Camp Gagnon - The WILD Side of Brazilian Culture

Episode Date: January 20, 2026

Rafi Bastos steps into the tent to unpack his journey from growing a fanbase in Brazil and navigating life as a Brazilian Evangelical to stand-up comedy and the universal challenge of winning over a new audience. We dive into Brazilian Resenha, childhood Evangelical sleepovers, airplane pet peeves, the Jewish/Brazilian mix, and other interesting topics. Welcome to Camp. 🏕️Shoutout to our sponsors: Flakes and BlueChewVisit https://byeflakes.com and use code 'CAMP' to get 20% off, a free scalp brush, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.👕🧢 SHOP THE UFO COLLECTION HERE: https://camp-rd.com/collections/ufo🎟️ 🎫 Comedy Tour Tickets Here: https://markgagnonlive.com🎩👽 Daily Dose Of History Here: https://www.dailytodayinhistory.com Timestamps:1:25 Building a Brazilian Fanbase6:09 Why Are Brazilians Funny12:30 Brazil’s Resenha14:00 Marks Brazilian Soccer days18:50 Brazilian Home Life21:28 Evangelical Sleepover24:14 Brazilian Evangelicals35:18 The Jewish/Brazilian Mix41:36 The Problem w/ Airplanes50:02 Crappy Plane Ride + Covid Plane Ride53:37 Explaining 6-7 to Rafi57:30 Difficulty Earning American Followers1:04:25 Kid Super Surprise Popup1:15:01 Importance of Dreams + Wanting Fame1:27:35 SNL Brazil#podcast #foryou #comedy #history #brasil #campgagnon #camping

This is Rafi Bostos. He is the biggest stand-up comedian in Brazil. He's hosted Brazil's version of S&L. He's an actor, a television personality, and he has now built an entirely global audience, purely in a second language. He taught himself English just so he could travel the world and do his passion. He grew up originally in Brazil, a country where life can be hard, and laughter is survival. People are making jokes in favelas. They give ruthless nicknames to their friends, and they oftentimes turn their pain into comedy before it becomes to. spare. But what makes Rafi different is that he's always been a little bit outside of Brazilian culture. He's always been a little more skeptical. And of course, that makes him so funny. He's like Brazilian Larry David, right? He's an immigrant comic that now is in America that is discussing American life, an American culture, and the English language and why airplanes are so crappy for tall people. In today's episode, we talk about why Brazilians are so funny, and why happy cultures can sometimes ignore real problems. And what happens when a comedian stops trying to be viral and starts really being honest? Rafi is just a brilliant guy. He's one of my favorite stand

of comedians. I get to watch him every single week at the comedy seller. And on top of that, he's just a truly amazing person. So I hope you guys enjoy this episode, half as much as I enjoyed half of you. So without further ado, sit back, relax and welcome to Kim. Rafina. How are you, brother? My pleasure, brother. Thanks for having me. Of course. Thank you for joining me. I'm very excited. It is not always that I get a comedian superstar like yourself in the room. Superstar, wow. You got to tell the bookers. It doesn't matter.

They're not going to book me. Maybe they're listening. Maybe they're listening. Who knows? Not only are you a superstar in America, but in Brazil. In Brazil, one of the biggest comics in the whole country. Yeah, I would say one of the biggest comics. I would agree with that.

You even said to me that your American Instagram has now, just now, gotten on par with your Brazilian profile. Because it's not actually in America. It is in English. Fair. So people, I have like followers from all over the world now. Like, it's crazy. I did like a tour in the Middle East.

I go to Italy and I have Italian people watching me. That was not the plan when I built like an Instagram in English because I was trying to conquer an American audience, but I was able to build like an Amsterdam audience. Right. I wasn't the plan, but it happened. You know, it was crazy. And it's interesting anytime someone has a massive audience in a very specific sub-region of the world, right? Like, I was hanging out with an Australian friend of mine who is a very big comic in Australia, but has only, like, you know, 600,000 followers on Instagram.

Okay. And I was like, I know people, I know like a makeup influencer, but three times this. But this guy, when we walk around Australia, shuts it down. Like everywhere we go, there's kids running up to him. Kind of a picture, da-da-da, because it's such a small country that when you're, when you have six hundred, thousand in a country of 25 million. Smalling population. Exactly.

Huge. Yeah, geographically. It's too big. But he's so famous in this population. So I wonder when you walk around Brazil, are you being accosted on the street? Are people stopping you? Are you getting photographs nonstop? Well, and I'm not going to say that every people approaching is the nicest one.

Fair. Because that, no, but it is. I have a very nice audience in Brazil. And because of the options I made in Brazil in my career, now I have an audience that really, really are with me. Yes. They are with me. Yeah, yeah.

Support me. It's not only like, ah, but that happened too. Oh, how are you, Rafi? I'm a big fan. But now, like, people who pay to watch me, they're like, bro, that's so good that you're here.

I kind of, I see myself in you, so I see that a lot now. Yes. I feel like for a while I was just a famous person, which is also a good position to be in, but now I feel like my audience really likes me, you know? Like, they enjoy,

what I do, they follow my journey. It's crazy. It's not as big as it was like 10 years ago, but I feel like it's more engaged. It's more honest. It's more connected. It is. No doubt.

No doubt. For sure, for sure. But yeah, like the problem in Brazil, like we are very isolated. It's a huge country. We have, I don't know, 350 million people in Brazil. But if you think about it, we are the only country that speaks Portuguese.

in the area. So it's us. Like a Brazilian comedian can only tour in Brazil, Portugal. Yeah. Well, Angola, if he wants to, I don't know, to make just a few bucks because the money is not that much. The currency sucks. You can go to Cabo Verde.

Like there's like just a few places that we can go, you know. So for me to do in English was a way for me to just go, you know, to do more than just my people. Yes. Because we are very limited because of the language. But this is one of my favorite topics because I've maybe shared this before on this show, but I'll share it with you. My father traveled in Europe for like his work. And so growing up, he would come home and he would tell us stories from all the places he went.

And you probably have brothers everywhere in the world. Exactly. Exactly. I hope. And I hope to meet them. Please reach out to me. Okay. Hopefully they book some shows.

It'd be nice. But he travels all over. And every time he comes home, we sit at the dinner table. He comes home. He brings gifts. He brings souvenirs from wherever he went. And then he tells me stories about this is why the Dutch are funny because they're very serious.

And here's why Germans are funny. Here's why Italians are funny. And then you go to North Italy and you go to South Italy. They're very different. And he would just explain these cultural stories and the whole family table, all six of my siblings, we would just sit there and laugh. And I became so obsessed with cultural perspective through a comedic lens. It was my favorite thing, which is why I love talking to comedians that have dominated

a specific culture, but just in any sense, come from a different part of the world. Because you have a lens on not only America as an outsider, but on Brazil and the Brazilian people as an insider. So I'm curious, or maybe just a start, why are Brazilians funny? What do Brazilians do that you find funny? We more than funny, Brazilians are happy. Yes. We are a happy population, you know, because it's still a poor country. It's very difficult to live in Brazil, it's not easy to live in Brazil. It's a poor country, but people find ways to have fun. It's a hot, like a tropical country, which already helps.

We see some similarities with Australia, like with the weather and stuff. So, you know, that helps a lot, you know, because being on a winter for like three, four, like in New York, five months. People are angry all the time. But in Brazil, it's a hot country. people find ways to deal with adversities in a very fun way. Okay. Like what?

Because there's a lot of poor people living in dangerous areas. You need to find ways to survive. And surviving in Brazil is not only being able to pay for food. It's having fun. It's entertainment. It's being entertained. So there's a lot of funny people all over the country. Like musicians, like you see those guys, the country guys in Brazil, the certainesios, they don't know how to tell a joke, you know.

They have fun with each other. You see in the favelas, like I did stories in the favelas. The favelas are the slums in Brazil in the mountains. Like you go inside and you see people like sharing a tiny little place with 12 people and then find ways to crack jokes and to be funny because that's the way we are able to. survive. That's a good thing and a bad thing at the same time. I even say this on stage. Happy people sometimes have a hard time to see real problems. You know? So that's what I say on stage. People have dance and have so much sex and they're like, oh, corruption. Who cares? I'm fucking. Like, well, they don't care. So we find ways to have fun. Of course, there's people

worry about different problems in Brazil. But when you're too happy, sometimes you have a time to see like life is hard and you have been taking advantage of happens a lot in in Brazil you know right so we need we need to balance the fun the fun the carnival the dancing on the streets with the bbLs with the bdl with searching for a better life for ourselves yeah you need both yeah so but brazilians are fighters we are fighters we are we find ways to deal with life in the most fun way possible. I mean, top five happiest countries in the world. Oh, yeah, we are on the top five?

Yeah, you have Nicaragua. No, we are not in the top. We are? Yeah, you have Nicaragua. You have Brazil, Slovakia, Latvia, and Uzbekistan. Oh, so we are at seventh place. No, no. No?

There's a lot more. Oh, there's a lot more. You've misled me. You're telling me that Denmark, forget about the... Go to the top. Go to the actual top. Forget about this ranking.

Fire Chris. It's a horrible website. You're telling me that we lost to Iceland. Bro. Yeah, they don't have any buttlifts over there. Bro, in Iceland. And you're trying to convince me they're happy. It's probably the saddest place in the world.

I've never been. I've never been. But this just seems like this is paid for by whoever does like health care. If you have health care, you're happy. You're like, all right, sure. There's no carnival in Iceland. Oh, yeah. No, they're not.

They're missing it. Bro, happiness at the end of the day, even in the worst situation, end up being a choice. And I think we kind of know that with Brazilian people, you know. So in the worst adversities, we are able to have a good life, to be connected to our families,

to have barbecues. Like, Brazilians, they work the whole week to be able to pay for a good barbecue on the Sunday and share, you know, laughs and share music and dance. So it's amazing. Is it a nickname culture? Like, I have friends, like,

specifically Jamaicans and Mexicans I've found are nickname cultures where people will give you nicknames based off of like one thing that happened to you or like how you look or a disability or a disability. So there's a few I can think of. I had like Mexican friends like if you were fat growing up you were gordo. Like you were just you just were fat and that's how they're gorgidito maybe and then like there was a guy, a Jamaican guy I knew and they called them buckets and the reason is because he had one leg that was shorter than the other leg. So every time he walked. and looked like he was carrying a bucket. Yes.

And that just was his name. I had a friend in Brazil in the wheelchair. He had like half of the legs. And his nickname was Lie. Because lie doesn't go too far. Yeah. We make fun of disabilities. I had a friend that his nickname was,

Zé du Reloio. Zed du Relojo is like Joseph of the Watch. because one day he showed up wearing a watch and that was his nickname for like 25 years because he just had a watch because we didn't know him we didn't know his name

Zé is like something used for anyone like if you show up with a hat you'll be Zhe of the hat so he was Zay off the watch Zay is a very like common name that you use for anyone this is Italians do the same thing right like a New York Italians

and be like yeah that's Joey Donuts And why is that? Well, you see the donor. It's just what I call him. That's it. It's the same culture. It just kind of changed a little bit. Same thing.

That's so funny. We have nicknames, but it's crazy because in America you guys are very, like nicknames are short and respectful. Like Mark, Marky. Yeah. You have John, Johnny. In Brazil, you have Cabasso, which is a guy who never had sex. It's like, why you go? Yeah, we do that.

That's so funny. There's Johnny the Virgin. He has two kids. You're like, yeah, but he used to be a virgin. 35 years ago, yeah. He's still there. I love that. Yeah.

There's also a specific term in Brazil. And I'm going to pronounce it incorrectly. And I might need you to Google it. Okay. It's, I believe it's called Haseenha. Haseenia. R-E-Zenia. Is when people sit down and just have a conversation about a topic?

That's what this is. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. Rzenia is like, Rzeniaenia, it's a fun conversation that you have. with your friends. Okay. Yeah. So like, like how would this be used?

Like, hey, we're doing a, Rizenga? Yeah. Oh, the Rhezenga yesterday was amazing. Like you and another guy

had a conversation. How was yesterday at Jose's house? Oh, the Rhezhenia was amazing. Like the conversation, the talk. Just the hang. Yeah, the hang.

The hang. Exactly. Ah, I see. It's a great term. Like, it's great. Yeah. Rezenia is awesome. Because that's like,

the point, right? It's like, okay, we're going to get together. Is there food involved? No, no. Resenia can be just people talking. Just talking shit. You need to be talk. If you just go eat, there's not a resenia.

It needs to have a, like, it's connected to a good conversation. Can it be bad? Can you say the resagna was bad? Or is it implicit that it was good? A resena was a merda. Yeah, no, you can be, can be bad. Yeah. Oh, and also you can use resenia.

if you say like someone that talks too much. Oh, la, he goes with his resenia. It's like too much, you know? That's so funny. So it's talking, talking. The Brazilian accent is fantastic. It's one of my favorites. You think so?

I grew up in Florida. I grew up in Florida with a ton of Brazilians. Okay. My coach growing up, Marcos Machado. Okay. And he said, Marcos, you need to pass the ball, you need to move with a boy. A soccer coach. Exactly.

And it was like that. So you play soccer? Of course. Were you good? In my youth, I was good. In my youth. I was good from like 10 to like 14. Then people got better than you.

And then people got way better. And I also, I lost the spark, I think. You didn't want to do it anymore? I just got a little like burnt out. But when I was like 12, and I don't want to brag. You can brag. You can brag. That's a good point.

You know, I needed that. Yeah, it's just. When I was 12, I was on the best team in the country. And like, we would play in like these national tournaments. We'd go up to like Pennsylvania and Georgia and stuff. Where was it? This was in Florida. This was my team.

Which city? In Orlando. So you're telling me that Orlando had the best soccer team in the country. It's hard to believe we'd go down to South Florida. We'd beat up the Brazilians down there and the Haitians and the Jamaica. Everyone, we would, we were bagging, everyone. Everyone on that team ended up either playing professional or D1. I was one of two kids that said, you know what, I'm good.

And I, I filtered off. So I was the worst of the best. You just got tired or you just got bad. Both, both. Because I was starting. And then as I got like 13, 14, I was like the first sub off the bench. Well, the bench in soccer sucks because sometimes you just don't play. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then you go, we travel somewhere and you just don't step on the court. You put on the warmups and then you just stay in the warmups. And you never, you never tear them off. You just sit and warm. But it was and then I moved to another team that was worse, but I was playing more. And then I just kind of filtered off. But I played soccer all growing up and I had so many Brazilian coaches. As a matter of fact, this is another brand.

You can brag, all right? You can brag. I played with a guy whose last name was Nacimiento. Well, there's maybe the most common last name in Brazil. But there's one Nassimiento. Oh, Pelle, but that was like my friend is Tatiana Nacimian. It doesn't mean shit, man. But his father was Pellet.

Was Pellet. Ah, you're kidding. I swear to God. His name was Josh Nacimento. He's a great guy. Josh Nacimento? Yes. And it was Pellet had like a 155 kids.

So you're probably not wine. I'm not lying. Maybe I'm his son too. Maybe. You're too tall. Josh Nacimento. Yes, I can, I'll FaceTime him right now. You have a search for Josh Nacement. Oh, yeah, there is Josh Nassimento.

So he was born in America. Oh, yeah, he looks like Pela. Oh, yeah. And Pelle came to a game. He did. He came to one game. You know, Pellet played here. You know that.

Cosmos. Cosmos. In New York City. Oh, he was in New York. I didn't know that. Yeah, the New York Cosmos. It was a, this is back before MLS. It was like the USL, I think.

Oh, so there was a league here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cosmo, oh, look at this, look just like Pele. Yes, and he was the best. Oh, there's a picture with him in Pelot. Probably in the time that guy was playing with Mark. Yeah, honestly, probably. This was his age.

That was me. That might have been at the game. Maybe you were in the background. Yeah, maybe. I might be. But all that to say, Florida has tons of Brazilians. Yes, I know that. It's so many.

Yeah. And I've just, I had a very... Too much, by the way. Well, only at Disney. Spread a little. At Disney, it's too much. Because you guys walk around with that. flag. But now there's a lot of Brazilians moving to Florida. A lot of Brazians.

Yeah, yeah. Well, it makes sense, I think. Florida is very transient. It's very free. It is. A lot of corruption. Yeah. So you used to leave in Orlando. Yes, exactly. Exactly right. And Brazilians, I would see them all the time because they would go around the tourist sites. And there'd be 50 of them, all in matching t-shirts with one leader. Talking very loud. Talking very loud with a giant flag. And you just wave the flag and they would all just follow. That's like, but let me tell you something.

This is my people. That's not me. You know, it's crazy because I love them, but I was never that guy. In what way? Brazilians are loud. Brazilians are happy. I'm quiet and I'm sad. I'm not, I'm not sad, but there's a, there's something in the Brazilian culture that I never

connect that much, that I, I admire from a distance, but there was never me. So when I come here and I go have lunch in a restaurant and nobody cares about me, I'm happy. Interesting. So, but I love my people. If I go and people who comes to support me. Of course. I hug, we kiss.

You know, it's a completely different thing. Like, after every headlining gig I do here, at least, I would say 90% of the Brazilians, the Brazilians who showed up in the show, they take pictures with me at the end. Ah. So there's always like we take pictures and then we hug and then we talk a little. We are these people. But I think that's what makes you a great comedian. Because comedians, in my opinion, always exist on the periphery of culture.

But that was me. That you observe. And even myself, I am American. I lived here most of my life. But I never fully fit into the American ethos. Like, how? I never cared that much about like American sports. My parents were always like sort of politically disenfranchised.

They never liked whoever the president. Like, they never got involved in politics. They were never like the stereotypical American. Okay. And so, you know, they're French Canadian. And so there was a lot of... I'll give you, I'll give you that. So I existed in the culture and I spoke English.

And I, you know, I was, everyone saw me as American, but I would sometimes feel like I don't... Whatever this thing is, this evangelical Christian American patriotism. Completely accurate. It never was downloaded. My mom is telling me like, oh, look at this, foreign war. This is the... You know what I mean?

there was always kind of like skepticism. And as a result, I've observed American culture more than I existed within it. So do you think this, because that's the way your parents kind of behave, made you a curious guy because you're a curious human being? Absolutely. And especially my mother. My mother was like very conspiratorial. She would love reading, you know, fringe theories and getting into all sorts of stuff.

So everything was questioned. And then on top of that, my parents are very Catholic. I went to a Protestant school. And so I would come home and I'd be like, mom, is this true? And she'd go, no, it's not true. Read this. And then I was also homeschooled by this woman, so she would just tell me stuff we would argue. And so it made me kind of exist on the outside, similar to you where you're living in Brazil, growing up around Brazilians.

You yourself are Brazilian, but also a little bit observing the culture. Yes, yes, yes. I wonder, tell me if I'm wrong. But now I kind of, I need, like, like, it's difficult because sometimes I didn't feel as comfortable as I wanted to be. So a few things kind of annoy me a little bit. And you shouldn't because it's my people and it's my country. You know, this is the way my people behave. But the education I had, my father and my mother, they never cared that much.

It was never the ones going to parties and drinking beer and having a barbecue. It was never my family. Same. So I felt like I was never comfortable in those situations. I never drank. I don't know even how a beer tastes. That's me. So I don't match because this is Brazil.

We got together. We have a resena. That's a barbecue. We are drinking beer all day long. We start putting the meat in the fire at like 1 p.m. It's ready at 5 because people are talking and drinking. And I was like, just go to a fucking restaurant. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I just, I'm hungry. But did you have moments? Like, I remember as a kid, I told my mom like, oh, my friend wants me to sleep over at his house. And she goes, why? Like, why? She asked you why? She was like, why would you sleep at his house?

Like the idea of a sleepover for her was just strange. She was like, what are you going to do? And I was like, I don't know, you want some to sleep over. And they were like, but what is the purpose? You have, you sleep here. You have a bed here? Like, it just was never a thing she grew up with, like, going on a sleepover. And I don't know if it's generational or cultural, but she was like, this is just weird.

And then I remember going on sleepovers and, like, I would hang with them and they would eat different food even. Like, my parents always, like, cooked every meal. It was always, like, very nutritious. But then I'm going to my friend's house, like, eating chicken nuggets, like, watching football. And I was like, this is bizarre. This is not at all. I even remember like... But did you feel comfortable?

Oh, yeah. Like, it was never like actual discomfort, but I just remember being like, this is all strange. Like, the idea, like, this is a very bizarre, specific one. I remember going to sleepover, it's like 10 kids, 10 dudes, like kind of from the neighborhood. And then like, a bunch of the kids were just sleep in their underwear. And I remember being like, this is very strange. No one in my family ever slept in the underwear.

But then it's kind of an American thing. You're like, yeah, you sleep in your underwear. And you would slap with a pajama. Yeah, I had specific pit. pajamas that I wore. And I was like, this is what you wear to sleep is pajamas. You have to dress up to go to sleep. But all my friends in America, they don't wear pajamas.

I don't know. It's just like, and I've never even, I mean, Chris, do you sleep in underwear? Like, is that like, I mean, you're Greek. You're not even American. I don't even. I wear boxers. You wear boxer. Did you do that as a kid?

No. Yeah, I remember having pajamas when I was a kid, too. But I was like 12, 13 maybe when this was happening? That was weird. It's weird. But I'm like. There's even a size. for a pajama size for 12 year old.

My mom had them. My mom got them from, and I was like, yeah, this is what you wear. But it's little things like that where I was like, oh, I'm not this type of American. You know what I mean? But then you felt like they're weird or you're like, oh, I'm weird. I thought they were weird. And then we would pray before we eat. And you put your pajamas with a bow tie and then you go to bed.

And then they pray before dinner and they're like, Lord Jesus, like just be with us. And I'm Catholic. I'm like, this is not how we pray. So the whole experience, I was like, I feel like an alien. How did you guys pray? Like the Catholic way, you know I mean, I guess Yeah, you're Jewish which I think is an element of this But you know, you'd say, you know, sign the cross

And then it would be a sort of a ritualized prayer You know, like blesses our father for these That gifts that we're about to receive from thy bounty Oh, there's a prayer specific Exactly. And like it's a specific like before dinner prayer But it was ritualized and everyone knew it and they would recite it together But then I go to my evangelical friend's house And there's like, Lord bless this food and be with us

and Timmy has a broken leg and heal his leg and just let him feel your presence. And the whole time was like this. Yeah, the evangelical church now is huge in Brazil, huge. Really? Yeah, huge. Huge with like big leaders and like guys doing this like mess of people that they are like cheering and they sing songs is a whole thing.

Interesting. They stole a lot of people from the Catholic Church. I don't know if they stole or they just gave them a better. option, more entertaining option. It's a, I think with Protestantism, if I may, you can experience divinity more quickly. So like, Sufi Muslims have a similar thing where Sufism is kind of like a more mystical version of Islam. And so you can experience the divine in this reality right now. And with Catholicism, it's very ritualistic.

It's kind of like there's a tradition. But like with evangelical Christianity, you can feel God. And he's in this room and he's here right now. And I think for a lot of people, that's very attractive. You know, because like that experience is so sought after. I have a relationship with Jesus. Whereas Catholics are a little bit more like, yeah, we love Jesus, we worship Jesus,

but the priest is, yeah, you know, it's kind of a little bit disconnected. Okay. And so I think that's why it sweeps up so much. That's my perspective. Maybe it's the one true church, who's to say? But that's the way I see it. But like this type of thing, I remember going to this school.

This is where I was going to school. This is in Brazil, right? This looks like a Brazilian event, yeah. And it was like very vivacious, speaking in tongues, stuff like that. Oh, so they're on TV. By the way, there's a church in Brazil, the Igrejo Universal, that in here is known as Pari de Suffer.

There's a lot of Pari de Suffer here in America. There's even one on Second Street close to my house. They are spread all over the world. So if you go to Europe, when I tour in Europe, I remember, I would turn on the TV at night, and there was a Brazilian guy. Like, clearly a Brazilian guy is speaking French. and he and it's crazy because it's always like after 2 a.m. Because that's when, first of all, it's cheaper to buy it.

And the desperate people are woke at that time. They are, you know, they can't sleep because life is hard. Right. They don't, they are desperate. So then they see someone on TV talking to them and they're like, about their problems. You know what? Come to the church tomorrow, 6 a.m.

I'm going to talk to you. and the guy is like can't sleep because his life sucks. And there's also in Brazil a lot of people when we found out that they were like using the money to their own, you know, to buy big houses and mansions and stuff. But I remember there was one interview with one of those guys. Who is like one of the biggest leader called Edir Macedo, the biggest leader of the Igresia Universal. And he said something that kind of makes sense. He said like, well, you know what? I do because people are like talking about the 10% because you need to give the I don't know how to say.

The tithe. Yeah, yeah. Gizimo, we call in Portuguese jizimo. So you give 10% of everything you make. So people are like criticize like 10%. It's like a fee. You need to pay the church so nothing happened. And the guy said something that kind of makes sense. It's like, okay, this guy, he arrives in the church desperate. He's reading his wife. He doesn't have a job. He doesn't have a connection with his kids. his life sucks, he's addicted to crack. Then I clean everything in his life. He's back at the house.

He treats his kid with care. Now he has a good relationship. He got a job. Some of those guys got a job and got promotions. And I get 10% of what he makes. That's a very good deal. And if you think about it, you know, if you're saving people's life,

who am I to criticize him? Right. Because some people need to believe in something. And that's okay. And that's okay. That's not me. But that's okay. I completely understand.

Well, I'm curious for you because your mother's Jewish? My father is Jewish. Your father's Jewish. So I'm not. I see. They never baptized me. Into Judaism? Nothing.

Interesting. Nothing. They were like, let's wait for him to the side. And then at 18, I was like, you know what? I kind of understand. Like, I connect more with the Jewish people. And they're like, no, so, okay, that's, so now I have to cut your cock. And I think I'm okay.

No. I think I'm okay. Wait, did you get snipped? No. To this day. Yeah, no. Wow. We don't do that if it's not for religious purposes. Right. That's so interesting. Well, yeah, if anyone doesn't know, like, Judaism is typically what they call matrilineal.

It's tracked through the mother. Yes. And most other, like, cultures religion. What is the, what is the... Matrilineal. So, like, matriarchy, like the mother's the head. It's like the lineage through the mom. Got it.

Where most of them are patrilineal where it's like through the dad, like Islam and things like that. But it creates an interesting sort of culture. But you, with your dad being Jewish. Yes. Was he raised? in Brazil as well? Or did he moved right? He was raised in Brazil.

His father was from Argentina and his grandfather was from Russia. So they went all the way from Russia to first Argentina before the war. That was before the war. So they saw that they were like, oh, something's weird happening. So they all vanished. I see. This is probably like Russian pogroms like the persecution against Jews in Russia. Exactly.

That's when they leave. It was like in the 20s? Yeah. I think it was the 20s or even before. They left. So I never had like, I never had like a religious education, you know. My father knew that I wasn't Jewish, so he waited for me to be curious. My mom never wanted to baptize me. So at the end of the day, it was just like, religion was not a thing for me. I wonder if that also contributes, because like Jewish culture specifically has a certain flavor. You know what I mean?

And in New York, there's so much of that. I actually think a lot of people like describe New York culture. and they're kind of describing Jewish culture because it's so imbued. So I wonder if you yourself, even though you weren't raised Jewish, part of the Jewish affect and look on life, I wonder if your dad passed that on to you.

Oh, for sure. And that also would make you feel a little bit on the outside, you know? Yes, and yes. Yes, the way to look like, well, my father, it's a different human being that I am. We have the kind of sense of humor

is kind of similar, but he's a completely different person. My father is the typical Jew. He suffers a lot. Really? A lot. Neurotic? Neurotic. He thinks everybody's against him.

That's so funny. Everybody wants to... So now he's 80 years old, and he doesn't have like one friend. Really? Because he thought everybody wanted... He was a politician for a little bit in Brazil. So, and he was involved in a corruption scandal. He never did anything.

Never stole a little thing, nothing. So it was very difficult for him to deal with that. And he was depressed for a good 10 years, 15 years, I would say. Because he was involved. Here's the thing with politics, you know. You need to understand the game. Right. You know, you need to understand the game.

You need to play the game. I'm not saying being corrupt. You don't have to be corrupt, but you have to understand corruption. My father was just a doctor that went and, decided to be a politician. And then he was involved in some type of shit that was never actually inside. And then he was like a list of people who,

my father was like depressed for 15 years and he was completely innocent. So he was very brutal for him. So if he already felt persecuted because of the history of the Jewish people, that was a bonus extra. Yeah, it proved him right. Oh my God.

Oh, that's interesting. So now my father is by himself, living by himself. It's difficult. Is there a Jewish community in that part of Brazil? Yeah, that is. That is.

That is. Yeah, there's a lot of people who came from Argentina and moved to Rio Grande do Su. Because I'm from the south of Brazil. I'm from the last state in Brazil. So my culture, actually, from my state is closer to Buenos Aires

than it is to Rio de Janeiro. We have this mix of the happiness of the Brazilian people, but also the stubbornness and the irony and the sarcasm the Argentinian people have. So we are in the south. Brazil is such a huge country that you have different cultures inside the same place. That's so interesting. It's huge.

Brazil is huge. Wow. It's a huge country. What's up, guys? We're going to take a break real quick because we've got to have some real talk, all right? If you've ever brushed off white flakes from a black t-shirt, okay, that's not dry scalp or whatever you're telling yourself, right? that's dandruff. And dandruff is caused by a fungus. Now, most shampoos don't actually fix that. No, they just dry your scalp even more, so you just keep on buying the shampoo. And honestly,

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lost, except obviously the flakes on your shirt that you've been brushing away. So look, take care of the roots, get better hair. Your black shirts are actually going to be black again. The itch on your scalp is gone. That's the flakes promise. Now, let's get back to the show. But I think that also contributes because, like, this is my theory as to like why so many stand-of comedians are Jewish. Because like it is such a, in my opinion, it's comedy is like a very Jewish art form. Like the Borsch Belt, like Katzkalian, upstate New York, like go to a, you know, a summer camp and you entertain like your people when they all leave the city. And all like Henne Youngman and, you know, Milton Burrell, all like these famous Jewish comedians. And I think it's a mixture of like being integrated into a culture, but not fully being in it, you know.

So you have an outside perspective. But in the way that like, you know, black people have an outside perspective and they make great comedians as well. People see them and they might behave differently. Because you know, oh, this guy's black. So, like, I'll speak differently. You don't fully get, specifically back in the day, you don't fully get a transparent view into white American society, but Jews did as long as they didn't know you were Jewish.

And so if they don't know, then, you know, they're talking regular. And there's an observation of American culture, but still with a Jewish lens that kind of puts you on the periphery. And so I think there's an insider outsider perspective that created so many Jewish comedians back in the day. I got it. Yeah, it makes sense. And it's kind of crazy.

because now, if I think back in the past, it's like I never had a Jewish education, but there's a lot of things of Jewish culture that was embraced in my house. Right. The way we see the world, the humor, you know, the observations, the isolation. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, yeah. Like, even like, the Larry David stereotype of, like, being bothered by little things. Oh, that's totally me. Yeah, exactly. Even as you're describing it, It's me. You know what's crazy?

It bothers me, but it doesn't make me an unhappy person. That's a difference. I'm a happy guy. Yeah. But I hate when I have a t-shirt that kind of like, you know, I don't know how to say pinica. How do you say when pinnique? You know, like I put this church that kind of like, it's weird fabric. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. If it's too hot, if the AC is not work, I get bothered. So I get border and I make everybody's lives around me I live in hell. But I'm at the end, but deep inside of me, I'm so happy. And this is the Brazilian Jewish mix.

Yes. Bothered by things. Bothered by things. But you're having a great time. But that's not, but that's not Brazil. No, because they're not bothered. Oh, Brazil. They sit down together in a group, like in a round group,

and they play the guitar. I want to kill myself. I want to go with you're horrible. Everybody's happy. I'm so miserable. There's one mosquito that doesn't leave us alone and no one notices it. And also the people,

happiness bothers something. It's too much. I love my people, but like the happiness sometimes is a little too much. But you're not brooding and you might not be anxious. You don't let it get you down. No, no, no, no. And that's the Brazilian side.

I'm not depressed. Never took any medication. I can choose to be happy in a second if I want, but things are. bother me a lot. Yeah. But that's why I was able to create comedy. Yes.

You know? It's kind of crazy because I feel like I almost have, I have the same sense of humor, but a little bit of a different persona in my country than I have in this country. In what way? Because in Brazil, I was always the sarcastic guy who would make the jokes that nobody want to make, the guy that is a little bit more controversial. with no limit, and the guy who get bothers by little things. In America, I feel like it's, I mean, maybe not only because it's America,

because I got older and other things start to interest me, and I start to bring a little bit of my daily day life to my comedy. I still have a little bit of that, but I felt like I was able to, you know, to go to do more. Right. Like even in like, you have so many bits that have, like, gone so viral to the point where I judge virality, less on views, more if my immediate family sends it to me. And my aunt sends me your clips once a week.

This is a French-Canadian woman. She's not Brazilian at all. And she sends me the clips because I think she identifies because, again, Montreal has a huge Jewish influence. So there's like a bothersome kind of like, let's go, come on, speed it up kind of thing. But she also immigrated to America. So she sends me, I dance, we dance, he dances. And she goes, I've been saying this for years. It makes no sense.

why do you people say this? And she sends it to me. But I think when you're doing the bit, it kind of comes across. And I think a lot of people be like, oh, he's being funny. I think you're actually bothered by it. I bother.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Of course I am. You're like, this language makes no sense. No, he doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. But I felt like talking about language was the first instinct that I had

when I moved here. I was so involved in learning English and learning as much as I can to be able to express myself. in English. And perform. And perform that I felt like analyzing language was something that that it was, it was, it was the thing I did. Now that I'm here for, I don't know, six years already, I'm trying to run away from those bits, you know? Because I felt like I did. It was enough. Right. You know, and that would build me my audience. That's why I'm able to do shows at the

Middle East because they are also learning English. Yes. And they also see how absurd it is. They also see how absurd it is. So they like what I do. So that's why I was able to build an international audience. But now I feel like I'm trying to be as more personal, you know, telling my stories, talking about my marriage and talking about having a kid. I'm trying to be more honest with my, with my stories than just having an

outside perspective of American culture and of the language. I still do it. I still have ideas that come, but I don't I don't spend that much time anymore focusing on that, which I'm not against it. I like it. I like it's not, I feel like it's not me anymore, you know? Yeah, yeah. That makes sense. What bothers you now? How often are you bothered on a day to day? Well, did anything bother you today? Well, bro, what, you know what bothers me? I was just talking, I was just talking to my wife, I feel like economy class

because I'm 6-7. Yes. Which I need to explain that to you in a second. Okay, you told me there's something special. I didn't know that. Okay. So when I'm flying, I always fly economy.

I feel like economy now is not like business is not a better version. I feel like economy got worse. You know? Yes, exactly. It's not like, oh, I'm going to give you a better shit. No, I'm going to give a normal seat.

I'm going to make those 85% suck now. Yes. That bothers me a lot. Flying bothers me. You know what also bother a tiny little person in the emergency row. Yeah, you can't do that. Bro. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Every seat's an emergency. Every seat's emergency for you. Exactly. Yeah, yeah. You got to be in the regular seats. Be in the regular seat. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Emergency rows should be reserved. Be like, okay, you're too poor or too cheap, but you're also too tall. Exactly. This is where you go. Yeah, that's what I think. Yeah, yeah. And also, I don't need you to ask if I'm willing to assist.

Yeah, yeah, that's too much. I'm not going to, you're going to, if the... I'm going to lie. If the plane goes down, you think I'm going to be like, well, I was instructed to save your guy's lives. So now I can leave. Yeah, exactly. Are you one to hope for that? I can go there and just leave.

No, no, no, no, I have a mission. If you leave, do you get sued? I need to know. Because, like, what happens? They're like, hey, 50 people died because you didn't assist. And you go, well, I should have iTunes. No, I'm out. I'm out.

You see the guy who, like, the plane crashed and he was the only one who left the plane? 11A. Seat 11A on India Air. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He was the only one. You see the image of him just like, like leaving the fire. You see that?

Yeah, yeah, this is the same flight. Everyone else on the flight died. One guy lived. Yes. 11A. But did you see him an interview right after the... No. Oh, no, there's an interview.

Please. Search for this guy. There's an interview of him leaving this mess. And people are like, where are you? I was like, I was in the flight. Like with his senses and talking and just walking. No, he was in the exit row. Bro, I don't know.

And he lied. He was in the exit row. Because that's what I would say. If I was in the exit row and I left, be like, no, I was in first class. I just, yeah, I popped out. I didn't have any obligation to assist these people. I didn't agree to anything.

He explained, there's an interview with him in the hospital too. Oh, this is him. Oh, look at this. This is him leaving the, oh, look at this. He's just walking. Oh, look at those guys. They all died. That's crazy.

And I'm leaving. And now there's an interview with the guy. And he explained what he did. Whoa. How can you tell this guy that God doesn't exist? You'll never be able to convince him. There's going to be some Christian missionaries that go down there. Look, I know you believe in Krishna.

Oh, there's an interview. Oh. Don't make it too sad. Come on, Chrysos. Don't make it too sad. Come on. Stop it, stop it, stop. And also, if you're the only one who survived, whatever, my brother.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, right? I'm sorry, brother. I'm not going to cry for you. It was like 155 people die. I'm the lucky. Don't make me feel bad about you. die. Yeah, don't bring it up. Don't make it up.

Just be happy for me, right? Why is no one happy? Why do they have to talk about his brother? The guy is ecstatic and now he's depressed. Right? Yeah. Like this is the perspective we need on life, you know? Look how great it can be.

Of course. Pray to Vishnu, pray to Shiva, whoever you need. Totally. It saved him. I agree. That's so funny. I agree with you. Yeah, it's also, one other thing that bothers me is that my wife will insist

that we sit together on the plane. Okay. And so I say, okay, well, where do you want? How to, you know, it's three seats and three seats. And she says, well, we'll just get two seats. I go, but one of these seats is a middle seat. And she goes, yeah. I go, well, you want to sit together.

I'm fine to sit window and window. We can, you know, pass snacks back and forth. But you want to sit with the middle seat. She goes, yeah, it's fine. And so she always sat in the middle. That's okay. Until we had a baby. And now she has the old rules, but she goes, well, with the baby, it's easier if I'm next to the window.

So you see the middle? So now I'm in the middle seat. With a baby in your side? With the baby. And then she passed me to the baby and goes, oh, he wants to be with you. So now I'm in the middle seat. With the baby.

With the baby. And then she's on the side, just having a great time. Oh, no, no. We got to revisit these rules. I think the best way we both get aisles. And then we're on either side of the aisle. Right? Because then we're together.

Uh-huh. But we both get a little arm room, you know? Well, I travel with a dog. Really? Big dog? No, no. But it's a dog big enough because he doesn't go in the, in the little crate, it goes in my wife's lap.

I see. Because she has emotional, I don't know, something. Emotional support dog. Yes. And it travels, but he travels with her. It's not emotionally supporting it. Oh, no, no. It's not supporting it.

What is your emotional support? I pay. That's such a support. It's also a synonym of supporting someone. It's actually pain. Yes. You know, so that is hilarious. I'm supporting a lot.

You pay for the flight, but then she's like, I need more support. I pay for the flight. I play for the dog. But the dog is expensive. So every time I got to go to Brazil, I need to go to the vet and got some, like, extra documents. Every time we fly, I have to pay for the dog at least like a good 350, 400 bucks. Really? For a passport?

No. Like, for what? Dogs don't have passport. I don't know. No, it's like an authorization that a vet. authorized vet needs to give it to you I'm not a field flight Dog on a flight

It has to be a good dog It's a good dog That's fine If it's a good dog I just don't I don't know how you can test for this But I think it's a good dog Yeah

There needs to be some type of process To screen if it's a good dog or a bad dog Because I've been on flights with bad dogs I've never been on flag by the bad dog Really What was the bad dog doing? Yipping I had one dog that shit And then they picked it up

You took a shit Yeah but I was like You can't be shitting on This is insane. You know what? That's bad. It's a bad dog. If it takes a shit, that's a problem.

Turn the flight around. No, that's too much. No, turn it around. We got to turn around. Imagine if a human did that. What would they do? If a person just shit on the plane, right? That person would...

What do you think they would do? They get arrested. Go to prison. El Salvador. They get deported. But what about if the guy really wanted to take a shit? That was an accident.

Well, that happened. It's not because he took a shit that liked just to mess with people. Did you see this? No? This happened on a flight to Paris, I think. What's up, people? we're going to take a break real quick because this episode is sponsored by me.

Yes, Camp R&D. That is the merch. That is the threads that we'd be wearing around here at the campsite. And we got all sorts of cool stuff. My buddy Zach just cooked up a sick UFO collection. You can go check it out there at Camp R&D. I really appreciate you guys. We have so many people that came through for the holidays and picked up their threads.

It's awesome. We got hats, hoodies, t-shirts, all that. And if you're still listening to this and you didn't skip through, congrats. You got a promo code, all right? What do we do, Chris? It was 5%. More? How much?

Five more. 10%. 10% final offer? You won't go higher. You tell me, what do we give them? 12%. All right, we're doing 12% off. Should we go more?

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It keeps the lights on. It keeps the fire burning. Anyway, let's get back to the show. Well, what happened in a plane? This situation here. It was forced to land because, oh, a dog. relieved itself in first class. This isn't even though I was talking about.

There was a woman that had explosive diarrhea and ruined the whole aisle of the airplane. And then they just had to clean it up. Like it was a whole, it was a whole thing. And the plane was like, what do we do? Is this a medical emergency? Like, at what point are they going to save more money because they have to refund people's flights

because people are complaining? Do we save more money turning this whole flight around? Or do we just give everyone a free ticket? What did they do? They just... I think that one, they finished the flight. But they had to refund everyone. Which is kind of honestly,

depending on the flight, I'd be okay with that. If I spent $3,000 for a first class ticket and then they said, you have to be near some shit but we'll refund you. Oh, I would fly well, bro. Ben. I would eat the shit. If it's fear factor, I'll do it.

No, I broke my collarbone. Oh, yeah. And I had to fly to Brazil. Because I broke my collarbone and I flew to Brazil the next day to have surgery in Brazil. So you flew with the broken collar? Yes. And I'm going to tell you, I bought a business flight.

Flying with a collarbone on business flight, much better than flying economy. With a perfect shoulder. With a normal collarbone. Much. There's no comparison. I'm telling you, I'm not lying. I found a good position.

And then I was like, I slept. Really? Something I didn't do. I never do when I'm on economy class. Yeah, of course not. Did you explain to everyone as you're going through? You went through TSA and you're like, my shoulder's broken. Did you tell people this?

No, no. Why? No. Well, I mean, they try to patch you down or something? No, they didn't. If they did, I had to tell them. But I just told, the only person I told to was because they gave me a seat where my, like, this was the, there's a little table, right, on the business class.

So this was where the table was. I needed the table to be here. So I changed the seat with someone that the table was on the right. And you explain the situation. I explained the situation the person understood. Wow. Yeah. It's okay. I had someone explain a situation to me.

I was flying during COVID. I had the aisle seat, woman in the middle seat, her husband in the other aisle. And it was like the big plane. So we're in the middle. And she gets up to go to the bathroom where I'll have our masks on. And I'm like pulling mine down to like eat, whatever, drink water. Take a second. Put it back up.

And he leans over to me. He goes, hey, dude, I don't give a shit. But my wife is super crazy about this COVID thing. Can you just like be cool? What did you do? I was like, what do you do? it. And he was like, I just saw you like with your mask down. I don't care. But she's going to freak out. The last flight we took, she made a whole scene because the guy next to us had his mask down.

Just put your mask up. Like, I'm telling you she's just going to lose it. And he was fighting in me like, I can't control this lady. I need you to step up just to be a hero for me. And I was like, all right. And I kind of did it because I was like, I don't feel like having a moment. And if I did take my mask down, I felt her staring. I felt the glare, the heat. 10 minutes later, the woman was like, my husband. here, it's going to create a whole story. It's going to create a whole story. And please don't believe him. I couldn't care less about COVID. He's neurotic. Yeah, yeah, exactly. They're both just putting on each other. It was so terrifying. I was like, oh, gosh.

But I felt like I should step up. You know, I should do the right thing. Nice. But it's specifically economy class for you because you're so tall, because you are six, seven. But also, I'm flying. It's okay. Yeah. Now that I move to New York, yeah, it's not a good flight. But 10 hours sitting down to go and see my son. You know, at the end of the day, it's like, I, Life could be worse. I need to explain the six-seven thing to you. Okay, sweet. I think you'll find this funny.

What is six-s? Also, if Colum's out there, you should bring column in here because Colum speaks Portuguese. Oh, he does? Yeah, yeah, he's a kid super. He's the guy that built the whole book. Because you're going to say something that I'm not going to understand any. Exactly. I need him to translate.

No, he would just love to speak to another Brazilian. He loves, his favorite soccer player of all time is Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho. He did. He come from the same city. Really? At the south. Uh-huh.

I actually saw Ronaldino playing when he was like nine years old. No. Because I used to play soccer too, but I was in a, we were like, my class was like 13 and down. And he was like nine and down. He was a little younger than me. And I remember him playing. And he would do, he would make like 12 goals a game. Really?

He was that good. So his team would win like 15.0, everybody. They would in everybody. Really? Pro Serg, that was the name of his team. And he would, they would be everybody. And Ronaldin, at that time, Ronaldine, he would. was known as Assis brother

because his brother was a soccer player too. We didn't know about the kid. We just knew that his brother was the guy. No way. And now the brother is kind of his manager, I think. Oh, that's awesome. And how do you pronounce it? Ronaldinho.

Ronaldino. Wow. So he did a collab with Ronaldino. Oh, he did? He did. He did like a, like it was his dream to meet him. And then not only did he meet him, he did a whole fashion collaboration with him.

And he was a part of the show and everything. Did you know that, Naldino was in jail, right? Yes. Spent time in jail in Paraguay. Oh, yeah. You know why? Because he used a fake passport.

Yeah. And guess what? To go to Paraguay, if you're a Brazilian, you don't need a passport. What is he doing? Also. Play too much soccer. Of all people. He's the most famous guy in the world.

He went to jail. They would look at it and go, your name's not Stephen. We know who you are. Yeah. He has a unique look. Clarissa? I don't think you're Clarissa. Yeah, it's crazy.

That's so funny. But the 6-7 thing. Okay. This is a Gen Z meme. Okay. So there's a song that came out. And it's funny because at the show that you said, oh, I'm 6-7, a bunch of people in the audience. You didn't notice this.

They all went like this. What is that? It's from this meme that means nothing. So it creates. This means nothing. You do this. So literally, they, I don't even know how to explain it. Tell me.

There's a song that came out that says, you know, 6-7. And it's by this guy, Scrilla, he's a rapper. Oh, you said, the guy with a long hair. No, different guy. This is a famous rapper, not Dubstap. They're thinking of Scrillix. Yeah, I thought, I thought it was a DJ. No, no, not the DJ.

He's a rapper. Okay. And his name Scrilla. Okay. And he does this song where he says 6, 7, and it became a meme. And so now, like, Mello Ball, the basketball player, he's 6, 7. So he'll walk out on the court and everyone will go 6, 7. And now it's just a meme.

Anytime people say 6, 6, 7. What does that mean? What is this? I just became a thing. And it kind of means... This movement is connected to this movement. That's what... Six, seven.

It's just an inside joke, literally, to just go six, seven. So you might notice now when you go on stage, you say six, seven, there'll be one young kid with a broccoli haircut. And he'll go like this. And now you know why. It means literally nothing other than when people say six seven, people go. It's just an inside joke with the kids. And they do this all the time.

The Gen Z kids will try to make memes to make people like us. Scrila. Scriola. Look at the kids. that. The phrase originated on the song, dot, dot, 6, 7 by Skrilla. Yes. Which became popular in editing featuring basketball players. La Mello ball.

A lamello ball. Yes. Because he's 6.7, people are like, oh, there he goes. Oh, got it. So now he'll do shit and then everyone will go, 6, 7. Nice. They could do a collab with me. Yeah, right?

A little bit of followers. Yeah, exactly. It's difficult to get followers in America, bro. Why? Because, I don't know. I feel like it takes more for people here follow you. It's not that I just like one thing. For example, I'll give an example.

Like Big Brother, the TV show. Yeah. Okay. Big Brother is still a big show in America. I got a friend of mine. She was like third place in Big Brother. She left the show with 120,000 followers. In Brazil, the last place of Big Brother leaves at least with $3 million.

you know because people follow you people want to see what you're doing i think the culture is more consolidated the culture is more social you know like india brazinos are like india indian people is the same thing we are very connected to our phones so we want to follow you want to see what you're doing so that's why i was able to have a career after tv because otherwise i wouldn't be able to survive well i think america is also much more fragmented like different parts of the country people different people have different algorithms. They all talk about different things. So you might be the biggest show within a thing.

But you're not the... There's very few times where everyone knows everything. Whereas I feel like in different cultures, things are a little bit more consolidated. More people are like... Mainstream is more mainstream. Yes, exactly. America doesn't have a mainstream anymore.

There's no more mainstream, in my opinion. I don't think there has been for like seven years. You think so? Six, seven. What about like six... What about... talk shows and, yeah. I don't think there's not a monoculture, you know?

So your dreams of being on the Tonight Show, it'll be, it'll hit people that watch it, but it's not going to be like, I understand. We're back in the day, there was a monoculture. You went on the Tonight Show. You were out of here. Of course. You know? Now you need to have your own people.

Exactly. You need to connect directly with your people. But I still want to see you on the Tonight Show. I'm not going to do tonight show. The guy hates me. Come on. The guy hates me. It's okay.

We can make it happen. Maybe he's listening. It would be amazing. I wanted to do it because it would be so cool in my country. Can you imagine? Because they know that. They know TV. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it would be everywhere. If I tell them, I'm regular at the cellar. They're like, what? Where? Show me this little 100-seat room in the basement of a restaurant? This is the most important place in coming in America. you were doing gymnasiums here. You're doing like fucking arenas and theaters.

Why is that so, it is important. What about Jimmy Phel? I'm not going to do Jimmy Phel. Oh, but maybe. Never say never. You never know. Well, let's see. I wish I could, but so many people did,

and I just think it would be cool for comedy in my country, you know? Yeah, exactly. Other comics to be like, oh, this is, yeah. Is there anything you miss about Brazil? Like, I know you go back so often, but living here, is there elements of the culture, of the friendliness, of the warmth that you feel like, it is nice.

I do miss this. No. Really? You like the American affect. It suits you right now. I like the people. And I've been able to connect with my people doing shows everywhere in the world because we are everywhere.

So I like my people. I love Brazilian people. There's nothing in the country that makes me miss, you know, like, oh my God, because I'll give an example. Okay. If I go to a, like a bar in America, okay? I'm going to sit down and I'm going to be by myself eating meat, drinking, and I'm watching.

One TV has baseball, American football, the UFC, five NBA games. I was like, oh, that's heaven for me. The same bar in Brazil as like someone is. singing karaoke, the other one is playing a shitty guitar, the other one is drinking Kaipirina and getting drunk and screaming and someone, it's too much. And the TV has this shitty soccer game that nobody cares about. People are like, let go! And they don't even know the team. It's another vibe. It's a different thing. I connect more with this. Yeah. But I love the people. Of course. You know, the people, the guy screaming, the happiness, it's

lovely. That's what I like. So what I miss is the warmth of the people. And that's what my, also for my wife, my wife never lived in Brazil. She's there now, but she spent all of her life outside of Brazil. So she lived in Ecuador until she was 18. At an 18, she moved to LA and she lived in America the whole time. She moved, she spending time in Brazil now. Well, we come back here. Then we are like, oh, the treatment's so different, man. You go to a restaurant the way a waitress treat you. It's different. Really?

You know, oh, in Brazil, it's like, do you want this and do you want that? Do you want to add some more stuff? Oh, they know your name. They call you by your name. I go to the same place in New York and people couldn't care less about me, which is, to me, it's fine. But I can see why in Brazil people are like, oh, this is so different. This is family.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is family. Yeah. But the anonymity. Do you want the same? So I'll go to a restaurant. I don't know how to say this when you go to a restaurant. and they know what you're going to order.

The usual. The usual. That's everywhere there. Interesting. You know, everywhere. You go to a place three, four times they already know what you want. The usual. You know?

So it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, people are more, it's a warm. You know, it's more warm. It's, it's different. How are Americans funny? Like, what do you observe about American culture, specifically in New York that you find hilarious? There's an arrogance in America that I think is funny. Like we're the best?

Yeah. I think it is. It's delusional. But it's funny. It's funny. You know what I also think is funny? The fact that America know nothing about the rest of the world.

Yeah. And I think it's funny. And I kind of respect that. It's like I'm so big. I'm so better. Whatever. Brazil was next to Italy. I couldn't care less.

There's a sight of me that the ignorance, it's like, it's okay, you have everything here. Why would you need to go somewhere else? Yeah. It's okay. I understand the feeling. The ignorance, of course. You would be amazing if you go out of your, you know, your country to know more about the world.

But at the same time, I see that. I'm like, yeah, that's make sense. Do you notice it when talking to people that, like, you'll describe something. They go, yeah, well, obviously America is the best, you know? Yes, but I think it's a lot. Speak of the devil. Speak of the devil. Yes, please interrupt.

This is my buddy, column. Colum is a.k.a. Kid Super. But also, used to live in Brazil. Oh, yeah. Salvador, Bahia. Oh, you've been. Oh, what's up, brother? How are you? We're on the pod. We're live right now. Welcome. Yeah.

This is Fabian. That would be, you live in Salvador? Oh, we're on the mic. When I had 17 years, he was there playing football. And now I, I'm almost perfect, veil you. How was that? I said. I said it. It speaks well.

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, with a weird accent, but it's understandable. I have an accent in English, so, like, of course. I thought you were going to say the accent's perfect. No, no, it's good, it's good, it's good. He lives in Salvador. Salvador is the, it's where, like, that's Brazil. Which for me is a nightmare.

It's okay. I thought it was going to be so positive. Where are you from? Too much. Where are you from? I'm from Porto Alegre. That's where like the pretty people are from Oh

That's what I'm saying to him Like people from Bahia The state Lovely people Yeah yeah So nice So lovely But it's a lot

That's the thing called Olo Dume Yeah In Salvador It's like people It's a group That has like How do you say this

In drums The drums And they are all over The city of Salvador And it's noisy It's unbearable Horrible. On the positive note,

if you've ever seen the Michael Jackson music video where he's in Brazil, it's all the drummers from O'Doombe. So he has a really negative outlook on Brazil where most people would have a positive. If you go there and spend a week, you're going to love it.

This is why he's a comedian. Try to spend a year there. You're going to... I spent one year. You're going to... Did you ever go back? Yeah, now I go back, but now I went to Sao Paulo.

But it's a beautiful place. It's an amazing bibliot. beautiful place. Yeah, I think it's the best place in Brazil. Sao Paulo feels like New York. No, Sao paolo's like city of Mexico. Yeah, yeah. I see that. And he said he used to watch Ronald Gino as a kid. Oh yeah. Nine years old. Yeah, because when we were, because in Brazil, you play soccer and you also play football de Salon. Yeah. Futsal. Futsal. Yeah. So Futsal, he was playing futsal and he was like, much better than everybody else. So his team would win.

every game by like 12-0 and he would make like 11 goals. But at that time I was telling him, he was not Ronald Junior. He was Assis brother. And Assis is the manager now. Right. And Assis is also amazing. And I was talking to them and I was like, because they love foot volleyball now, which is like volleyball with their feet.

And I'm like, do you guys ever play together? I mean, the brother's like, you mean, we would never lose. Because the brother is lefty. He's like, I'm lefty. He's like, and then I go, what's the difference between you and Ronaldinho? And he's like, I, he's like, Ronaldinho has my skill, but then the light of God. And that's the difference. But his brother was like an epic soccer player.

He played in Italy. He moved to Italy when he was like, at that time, people would go to Brazil and get those 14-year-old kids and take to Italy. And he was one of those guys. He moved to Italy when he was like 13 years old. You know, those people who would watch games and get the talents, and he moved to Italy when he was like, really, really, really young. Oh, wow. So everybody would go to him like, you're amazing.

He's like, if you think I'm amazing, wait until you see my little brother. Oh, that's awesome. And now, you know. But no, best guys ever. Hernaldingo is my God. Yes. And Rafi's your new favorite comedian. So you're a comedian, but do you do comedy ever in English?

I do an English. I do an English. No, now, yeah. but I did it for 20 years in Portuguese. Okay. And then you're like... No, no, no. I still do it with my people, but...

He goes to Brazil in those arenas. Okay. Yeah. I wouldn't say arenas, right? Big theaters. Stadium. Theaters. Because I went to a comedy show in Brazil when I was living there,

and I didn't understand a word. You know where he was? I was in Bahia, but I don't know. I don't know where it was. But the jokes are all about like, well, if you grew up in this city, you're like this. And I'm like, I don't know. know what that is at all. Or they'll be like making fun of the different accents. So like you don't get any of the jokes. But how much did you have to like learn about American culture to end up becoming a comedian? We all know about them. You know, we get the music. We get the movies. We know what's New York. You know the difference between New York and LA. We kind of all know a little bit. But leaving here, then I had the experience of like, you know, get to know the country, get to know the people.

and then you start having ideas. I think to be able to do comedy in English, you need to move to a place that speaks English, you know, to develop the language and also to be able to observe the world a little better here, you know. Yeah, it would be funny if you translate your exact Portuguese jokes just in English. I did a few of those. Okay. If it's about family, marriage, and relationships...

It works. Yeah, I wouldn't say all of them, but it can work. Some of them did. Some of the talk about your wife being pregnant, those jokes, you know, that can work. That can't be translated. But if you talk about accent or a supermarket that you love, a cookie that your mom used to me, well, that nobody cares. Yeah, that's funny. All right, guys.

Thank you. Nice meeting. We have a soccer field on the roof if you want to play. Oh, yeah. I'm going to take them up. That's awesome. I'll see you guys. Take care, man.

Take care, brother. That is Kid Super, the guy who puts you up this whole building. Oh, he's the owner of the group. Yes, he's the man, the myth. And just a great friend of him. I don't think he liked the fact that I don't like Salvador. He was really offended at first, and then he started liking me from the middle to the end. Well, that's the thing.

I think when people, he now is like very comedy fluent. Like, now I've brought so many comedians around. He's like learning. But I think he's so used to meeting Brazilians. And he's like, oh, I lived in Salvador. And they go, oh, it's beautiful. It's amazing. The typical Brazilian response.

See? Yeah. We got to see a real life, a real life distinction between the Brazilian mindset. and the mindset of Rafi. But I don't want to talk shit about my people also, you know? Of course not. So you understand, like, there's something, some things that I don't connect,

but all the things that I just love. This is the comic, though. Like, if you ask me about America, and they go, oh, what do you think about California? They go, ah, they're all stuck up. You know, California. What do you hate about America? What do I hate?

Oh, man, that's an interesting question. I've never thought about that. Okay. What do I hate? Yeah, hate. Something that you despise. They're like, I can believe we are just, we are like this. I find college football so strange.

I find, I'd never understood it. Like, I would go. What about professional football? A little more because it's like, yeah, they're paid. But like, you get a stadium of people that gather around to watch children play a game for free. And then these men are losing their minds over watching an 18 year old throw a ball. And they're like, no, how could he do that? And it's a kid that's doing it for a scholarship.

And the whole thing, I'm like, this is. This makes no sense. This is an amateur game. And there's a stadium of people, 40,000 people to watch unpaid players. It doesn't exist anywhere in the world. Now they can have money with... The NIL. With sponsors and posts on Instagram.

And even that is interesting because it's like, these kids are just not... I just don't understand it. It doesn't exist anywhere else. My family did not watch you growing up. They don't have... Neither my parents went to college. And people talk about... try to make mental health like something in this country.

We are discussing about mental health. We need to take care of people's mental health. And then you turn on TV and see those games with teenagers knocking their heads like monsters. And then the guy just passed out. America Football is amazing. You see someone passing out on the field and the guy goes, let's go to our commercials.

They couldn't care less about that guy. It's so normal for someone to just pass out on the field. And then the commercials for like some hospital. And so, yeah, go to this, you know, Cedar Sinai, whatever. And it's like, how is this all happening at the same time? There's also like commercialism in America that I find really funny. Cue to an ad, please. What's up, guys?

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You can visit Blu-Tchoo.com for more details and important safety information. And thank you so much to Blu-Tube for keeping the lights on and making this show possible. Now, let's get back to it. But, like, everyone in America is, like, obsessed with, like, you know, making money and, like, this and that, like, it's nice because there's dreams. People believe that they can do something. And that's why I love being. That's why my parents came here, because anything's possible. But sometimes too many things are possible.

and every person you meet's like, yeah, I got this business, I'm going to start and it's going to do this, this, and this, just wait. And like you have someone post on Instagram and it's like, you know, big things are coming. And then it's another picture of just like a t-shirt with like a logo printed on it. And you're like, really? And they're like, big things. It's going to take over the world. And you're like, all right. There's almost too much self-belief where everyone believes that they can do anything.

And a little part of me, the comic part is a little bit like, all right. Okay, but now I want to ask you something because I feel that that's you. decides a little bit, you're a little more alternative. But also you deal with people who want to conquer the world. Of course. Like even the people like, Andrea, Andrew is a guy who thinks big. Yeah, exactly. He's conquering the world.

That's why we work so well together. And a gosh, wants to do people. And people dance in the beginning of his show. It's like, it's a lot. And I think that's them. But how do you navigate? That's why we fit so well together, you know? Because he will be like, we're going to do this and anything's possible.

And then part of me is like, well, let's be realistic. And then we find a little middle ground and then we make great stuff. But like I'll, I feel like even in that regard, like I'm much more insecure. Like I have much more like self-doubt. And that self-doubt can be really helpful because I'm a good editor. But sometimes it can be inhibiting because I'm not, I don't dream so big, you know. And maybe I should dream bigger. But I surround myself by people that dream big and it inspires me.

At the end of the day, what are we here for to be happy? That's what it is. Right. Some people are happy with a lot. Yes. But then it becomes a hustle. Because you're always searching for something bigger. So you're never satisfied.

Yeah. So when are you going to be? So it's good to be searching for this looking, like trying to reach the stars. But what about if you reach the starting that's not enough? And a lot of times it isn't, right? Like think about like they called a gold medal depression. Have you heard of this? This is like an affliction that will happen to Olympic athletes where they train their whole life

and they go through everything five years old, broken bones. they go through all the stuff, they win the gold medal. And now. And then they're depressed. Yeah. Because they thought, oh, once I achieve this, then I'll be good enough. I'll be worth it. I'll have achieved everything I want.

And then they find themselves at the top of the podium going, is this all there? This is it? That's why it connects what I was talking about my people. Because my people, I feel like we don't need that much to be happy. You know, we made the choice of being happy. So that's why I come from a happy country. We struggle. know that it's almost for people don't have sometimes opportunity to reach the stars it's almost

hopeless it just like i need to get enough to be able to eat when when i do that when i when i when i'm able to eat what do i what do i just do a barbecue a good resinia with my friends you know yeah and i'm also like sometimes i ask myself where is the happiness for me because i'm i feel like i'm a happy guy like but why did i move to america am i searching for something bigger than I had before, you know? So when is it going to be enough? Now I'm thinking about doing shows in Spanish. Is this me searching for happiness or is just me having fun with life? That's a question. I ask myself all the time. I don't think it's always bad. Like again, I think some people just have a natural disposition for like conquest. And I don't think that it's

good or bad. It's just kind of how it's directed. And I also think there has to be a little bit that's like a little stoic part of you that's like, okay, I'll be, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll free myself from desire. I can just be happy with what I can control and that's good enough. And again, don't get me wrong. I'm sort of like, you know, kind of poo-pooing this American sensibility, but I have that also. Like, I have ambitions. But a lot of it comes from like an acceptance of death where I'm like, I'm going to die. I might as well try as hard as I can right now and give him my best shot and see what happens. But there's also a part of me and I kind of lean almost more to the Brazilian affect, I think, where I'm like, I have a son that I love and I love

spending time my wife. Like, if I had the opportunity to just, like, do this podcast, do flagrant, do stand-up, and everything's the same, I think, like, I would be, like, I'm living my dream now. You know what I mean? But part of me is like, I need to dream bigger. That way I can do more. But I'm completely content. Like, I'm so happy with everything that's happening in my life at this exact moment.

I think also when you have ups and downs in your life, you're able to appreciate more the ups, you know, or choose someone. to be considered as ups. It's like, okay, this is, I'm happy. I'm just happy. It's, uh, I felt like in my career, I had moments when things weren't going that well for me. And then you have to make a choice. Do I just get depressed because things are not happening? Because it was counseled because of this and that, you know? But at the end of the day, you just look at your son. You look at the audience you have. People that like you. Maybe, you know, also searching like with, with, with, with, with,

entertainment sometimes in order for you to be big. I think you guys here in America, you can't be big without being mainstream. Yeah, yeah, exactly. In other countries, it's difficult. In order for you to be really big, you need to play the game a little, you know. Which I can see that being frustrated.

It is very frustrating. You don't feel free. Right. I feel free now. That's a choice I made. I had a few moments in my life where I could make the choice to be, a mainstream guy and I didn't fit. And people are like, you have talent to be like one of the biggest,

the best communicators in this country. I'm like, so I'm going to have to say what people want me to say. Am I going to be able to do the jokes I want to? No. So power sometimes comes not with responsibility. It comes with, what's the opposite of freedom? With. Imprisonment?

Imprisonment. Yeah. Yeah. That is true. That is true. Specifically where you are. There's people in America that have very successful shows and entertainment or they have great businesses and no one knows who they are. And they're not the richest guy in the world, but they're completely, all their needs are met. And I don't know. Part of me is like I'm, I'm fine with that. I don't, again, I don't chase fame. Like it's not an interesting thing. Like I almost look at like, again, I would love to perform in front of the audiences and have people. come to my shows. Well, that's fame. But to me, I, and again, I haven't worked this out completely, but like my feeling is that I see fame as a consequence of doing something well. And so, like, if I can become so great at stand-up that people want to go see me, that is good, it's a by-product. Okay. The goal is not to be so famous that people come see me do stand-up. The goal is to be so good to stand-up that consequently you become famous. Like, I don't know if- They are connected, Of course, they're connected, but I don't know if Ronaldinho was like, I'm going to become good at soccer so I can become famous.

In the same way, like, Steph Curry is like, I'm not going to become great at basketball so I can be a famous person. I find that a lot of people in entertainment are like, I'm going to become a famous person and this will be my way to do it. Maybe I'll become a streamer, maybe I'll become a podcaster, da-da-da. I think when I started, I wanted to be famous. Yeah, and I think that's a common feeling. I wanted to be famous. And don't be wrong, there was a part of me when I was 18 doing stand-up. I was like, oh, maybe I can be famous.

As I've become more known, the appeal of fame is really worn off. And if it's a byproduct or a consequence, then so be it. But I'm also completely fine going to a restaurant, waiting for a table, but also not being, you know, interacted with all the time or being with my family and that's okay or like not having my son have to deal with the consequence of my success. And also it's cool when people know you because of your creativity. Oh, yeah. You know, they know you because they kind of agree with.

because like something specifically you did not because it's just you're there. Yeah, I don't necessarily need to be like, oh, that guy. I would love for someone to come up to me and be like, you did an episode on this super specific thing that no one ever talks about that I thought was amazing. And then it's like, oh, let's have a conversation because you're like me. And I love to have human connection that's predicated on things that I'm interested in, of course, like all people. And so if someone comes out to me and they're like, oh, you did this podcast on Hinduism

or, you know, on Napoleon. And they talked about him on Napoleon. I'm like, oh, this is great. But if some guy is just like, you're that guy. And that is not pleasing. It's fine. It's nice to always be known. And there's always something nice about, you know, being acknowledged in a universe that doesn't really care about you.

But it feels deeper when someone knows. And they go, hey, I had that same experience that you talked about on stage. I agree. And now there's a connection. I agree. And so fame for fame's sake seems a little fruitless. I agree. It's also completely intangible.

You can't really aim for it, you know? Like, if you gave me an option of like, hey, you have to do stand up in this specific. way and you'll be super famous. Or you can just stand up the way that you really want to and be much less known but way more connected with your people because you're being honest. I think the second is way better. Right?

For sure. Well, but that's the problem is there's a risk. If you make that choice, people don't connect you. The first choice. No, the second choice. Why? Because, okay, you're doing the way you want. Does that mean that people are going to like which you want?

You hope that there's enough. enough that you can live. I feel like if you search for the people, it's easier for them to reach more people. Yeah, absolutely. You know, you're searching for a big audience. Even if you don't get 100% of what you're aiming, if you get 20, it's already a huge audience because you're thinking big.

Yeah. If you're thinking just like little connections and people are like, you know what, fuck you and your Brooklyn show. Exactly. Then you're like by yourself, but I have my integrity. So nobody cares about you. And that's where I think it's a spectrum. and I think you kind of have to choose where you want to be on the spectrum.

And I think I lean a little more towards like, you know, I have my people to listen to this show and they like it and I'm, that's great. You know, and if the option is like, hey, change the show completely and you get everyone or keep it how it is and you maintain, do you have people who watch flagrant and they're like, I don't like this guy? Or do you have people who watch you and they're like, please leave that shit? You have that too? Never like.

I like them both. Yeah, of course. completely different thing. I'm thinking about them and their perception. It'll never be dismissive. Like, it won't really be dismissive. Every now and again, I'll meet people at shows that, like, afterwards, I'll do like a Q&A thing. And, you know, people ask about flagrant, of course, because that's a big population of people that come to the shows. But every now and again, it's not very common. But every now and again, there'll be someone that comes out to me. They go, hey, I love camp. What is flagrant? It's very rare. But it'll happen.

And I go, oh, whoa, that's, how did you even find this? It's like bizarre to me. That's found them. But they did, and it's a specific type of person that's interested in, like, you know, like interviews and long-form stuff and culture and religion and history and stuff. And then Flagrant people will be, you know, much more like comedy-centric. They're like current events and like hot takes and stuff. And so, and a lot of, most of the audience is an overlap of both. And they watch both and they like both for different reasons. But yeah, there's a contingent on the one side that's like, we only watch Flagrant. I didn't know you had a podcast. That's just you. And then there'll be a very small, a much smaller portion that's like, just watch the

camp stuff. And then I tell them, like, dude, I got Flagrant. You might like it, you know? But it's very rarely like, it's very rarely like with any type of animosity. But it is interesting to meet only the camp people. It's very funny. Yeah, I was just thinking that like there's some, because doing flagrant probably gives you very good exposure. Of course.

Of course. But also there's controversies there that you're like, all of a sudden you're in the middle of this couch and you're like, I don't know, I don't know for whatever you go. You know, this is going to be on me. I was like, which is part of the game. But to me, I'm like, so long as I'm being honest, then it's okay. And if the honesty is like, I don't know what's going on. I don't have a take on this, then so be it. And if I'm going to like insert myself, I just need to kind of reflect and be like,

is this really how I feel? And then if that's the case, and I'm involved in the controversy and people don't like me for that reason, I can live with that because I was being honest. But so long as it's consistent. And that is like, I think a human journey that people go on, but being in the public eye, there's a much more of an obligation to reflect on what you actually believe, you know? Like, I wonder if that happens for you.

Like, is there a version of you that, like, you come to America and people don't know about any controversy in Brazil? Or you go to Brazil and people don't know about anything in America. When I moved to America, I never use credentials to get anywhere. When I started, I wanted to do this club and that club.

I wanted to, my career in America, Of course people end up kind of finding out, but like I got past at most of the clubs without people knowing who I am. Sometimes I'm with a friend. I'm talking to a friend. It happens a few times. Someone come up to me and they're having my friends for like one or two years. And they're like, I just, my Uber guy was from Brazil and I asked if he knew you. And he was like, oh my God, you're friends with Rathi.

And then they come up to me like, who are you? That's so funny. What is? What is? I was like, you know, that's, you don't need to know. I didn't come here to be the same. I've come here to, you know, to actually try to express myself in different ways. Otherwise, I would be the same guy.

That's really cool, though. That's really cool. I had an amazing opportunity, Mark, which was start my life again. And I wanted to actually do it from scratch. I'm not able to because I'm still big in Brazil. if I go and I do Orlando, I do Miami. 80% of the people are going to be Brazilians. You know, that's my audience and I love them.

But like when I'm in the scene here, nobody knows who I am. The other day, Esty, the Booker at the Commercella, found out that I did SNL in Brazil. There's a picture. Put a SNL Rafinha, because I'm Rafinha in Brazil. You're going to, SNL Brazil. I think you're going to. So I did SNL in Brazil, which is the same stage and everything else.

Someone told her that. And I was like, yeah, I did it. And she was like, what? People don't know this. They don't have to. But that is... I just wanted to conquer because of the quality that I'm doing on stage. Exactly.

But that's a commitment to the craft, right? That's why I moved here. That's all... That's exactly why I moved here. I wanted to do this in the biggest... I wouldn't say biggest stage, but the most professional and with the best people. Do you notice the difference with American comics and Brazilian comics in terms of techniques?

Oh, look at this, look at this. This is, this is... Oh, wow, it literally is like the same. Yeah. That was our first show. Wow. Our first show when we premiered SNL in Brazil is the same thing, the same band, the same... How old are you here? This was 2014, so 11 years ago.

Wow. So that was like our first show. Were you a part of SNL starting there? I was the Lord Michaels of ESNL. We really? I hired the people and I also did the weekend update. Wow. And I hosted the first show.

How long did you do it for? We did it for like one year and a half, I think. It was not that long. It didn't work that well. Really? Yeah. But it was a big deal when I'm sure it premiered. Like people were like, oh.

It did. It did. It made a splash. It did. But also like, nobody cared that much about the fact. If you think about it, yeah, the media care, the comics care. But it's Brazil. they don't even know

like most of the people don't speak English so the name of the show was Saturday night live you know they don't know this most of the people don't know this and the show was not even on Saturday

it was on Sunday and after two months it wasn't even live anymore no yeah oh that's so funny so we did sketches we did a lot it was cool

that's so cool but I can see that coming over in the somewhere in America being like yeah so people don't know I did so much bro I have my own talk show on TV, like a daily talk show.

I was like Jimmy Kimmel in Brazil for a while, yeah? And but I moved here and I'm like, people don't have to know this. I just want to step on stage. I don't want people to think about credentials, what I did or what I didn't do. Because, and also I felt like it's, I see a lot of like every, I wouldn't say all comics, but most international comics who come to this country. end up in my vicinity,

in my atmosphere, somehow they cross paths with me. Mainly the ones who don't speak English. Irish and Australia and they speak English. That's not a thing. But like people are from South America, people from, I don't know, Russia and all those places,

Germany, they all end up close to me. And most of those comics, they get frustrated really soon. Because you're famous in your country, you have an audience and then here you send a message to the booker

of the stand-up New York and he doesn't answer and you're like what am I doing here? I'm already two months in this country I don't have any spots scheduled

what am I going to do and that happened with me in the beginning but I was so focused on making this happen that I never second-guessed myself Did you ever have bad shows Oh yeah

that did it ever cast doubt? No but here's the thing I think, Mark, in my country for years, I would step on stage and everybody knows, knew who I was, you know. So the experience was a completely different thing. Is it weird? So coming here and bombing in the beginning, it was like, that's awesome. Really? You made me excited.

I was like, this is amazing. I'm going to prove myself to these people. Yeah. So one day I'm going to be in the big clubs. One day I'm going to conquer this shit. Yeah, I could send email saying, oh, look at how many followers are. I have and that could open a few doors, but I was like, I'm not going to do that. Let the life take me to this.

Also, okay, one thing that helped me, I was able to make a little bit of money, so I wasn't worried about having to pay the bills. Right. You know, I didn't have to get a job in a restaurant to pay my bills. That helped a lot, okay? But I was never caught by the frustration. I remember, there was a show here in New York at the... needy factory.

Yeah, of course. Every Sunday. Down the block. Okay. Every, yeah, it's here. Every Sunday. And I remember one day, someone booked me on that show. And I went there.

I was, of course, it was like 2019, I think, or 18 as soon as I moved here. Someone booked me. And it's like a long show, two hours and a half. I was sitting there. Just waiting for the guy to call me. Because at the beginning, I was like, oh, I'm Rafi. I'm a comic. Oh, you can stay here.

And I stay there two hours and a half. And at the end of the show, thank you. you very much guys see you next week the guy never called me and I was like you have to be standing in a corner for two hours and a half a little nervous

you're like all right here we go I can do this he never called me and at the end of the show went up to the guy was like bro what happened I mean I was like what happened what happened what

you never called me I was like where would I like are you going to perform I said yeah because a friend of mine in L.A. got me the spot Jade

Jade Caraprera. She's a very good friend. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. She helped me a lot in the beginning. Oh, yeah, she's Brazilian, too. Yeah, yeah, she's great. Born in Brazil. She never, she lived, live just a little bit there.

Right. So she helped me with that show. And at the end, it was like, bro, I don't know who you are. I'm sorry. Oh, Jade, I'm sorry. I think she actually talked to me. Oh, I didn't know. And I remember leaving that show.

I even did this story. It's like, this is amazing. They don't know who I am. The guy didn't call me because he didn't know if I was famous or not. He didn't feel bad for me or anything like that Because, oh, he's famous So we have to treat him with care No, no, no, no, no, fuck this.

I'm not gonna, he didn't call me. That's awesome. One day, I'm gonna be in the clubs in New York And then they are gonna see me And one day I'm gonna be in a position That they are not gonna prove myself And I'm gonna be better than them. It was like, it was inspiring.

Yeah. So, but this mindset I didn't see in, Any other comic coming from other country here. Most of the comics who are from other countries that are able to make it here are not big in their countries. So they kind of like started their careers here.

But what's interesting is that the ones that I think are big, at least in my experience, I can think of only a couple. But there is a humility because you already have the confidence to know I did it once, I can do it again. Like, I don't know if you know Jonas Joseph. No. Could you pull up a picture of Jonas? He's a Norwegian comedian.

He's technically Somali is where his family's from, but he grew up his whole life in Norway. He's a massive comedian in Norway. He does theaters all in Norway. You know what? Crazy to say, I saw a video of this guy today? Not anything. I think I saw a video of him today. Really?

Someone said I didn't know who he was. Yeah, yeah. Was he with you? No. No, Jonas Joseph comedian. Yeah, I saw that guy. Like skinny guy. Yeah, yeah.

And he's great and he's the nicest dude ever. And he's so famous in Norway. And I met him at an open mic. Okay. Like literally like an open mic, it wasn't literally, but it was basically an open mic. And I don't even think he was going up. It was like a small club over here. I was working out new stuff.

And I met him and he was like, hey man, what's up? Like I ran into him one time when we were in Norway, something like this. And he was like, dude, I'm a, you know, I watch your stuff. Great to meet you. And I was like, oh, great to meet you also. And then we got to talking and I pride it out of him. I was like, have you done comedy before? He's like, yeah, I'm just getting into it in New York.

I was like, from where? He was like, well, I've been doing it for like 14 years in Norway. I was like, oh, okay. And then it came to be that he's written multiple shows. He does theaters. He's like so famous. But he had a humility when he came here to be. I was even asking him.

I was like, why are you here? And he was like, well, I want to earn it. Mm-hmm. That's what I did. Yeah, that's exactly the same mindset. That's awesome. I'm going to hit that guy off. He's great.

He's great. Yes. Yeah, I saw a video of him today. Yeah. He's amazing. He's awesome. He's going to be in Brooklyn. Yes.

He's the best. He's a great guy. And he's extremely funny. And he's basically, I don't want to say you specifically, because it's different paths. But he's kind of in that same mindset. This was maybe like a year ago. And he was like, I want to earn it.

I want to go to the open mics. I want to grind. I want to eat shit and I want to get better. And I want to do it the right way. That's awesome. And I was like, you're going to be okay. You know? Well, at the end of the day, if everything goes bad,

you can always come back to your country, you know. We are safe at the end of the day. I think the person who was trying to make it for the first time, have a much bigger chip on his shoulder than me, you know. But also some people can look at me and be like, well, you can bomb in another country. So why are you messing with this? I felt like the challenge was inspiring for me. And also I wanted to learn, you know.

I felt like I was always the reference in my country. Yeah, do a record. Yeah. Oh, look at the, for, for a few years, there was people like doing stand-up a little bit of with my tone, you know. So I was the reference for years. I wanted to see here. If I didn't move, if I hadn't move here,

I wouldn't have the chance to meet so many people and watch people that are like, who's this guy? Yeah. You know, because we know, yeah, we know the big names. Probably I would know about Bill Bore and Chappelle, but I would never know about you. I would never know about Lenny Marcus. He's an amazing writer.

And every time I see him or something. Greer Barnes, one of the best. Greer Barnes, those guys, I would never. never know about this guy. So it's an opportunity for me to learn more about my craft. This is something I love to do, you know. Well, that's amazing. And it's, it's awesome to watch you on stage. Every time I get the chance to pop into the, pop into the cellar and see you, it's, it's truly a pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you for having me, brother. Wait, thank you for coming. Thank you. I'm so inspired by it. It's just one block. It was just one sub-stop from my house.

Well, let's do it again soon. Thank you, brother. Raffibastus. Thank you very much. Thank you, brother.