Interview by
Julia Aguillon Article by
Celinda De La Fuente
San Anto kicked off Latinx Heritage Month with a diverse group of comedians for a three day event, September 17-19, 2021, with Jokesters Pub N Grub as one of it’s five locations which featured a plethora of dynamite hosts and comedians including, but not limited to: Emilio Rivera, Paul Rodriguez, Danny Trejo, Rick Gutierrez, Carlos Santos, and Chingo Bling. Southside San Antonio native and comedian Rick Gutierrez, who hosted a few of the shows, began his career in his 30s when he quit his job to pursue his passion of comedy, has much experience in this field as he has participated in the Latino Laugh Festival in the past, and continues with his success now.
“At one point, I was only one of four Latino comics touring the Midwest. That was weird to me, like, they didn’t know about us…Now you have [comics] like George Lopez and Gabriel Iglesias. You got Chingo Bling, and countless other guys, but there’s still not enough out there right now,” Gutierrez comments.
Gutierrez also sees the need for more Latina representation within the industry. More and more Latina comics are also being featured presently such as Carmen Lynch, Lisa Alvarado, and Paulina Chavez who took the Lila Cockrell stage as part of the three day event. The HA Comedy Festival also featured “a live interactive panel celebrating the release of the ‘Comedy Chingonas’ HBO Max special, where the festival stars share their inspiring journeys as Latinas in Comedy.”
“There’re a lot of different views now about being Latino opposed to being the normal stereotypical [Latino]…we’re part of the fabric. We’re doctors. We’re attorneys, blue collars, construction workers, people who own businesses,” Gutierrez explains.
Thus, there is much more to explore in the field of comedy regarding representation.
“It’s not a ‘Latino Festival’, it’s a festival where Latinos go apply their trade. It’s like I always tell everyone, I’m a comic who happens to be Mexican. That’s the thing about this show we are doing. It’s encompassing everybody, whether you’re Puerto Rican, Dominican, etc…These [comedians] have been around for a while, and nobody has seen them yet. That’s sad. Now we have a place to put them and show how wonderful they really are,” states Harlandale HS Alum Gutierrez.
“That’s what I love about doing a show like this. When you come out and you see the show, you see the diversity amongst Latinos, and you see ‘the funny’ through every color of the spectrum, you’re gonna go ‘Oh my God, we are amazing people!’ because we are,” he adds.
Gutierrez concludes with notable consejos, “Don’t believe people when they tell you ‘you can’t’…Always go forward. Strive. Strive. Strive.”
Keep pushing, gente. Don’t give up on your dreams.
For additional information, visit: https://hacomedyfest.com/
You can follow Gutierrez on FB and Instagram:
@funnyrick
And on Twitter:
@comicrick
