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Pablo Francisco By
MARIBEL SANTOYO, Seven years ago Pablo Francisco got his start making folks laugh at a steakhouse in Tempe, Arizona. Now the comic is seen as one of stand-up's rising stars and was a 1998 nominee for "Funniest Male Stand-Up Comic" at the American Comedy Awards. "He's a very funny guy, and I think he's one of the few Latino comics who's material isn't just Latino comedy oriented," said Yvonne Carmona, a production intern who had seen him in L.A. while working on a project. "He makes everyone laugh regardless of their ethnic group. Francisco has appeared on many television comedy shows for Showtime, HBO and Comedy Central, but if his face looks a bit familiar, it's probably because you've seen him as the Church's Chicken spokesman or on the pre-movie commercials for Coca Cola. The former cast member of FOX's Mad TV will be at Bart Reed's Comic Strip May 1-4. And if this show is anything like the ones that have earned him rave reviews nationwide, El Pasoans can expect some funny and off-the-wall impersonations. Here's what he had to tell us. MS: Have you done a show in El Paso before? PF: Yes! Last year I performed in El Paso with Carlos Mencia and Freddy Soto on the "Three Amigos Tour." MS: How long have you been in the business of comedy? When did you actually come to realize that this is what you wanted to do for a living? PF: I've been doing comedy officially for about 15 years, but I've always done the voices, sound effects and impressions. I used to do impressions of some of my high school teachers and kids in my classes. I think I've always wanted to do comedy for a living because I don't know how to do anything else. MS: What was the first material you remember ever working with? PF: Probably doing voices and sound effects and impressions. My friends and I used to do skits and I was always the sound effect and voice over guy. MS: You were a cast member on FOX's Mad TV, how did you get your foot in the door and were you ever able to write any skits or create any characters for the show? PF: My manager set me up and I auditioned for that spot on "Mad TV." We did a few skits based on my own original material. Probably about five of my skits actually made it on air. MS: At what point in your career did you start getting more attention from the TV networks and movie companies offering you appearances and roles? PF: About in the last 6 or 7 years. MS: Your shows involve a lot of imagination, how do you think you developed this as you grew up... what were your comedy influences? PF: I've always been drawn to unusual accents and voices. Arnold Schwartzenegger is one of my favorites because he has such an unusual and very identifiable voice and speech pattern. MS: You like to do spoofs of novelas (Spanish language soaps) what other aspects of "Latino culture" do you find humerous and consider good material? PF: I think that I get a lot of material from my family. I grew up seeing my mother watch the novelas, so the overly melodramatic acting was in-grained in my head and it was easy to develop that into material. And my father has alway encouraged me to learn Spanish, so he suggested listening to spanish radio stations. I got some good materaial out of listening to Spanish radio because, to me, all the D.J.'s speak like Dracula and all the music sounds like polka music. MS: Growing up you were a comedy junky, you even studied some of your favorite comics. Which one do you revere the most? PF: Wow... there are so many. I love the fathers of comedy, like Bill Cosby, Richard Pryor and Steve Martin. And one of my contemporaries who I love to watch is Mitch Hedberg. His material is mostly one-liners, but he's so creative that the lines come off subtle and then hit you with a big laugh. MS: You will have a movie coming out soon with Miramax called "My Baby's Mama," tell me about your role in this one. PF: It's a comedy with Eddie Griffin, Methodman, Anthony Anderson, Scott Thompson ("Kids in the Hall"), and a few other comics. It's like a black version of "Three Men and a Baby," but there's three babies. I play one of Eddie Griffins's buddies from the hood. MS: Tell me about the developmental deal with FOX Television for a pilot? PF: It's "on-hold" for right now. We have worked on a few different projects but nothing has panned-out as of yet. MS: What do you find most rewarding about a career in stand-up comedy? PF: I love making people laugh. It's so hard to descibe what a great feeling it is to make a room full of people laugh. It's also a great outlet for me. I'm always doing vocal impressions and sound effects so performing helps me put those voices to good use. And it's not a bad way to make a living. Copyright
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