Spanglish 101:
A Total Immersion Comedic Excursion Into Latino USA
Laughs for Latinos and the Latino-curious
Dreams Come TrueWow. It’s so gratifying to look back and see what a springboard my first one-man show Spanglish 101 has been for so many other projects and opportunities. I first developed the show at La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, CA. Not only did it serve as a vehicle allowing me to address all things Latino as a standup. But the show also led to my first television special: Comedy Central Presents Bill Santiago. And that led to a book deal for “Pardon My Spanglish.” Plus, bits from the show now play regularly on Sirius XM Radio. Which is just about as I had envisioned the future of Spanglish 101, when I first wrote a description about the show for an earlier version of my website. Check it out below and keep in mind that if you dream it and put it out there, it can all come true.
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Thanks for the Support!
Spanglish 101 was developed with grants from The San Francisco Arts Commission, Theater Bay Area and the National Performance Network. |
ORIGINAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SHOW
Hey, so this is my baby, the show I’ve been working on and not so secretly referring to as my HBO special. No, there’s no deal or anything, but I figure they’ll come to me eventually if they have any sense.
And no, you don’t have to speak Spanish or Spanglish to enjoy the show. It’s just that some people will be laughing a little louder than you will, if you don’t. Actually, I test all the material in front of non-Latino crowds in order to gringo-proof it. So if you only understand English, no problemo.
I wanted to do a show about Spanglish because I grew up speaking it and didn’t even know it. Now, you can win elections with Spanglish campaign slogans. “Hasta la vista, baby!” OK, sure, with an Austrian accent, but still.
The show is not just about how much I love Spanglish – twice the vocabulary and half the grammar – but how we are what we speak. So it’s about our shared sense of, yes, Spanglishness, being of and living in two worlds at the same time. Cómo se dice… simultaneously.
You’re going to hear a lot about all the craziness in my family, too. How I was traumatized by my parents divorce, because they never got one. How my cousin Quique just got out of jail, again, after bankrupting everybody with his collect phone calls from “a correctional facility.” How my grandmother and I were college roommates, and lots more fun stuff like that. Oh, and how we never had cats because cats weren’t macho enough. So we only had dogs – poodles.
And at no extra cost, I throw in some socio-political-hysterical context. If there were no Spanish American War in 1898, guess what? No “West Side Story” in 1957. Imperialism? Or just show biz? How far is this country willing to go for a good Broadway musical? I’m gonna break it all down, no te preocupes.
As salsa clubs become gentrified and the chewpacabra generation enjoys the cache of being Latino in a post-vida-loca world, one of my favorite things to do is laugh about all this stuff. Whether you call it Spanglish, bodega-bonics, chipoptle-chat or Mexicali Esperanto, it’s the perfect starting point for making fun of everything you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask, about Latinos.
And if you’re a good audience, I might even dance a little for you.
And no, you don’t have to speak Spanish or Spanglish to enjoy the show. It’s just that some people will be laughing a little louder than you will, if you don’t. Actually, I test all the material in front of non-Latino crowds in order to gringo-proof it. So if you only understand English, no problemo.
I wanted to do a show about Spanglish because I grew up speaking it and didn’t even know it. Now, you can win elections with Spanglish campaign slogans. “Hasta la vista, baby!” OK, sure, with an Austrian accent, but still.
The show is not just about how much I love Spanglish – twice the vocabulary and half the grammar – but how we are what we speak. So it’s about our shared sense of, yes, Spanglishness, being of and living in two worlds at the same time. Cómo se dice… simultaneously.
You’re going to hear a lot about all the craziness in my family, too. How I was traumatized by my parents divorce, because they never got one. How my cousin Quique just got out of jail, again, after bankrupting everybody with his collect phone calls from “a correctional facility.” How my grandmother and I were college roommates, and lots more fun stuff like that. Oh, and how we never had cats because cats weren’t macho enough. So we only had dogs – poodles.
And at no extra cost, I throw in some socio-political-hysterical context. If there were no Spanish American War in 1898, guess what? No “West Side Story” in 1957. Imperialism? Or just show biz? How far is this country willing to go for a good Broadway musical? I’m gonna break it all down, no te preocupes.
As salsa clubs become gentrified and the chewpacabra generation enjoys the cache of being Latino in a post-vida-loca world, one of my favorite things to do is laugh about all this stuff. Whether you call it Spanglish, bodega-bonics, chipoptle-chat or Mexicali Esperanto, it’s the perfect starting point for making fun of everything you ever wanted to know, but were afraid to ask, about Latinos.
And if you’re a good audience, I might even dance a little for you.
