Drama Queens - Work in Progress: Cristela Alonzo

Episode Date: September 18, 2025

Cristela Alonzo isn’t just one of the funniest voices in comedy—she’s a storyteller whose underdog journey fuels razor-sharp stand-up on identity, class and culture. Her latest Netflix special "Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy" blends hilarity with humanity, but in the comedy clubs, she’s proving that laughter can spark real change. Hear firsthand about the family struggles that shaped her, the dystopian nightmare she found herself in on election night, and the unexpected way she raised $30K of life-changing support, one laugh at a time.All proceeds from Cristela's live "Room Temperature Shows" benefit The Immigrant Defenders Law Center. Learn more about their work at https://www.immdef.org/.Cristela's new Netflix special "Cristela Alonzo: Upper Classy" comes out September 23rd. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Hey, everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hello, friends. Today, we are joined by a guest that I have such a comedy crush on. She is a brilliant comedian and a trailblazer. and a storyteller whose journey honestly reads like an incredibly powerful underdog tale. Today, we are joined by none other than Christella Alonso.

She is one of the funniest women on stage and on TV working today. Her stand-up specials on Netflix deliver incredibly incisive commentary on identity, class mobility, her wild childhood. and she manages to invite audiences to laugh alongside the deeply human truths of her Latina culture, social awkwardness, racism, and the randomness of everyday life. Her first two specials, lower-classy and middle-classy, are about to be succeeded by a third, and I cannot wait to talk to her about how she writes about her life and her family, about how she manages to blend her incredible achievements with really committed activism and more.

On the subject of her activism, Christella is doing something really incredible, as she has been touring around the country. Like so many of us, she's watched these ice raids happening in our home city of Los Angeles, and inspired by her mentor and idol Dolores Querta, she decided to take action. So she started doing shows all over. L.A. called the room temperature shows. Tickets are 30 bucks. She donates a hundred percent of sales revenue to the immigrant defender's law center, which is a nonprofit that focuses on defending immigrant communities against injustices. And so far, she's raised nearly $30,000.

Christella manages to be such an inspiring and powerful voice that proves that laughter can drive meaningful change. And I, for one, cannot wait to dive in. Let's hear from Christella. Do I go to the art, the rad vintage on air sign, the fiddly fig? You have an excellent background here. I always tell people that my aesthetic is like mid-century Peewey's Playhouse. Perfect. It's a lot. I'm a big plant person, but I love color. I love it. I don't have Legos. I'm a big Lego person.

Oh my God, me too. Shut up. I won Lego Masters last year. Shut up. I am so jealous of you. I am so jealous of you. It was the absolute time of my life. And I looked at Will Arnett and I was like, you have the best job in the world. Like, bro, I I don't, I'm not going to like push you down the stairs to steal your job, but I'm thinking about it. You know that the rumor was that he wasn't doing the next season. So they're actually, they're looking for people. They were looking for people.

So what you're saying is we should be the co-hosts of Lego Masters. I, I've actually talked to my manager about trying to see if we could do it in Mexico just so I'm like, I'll speak in Spanish to do it. Wait, that would be so sick. I'm like in love I'm so jealous I cannot believe like not only did you not only are you into Legos

but you won Lego Masters like that's next level and I gotta be honest like after the first two builds I was like we are not going to win and I don't know what happened we just like me and Corey we just like

stepped up our game and we did it we did it there were animatronics involved it was Christmas themed that's impressive and you know what people don't we don't talk about enough in the lego world is how your fingers hurt after like the blocks and stuff it's really cool it's also like it's like learning to play the guitar but it never gets better yes yeah oh my god aren't you so excited you came on this podcast to

talk about lego today honestly it's probably one of my favorite podcasts i'm so stoked this is it this is it But this is how, this is how it happens. Yes. Well, because also with podcast, it's like, look, I was born in the same state every podcast and stuff. But it's like when you get something different, you're like, let's do this. And here I was going to be like, well, we clearly have to go to the Rose Bowl together because I'm an mid-century junkie. But seriously, that actually reminds me of the point I didn't finish before we discovered this happy coincidence, which is, remember that Room Raider account? that started during COVID because everyone was Zooming.

I'm one of the top 10. I knew it. I was like, you must be a 10 out of 10 on Room Rader. I was actually, it's actually in my old place because I, I, when the pandemic started, I went crazy. I'm like, let's wallpaper. Let's just go, let's go to town. I started doing renovations.

But I was, I was renting, but I did this mid-century kind of like aqua, you know, pattern. And then I had these paintings, which I knew people would love. And, you know, once I got the 10 out of 10, and I was doing a lot of stuff with MSNBC at that time. And people would always recommend me to the room raiders. And they're like, look, she's Hall of Fame now because I'm such a plant person that I always had different plants because I was playing with. Oh, my God, I love it. It's like, and this week on MSNBC, I've upgraded to a Japanese. he's maple i love it i have to admit this is going so great for me because to make a comedian

that i love as much as i love you laugh i'm like i'm crushing obviously you have a new career like wonderful oh my god i really appreciate it get a tight five you're opening for me like it like took me a little while to figure out that my particular brand of just like neurospiciness um yes gives me crippling anxiety, but also can make me sort of funny. And then I was like, oh, I think I've found my lane. And then my mom was like, yeah, why do you think you were so obsessed with like Jerry Seinfeld and Murphy Brown? And like, you love Larry David. I was like, um, anxiety comics. Yes. I have really bad anxiety and people don't understand. Like you just see, you were for me. Like you were so for me. You said Seinfeld. When I was in high school, I used to love, like I was the person.

Like, he had that book sign language, which was just all of his stand-up. And I was like, hey, I'm so cool. I'm just going to go here while you guys are hanging out and read about comedy. But Murphy Brown is one of my favorite shows. Oh, my favorite show of all time. I talk about it all the time. I talk about the Mary Tyler Moore show and Murphy Brown and, like, the evolution of women. Me too.

And I really think even when I, like, when I started to really know I wanted to focus on theater. training, I think half the reason I wound up when I got to college and I was like, oh, all these actors are like, actors. And I was like, oh, I don't know if these are like really my people. I want to like tell stories, but this seems like a lot. And I shifted out of the BFA program to do a double major in theater and journalism. And I'm telling you, I'm like, oh, it's because I wanted to be Murphy Brown. Yeah. Yeah. Like, cool, cool. But this is actually something. And I want to, I want get to this part but it's it's something i've thought a lot about um you know becoming a fan of your comedy and then learning about your story i'm like oh there's got to be something about having

women and journalism idols as young women that primes you to be a storyteller and an activist absolutely and actually you know it's i think it's really interesting i loved theater growing up i loved it i wanted to be on broadway you know oh it was my dream and i I remember, you know, I'm in my 40s, and it used to be that growing up, every night, families would kind of pick a network and they would just watch the whole network. Like that was just, and CBS was like my Sunday, because I loved murder she wrote. Yes. Same. I love murder she wrote.

Oh, my God, a cute little old lady solving a murder mystery. Oh, my God. Sign me up. And she's just so perfect. And she can't drive. Like she's actually, if you think about it, she's almost. like TLC scrubs, but like as a woman, she's just always in the passenger side on your best one's right. Incredible. She's a scrub, but also we don't deserve Angela Lansberry. I'm like,

what do you do with that? Yeah, it totally. It's like ridiculous. I used to watch Murder Sheer and then one night they didn't show it and they showed the Tony Awards. And I was like, what is this? What is, what are all these colors? What is this? And I remember it was the year that Miss Saigon was new. And Jonathan Price was performing. He was doing the engineer in Miss Saigon, which would now be so not get cast because he's a white guy playing an Asian guy. But he did a song called American Dream. And he's describing the American Dream and these like colors and costumes and everything. And, you know, being the kid of immigrants, I was just like, what is this? This is like, like, he.

he's talking about like the country that we're in and he's talking about how great this country is and he's singing and dancing like I want to do that and I started to theater but my mom couldn't speak English so I used to have to translate the news to her so as a kid I was really into journalism because my mom was into the news she was really into events so I had to I had to translate the news to her. So it was a really weird kismet of, like, journalism, theater that I grew up in. And then in high school, I started doing oratory. I started writing speeches and, like, did debate and theater and all that.

And, you know, it sticks with you. It sticks with you. And then I remember, I like it. Look, I love to perform. I love to act. I knew the activism, the storytelling, once I knew that side and I knew what it could be, it became bigger. It became a bigger part for me.

It was just like, I love it. I love, and it's just what, you know, I hate social media and I love social media because it's like when I was a kid, yeah, it's like when I was a kid, I couldn't imagine being so connected. And, you know, when the Internet started, I was like, oh, my God, we're going to be so smart. Like, you know, it's like, remember encyclopedias? They used to be dated if you had to check one out. There's a chance that somebody checked it out or somebody stole it and just didn't know about, like, Japan.

If you had to find out about Japan, you know what I mean? You were like, oh, that issue's gone. Cool. And then the Internet started. And I love that this space can exist. Me too. Where you can actually talk about your interests and you can talk about what works and what doesn't.

And if you talk about what's happening in the world, both good and bad, because we need to know both good and bad. Yes. All of it. Well, and it's really interesting because, you know, we obviously really segued first and foremost over our shared fandom of building blocks. But the question I normally like to ask people first, because, like, you've got the specials and the shows and the thing.

Like, people know your work. I'm always curious about you. Yeah. And if you got to go back and hang out with your eight-year-old self, would you recognize yourself in her? Like, would you see the woman you are today and the creative person you are today in that little girl? And now, given what I know for the first 14 minutes, I'm like, hell yeah, you would, right? I'm the same person. And it's that thing where I think, you know, I think that subconsciously, I always did want to become,

I always wanted to become the person I wanted to be when I was a little kid. And I never let it go. And it's weird because it's a hard thing because life gets in the way. And then you start forgetting things that you loved, which in turn changes who you are. The things that you love, the little hobbies, the things that you get into, they all create who you are. And if you stop, if you just stop doing one thing, it slowly becomes this domino effect that changes you.

But when I was a kid, I used to love Legos, you know? And it's like, it really is this thing. One thing that I think I've constantly done in my life is because I always, I have almost crippling anxiety, you know, and I struggle with depression. It's like every time that I get sad or stressed out, I have always gone back to do something that I did when I was a little kid because it reminds me of how happy I was. And it's that thing that I love. You know, it's like, it's a reset. Yes. What are some of those things for you? You know, I love, like, the Lego thing is really big for me.

I actually, like sometimes my brothers used to, like we used to play video games. We used to play like the Nintendo, like the original Nintendo. So I have the original Nintendo. And I will play the games that I played when I was a kid. And I love it because the old systems, you can't restart.

Once you die, you die. The game's got to start all over. And for some reason, it brings that part of your brain that reminds you of when you were, 10, 11 when life was simpler. Yeah. And it's one of those things where you realize that I can get annoyed about losing the

progress of a game, but I also remember how cool it was that this technology existed when I was a kid and it makes me so happy. You just have to go back sometimes to capture the joy. And I think that as adults were horrible. horrible at doing that. And it's something that I talk about in the special that's coming out because it's this idea that we are taught how to live the wrong way. We are taught that you have to grow up. You know, so many of us get told you go to college, you graduate, you get married, you have the family, you know, blah, blah, blah, you get the job. And then I always started thinking,

like, what if you don't want to? what happens if you don't want to, you know, like, but this is life. It's like, but what if it is it? But why? Right. It's like, what if you do the thing that you want to do? Like, let's say that I didn't have kids. And everybody said, but you have to have kids.

It's like, but no, you don't. What if you don't? Yeah. What if you don't want them? You know, it's like, well, but why don't you want kids? And it's like, because I already. raised children. I help my sister raise her kids. So if I don't have the urge to raise children, what if I don't? And it's asking those questions that you realize, yeah, you don't have

to. And now a word from our sponsors who make this show possible. I turned 40, I realized that I had gotten to the point where, if I'm lucky, I still have the exact amount of time that I have lived left. Yes, it's like being a newborn, but with a bank account and taste. It's so cool. I turned 40 and I was like, well, 40 was a rough year for me but 41 was like the best birthday of my life and I literally was like I've honestly I don't think I've ever been hotter I've never been funnier I've never been smarter yeah weirdly I've channeled so much anger at fucked up in the world into emotional tenderness like how's that for a magic trick like I'm great and it's so weird it's like I look around and you know no shade to a teen TV show I

literally grew up on one. But I'm like, I want to see shows about us. Yes. Yes. Like I, I love this stage and it is really weird. There's something missing. It's like you either have a one tree hill or you have like an 80 for Brady and don't get me wrong. Like I die for a Jane Fonda movie. I love Grace and Frankie. But I'm like, we're so fun in our 40s. Where are our TV shows? That's why we all miss sex in the city so much. Yes. It's why we miss Seinfeld. You're right. And it's weird because it is this weird thing where, you know, there's, I remember when, you know, when I had my TV show, I had created it. I was writing it. We were auditioning people to play my sister.

And every time that an actress would come in, that was over 40, they would say, wow, she's, she can't, she's older. And I'm like, well, because my sister is older. So I would love an older actress to play an older sister. And they were trying to steer young. And it's like, no, no, because the most popular shows of our time all have older people in it. Frater is an older cast. Golden Girls is an older cast.

Everybody loves Raymond. Everybody loves Raymond. Everybody. The Jefferson's. Like, you know, Mary Tyler Moore. Murphy, all of them. They all had people that were older. You never thought, man, as a kid, as a kid, I could watch One Tree Hill and Frasier.

And I didn't, I didn't think, well, why am I watching Frasier? This isn't my show. It was just a funny show. Yes. Just like Murphy Brown. Absolutely. It's like, why am I watching Murphy Brown as a kid, right? and loving it because it's a good show.

And that's what people don't understand. It's like, if it's good, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter who's in it. It doesn't matter what the story is. You know, I say this all the time. As a Latino, I didn't have a lot of Latino representation on TV. And I found the things that spoke to me because I was looking for connection. And the connections, you know, you find them.

in places that you never thought, you know? And it's because of the story. That's why story is so important. I say this all the time. As different as we all may be, we're all very much alike. If you can find a stranger from another culture, you can find so many things in common about everyday life. And that is why those stories are important. Yes. And you said something about this when you were, you were talking, about your show, which, you know, for our audience at home, like, you made your own history. It was 2014. You became the first Latina ever to create, write, produce, and star in your own primetime sitcom, casual, just like dust your, you know, dust your shoulders off a little bit. Like, but one of the things I think is so interesting about it is, you know, you talked

about how your childhood experience, your lived experience was so. specific to you, but that actually the more specific you could be in the storytelling, the more every kind of viewer could relate to it. And I love, I love that because it's kind of like, it's almost like two things that are opposite or true, that the more unique your story is, the more relatable it is, even though you'd think the more unique it is the less people. You know, it's funny, when I started doing stand-up, I was really popular in the college circuit. I was like one of the most booked college comics of all time. And, you know, it's the number one state that I performed at was Wisconsin. Wisconsin, I mean, I know Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin.

And it was this thing where people would think, well, why do you get booked in Wisconsin? I didn't know there were Latinos there. And I was like, well, you know, it's just, it's where I get booked, right? But also, when it shows, you know, I remember one of the appeals was that I would always talk about growing up blue collar. You know, it's like you don't have to be Latino to grow up blue collar. You know, and it was, there used to be a joke that I did about how in my family, expiration dates were just suggestions. Right? And it's just like women, like family with money. the day the milk expires, you throw it out.

And in my family, it's like, oh, my God. Like, you got to taste it. Taste the milk, you know? In my family, it was always, well, smell it first. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Does it smell okay? Yeah, yes, you know. And it's, it's very specific because I, the joke, I kind of explain how, as the youngest,

I was always the person that had to taste everything, you know. And it's like this thing where. But, you know, family, like, people would like that joke a lot because it was relatable to them. It was very specific. And I would paint this picture of how I would do it. But they had similar things in their families, too. And that just shows you that by being specific, you're actually being very universal. Totally.

That's great storytelling. Totally. A great storytelling makes everybody feel like they could, like, like, they had. had the same life or similar experience. Yeah. Well, and one of the things I really appreciate about the way you move your stories through the world is you've talked a lot about how you grew up. Like, you didn't have an easy time. No. And I'm curious, you know, reflecting back on experiences with poverty on the time that your mom was undocumented, like things that we understand in real laser-sharp focus right now are so scary for families in our country. Do you think you realized

how tough it was then? Or has it come to really be clarified for you in your adulthood? And that's part of what you would say fuels your activism for similar families now. You know, I think that when I was a kid, I was the youngest of four and they're all like, older. So they're like 11, 13, and 15 years older than I am. And when I was a kid, they really did such a great job of shielding me from a lot of bad, a lot of the bad that I remember my childhood being so happy. I remember so much laughing, so much joy. You know, when I was born, we lived in this abandoned diner. We squatted in an abandoned diner

for the first seven years of my life. And we didn't have money. And my mom used to borrow electricity from this house that was next to the diner. And they would let us use an extension cord. And we would power our diner with the extension cord, and she would give them some money every month. And there were times that we had no electricity,

and we used to have this little radio from Radio Shack. And we, at night, it was so dark. My mom would play the radio and we would pick up stations from, like, Mexico that she knew. And on a clear night. And we would just sit around in the dark, just singing and like really kind of having like a very sitcomy almost. It almost seems so scripted, this family moment. Yeah. But it was so happy that I didn't realize that we had no electricity.

Right. You know, but it's that thing. There were moments. I knew that we were poor. And the kids at school made sure that you knew that they knew you were poor. And there is a moment where I knew, but I was happy. and I did you know I worked with what I had but there is a moment in my 20s when I was telling a story of how I grew up I was I had just moved to L.A. I can't remember but there used to be a diner around like Beverly Hills West Hollywood where the servers were so rude on purpose. Ed DeBevix. They would throw French fries at you. Yes. Yeah. That was the whole shtick you'd go in to get yelled at and berated. It was a performance.

and they would like take a dance break on the tables yeah I was there and I'm telling the story about my childhood and this one guy's like you're poor and the way and like it was insane it was this moment where that specific story yeah could not understand he couldn't understand because he would have never guessed that I had grown up so poor. You know, it's this assumption that because you're well-spoken, because you're smart, you know, people think, well, it's weird how class, this idea of class is so embedded into our society that they think that this class system that is kind of invisible but exist is connected to education. Well, they assume it's connected to your, to intellect and

worth. Yes. Which is so, so weird. Yes. Because sometimes people will treat you like, because you had no money, you didn't learn the same alphabet, the same math, the same thing that anybody else did. It's really weird. You're like, I didn't have to pay per letter and school. Exactly. Exactly. Are we okay? Yes, you know. And it, but it was that moment in my 20s at that story at that moment that I realized the level of poverty that I lived in wasn't everybody's experience. And it's weird because I wasn't allowed to go hang out at my friend's houses when I was, My mom was very strict. And, you know, as a kid, you only know your life.

Exactly. So you think, you assume that your life is like everybody else's life. And then when you go out into the real world and you meet other people, you realize everybody has a different life, right? Yeah. When I went to college, I remember there was a guy in my year that was writing out a check for his tuition. like just flat out all of it and i had never seen anyone write a check for that much money and it was and it was so nothing to him and i realized like oh wow like there are people that can do that

and it was such a weird moment that you realize like i have work study i have the pell grant i have like the SEO, like the lower income. Yeah, like, you know, it was so different. And, but then you remember that you're both in the same spot. Yeah. And that's when I think a lot of us forget that regardless of where we came from, we find ourselves in the same spot, you know? So it's like, he can afford it.

I couldn't. And we were both at the same college. And that showed you that that showed you that there are certain equalizers in life, you know. But it is this thing where, you know, yeah, realizing what I've been able to accomplish despite because of also the way that I was raised and how I grew up, I also realized that the narrative that was being shown about my community. was so badly written and people were going with it. Yeah. That it was this thing where you wanted to be the outlier and show people this humanity because that is the thing.

We're very good at vilifying what we don't know. Oh, yeah, with any community. We don't know it. So it's like we vilify it because. Because what are we going to do? Get to know them. It's easier to vilify them. Which is crazy to me.

I'm like, I literally started a podcast so I could hang out with people I think are interesting who I otherwise wouldn't meet. Like, I've given myself the job of getting to know people because it's the best job I've ever had. And we're just like out here acting like we don't need our neighbors. It's so weird to me. And now for our sponsors. I think part of it for me is, look, I understand the privilege I was born with being born in L.A. when I was looking like I look.

Like, I can kind of pass anywhere. You know, you don't get to not be Latina unless you're like, you know, eating in one of those. By the way, ironically, the way you talk about growing up, I'm like, yeah, now there's like Michelin Star restaurant. where you eat in the fucking dark and you're just supposed to trust the chefs like okay but it's like for me i i sort of have this really interesting experience stretched across two communities because my dad is an immigrant who didn't become a citizen until i was 13 my mother was born here but my mother's mother immigrated with her family through alice island and they experienced in that generation the backlash against you know the italians and the irish people that was swiftly swept under the rug because the really waspy white people were like, okay, well, we'll collect anyone who looks white and let them be part of our community.

So we can complain about all the other communities. And I'm like, really, we still haven't gotten the fucking point. So, you know, I grew up pretty secure. Like, very lucky. My dad's a wonderful entrepreneur and artist. But my mom spent a large part of her childhood in a housing project in the Bronx, like eating salt sandwiches when there was no food. Yes.

So I understand our relative comfort, and I very much understood my whole life and work to still the absolute lack of comfort that so many people come from and experience every day. And I remember going to college thinking like, you know, I have like a pretty nice life. Yes. You know, when I was 13, we like a move. into a house with an extra bedroom like wooee and I got to USC and I was like oh there are there are 18 year old girls who take a credit card their dad pays for to Gucci and spend $10,000 and don't get

murdered by their families like I would cease to live on the planet yeah you know I was like oh I have like a meal plan card that my parents got me for the semester like I'm pretty lug and lucky and I went oh And that's really where I saw, like, there's every kind of life. Yes. What's crazy to me is that generation after generation of families with stories like my moms with my grandparents and yours with your parents, we are still doing the thing where we look at our neighbors. Like, they're not our neighbors.

Like, they're not, like, they're the problem instead of a literal ruling class trying to become an oligarchy that uses everyone else as their underpaid workforce. You pull up the ladder. Oh, yeah. And I don't get it. And for you, I really want to thank you because not only have you broken barriers in your community, you've broken barriers for women in our industry. Like when you win, it makes it easier for me to win. Yeah. And you're taking your work and you're really creating something out of it.

You're doing these room temperature shows. You're supporting the immigrant defender's law center. Like, you are out on a comedy circuit making people laugh. And you're also managing to make that activism. And I want to talk about it because I think so many people view activism as like hard, intellectual, sad, angry work. And they miss that it can be the most creative, most generative, most affirming, like, community experience. And I think you, you're like showing that out loud and on the road right now. And I'm just, I don't know, I want to give you your flowers and I want to talk about it.

No, I think that, you know, there's two kinds of people. I think that the people that we're talking about that do pull up the ladder, you know, it's people forget that they were once where the other people are, that. they now do not want to support, do not, you know, that they ignore, right? And it's weird. But then there's also the people that come from it and it is so embedded in them that you cannot ignore what is happening. And I'm that person, you know, and it's growing up in a border town in the 80s,

I grew up with the, I grew up with the immigration raids from the border patrol. so what is happening in our country right now is old news to me yeah you know and i know that people i i like when people get invested in it i would love if people one of the reasons that we find ourselves where we're at is because people do not know their history if we knew our history we would not repeat it right yes that's the same right we are those that don't know history are doomed to repeat it you know and let's be clear that's why they're trying to defund education absolutely so they can keep doing this to people yes absolutely and it's it's this weird thing where for me there is no way that i couldn't be active because

like with what is happening right now with ice coming in taking people kidnapped camping people. I start thinking, that's my mother. Yes. And not only that, but like right now, my brothers and my sister, they all live in Texas. And it's weird to live in a time where you don't know if they're okay, even though they're citizens. Yes. My oldest brother became a citizen in 2016, and we were talking about how we should check into getting our Mexican citizenship and become dual citizens. And it's just, it's this thing where you're like, this is where we're at. Yeah. Anyway, I think that for me, because I'm so specific in my stand-up, and when I had my show, it brought in, when I started doing clubs after the show, I started bringing in this demo

that the clubs never didn't really see, which was a lot of like Latinas, a lot of like college educated, like a lot of college like educated, like recent graduates or like because the show, the sitcom I wrote was about me finishing law school, that there were a lot of lawyers, a lot of professionals that were coming into the clubs

that never went to comedy clubs. They didn't know they existed. So they've went to the clubs because the girl from the show was at the clubs. And when I started talking about how I grew up, it resonated with so many people that saw me because that was their story too. Wow.

And they liked that I was showing this smart character that was really trying to better themselves and like, and wasn't, you know, wasn't wearing, wasn't being very tropey, wasn't being stereotypical, you know, it was, you know, in the show, I was a big nerd, you know, and I liked being a nerd. And then after I shot my first Netflix special in 2016 in August, and I, it was right before Right before the election. And I thought, well, you know, we're going to be fine.

You know, we're going to be fine. And I tell this story a lot, like Dolores Huerta is my mentor. So I've learned a lot from Dolores. A lot of community work, everything, all the activism, I really learned from her. And we were together on the night of the election. And when, you know, I was moderating a panel. And I was supposed to moderate a panel the day after the election about the power of women and the ability to make a thing because we thought Hillary was going to win, obviously.

And when she didn't, I was crying so much. And it was like that thing where it was the cry that was so out of the blue that, you know, sometimes when you start crying, you know what's coming. And it just, it was that moment that just hit and came. Yeah. Like lightning. Yeah. And it was so weird.

It was just devastation that you couldn't put into words. And it was overwhelming. And I remember the next day I had to go, they got me. to go moderate the panel. We were on a boat, so we couldn't go. Oh, my God, that must have felt so dystopian and crazy. It was insane. We had nowhere to go, and there were people that were celebrating that he won on the boat.

So it was, like, totally different. It was a social justice cruise. Oh, my God, I could, then you can't, this is an episode of a sitcom. It was a social justice cruise. all of the people of color were on the boat. We were doing workshops and panels for rich white people that were celebrating that he won. I could not have done it. I don't know how you did it.

I could not have done it. We were in the middle of nowhere. Like what, you know, like it was like, and look, and there were people that were, there were people that were all that, that were devastated as well, that were rich. but there were a lot of people that were partying and I get taken into the room, into the green room, we're going to start this panel and Dolores sees me and my eyes are so swollen

and she's like, like, what's wrong? And I was like, well, you know, like I've been crying. She's like, why would happen? You know? And in my mind, I'm like, oh my God, like she doesn't know. And she was like, oh, she's like, this is the first time

your country's broken your heart. Oh my God. That makes me want to sob. She's like, this is not going to be the last time. Yeah. You know, and she looks over to the other panelists, Sonia Sanchez, this badass black poet. And she looks at her and she's like, you remember Nixon? And they start laughing, right? And Delors is like, Christella, you can be sad. You can be angry. You go to bed. You cry. You feel angry you feel furious live with those moments and then the next day you wake up and you fight you do something you think every time that you think every time it gets hard you remember those moments that you were sad and furious and use it to continue the fight because change is possible and i remember after that in 2016 that election night it changed my trajectory forever and it was this thing where

I took it to heart to the point that I realized that I needed to figure out what my life was because I didn't know what was coming, but I knew that it wasn't going to be good for a lot of people. Yeah. And once it started with like the Muslim ban, and I started seeing just so many minorities, struggling. I started thinking, I can't do stand-up right now. And I remember I emailed my people and I said, I don't want to work. I don't, I don't, I need to step away because I don't feel like I can be funny right now. And also, there weren't a lot of shows. People were trying to cater to this right leaning super conservative like yeah that didn't fit me it's like why do I want to be part

of this world I'm like I'm gonna sit it out and I didn't and I I you know took me about God I I would say about a year and a half I started working the community I started doing grassroots I started working with nonprofits I started trying to raise money you know I started thinking what what am I good at. I'm like, I'm fluent in Spanish. I love talking about voter outreach. I want to make sure that everybody that I can help, which in the community that I'm from, which is Latino, but more importantly, lower income. Yeah. I wanted to make sure that lower income people knew that government like programs existed. I wanted. Yeah. The problem is, is that we need access. And it was like this thing where the next couple years I came back, I shot the second special and then with

everything happening now, the third special that I wrote, I've been doing. And it's about it's about how in times of struggle we need to find joy. And how even in time, and how when we lose the joy, they win. Yes. And you cannot have them win. They want to see you miserable and you will not be miserable because life has already taught you that you should be miserable. You're expected to be miserable. And I tell people this at every show. The problem isn't that you don't work hard enough. The problem is you work too much.

Yes. You work too much and you don't allow yourself the chance to enjoy life. Happiness. Yes. Yes. Yes. You have to. Yes. You have to because the joy, joy is the light. Yes. Like when you think about the teachings of people like Dolores, Gloria Steinem, Dr. King, like the light in the dark is joy. It is community. It is being in love. It is getting married anyway. It is being

with your family anyway. It is laughing anyway. It's like whatever thing brings you hope and you're on the road doing the job you do, you've launched these companion shows to raise. I mean, you've raised like over $30,000 at this point with these room temperature shows. At $30 a ticket. It's all like raised. It's all but it's all community raised. And yes. I actually do it as an example. To me, it's a long term plan to show. people. It's actually, it's weird. It's like, to me, this is part of the outreach to teach people how much they matter. You see the president going into cities that he didn't win. Yeah. You know, it's like, and that's a, it's important to think that. Interesting. That's the commonality,

isn't it? And there are cities with black mayors, too. Women. Yep. You know, it's like, we have to keep saying that part out loud. It's the cities that he didn't win that supposedly need so much Oh, they're just out of control. The lowest crime rates in 30 years. That's not the lowest crime rate. So it's this thing where with one $30 ticket, mixed with other $30 tickets, the first show, we raised $12,500. It's incredible. At $30 a pop.

$30. Yeah. And that just shows you that your $30 raised. $12,000. Yes. $30,000 comes from $30 a ticket. That shows you that change can happen at very small increments. And that is what happens when you vote.

If you actually show up your vote with other votes, I try to describe it as a choir. One voice is needed with another voice and together you make beautiful music. And that's what we can do with change. It's so cool to see you building an example of collective power through joy. Yes. I think that kind of joy that becomes a source for creativity, that becomes a source for purpose that's so much bigger than just your career, that is about identity and self.

Like, as you cultivate that, as you push this third special into the world for us and thank you, we need it desperately. So what feels like your work in progress? what are you focusing on next i actually it's funny i actually have always said that the older i've gotten i realized that i really do feel that i want to be in service to others yeah it is just it's something that i think is uh bigger than a lot of things and i you know when i was a kid in fourth grade I told you know we made a little makeshift yearbook in my class and they asked all of us what we wanted to be when when we grew up and I said I wanted to be a president of the United States and everyone made fun of me and there were people that were like how are you going to be it and it was this thing I was such a I was a nerd I love politics everything and like as a little kid and I was like yeah you're right like I I listened to people and I didn't even follow it.

And I've always said, it's like, I've always said that I would be open to running for office in the future if it was something that was good for the community. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because having worked on elections and I work on all the elections, you know, it's like you see how. you see what is needed and you see, you know, what the work that needs to be done and trying to find a way of like figuring out what is the most effective way that I can use what I'm good at to make change. When we talk about politics, we always talk middle class. It's like we need to talk about the people that are in poverty too.

Everybody. everybody. Everybody. We need to be inclusive because the people in poverty also vote. You know, it's like we make it seem like they don't. And that's why a lot of people don't. Yes. We'll be back in just a minute. But here's a word from our sponsors.

And one of the things I think is so important is beginning to figure out how to demystify the kind of reality a little bit for people because like I try to tell people all the time I'm like look very similarly to you

I'm like you know me from TV you think I'm living like I don't know jailo I'm not almost nobody is almost everyone in our union has to have a side hustle or a second job or whatever

and by the way to be clear I only have health care because I'm in a union you guys like it's the only reason I can go to the fucking doctor and I think not only do we need to be more inclusive of language in terms of people that are on the suffering

and the risk end of the spectrum, we also have to be clear that like the other end of the spectrum doesn't really look like what you think. Like everybody's not really doing better than you. No. Everybody's having a hard time. And if we all got together and bargained better collectively, everybody's lives would be a little easier. It wouldn't be that somebody was like getting one over on you. It would just be that maybe we could build a larger middle class again.

Maybe we could build more upward mobility for more people and like people could live in dignified ways which seemed much more possible two generations ago but that's because the wealth disparity wasn't so bad. Absolutely. And you know, and I think And it's weird because, because going back to like a social media, because it is the way that so many of us see life, right?

You know, it's weird to have this illusion being presented in social media. It's the worst. You know, like sometimes it's funny how the algorithm knows I'm in my 40s, so they try to sneak in what they think I would like. And it's always like every now and then it's women with. their skin care, right? Oh, so much skincare. So many products that you're just like, I can't, I do not have the time to do all of these steps. I'm just like, I don't even know what that is. Yes, it's like, I'm very basic. You know, it's like, I need, you know, but also like you see makeup and you see, I'll see women that, you know, and men that like, they'll spill a whole bottle of

foundation on their face for drama. And I'm thinking, that's expensive bottle. I'm like, that better have been in PR because otherwise. And even if it was, it's wasteful. It's the illusion that, oh, this is, everybody has money. Look at us. We live in this penthouse and we. Everybody's cosplaying. Everyone.

And it's just like, can we be vulnerable? Is it okay to show people what we really look like, what we really do? You know, people will always tell me, they always accuse me, of getting work done, right? And it's like this thing because the assumption is that in my, at my age, I'm always getting work done. Yeah. And you're like, no, actually, 40 is hot.

Yes. It's, like I hate to break it to you guys. 40 is not like, there are people that look older in their 20s. Oh, yeah. By the way, I look better. I look better in my 40s than I looked in my 30s for sure. in my 30s I was mad depressed I was in like a bad sitch I and you could see it on my face and like it turns out happiness looks good on people yes maybe that's the work in progress maybe the work

in progress is just to get more gorgeous as we age because we get happier actually that's actually look I'm I'll sign up for it I'll subscribe I mean because it's true it's like honestly when when you think about like the golden girls and how they're in their 50s insane I'm like those are are those are 70-year-old women. Yeah. Like, what are we talking about? Maybe 80. Sophia, my namesake, 80.

She was in her 80s, that tiny, that tiny adorable little woman was like someone's great grandma. What are we talking about? Which, by the way, I always tell people, Sophia was an immigrant and we never talked about, we never bastardized her immigrant journey. Yeah. It didn't have to be central to her identity. No.

It wasn't the only interesting fact about her. We knew personality. We knew who she was and everything. It just so happens that she was an immigrant. And that's another thing. I want to tell everybody. I want to remind everybody. We get a lot of bad news.

We get a lot of bad taken in. We need to focus on movement of good, too. We need a small wins too. And being hot in our 40s is a good thing. Just saying. Let's fight fascism and look great while doing it. I am like, sign me up. Well, thank you so much for today.

Thank you so much. You sweet soul. You too. Thank you.