Latest / Locatora Radio [A Radiophonic Novela] / Capítulo 119: Fighting Words with Aida Rodriguez and Kris Mercado

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Capítulo 119: Fighting Words with Aida Rodriguez and Kris Mercado · Locatora Radio [A Radiophonic Novela]

0:02
Speaker 1: Radio Radio Radio commis a myth and bullshit, a radio
0:16
Speaker 1: phonic novella Look Radio hosted by Malam Hey look at Motives.
0:22
Speaker 1: This podcast episode is in partnership with HBO Max and
0:26
Speaker 1: today we have a super exciting interview to share with
0:28
Speaker 1: you all. We had the amazing opportunity to interview comedian
0:32
Speaker 1: Ida Rodriguez and director of her new comedy special, Chris
0:35
Speaker 1: Meticado at the l A premiere of Fighting Words. We
0:39
Speaker 1: talked about comedy, political commentary, the creative process, and what
0:44
Speaker 1: it means to create space for Latin X folks in
0:46
Speaker 1: the comedy world. We hope you enjoyed this interview. Hello, Hello,
0:51
Speaker 1: us notes, what's up, congar room. Let's give it up
0:56
Speaker 1: for Ada Rodriguez. Wasn't that amazing? Did she kill that?
1:03
Speaker 1: Or what? She killed that ship? Let's give it up
1:07
Speaker 1: one more time for Ado Rodriguez. Yes, those were some
1:12
Speaker 1: fighting words. They left me a little black and brew,
1:17
Speaker 1: but we like it a little rough, so it's fine.
1:20
Speaker 1: We're into it. Thank you all for being here tonight.
1:24
Speaker 1: We want to shout out HBO Max. Let's give a
1:26
Speaker 1: round of applause, Yes for making this possible. Yeah, So
1:33
Speaker 1: we want to introduce ourselves. I'm Viosa and my name
1:37
Speaker 1: is Mala. We are the host of a podcast called
1:41
Speaker 1: look At a Radio, a radiophonic novela. Yes, look at
1:45
Speaker 1: a Radio is a radiophonic novella, which is just kind
1:48
Speaker 1: of an extra fancy way of saying a podcast. Thank
1:53
Speaker 1: you so much for having us here. Thank you so
1:56
Speaker 1: much for having us. We have been podcasting since born
2:00
Speaker 1: and raised in Los Angeles, so this is such an
2:02
Speaker 1: amazing opportunity for us to be able to share the
2:05
Speaker 1: stage with the amazing Ido Rodriguez. Yes, let's get up
2:09
Speaker 1: for l A. Give it up for Los Angeles, and
2:13
Speaker 1: so we're ready to be in conversation with the amazing
2:18
Speaker 1: Ido Rodriguez and Christian. Let's welcome to the stage the
2:23
Speaker 1: star of the show Rodriguez and director Christian Mercado. And
2:30
Speaker 1: I believe y'all over here and we will be over here.
2:35
Speaker 1: Give it up for Chris, thank you. And Nadia Hagren
2:42
Speaker 1: who directed the documentary, who is an award winning documentarian
2:46
Speaker 1: who directed Michelle Obama's Becoming and she's Afro Latina Puerto Ricans.
2:51
Speaker 1: Give it up for her. Please, dream team. That's amazing.
2:58
Speaker 1: So before we get started. We just want to shout
3:00
Speaker 1: out one more time, HBO Max putting Latino Latina, Latin creators, stories,
3:06
Speaker 1: storytellers at the forefront. And we're so grateful to be
3:09
Speaker 1: here under this umbrella because our stories matter and we
3:13
Speaker 1: are thirsting for more. So we want to thank Aida
3:17
Speaker 1: for your work. And I promised my grandmother I was
3:22
Speaker 1: gonna start doing that. We were like listening to all
3:25
Speaker 1: the media we could find, like how do they pronounce
3:28
Speaker 1: her name? Every other way? Every there was I mean,
3:31
Speaker 1: I've allowed people to call me Ada for so long
3:33
Speaker 1: because my grandmother was alive and she was either but
3:36
Speaker 1: she told me that's your name. Be proud of it
3:40
Speaker 1: and let people they can say Catherine, they can say Bill,
3:44
Speaker 1: they can say either. Correct. Some of y'all think I'll
3:49
Speaker 1: try to tarroll owens it and say, oh I tacked
3:52
Speaker 1: minus not how do you say my name? It's I'm
3:55
Speaker 1: just honoring my grandmother. And how you actually pronounced my name? Yes,
4:00
Speaker 1: it's not Holliver. So we want to ask that. We
4:03
Speaker 1: want to ask you about your creative process first and foremost.
4:07
Speaker 1: I love the conversation and the bit about our grandmother's
4:12
Speaker 1: and the roles our grandmothers playing our lives and I'm
4:15
Speaker 1: very curious how you take your observations your family life
4:20
Speaker 1: and you craft them into a polished joke for an
4:22
Speaker 1: HBO Max special. Take us through the journey? Okay, So
4:26
Speaker 1: where does I want to say? One thing? Um, I
4:29
Speaker 1: know a lot of comedians who have haters in you,
4:31
Speaker 1: because we have haters in all of us, and that's
4:33
Speaker 1: just the nature of being a comic. Would look at
4:36
Speaker 1: the special and say, oh, she she only did this
4:39
Speaker 1: so much comedy and she had a documentary. It was
4:42
Speaker 1: really important for me to do that because media in
4:45
Speaker 1: general right now are we are, our stories are lacking,
4:49
Speaker 1: and as big of a market as we are, our
4:52
Speaker 1: stories just don't happen. So I sacrifice a portion of
4:55
Speaker 1: my stand up so that I could do that documentary
4:59
Speaker 1: because I really on it to show the spectrum of
5:02
Speaker 1: how beautiful the people of Puerto Rico and the Dominican
5:04
Speaker 1: Republic are in our fullness because there are there are there,
5:11
Speaker 1: we are. We ranged, like I said, and and you
5:14
Speaker 1: it's it's missing. So I was like, I want to
5:17
Speaker 1: do this, and Nadia was like, I'll take the journey
5:19
Speaker 1: with you. And I'm so thankful that I did that
5:22
Speaker 1: so for fun all of y'all who was talking about
5:25
Speaker 1: my special about how there's this documentary tame the hater
5:29
Speaker 1: in you and know that when it comes to Latin
5:32
Speaker 1: X people, we are invisible in a lot of ways,
5:35
Speaker 1: and so it was very important for me to do that.
5:40
Speaker 1: Um that, you know, most of us who are comedians.
5:46
Speaker 1: I talked to Dr Drew today because I was doing
5:48
Speaker 1: an interview and he said he could see the trauma
5:51
Speaker 1: on all of us because a lot of our humor
5:54
Speaker 1: is rooted in trauma. Um I Chris Spinster's here, Now,
6:00
Speaker 1: events is here, Clayton is here, Byron is here, tone
6:03
Speaker 1: is here. If I miss your name, charged it to
6:05
Speaker 1: my head, not my heart. But there are people who
6:08
Speaker 1: I comn I put a lot of pressure on me
6:11
Speaker 1: with comedy. You would say, don't beat like all the
6:13
Speaker 1: other comedians making thirteen cents and now go do something significant.
6:19
Speaker 1: Tell the story those words Byron Iron sharpens Iron Clayton,
6:26
Speaker 1: people would do a stand up longer than me. Really
6:29
Speaker 1: how to take an experience and make it a joke
6:32
Speaker 1: because if not, it's just an experience, right, it's just
6:34
Speaker 1: a story. I have to I have to pay tribute
6:37
Speaker 1: and Ian Edwards who when someone stole my joke he
6:41
Speaker 1: was like, so write another one. Like he didn't even say,
6:45
Speaker 1: let's go write another one. It was just the people
6:48
Speaker 1: who um did stand up before me. That taught me
6:52
Speaker 1: a lot of things about stand up Vanessa, like just uh,
6:58
Speaker 1: to really take the experience and make it a joke.
7:02
Speaker 1: And and then it was observational learning, paying attention to
7:06
Speaker 1: my my my comrades. Shawnta isn't came Shanta will tag
7:12
Speaker 1: your conversation, like all the comedians laugh when I'm not
7:16
Speaker 1: to you can be like, yo, I went to the
7:17
Speaker 1: grocery store and I bought this new kind of rights
7:21
Speaker 1: and she'd be like, I had a tag for you.
7:23
Speaker 1: It's like, it's just the comedians, can't we we we
7:28
Speaker 1: communicating comedy. And I wouldn't be able to write a
7:32
Speaker 1: joke had I not been in the presence of my
7:34
Speaker 1: my colleagues and my peers who really take joke writing seriously.
7:41
Speaker 1: Thank you. Let's give it up for Eva and the
7:43
Speaker 1: creative process. Hi. That's so in your stand up you
7:49
Speaker 1: talk about retiring from political commentary. So my question for
7:54
Speaker 1: you is as someone that's online or on the internet,
7:57
Speaker 1: and also as a woman of color, do you feel
7:59
Speaker 1: a certain pressure to comment on everything that's happening at
8:03
Speaker 1: all times? Of course we do, like a lot some
8:06
Speaker 1: of us do, some of us don't. Some of some
8:08
Speaker 1: people jumped off the bus and say, fuck everybody you know,
8:12
Speaker 1: because you can't win for losing. Um, yeah, I feel
8:16
Speaker 1: I got caught up in this moment where you know,
8:18
Speaker 1: I I I don't know if my T y T
8:21
Speaker 1: family is here, but I go on the young Turks.
8:25
Speaker 1: They've extended their platform for me to give a voice
8:28
Speaker 1: to people who you rarely see in those spaces, and
8:32
Speaker 1: it becomes hurtful. Um. My first joke which I took
8:36
Speaker 1: out the special was it's really hard to fight for
8:38
Speaker 1: people who you hate. I was like, I hate all
8:42
Speaker 1: you motherfucker's you know, Like, I can't win for losing.
8:44
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what I say. I'm always gonna say
8:46
Speaker 1: something wrong because I'm always gonna say something that offends somebody.
8:50
Speaker 1: But naturally who I am, based on how I was raised,
8:55
Speaker 1: the people that I come from, it is my natural
8:58
Speaker 1: inclination to fight for my people, fight for women, fight
9:02
Speaker 1: for marginalized people. It's not something that I do because
9:07
Speaker 1: I want likes on Instagram or I'm trying to go viral.
9:10
Speaker 1: It's just really who I am as a person. My
9:13
Speaker 1: kids hate it. They're like, stop caring about other people,
9:16
Speaker 1: just care about us. These people are horrible human beings.
9:21
Speaker 1: They're not worthy. I hear it all the time. It's
9:24
Speaker 1: just really who I am. And I've had to learn
9:26
Speaker 1: how to balance it because the reality of it is
9:29
Speaker 1: that some people I'm gonna I'm gonna talk to Latinos,
9:32
Speaker 1: latin x Latinae are just haters and they don't give
9:36
Speaker 1: a funk about the cause. They're just trying to get
9:38
Speaker 1: a platform. The grifters and there take capitalizing on the
9:42
Speaker 1: pain of their people and instead of really really fighting
9:47
Speaker 1: for justice. Because I feel like somebody says something that's
9:50
Speaker 1: fucked up, I'll just be like dm ng them and say, yo,
9:53
Speaker 1: are you sure you want to say that? I'm gonna
9:56
Speaker 1: put you on blast on Twitter and think you unless
9:58
Speaker 1: I think you're just an egregious person and you are
10:01
Speaker 1: beyond reproach and you're one of those people that just
10:04
Speaker 1: doesn't give a fuck. I'm not gonna Why am I
10:06
Speaker 1: burning you down? Well, I swear to God, just the
10:10
Speaker 1: four people on this stage. If you went through all
10:13
Speaker 1: our ship, you will find scandal and all our ship
10:16
Speaker 1: because every single one of us is imperfect. And a
10:18
Speaker 1: lot of these motherfucker's get online and be like oh
10:21
Speaker 1: because you know the marginalization and white supremacy and be
10:25
Speaker 1: the most rotten of people on the inside. And the
10:28
Speaker 1: motherfucker's that don't know pronouns have good souls and want
10:31
Speaker 1: to help other people. So I just it's really hard
10:35
Speaker 1: to fight. And some of y'all not clapping because y'all
10:37
Speaker 1: tho social justice bitches that be allline fucking with people
10:41
Speaker 1: and you don't really give a funk about your people.
10:43
Speaker 1: You're just trying to get a nice purse or you're
10:45
Speaker 1: trying to win, and the rest of us really give
10:48
Speaker 1: a funk about people getting shot by the police and
10:51
Speaker 1: actually want to feed on housed people, you know what
10:54
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So it's a burden, and I I this
10:58
Speaker 1: was my special to say, suck it. I'm not you
11:01
Speaker 1: don't own me. I'm gonna say what I say. I'm
11:03
Speaker 1: gonna continue to learn, and the people that funk with
11:06
Speaker 1: me gonna funk with me, and the ones that don't
11:08
Speaker 1: can't eat a dick. That's how I feel like, Yes, excellent,
11:14
Speaker 1: Eat a dick, Indeed, Eat a dick, Indeed. I have
11:19
Speaker 1: to say that. I have to say also, your show
11:31
Speaker 1: Truth Serum got me through the pandemic. Yes, I was
11:36
Speaker 1: tuning in and I was living for your analysis and
11:39
Speaker 1: your commentary. And I think that a lot of that
11:42
Speaker 1: thinking I saw evolves and end up in the special.
11:46
Speaker 1: So I want to thank you too for putting yourself
11:48
Speaker 1: out there and if you were, if you were watching
11:50
Speaker 1: Truth Serum, let's one of the thirty seven people that
11:53
Speaker 1: watched it, give it up for Uh. We do want
11:58
Speaker 1: to ask Christian about your creative process because you have
12:04
Speaker 1: directed work for Billie Eilish for Bad Bunny. Yeah, credits, credits,
12:10
Speaker 1: let's give it up. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, I did
12:14
Speaker 1: work with Jay Balbin. And how did you approach this
12:22
Speaker 1: comedy special as opposed to your more music based projects.
12:27
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean I think I love comedy.
12:30
Speaker 1: I think comedy is just like, you know, laughter, especially
12:33
Speaker 1: right now, is so important because we're kind of all
12:35
Speaker 1: going through it, you know, and I think a comedian,
12:39
Speaker 1: you know, puts a lot of their soul into it,
12:41
Speaker 1: you know, like it's a lot of work and even
12:43
Speaker 1: when I was, you know, chilling with Ida while she
12:45
Speaker 1: was working on this, I mean, you could feel a
12:48
Speaker 1: lot of the work you put into it, you know,
12:50
Speaker 1: like you you were going through it too, you know,
12:52
Speaker 1: and you're going through a lot of events in your life,
12:54
Speaker 1: and um, I don't know, laughter is really healing. And
12:59
Speaker 1: I think my creator process was really just trying to
13:01
Speaker 1: like be true to your voice, because you know, you're
13:04
Speaker 1: spending you're putting a little piece of your soul there.
13:06
Speaker 1: So it's like my responsibility to kind of portray that somehow,
13:10
Speaker 1: you know. And so I don't know, I hope I
13:12
Speaker 1: did a justice. You know. I tried my best. Yes,
13:17
Speaker 1: let me just say Christian. Before Christian was even on board,
13:21
Speaker 1: he sent me a look book of my special. It
13:24
Speaker 1: was so it was so um specific, Puerto Rico, the Dominican.
13:32
Speaker 1: You saw how that that that thing, if you saw
13:35
Speaker 1: what we started with and how he made that look
13:38
Speaker 1: that was him. He made it look beautiful. He has
13:41
Speaker 1: this cinematic mind. Yeah, that was really important to me
13:45
Speaker 1: for sure. Like I felt like, you know, with both
13:47
Speaker 1: Puerto Rican I was like, this's a rare opportunity for
13:51
Speaker 1: two Puerto Rican creators to like work together like that
13:55
Speaker 1: doesn't happen enough, honestly, you know, so like I don't know,
13:58
Speaker 1: I felt a lot of response ability in that end too,
14:01
Speaker 1: where I was like, I wanna put the fabric of
14:04
Speaker 1: our people in it somehow, I think just even you know,
14:08
Speaker 1: by virtue of working on it. But I love the
14:10
Speaker 1: way that even the flag is on there. That was
14:12
Speaker 1: a wild That was a wild moment in my life
14:15
Speaker 1: to put a giant Puerto Rican flag in the back
14:17
Speaker 1: of you know, and do it in an artful sort
14:20
Speaker 1: of way, you know, where it's not like it's just
14:22
Speaker 1: like very like subtle touch, you know, subtle but not
14:27
Speaker 1: so subtle. Yeah, you know what I'm saying. Beautiful, beautiful
14:33
Speaker 1: love that. So either you keep it reel in so
14:36
Speaker 1: many ways all the time, and especially in this special
14:39
Speaker 1: and one thing that you say that I would love
14:41
Speaker 1: to hear you expand on is that Latinos like to
14:44
Speaker 1: flex on other Latinos. So what has been the reception
14:48
Speaker 1: in your community, from your family for this monumentous moment
14:52
Speaker 1: in your life you have this comedy special. Well, I
14:56
Speaker 1: would be a liar if I would say that I
14:58
Speaker 1: didn't feel supported. Um, I do feel supported by a
15:02
Speaker 1: lot of um, a lot of people in this community.
15:05
Speaker 1: You see you looking here and you see Lisa Vidali,
15:08
Speaker 1: you see Celantis, you see Rossallin Sanchez just you know
15:11
Speaker 1: my child O. Um, Gloria, they don't kill it. You
15:16
Speaker 1: gotta see her the last part of her last name,
15:18
Speaker 1: like you white Gloria, they don't kill it. Um you
15:23
Speaker 1: know um. You know Clayton Byron, Vanessa Chloe, I saw
15:27
Speaker 1: Zana Chante. My friends who've been my friends before I
15:31
Speaker 1: did stand up are here. Lisa Grossman, who picked me
15:34
Speaker 1: up off the floor of my husband cheated on me,
15:36
Speaker 1: like I am. I have a community and I do
15:40
Speaker 1: feel supported. And I'm gonna tell you right now because
15:43
Speaker 1: I would be remiss if and I would be a
15:45
Speaker 1: liar if I didn't tell you. The first community to
15:47
Speaker 1: embrace me in comedy was the Black American community. It
15:51
Speaker 1: was one of the sites who put me on last
15:53
Speaker 1: comic standy Tiffany Hattish that gave me my first special
15:57
Speaker 1: Spike who's here, who put harassed me to death but
16:00
Speaker 1: put me on the stage at the improv after he
16:02
Speaker 1: hates me for years call me bitch like seventy five
16:06
Speaker 1: times and then put me on stage but if you
16:08
Speaker 1: know Spike, you know, if you're a woman, you're a bit.
16:10
Speaker 1: If you're a man, you're motherfucker's And I did feel supported. Um,
16:17
Speaker 1: but you know what I what I want to say
16:19
Speaker 1: is I know that our community when and now people
16:23
Speaker 1: are pushing back and saying there's no such thing as Latinos,
16:26
Speaker 1: there's no such thing as Hispanic those those are words
16:30
Speaker 1: of white supremacy. Yes, all of that is true, but
16:34
Speaker 1: there is a truth and that there's a community that
16:36
Speaker 1: belongs to this spectrum that is Latin America, regardless of
16:40
Speaker 1: where the names come from. Um, we are also Latinos,
16:45
Speaker 1: just like black people in America are fucking American and
16:48
Speaker 1: have the right to claim America that they built. Just
16:51
Speaker 1: like everybody else, we don't have to always feel like
16:54
Speaker 1: strangers in our own home. We have a common thing,
16:58
Speaker 1: those of us who are the children of the of
17:01
Speaker 1: the indigenous people and the slaves that were colonized by Spain.
17:05
Speaker 1: There is something that connects us all together from that experience,
17:09
Speaker 1: and I take pride in that and my my, my,
17:13
Speaker 1: my objective is to unify us with respect to addressing
17:19
Speaker 1: the issues of erasure when it comes to blackness and
17:21
Speaker 1: indigenous people and the Asian people of Latin America, not
17:25
Speaker 1: not ignoring that, but at the same time, if we
17:29
Speaker 1: can make The Fast inter Furious one of the biggest
17:32
Speaker 1: chains franchises to ever and not tripped on Michelle Rodriguez
17:37
Speaker 1: not being Afro Latina, and that we have to be
17:41
Speaker 1: able to hold each other accountable and be able to
17:44
Speaker 1: be true to ourselves to say we are very We
17:49
Speaker 1: have such buying power. We show up for everybody else,
17:53
Speaker 1: but we do not show up for each other. And
17:55
Speaker 1: it is important for me that I hold the mirror
17:59
Speaker 1: to ourselves, to us and to me as a comedian,
18:02
Speaker 1: because a lot of comedians who belong to the Latin
18:06
Speaker 1: X spectrum don't do that, and I'm not gonna shoot
18:09
Speaker 1: on them because they don't. You can talk about your
18:11
Speaker 1: cupcakes and how you like to eat or food, or
18:14
Speaker 1: you know, your mother beating you without choko. All of
18:17
Speaker 1: that is part of the experience, and I don't shoot
18:19
Speaker 1: on that. Everybody has a right to tell their story,
18:22
Speaker 1: but somebody's got to tell talk about the uncomfortable stuff, right,
18:26
Speaker 1: somebody's got to talk about the social issues and the
18:29
Speaker 1: political issues. And I'm not afraid to do it. So UM.
18:34
Speaker 1: I don't know what your question was it, but my
18:41
Speaker 1: my point is that, you know, when it comes to
18:44
Speaker 1: our community, and you know, like I've seen people say, well,
18:48
Speaker 1: I'm not celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month anymore. I'm still celebrating
18:52
Speaker 1: um in February, and I'm like, all right, good luck
18:55
Speaker 1: with dad, and I'm Black American. People tell you get
18:57
Speaker 1: to funk out our month, bitch. We we It took
18:59
Speaker 1: us forever to get our own mouth. Now you want
19:01
Speaker 1: to jump over here and appropriate our ship. It's just
19:04
Speaker 1: it's a complex thing and it's a nuanced conversation and
19:07
Speaker 1: we can't do that anymore because if somebody's feelings get
19:10
Speaker 1: hurt and they got thirteen followers on Twitter, now we
19:13
Speaker 1: got a problem, you know. And until we have the
19:16
Speaker 1: conversations and we have the lemon squeeze and we cry
19:19
Speaker 1: and fight and beat each other up and hurt, We're
19:21
Speaker 1: not gonna move forward, you know what I'm saying. And
19:24
Speaker 1: if you watch black people in America, black American people,
19:27
Speaker 1: because black people exist, and I think they made a
19:30
Speaker 1: conscious decision, a collective decision when they did Oscar so
19:33
Speaker 1: White there was like, funk the dumb shit We got problems,
19:37
Speaker 1: we got colorism, we got all these issues, but we're
19:39
Speaker 1: gonna make sure that we burn this bitch down. And
19:44
Speaker 1: Latinos are the first ones to take each other down,
19:48
Speaker 1: and that has to stop. It has to stop, or
19:52
Speaker 1: we ain't gonna ever have ship. We just gonna be
19:54
Speaker 1: on the sidelines, you know, talking shit about other marginalized
19:58
Speaker 1: people and being hateful and on this Let's give it
20:01
Speaker 1: up one more time for Iva. And I do have
20:09
Speaker 1: to say that with your truth, with your honesty, you
20:12
Speaker 1: put yourself out there like and you don't have to
20:15
Speaker 1: very very willingly, and you're taking blows and you're persevering,
20:20
Speaker 1: and so we thank you and we honor you, and
20:22
Speaker 1: let's give it up one more time. Thank you, Thank you.
20:28
Speaker 1: So I just want to say, um, I wanna address
20:32
Speaker 1: both Ida and Christian and um, you know, HBO Max
20:37
Speaker 1: is all about really taking underrepresented stories and putting them
20:41
Speaker 1: at the forefront and giving them wide distribution. And so
20:44
Speaker 1: we're really wondering for you, both in your own work
20:47
Speaker 1: and in your own just mentality, how you feel that
20:50
Speaker 1: your work and the special is participating in that and
20:55
Speaker 1: and pushing those stories to the forefront. Christian, I mean
21:00
Speaker 1: It's always important to you know, what you put the
21:02
Speaker 1: you know, in front of the lens matters as much
21:05
Speaker 1: as what who is working the lens to, you know
21:07
Speaker 1: what I mean. Like, and I think that, um, you know,
21:10
Speaker 1: our story isn't really told. I think, especially in the
21:12
Speaker 1: American canon. I think, um, people are always confused by
21:16
Speaker 1: what you know, a Latino is, what a Puerto Rican is,
21:19
Speaker 1: by you know, the whole spectrum of it. So it's
21:21
Speaker 1: just because our story hasn't just been seen enough, you know,
21:25
Speaker 1: and hasn't been told enough. So I think we just
21:28
Speaker 1: need more representation. We just need more of our stories told.
21:31
Speaker 1: We need to be in more of the rooms. We
21:33
Speaker 1: need to control our story more, you know, we need
21:35
Speaker 1: to be the offers of it. Um, you know, I
21:38
Speaker 1: think that's a process, but that's vital. And I think
21:42
Speaker 1: you know, what you see is what you understand, you know,
21:46
Speaker 1: Like our our culture collectively is kind of sometimes cinema,
21:50
Speaker 1: you know, like that's what it is. Hopefully it's a
21:53
Speaker 1: launch pad. Everybody's learning, everybody's growing. But I will say this,
21:58
Speaker 1: we comedy is you know, I don't even think the
22:02
Speaker 1: ceiling has been broken for black women, even though Tiffany
22:06
Speaker 1: Haddish and Wanda Psykes are so successful. The ceiling hasn't
22:10
Speaker 1: been broken. And one thing that we need to learn
22:13
Speaker 1: how to do is to understand things from a holistic perspective.
22:17
Speaker 1: We don't have to compare ourselves to other marginalized people
22:20
Speaker 1: to make a point. We don't have to say but
22:22
Speaker 1: the Black people, but that the Asian people. We can
22:25
Speaker 1: just say we are enough, we are worthy, we deserve
22:28
Speaker 1: and all of this ship is wrong because even if
22:31
Speaker 1: you see more Black American people, they still not get
22:34
Speaker 1: in there. Just do either. So it's just really about
22:37
Speaker 1: being able to say, I hope this is a launchpad.
22:40
Speaker 1: I didn't focus on Puerto Rico and Dominican, the Dominican
22:44
Speaker 1: Republic as much as I when I talked about all Latinos,
22:47
Speaker 1: and then I talked about you know, social issues, relationships,
22:51
Speaker 1: I talked about my family, and I talked about cultural stuff.
22:54
Speaker 1: I broke the special up into four sections. But I
22:57
Speaker 1: don't want this to just be about us, which is
22:59
Speaker 1: why I told stories that all people could relate to,
23:02
Speaker 1: not just about Puerto Ricans and Dominicans, but without without
23:07
Speaker 1: being afraid to lean into being Puerto Rican and Dominican
23:10
Speaker 1: and not apologizing for that either because we do matter too, right,
23:14
Speaker 1: Like I don't have to apologize for that, and I
23:17
Speaker 1: can still respect people from Bolivia and Ecuadord and Panama
23:21
Speaker 1: and all the other countries from our from Latin America.
23:25
Speaker 1: I hope that it shows up in a way that
23:28
Speaker 1: will create opportunities for other people. I am one of
23:32
Speaker 1: those people. Clayton and bron No. I did a movie
23:35
Speaker 1: in two thousand and seven. Vanessa knows that all my
23:39
Speaker 1: all my comedy friends were in That movie was about
23:41
Speaker 1: forty comedians in that movie. My mantra really is, it
23:45
Speaker 1: ain't no fun if the homies can't have none. I
23:48
Speaker 1: am not straight up who the funk wants to be
23:53
Speaker 1: lonely at the top by themselves. Adam Sandler looks like
23:57
Speaker 1: he's having a good time, just like Jon Favreau looks
23:59
Speaker 1: like he's having a good time, just like Ben Steeler
24:01
Speaker 1: looks like he's having a good time. Why not us?
24:04
Speaker 1: We gotta get that ship out of our minds. There's
24:06
Speaker 1: only room for one of us at the top. And
24:08
Speaker 1: I hope this bitch busses the door down so that
24:11
Speaker 1: super who's Indian is in this here can get a
24:15
Speaker 1: comedy special, and and a queer person and a non
24:18
Speaker 1: binary person and a trans person. I don't give a work.
24:21
Speaker 1: I want everybody to have a voice because when everybody
24:24
Speaker 1: then has a voice, then the outrage will minimize because
24:27
Speaker 1: there will be people that can represent those groups that
24:31
Speaker 1: are being shifted on and punched down on. And that's
24:33
Speaker 1: how you find equity in this It's not it's not
24:36
Speaker 1: about Twitter and complaining and getting a thousand tweets. It's
24:40
Speaker 1: about creating a market where people have an opportunity to
24:43
Speaker 1: show up and have visibility and have equity. And that's
24:47
Speaker 1: what I'm fighting for. So I hope Fighting Words opens
24:50
Speaker 1: the door and ten funnier specials come out and you
24:55
Speaker 1: that's yeah, yeah, thank you. Yes. This podcast episode is
25:07
Speaker 1: in partnership with HBO Max. You can now stream I
25:10
Speaker 1: Rodriguez Fighting Words on HBO Max. Check out this amazing,
25:15
Speaker 1: hilarious special. You don't want to miss it. We hope
25:18
Speaker 1: you enjoyed this interview. Thanks for tuning in. Besitos Radio
25:30
Speaker 1: Radio Radio comus a Myth and Bullshit, a radio phonic novella.
25:40
Speaker 1: Local radio hosted by Malamo