absorb
that difference is kind of fun and interesting exactly the
thing that we.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Miss and messing up, you know, I think there's a
there's a beauty in messing up when you're in a
different country.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
I will say that and then not to that. The
modern world is making it a lot easier to do.
Like I have Google Translate yes in Japan, and I
pulled a taxi driver tried to explain where I wanted
to go, could not communicate the fumfering way, and so
I pulled out the translate. I said it into the machine.
It repeated out loud. Where we want to go? He
(22:38):
said into the machine. What he said a lot of English.
He was done.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
But yeah, and that's I think that's super cool and great.
I will say, like, even just trying what I've discovered,
especially here in the States, when you meet someone from
a community that speaks another language and you attempt to
speak the language, everyone's like, oh my god, this is great.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
You know you're trying, and that.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Is, But what about people who say barrito instead of burrito?
Speaker 2 (23:06):
Like they're trying a little too they're trying a little
too hard, and so it it's a fine line.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah, yeah, I can roll my arms a little bit.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
That's a great that's a great role.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah that was really good newscaster style.
Yeah all right. So I'm yes, I'm an American, and
I like I like to be comfortable. I don't want
to press myself too hard for being discovered. What other
things am I taking for granted? I used to take
for it. I'll tell you something again, I don't want
to get too crazy political. But I used to take
(23:34):
for granted the system of democracy.
Speaker 2 (23:36):
Yes, that used to exist here, That's what I was
going to say. That was my next thing. Yeah, a
system that works. You know, I grew up in Columbia
and I love my country. And the way I speak
about your home country is kind of like the way
you speak about your family, and now I have a
lovely family. I love my family, but it is kind
of like you don't get to pick it right, and
you there's a lot of stuff about your family that
(23:58):
you're like, Wow, if I had to a person, I
would probably not pick a person.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
With this trait.
Speaker 2 (24:04):
And you can't do that with your family, and you
can't do that with your home country. And so I
love my country. But do you know how magic it
is that you can grab a piece of paper, put
it in an envelope, put a tiny sticker on it,
and then it magically appears wherever you wanted to go
(24:25):
in the country. That doesn't work in Colombia. Every time
we try to mail anything, it got stolen or lost.
It just does not work.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So how do you get something document from A to B?
Speaker 2 (24:37):
You drive it there like truly, and I mean, we
were lucky that we were in both with that which
is the administrative center. So no, the mail is not
a thing in Columbia. You get courier services, like it
doesn't work, and so like the fact that there is
a system that works, that you can trust, that you
can be like, well, the rules say this, therefore it
(25:00):
won't happen. That's something that you guys really took for granted,
and they really did, you know, you really did disastrous
consequence exactly.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
Now it's very becoming very clear that that the rules
weren't rules. They were just sort of ideas norms, right,
that customs and people were keeping and sometimes you apparently
don't have to keep the customs.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
Exactly, and so like stuff like that, and like even
at the basic level of the male but a little
bit like the belief in consequences. You know, Columbia beautiful country,
pretty violent in its history and also pretty oligarchic in
(25:41):
its history. Like it's always been kind of like the
same group of rich, lighter skin Latin people who have
owned most of the land and they govern and whatever.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
And you see.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
You see people who have rebelled against the system suffered
those consequences, even though they might be right or wrong,
and their actions might not be like the best. But
also when you see like, oh this guy is a
corrupt politician, he's been caught, nothing happens, you know, really
they there's a trial and then you know, oh, you'll
(26:17):
do house arrest, maybe because you know he's old. And
then oh, actually, well he's behaved so well during the
house arrest. So you know, we said twenty years, but
what if it's two years and he's done.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
Wow, you know, well, I mean I'm getting to experience
a little Yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Yeah, it's fun, it's it's exciting. I think it's a
little bit like we've seen the movie. Yeah, you know,
we like Latin Americans or people who lived under more
under less effective democracy. We've all seen the movie. So
now it's like when when The Red Wedding aired and
the people who had read the books and everyone was like,
oh my god, the Red Wedding and everyone read the books,
(26:52):
is like, yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
Right, That's kind of how I feel.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Right, I'm hoping that we can reclaim I hope so
a bit of normalcy, some bit of rule keeping, some
bit of even more stringent laws that would bend this
country back into shape. But where where? Where has America
let you down?
Speaker 3 (27:14):
America?
Speaker 1 (27:15):
Like when you came, before you got here, like what
were you thinking it would be? And where what is
it not?
Speaker 3 (27:22):
I thought there would?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
I mean, I think the lie of the meritocracy is
even before the current, like everyone gets fired if they
support DEI I think I thought a little bit more
of meritocracy as a thing that existed in America, and
I think it It certainly exists more than in other countries,
I think, but it is something that's like it is
(27:46):
so much of who you know, and it is so
much of like especially in the arts, Colbert's brothers and
sisters all in the payroll over there, but you know,
that kind of stuff. And I think a thing that
sometimes disappoints me of Americans an American general, is a
little bit of a lack of curiosity, because I think
(28:08):
when Americans are curious, they're great Americans. Really, Like you
see American tourists anywhere in the world, They're like, ooh,
tell me more, to the point where sometimes Europeans are
like these Americans are stuff, asking questions, you know, But
when they're when Americans choose to be incurious, it's like
one of the most frustrating things.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
In the world.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
It's like, well, I don't like that, and I just
don't want to do that. You're being a brat, right,
You're acting like a toddler.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
It is you're describing fifty percent of this country. Right.
My ancestors came here, they were rugged. They my grand
my grandfather came here alone on a ship when he
was twelve from Ukraine. You know, I have none of that,
Like there's not even that sense of again, of any
(28:54):
that desperation slash adventure, yeah, slash will to like make
something strive. Something I lived. I was born in Brooklyn,
New York, and moved to Los Angeles when I was five,
and I have not moved from this town. Like I
still live in the same five mile radius of where
I was born. Like there's no sense of like there's
(29:15):
a great wide world out there and I got to
conquer it.
Speaker 2 (29:17):
Yeah, but you have that, Well, I have a like
what I call I have like a little fire up.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
My ass, I think is what it is.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
And I think also the system, the immigration system now,
particularly when I was getting this artist visa, you have
to show achievement to the government to be able to stay.
So I was like, well, if what I want is
to do this, which is right television, right film in
the United States, because it is the best place to
(29:47):
do it, then I need to do things. I just
need to do them. There is no there are no
non negotiables here, right, so I need to prove it
to the government. Therefore I need to actually do them.
And so there's a like I would I love not
doing anything.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
I love just.
Speaker 2 (30:08):
Playing video games and you know, reading my book. I
was reading Frankenstein recently, and the doctor Frankenstein, like, sure,
he's a scientist and he built the monster spoiler alert,
I guess, but he doesn't have a job. He's just
a nobleman and so he like went to college and
did the monster thing and then he left and all
(30:29):
he does is like hang out at like Geneva and read.
And I'm like, that's what I want for myself. Yes,
but obviously, you the situation of me moving here kind
of created that sense of like, I have to just
keep doing things. And I would counter, you're you're a writer.
You do have that sense of adventure. You're doing something
that's not like a stable career. You're doing something that's
(30:53):
not necessarily like you're not a lawyer, not a doctor.
Speaker 1 (30:57):
But but my dad's a writer, so a neo baby, Yeah,
slide right in Like Okay, I see it's possible. Like again,
my sense of adventure didn't have to be up here
to sort of slide into there.
Speaker 2 (31:11):
But but but I guess yes. What I would say
is everyone has that sense of adventure. I think it's
circumstantial what leads you to do it? And obviously, like
I would never compare my story to your ancestors story
because they needed to leave.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
I chose to leave.
Speaker 1 (31:28):
They were being chased out of the country. Progroun exactly.
Don't be alone. When my government tries to find an
(31:53):
extraordinary artist and they they there's a people, a line
of people outside an embassy to all of them are
in berets, acting enigmatic yes, yes, yes, presenting you know, uh,
wild ideas, representations, abstract paintings like were you in competition?
Are there a limited number of not this one?
Speaker 3 (32:14):
Which is very cool.
Speaker 2 (32:15):
That's one of the coolest things about these extraordinary ability
visas is that it's like, if you can prove that
you're good enough for the threshold that the government has
you're good. It has like time limits, like it's you
can get it for three years and then you can
reapply every year, which is tedious but and expensive. The
biggest barrier to all this stuff is always money.
Speaker 3 (32:38):
You know.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
I am very fortunate that I was born like upper
middle class in Columbia. My parents were professionals, they had
studied abroad. Like this is a very particular life I
led compared to any other person born in Columbia or fantastic,
none of them. I got to look after each other.
That's how we come from Nepo.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
You got to keep the the upper middle class, upper
middle class. You know what I'm saying exactly. Yeah, that
is lucky. And I don't know who's it's kind of fascinating.
It should be part of a screenplay or something that
you're writing about who's judging who's an extra artist? I
know it's like what counts, what qualifies?
Speaker 2 (33:18):
My immigration lawyer told me, like, you know, it's you
learn about these places, like there's a town that I
want to visit because it's the town that adjudicated all
my artists visas. It's this town in Vermont called Saint Albans,
Saint Albans, Vermont, and it has a US Citizenship and
Immigration Services uscis a place like processing center and they
(33:39):
process all those visas in the.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
East Coast, Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:43):
And so it's this one town. And what my immigration
lawyer told me was like, it's it's a group of
people that they're just they're just public servants, you know.
They sometimes they have a college education, sometimes they don't,
and you kind of sometimes have to remind them or
you have to tell them that what you did is
(34:03):
a big deal. So like you need to get like
ten letters of recommendation from artists who have worked with you,
and you might have like the best improviser in the
world or whatever. They have no idea who that is,
so you have to like give them like a little
bio of the people writing your letters and stuff like that.
You have to tell people, no, this is a big deal.
(34:26):
Who's this John Mulaney right exactly. It's hard to quantify
art too, so it's like no, no, no, this this artwork
or this piece of art that I did actually was
performed in a place that a lot of people saw maybe,
or things like that.
Speaker 1 (34:42):
It seems like that it was a good way to
sneak in to say that you were a brilliant artist
and have nobody be able to counter it because art
is so subjective.
Speaker 2 (34:51):
Yes, I mean, but they do ask you to kind
of quantify it. That was really interesting. It's like, how
many like have you sold a lot of tickets for
one man show? Have you performed at a gallery or
been at a like have your art exposed in a
gallery that also had other great artists perform. So it's
a it's a weird way to try to quantify art.
And I'm fascinated how they do it with sports, because
(35:13):
sure there's like stats, but like, just because you didn't
go to the Olympics doesn't mean you're not an incredible athlete.
You know, I say to someone who is not an
athlete at all, tell.
Speaker 1 (35:23):
Me about the Colbert Show. Yeah, what is it like?
Do you are you like do they divvy it up
like somebody does monologue? Somebody does these pieces? Does everybody
do monologues? Is everybody?
Speaker 3 (35:34):
We all do everything?
Speaker 1 (35:34):
Okay?
Speaker 2 (35:35):
Yeah, And it's it's great. It's a it's a great place.
It's a fun like I think to me looking at
the news, and I think this would apply to most
late night shows. Now that they're also political. Sometimes the
only way to deal with all of this is to
just be able to like, oh, I cansider around with
(35:56):
my friends and write jokes about it, right, So that's
something that I really appreciate of. It's just like I
get to just have fun even though amidst the horrorse
You know.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
So I knew Stephen years and years ago, and he
was a ball of energy. He was just a ball
of energy. He was unstoppable, ball of energy. Yeah, to
the point where people would say, like, get him into
the next room sometimes. But brilliant, Yeah, fantastic because he
mean you have to say, is a good boss. I
know where he's publicly, but like blink twice if there's
(36:27):
a problem. Though.
Speaker 3 (36:28):
I mean, he's a great guy. He is.
Speaker 2 (36:32):
Incredibly kind and also a comedic genius. Like it's one
of those things where you know, you'll you'll write a
joke and you're like this is really great, and then
he'll perform it and it's like he made it so
much better.
Speaker 3 (36:46):
And he right, like he's he's he's a genius.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
Yeah, he's a whip smart. I like this, Yes, he's
whipped because he he turns on a dime and he's fantastic,
but he's also just smart. Like the other part about
it is, which I like, is he's well thoughtful and considered.
The Colbert Report when he used to do that was
so magnificent and so genius. And I can understand why
it was burdened to play that character night after night,
(37:13):
but it was so smart to sort of take it
from the other side.
Speaker 2 (37:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean it was. It's brailliant. It
was a huge inspiration for me growing up to watch
that and you know, Stuart's Daily Show in the original run,
to be like, oh wow, you can just like do this.
Speaker 1 (37:29):
You know.
Speaker 2 (37:30):
It's one of those unlocking moments when you see a
piece of art that you didn't know could be done.
Speaker 1 (37:35):
Are they Is there a mandate on the show, which
would be if I was running the show, to not
only have great moments of the show, but find things
that we can make viral videos from. In other words,
we need to we need to expand our audience, not
just from the late night thing, but we got to
put stuff on YouTube and Instagram.
Speaker 2 (37:52):
And we certainly have social media people and they run
an incredible account. They do incredible work on social I
don't think there's necessarily a mandate. I think it's just
like that's the reality of the business these days. It's like, well,
it's the reality of late night. People aren't consuming it
(38:12):
at eleven thirty five PM in their homes like some
people are. They stayed on, they kept the TV on while.
Speaker 3 (38:20):
Tracker was on.
Speaker 2 (38:22):
But the majority of people are consuming like clips on
social be it like TikTok or Instagram or YouTube. So
I think it's not a mandate. It's just what the
show is. So you have to be thinking of like
I don't necessarily think of like is this clippable when
I think of writing a joke. But I think it's
(38:44):
it's just how it informs your writing, just because that's
how you watched it, Like I watched I kind of
like grew up with the transition of like tuning in
to I'll watch it the next morning on YouTube because
I'm not going to stay up. And so I think
that does just knowing by watching the form of delivery,
(39:05):
it informs your writing just by.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
Doing that, I mean, because it does. My friends who
work on late night shows are all saying that we get,
you know, a couple hundred thousand viewers at night but
the real audience is out there. Millions of people are
watching the next day and on different clips.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
And yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
What do you think your kids, assuming you have kids,
I don't have them, Assuming you have them someday may
imaginary hypothetical children, what would you want them to have
from your immigrant perspective and still maintain within them if
they're born here in American citizen.
Speaker 2 (39:45):
I think the biggest thing is knowing that they come
from two cultures, that they are American, that they were
born here, but that their home is also Columbia. And
I think that's something that we discussed with my wife,
is like if we have kids, like the.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Whole summer is that in Colombia is like a thing,
like we want to do that.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
We want we want them to know their culture and
their their language. I think it's important to me that
they are fully bilingual.
Speaker 3 (40:15):
At least.
Speaker 1 (40:17):
What age do they have to join a cartel?
Speaker 2 (40:21):
Well, they should follow their dream and really like think
about it and don't go into a cartel just because
because you're eighteen. It's what everybody does right now, Like
you follow the dream, you know, sometimes sometimes cartels are
not for everyone.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
I didn't go to a.
Speaker 1 (40:39):
Sometimes medical school exactly exactly. Yeah, they'll have the culture
if they spend enough time there, for sure. But I'm
talking about like spiritually, Like what what if you could
say what is the spirit of you know, Colombia or Columbia,
then then you have like I know, I could to
(41:00):
say the lazy spirit is the spiritual lazy American. That's
the spirit that you want them to have to carry
with them.
Speaker 2 (41:08):
I think, I mean, these are values that I think
are good always. Uh, Curiosity, I think it's it's a
huge value. But also like Colombians don't take things seriously,
and I think it's because and it might be a
Latin trait because when we come we come from a
country where, like again, consequences are hard to come by,
and horrors happen often.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
You kind of have to like be a little yes
in Colombia.
Speaker 1 (41:35):
Okay, and did you did you witness a lot of horrors?
Speaker 2 (41:38):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (41:38):
Yeah, I did.
Speaker 2 (41:39):
I mean I grew up in the nineties in Columbia,
which was a much much more turbulent and violent time
than it is now. Like now it's much better. It's
it's a really great place to go vacation. It's really
you get traumatized, I think so. Yeah, I think there
were some you know, there were car bombs, there were kidnappings,
(42:00):
times where it was like, well, maybe we shouldn't go on.
Speaker 1 (42:04):
You know, from your bio in your book, it seems like,
you know, cushy, upper middle class life. I didn't. I
didn't know.
Speaker 3 (42:11):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
I mean I I very lucky compared to like most
Columbia's right, But yeah, in my family there was a
person who was kidnapped by like Marxist gorilla group that
claimed to be a Marxist guerrilla group fighting for the people,
and it's just a cartel, right, you know.
Speaker 1 (42:30):
So survive. I'm so sorry.
Speaker 3 (42:34):
Yeah, I've had friends.
Speaker 1 (42:35):
Who were kidnapped and killed, so I know what. I
know what that's like.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Yeah, So it's you know, it's a country that I
think we have worked very hard to make it better. Yeah,
And I think no one wants to go back to
those days. And I think the cartels are a plague.
We consider the drug trade like one of the worst
things that has ever It's a curse upon our nation, Cain,
(43:00):
and it would be great if y'all would stop consuming it.
I mean really, specifically, the city of Los Angeles.
Speaker 1 (43:07):
Although I grew up here, I've not I don't see cocaine. No.
Speaker 2 (43:12):
Yeah, I mean I think it's a very particular club
of people.
Speaker 3 (43:15):
But they really love love it. They really love it,
you know.
Speaker 2 (43:18):
But it is one of those things where it's like, oh,
it's this is one consumption driven upon of course. So
I think I think we who have witnessed the horrors
have to have developed you know. Some people would call
it makes you nearer to it, but I think it's
just a way to react. And I think laughter is
a way to react that isn't crying. You know, you're
(43:40):
eliciting emotion from people.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
But doesn't growing up in what amounts to a moderately
dangerous situation also either make you appreciate life or also
seem to give you the sense of, well, better enjoy now,
because exactly exactly.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
And I think that that creates a lack of seriousness
in life, a silliness in life in front of most situations.
Speaker 3 (44:05):
That I really appreciate that.
Speaker 2 (44:07):
And I think I am a professional comedy writer, and
I think I am the least funny person in my
family in you know, because everyone is just so quick
and so funny, because that is, that is the way
to survive, you know. And so I think that is
something that I would like my kids to have, that
kind of like, yeah, we gotta we gotta laugh, we
(44:28):
gotta laugh at life.
Speaker 1 (44:30):
All right. Well, now it's time for a listener mail.
Now it's time for listener man the listener Jeremy Rights.
If you could live in a country besides your own,
where would you choose to live and why?
Speaker 3 (44:46):
Well?
Speaker 1 (44:47):
Okay, so now, and it can't be the United States
can't be Columbia for you, Okay, it should be another place.
Speaker 3 (44:53):
Well, curiously, I've been thinking about it a lot.
Speaker 1 (44:56):
Yeah. Sure.
Speaker 2 (44:59):
My sister lives in England and I have, as I
said before, I am antimer an archic, so I have
a problem with that. But I would love to be close.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
It's not really a monarchy anymore.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
It's true. It's it's like a play. It's a it's
a play monarchs.
Speaker 1 (45:14):
Yeah, It's like it's if you were to Disneyland. It's
like Mickey Mouse isn't really running that place. What I
went yesterday, he was on every single money. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:25):
Yeah, So I mean I would like to be close
with my sister, but I uh, I went to Spain
for the first time, like three years ago, and I
don't I'm not a particularly woo wu person, but I
am very much.
Speaker 3 (45:41):
Like a mutt.
Speaker 2 (45:42):
Like my last name is Medina, which is an Arab
like Arabic word. But also like if you are if
you're Hispanic, there's a very high possibility that you have
like in your DNA like Tefardic jew who was forced
to convert.
Speaker 3 (45:58):
And then you know, but also native and whatever.
Speaker 1 (46:00):
But I may be related to the funky exactly.
Speaker 3 (46:04):
Well, we are actually cousins. We have a chat.
Speaker 2 (46:06):
But I think there was a like weird I went
to Spain to like for the first time, I did
feel that weird like vibration of like these are the this,
this is the motherland kind of like something in me
was like, oh wait, this feels weird. So I think
I would like to live in Spain. But I don't
think I would like to work in Spain because I
(46:28):
don't think they worked. They seem to just have fun, fun,
And I think I'm not built for that much fun.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
Oh I would be built just for that much fun.
It seems like one of the reasons I have not
been to Spain is I don't think I ever leave.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
It is the highest risk I think of going to Spa.
Speaker 3 (46:45):
People people.
Speaker 1 (46:48):
Great, that's a great answer. My answer to Jeremy is
where where would I go if I couldn't be here?
And uh, I don't know. I mean, I guess this
is going to sound dumb, but like New.
Speaker 3 (47:03):
Zealand, Oh that's nice.
Speaker 1 (47:04):
New Zealand seems awfully pretty. Yeah, I mean awfully pretty.
And it's got a few actual cities. It's just filled
with nature and beauty and hiking and and and everybody
there seems so happy.
Speaker 2 (47:16):
I would do it if they let me live in
the Hobbiton set. If they let me live in Hobbiton
I'd be like, yeah, I'll move to the Zealand.
Speaker 1 (47:23):
Right. So I mean that's who knows. That's I don't
see myself leaving anytime soon, but a lot of my
friends talk about going going somewhere, So that's good.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Well, so tell us the name of the book again
is America. Let me in a choose your immigration story?
Speaker 1 (47:42):
And why should we all read it?
Speaker 2 (47:44):
Because everyone needs Everyone has a freaking opinion about immigration,
and everyone's like four against but they're so loud about
it and they don't know anything about the system, and
this book breaks it down and it's funny and it's
really silly, but also actually teaches you a little bit
about the system.
Speaker 1 (48:00):
Fantastic. I can laugh and I can learn at the
same time. Yes, fantastic, all right, ideally, ideally, Well, I'm
they didn't send me one. Oh my god, they didn't
send me on so I'm gonna have to buy it.
So I'm gonna go buy it. I'm gonna go No, no,
I'm gonna go to Amazon. I will buy it and
then I'll read it and so then I'll be informed.
Speaker 3 (48:19):
Well, thank you for that too.
Speaker 1 (48:21):
It's been a pleasure meeting you. Thank you for being here,
Thank you for having me to the West coast briefly
to see this Disneyland whatever, whatever reason you're here, but
it was really really cool meeting you. And I'm really
proud that you've come here and found some really great
things about this country, not just things.
Speaker 2 (48:42):
No, this country is great, don't don't you know? You
don't need to make it great again because it is
already great.
Speaker 1 (48:47):
I agree, I agree, And thank you for being here
and for watching, and please subscribe to this show on
YouTube or wherever you see it, tell a friend if
you like it, and don't be alone. Spend some time
with somebody. Get to know. I didn't know Felippe until
I just met him, and he's really cool. So he
spent some time with somebody and we'll see you next time.
Speaker 2 (49:06):
Don't be alone with j J cogain
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