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Al Madrigal has a Mexican last name and has performed at his share
of Latino comedy jams across the country. But he doesn't call
himself a Latino comic.
After making his way from the Bay Area comedy club circuit to
Hollywood in the past six years, the San Francisco native says
"I don't do Latino stand-up, where I talk about Mexicans
vs. white people.'' "That's been done. I'd say I'm a dark-complected
comic who just happens to have a Hispanic last name.''
Madrigal performs stand-up and sketch comedy, and while he shies
away from what he calls "typical one-liner'' ethnic humor,
he jokes about race to some extent because it's part of his personal
story. "I'm half-Sicilian, half-Mexican, I went to French
school as a kid, and I don't speak Spanish,'' Madrigal says. "Latinos
don't really claim me, and neither do the Sicilians. It's the
plight of the half-breed. That's where part of my humor comes
from.''
He and his half-Greek, half-Korean wife also have a 2-year-old
son, Lorenzo. "He's a quarter this and a quarter that,''
he says, laughing. "Times are really changing.'
Madrigal got noticed by TV studio executives after winning the
jury award for best stand-up performer at the Aspen Comedy Festival
in March 2004. Shortly thereafter, he was cast in the David Schwimmer
- directed NBC pilot "Home and Hardware,'' which was later
dropped from the network's lineup.
He's currently awaiting word on the fate of the Fox comedy "The
Ortegas,'' a sitcom-improv hybrid based on the International Emmy-winning
BBC comedy "The Kumars at No. 42,'' he's also prepping for
his own "Comedy Central Presents'' special which will be
shown in the fall.
From a young age, Madrigal knew comedy was his calling. He grew
up in San Francisco's Inner Sunset district where popular comedians
-- the Meehan Brothers, Mike Pritchard and Margaret Cho -- lived
only blocks away. But it took Madrigal years to build up his courage
and act on his dream. "I was always a shy kid and didn't
talk much,'' he says.
After graduating from the University of San Francisco and working
for 10 years at his family's human resources business, he finally
decided to hit the open mikes. "I went from complete financial
security at a job where I fired people to sleeping in a scummy
condo owned by comedy clubs.'' But Madrigal says the journey,
which has been relatively short compared with the efforts of many
other struggling comics, has been well worth it.
"I'm not sure what'll happen with "The Ortegas,"
but even if I walk away and nothing happens, it's still a great
experience,'' Madrigal says. "I got into it all to do my
stand-up. The TV shows happened to come as a great bonus.''
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2002-2005 LatinoComedy.com
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