WTF with Marc Maron Podcast - Episode 918 - ​Paul Rodriguez

Episode Date: May 23, 2018

Paul Rodriguez has always been paying his dues. Even before he paid his dues doing open mics and parking cars at The Comedy Store, he paid his dues growing up in Compton, serving in the Air Force, and struggling with the religious devotion of his family. Paul and Marc talk about those early days, as well as his first appearances on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, his infamous comedy special in San Quentin, and his most recent comedy special which Paul insists will be his last. Sign up here for WTF+ to get the full show archives and weekly bonus material! https://plus.acast.com/s/wtf-with-marc-maron-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So, no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those, too.

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Lock the gate! Alright, let's do this how are you what the fuckers what the fuck buddies what the fucksters what's happening i'm mark maron this is my podcast wtf welcome to it how are you it's a sad day really i have uh not because of this well you know let me just set up the show i uh paul rodriguez is uh on the show today and i i've actually i never met him i had i know nothing about him and that's rare because you know he's a comic he's of a certain generation of dudes that i i either knew about or ran into or looked up to at some point or another but i really never talked to paul i never knew many of his friends so when i got the opportunity when he sort of up, I thought it'd be nice to get to know that guy. So Paul Rodriguez is going to be on the show today.

And the reason it's a sad day, I'm sort of breathy. I just woke up. I don't know why I'm exasperated. Maybe it's because I'm still in Birmingham. Yesterday, I just held back, tried to, you know, hold back. Don't eat that. That's the secret slogan of the South. Hey, maybe don't eat that. It's not that it's bad. It's that it's too fucking good.

But yesterday, I basically, I had the day off down here for the work, and I found an interesting little smoke shop old school place where a guy carves his own pipes has pipe tobaccos some cigars i'm having the occasional cigar i know some of you know that means that maybe i'm drifting back into the nicotine but hey man you know i'm i got you you gotta have something right no i'm not committed but i went down there it was actually in in like an old house and it was called the briary and the guy hooked me up the guy working there i think his name is aubrey and he i just walked in he was just like chipper i had to be the first customer of the day and i just walked in he's like how you doing you know like very you know

it was just so congenial and so uh you seem so excited to be working in a pipe shop. And there's a certain, I realized, you know, he started talking pipes. He's talking cigars. We went in the humidor. We talked some cigars. You know, for me, I'm just, you know, I'm just kind of a run of the mill, you know, attic person. You know what I mean? I like the strong ones that make me feel things.

What do you got that's strong and makes me feel things? That's how life's got to be for me. Is it strong and make me feel things? All right, I'm in. But I don't want to feel things for too long. Maybe, you know, an hour, hour and a half. I don't want to be up all night. I don't want to be sad after. I don't want to throw up. What do you got? Strong, makes me feel things. Good, hopefully. Makes me feel good things. Actually shuts out most things and just leaves the good thing or something. Just a little hum. Can you get me humming?

Is there something that you got here that'll get me humming for the morning? But no, and I never really met a guy like him. He's a full-on pipe tobacco cigar nerd and very helpful. Hooked me up with a massive cigar that I just sat on the porch in Homewood, Alabama, I think it's in, and smoked that thing with a cat on the porch. I read, got into about 100 pages of the new Itzkoff book on Robin Williams because I'm going to talk to Itzkoff.

It's very good. It's so interesting to read that that stuff but I'll talk I'll talk to you about that when I talk to him you know that but the Robin Williams book is uh it's good it's it's very you know for me you know it goes far back and it goes to it starts mentioning people I've known or I've talked to I've worked with and I get a little glimpse of their their beginnings but here's the thing I've worked with and I get a little glimpse of their their beginnings but here's the thing um Philip Roth died day before yesterday and and uh I'd be remiss if I didn't um say something because he was one of the few guys whose whose books I would you know read pretty compulsively I I maybe it being a Jew. Maybe it's because he made being a Jew, American sort of middle-class Jew,

thoroughly interesting and defined and exciting in some ways, kind of pathetic in some ways, you know, but fully rounded. I think, you know, as much as American Jewishness affected Philip Roth, Philip Roth affected American Jewishness. And the guy has written so many books, and he's one of those guys that just, he was good all the way to the end, man.

It's just, you know, it's not a tragedy to some degree because he lived a good long life yeah 85 years old but but it is he's gone and it's one of those things where i don't think he's written anything in a few years and and obviously you know all the material is here if you want and there's one book that you should certainly read like i mean go out and get it asap if you can i mean if you want to fuck with yourself but i'll tell you in a minute but the thing is not not unlike david bowie who probably had a couple records in him and i don't know if philip roth had any more books in him i don't know i think it's been a while since he's written i don't know the situation around his death or how sick he was i know he's sick a few years ago but he was 85 boy was too young but it's

like when these people that you know you've you've grown to have a relationship with their work and uh you you see it on your bookshelf or you pick it up and read a few lines you listen to it on a record or on your thing you know they they it's comforting or it's it's comforting or there's something feels like home about it or feels defining or feels like something that defines you or something that was always there for you. And it is to some level as a reminder or something that you evolve with over time. I've always thought that great works of genius

sort of evolve with you as you get older. You go back to them and they take on a new life. They imply something different. They affect you as you get older. You go back to them and they take on a new life. They imply something different. They affect you in a different way. But when these guys go off the physical plane, when they shuffle off the mortal coil, paraphrasing wrong probably, but don't know much about Shakespeare.

So, you know, their absence. You feel in those days the absence. And then, you know, sort of the absence kind of hangs over the work you you and it's not it's it's not terrible i mean it's it's sad that they're not around but it's it's sort of nice knowing that these guys are on the plane with us here they're terra firma if that's used properly or whatever and then when they go they're like oh is that guy yeah he's not here anymore, the books and the records and whatever, it's all here. But there's something permanent about the mortality thing

because so many of these cats who do the big work, who do the art, you know, are really sort of, you know, fighting against the dying of the light, you know? I mean, the weight of mortality. And, well, he's dead but the shit is here and it's some of the best shit ever written and the book you know it's sort of an outlier is that the right word i'm like i just woke up man i gotta go to work the outlier or a unique book for him was something he wrote in 2004 called the plot against america and it's a fictional um history infused with his real history as a child or a boy in newark new

jersey uh growing up in the um i don't know probably the 30s and 40s uh but it really is about it's an alternative american history where uh charles lindbergh on a sort of isolationist uh platform won the becomes the president he he at the 1940 republican national convention he's nominated and he's elected president. And he was pretty anti-Semitic. He was sympathetic to Hitler's government. And it sort of plays out like that, where you have an anti-Semitic president who is aligned with an anti-Semitic government abroad, who is aligned with an anti-Semitic government abroad and how that changes the country and what happens to the world. And it's a reaction from Jews.

And it's a very detailed book, well thought out, terrifying, and so elaborately done fictionally that it's believable. And certainly living through what we're living through now i i think it's it's certainly worth reading but maybe maybe it's not something people can handle now given that you know we're sort of seeing a slow drift towards something awful uh in the government uh in terms of you know what democracy will look look like if it survives or even if we ever had it really.

But not to get morose, but rest in peace, Philip. Where off you had a very profound impact on my life and I don't know who I'm talking to right now. But get into those books. Okay, this is a funny little thing that I had with Sam Lipsight, my buddy, the novelist, who I didn't bring up the other day, but he's finished a new novel,

which is fucking, I'm just thrilled, because I need it. I need a new Sam Lipsight novel, but Lipsight lends me his copy of Sabbath's Theater, which is a great Philip Roth book. Again, it's not one of the ones that a lot of people read or know. It's about a former, the guy's a puppeteer. He's a political satire puppeteer, Mickey Sabbath, but it's one of the, it's one of the great sort of morally corrupt characters, but, but I, it's, it's a, it's a four, like gotta be three, 400 pages. And it's a, yeah, I just love it. It's

one of my favorite Philip Roth books, Sabbath Theater. And Lipsided lent me his hard copy edition when we were living in New Yorkork and i read the whole book and in it in the book now you know sam he's a you know he's a he's a novel he's a writer he's a great writer so in the book there's one sentence underlined you out of like three or four hundred pages there's one sentence one sentence underlined and i gave back the book i gave sam back the book and i said you know what was it why is that one sentence underlined and sam says well that's the the best sentence in the book completely serious he was he was completely serious all right folks look um paul rodriguez a veteran comic he's been around many of you know him you know he was a

you know one of the the original ish latino comics you know post freddie prince and uh it's just a life i don't know anything about you know you'd see him here and there on tv but he's always been working he's always been out there and i thought i'd take the opportunity to talk to him he's uh paul rodriguez the here and wow is a special. It's available to stream now on iTunes, Amazon, Google Play, and most on-demand platforms. And I thought maybe I'd get to know him. So this is me and Paul Rodriguez back in the new garage. It's hockey season, and you can get anything you need

delivered with Uber Eats. Well, almost, almost anything. So no, you can't get an ice rink on Uber Eats. But iced tea, ice cream, or just plain old ice? Yes, we deliver those. Gold tenders, no. But chicken tenders, yes. Because those are groceries, and we deliver those too. Along with your favorite restaurant food, alcohol, and other everyday essentials. Order Uber Eats now. For alcohol, you must be legal drinking age. Please enjoy responsibly. Product availability varies by region. See app for details.

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Zensurance, mind your business. Raj. It's weird because I was at the store. I never saw you around back then, but you were always a guy, like Paul Rodriguez was always a guy. But I don't know, where'd you come from? Off the bus, really. I came from Compton. I had just gotten out of the Air Force, but I was there early. I was there earlier than that.

No, no, I know, I know. But like, where'd you grow up? Compton? Well, in Compton, really, but my parents were migrant farm workers, so they stayed in Fresno, and I'm the only one that left Fresno. I left Fresno because I had to go, so I moved in with an aunt, and then later on, my father had a farming accident, uh it just so happens that Compton was one of the cheapest places to live yeah so I wound up going to uh um uh school right

there in Compton I went to uh Ralph Bunch yeah Ralph Bunch right there on Willowbrook and yeah three months after we moved in uh the riots broke out it was 1968 wasn't it yeah the the original Compton riots the The riots broke out. Yeah. I remember one of my earliest memories seeing a Sherman tank parked right there in El Segundo in Willowbrook. And I have pictures of myself being the white guy in my school. Yeah.

That's how black it was. I'm brown, and I was the white guy. Right. And I guess that's really what made me uh be a comic i i talked my way out a lot of situations and did you have brothers and sisters i did yeah and then i had my brother george was a fighter man he looked exactly like this world champion canelo alvarez my brother george has had he's a he's not much to look at now but he's flaming red hair and freckles. He looked the furthest thing from what you would stereotype a typical Mexican.

Because my mom's German. She's of German ancestry. But she was in Mexico? They met in Mexico? Because there was, I guess there was a lot of Germans in Mexico at one time. A lot. In the state where I was born in Sinaloa, in Culiacan, where now it's famous because of narco-trafficking and all that.

But I was born in Culiacán, and there were a lot of German migration during the first, after the first World War, they moved in there. And they brought the accordions. The accordion. Yeah. They brought the accordion and the tubas. Yeah.

And that's been incorporated into the mariachi. Conjunto music. Yeah, conjunto. Yeah. Conjunto music. Yeah, conjunto. Yeah. The umpapa. Yeah. A lot of those songs, if you listen to them, they do sound alike. I love it.

And that's where the German influence come from. So your mom was a part of that immigration. Yeah, yeah. My mom, every once in a while when she would get mad, she'd scream at me at me in german you know i always said i was a chica nazi uh-huh it's uh yeah but uh you know they're not really known for stand-up comedy so i didn't get it from her side the german the german not that i know of but yeah not not directly not a lot of stand-up yeah yeah but it's weird because like i i guess they're i i don't know if there's more tension between mexicans blacks but they but there seems to be tension there was a lot of tension yeah i'll tell you uh it was easy to to

be a prejudiced and racist yeah but as as time went on uh i made a lot of friends and uh for example kenny landro from the the Dodgers was my schoolmate. He made it all the way. And I joined the football team. I was the kicker. And I have a picture of myself and the football team. Everyone's black but myself and the football coach. I wanted to quit because when I signed up, I thought it was football soccer.

Oh, really? Yeah. Because that's what you grew up with? Yeah. Well, that's what I signed up, I thought it was football soccer. Uh-huh. You know? Oh, really? Yeah. Because that's what you grew up with? Yeah. Well, that's what I said. Football, you know, a foot and a ball. And I remember looking at, the first time I looked at an American football, it seemed like the ball was oblong, you know?

Yeah. Squished. Right? Yeah. I remember telling my mom, I said, you think we got it bad? Their balls aren't even round. It was like a deformed thing and they would run with that i didn't understand the game but i could kick

and i i kicked and well how old were you when you moved to the states i was uh two and a half three years old i have memories of a very faint memories yeah and your brother's older or younger my brother's oldest yeah yeah my brother's uh i'm 63 now my brother's got to be close to 74 now and it's just the two of you no no no what kind of mexicans would i be there's a whole bunch of sisters in between us there's my brother mario my brother javier and and my uh my sister ada there and you all grew up in compton you all you're all in the same house at the same time no because there's a big enough age difference where some people are out. They were out.

I grew up with five siblings in Compton that were still at home and the others had married and moved on and stayed in the ranch in Fresno where eventually as soon as I made money I bought my parents a farm there. You did? In Fresno?

I bought them a farm in Fresno. They just came over I made money. I bought my parents a farm there. You did? In Fresno? I bought them a farm in Fresno. Yeah. And they just came over, just straight up migrant workers. They just came to farm someone else's land. You know, I'll say this, because I've never talked about this before. Yeah. We weren't really economic. We didn't immigrate for economic reasons.

We immigrated for more of religious reasons. See, my father, my mother was Protestant. It's very, very rare to have a Mexican American who's a Protestant. So I hated that because I lived a double life. I was Protestant at home and very religious Mennonite Protestants. Oh, really? Yes, and my father was a minister. But I didn't want to get picked on in school,

so I had a crucifix that I would put under a rock outside the house. I wore a crucifix to be Catholic in school. Right. And I was Protestant at home. But eventually that would come out. And I remember my father was a pastor there at the Second Apostolic Church of Compton. He was a Protestant there at the Second Apostolic Church of Compton. He was a Protestant pastor? Yeah.

So did he convert or do you not need to convert? Because was he originally Catholic or no? Yes, yes, he was born Catholic. Right. And he converted. Yeah. He converted to this faith. Right.

And they believe, you know, they're very strict. The women don't wear makeup. They have to wear long dresses. They don't smoke they don't drink uh they don't uh dance they're very strict you know and uh amish type of thing right and uh i i love music and i i love dancing i love the girls i love drinking i did everything my father didn't want to. So my dad took me out of Compton because it was dangerous and stuff. And he sent me to Hayward Bible College in Hayward, California to be a minister. Oh, my God. To be a preacher.

And when I went over there, I ran into a lot of problems because we were all sexually frustrated. All the girls there and all the guys there. Because it was apostolic Protestants. You couldn't do anything? Nothing. Nothing. You'd go to hell if you touch yourself. Right.

And every night all you could do is, and of course everybody was having sex. Sure. Of course. And I was having sex also. Yeah. And I got busted. I got caught. Got busted.

With a girl. Uh-huh. Naked? Yeah, butt naked. And I got busted. I got caught. Got busted. With a girl. Naked? Yeah, butt naked. Having sex. And the guy that busted me really wanted that girl, liked that girl. Yeah. And I got thrown out.

And he got the girl. I don't know. I never saw him again. But it cost my father a lot of consternation. And then I had to go before the church board. And I was considered a backslider. And by that time, I said, you know, Dad, I said, this is too strict. I can't live like this. I'm sorry to break your heart.

And I got drafted. And I joined the Air Force. And I left. Yeah, it's better to be Catholic where you can come fuck and drink and then just ask for your apology. I'm sorry. I fucked it. You know, I catholic now and i always said that it's it's wonderful because catholicism you're allowed to to fuck and to

sin and to all these things all you got to do is just uh confess yeah tell the priest who yeah who probably lives vicariously through you sure apologize later it's all good you can do it yeah it is one of the few religions that absolves all your uh your sense i had to learn how to give myself the sign of the cross and i had to learn my to go to catechism and at what age well i i didn't formally do it until my parents passed away you know really so you uh you had to you came into catholicism late your birthright as a mexican you should have known it all along. Finally, you come back to the church. I remember telling my parents, wanting to tell my mom and dad, you know,

I said, you know, I want to talk to you. And they said, sit down, let me tell you. And right away, my mom said, oh my God, he's gay. He said, he's gay. I said, no, mom, I'm not gay. And I do a joke about that, but it wasn't due to religion. The joke was that I sat down and I said, you know, I'm thinking about being a Republican. And they said, oh, a Republican, I wish you were gay instead, you know. But that was the real reason. Very strict, no drinking, you'd go to hell for every reason. But that's why they left Mexico, you think?

Yeah, they did because my father was shot at and persecuted. For being a Protestant. Yeah, very, very. No kidding. Yeah. Well, a lot of people don't know Mexico had a war. It was called the War of the Cristeros. I think Andy Garcia did a movie where the clergy in Mexico was so powerful,

they had a stranglehold in government. So these forces, the anticristeros, they fought. And eventually, Alvaro Obregón, a president there, won the war, and he was killed by a priest. Oh, wow. He was assassinated by a priest. But it's a very dark history of Mexico. Mexico still remains one of the most Catholic countries in the world. There's a city called Cholula where there are 365 churches in that one city, one for every day of the year. And they will tell the Indians who would make these churches

that the angels at night would come in and build these churches. You know, the Catholic church, the problems that I've had, the only reason I call myself a Catholic is because if we are going to hell, that's where all the Mexicans are going to be, you know. So I want to join them, you know. Religion has a very, very powerful hold on the psyche. Yours? Of mine and of us because most Mexicans who come to America come for economic reasons. And of us, because most Mexicans who come to America come for economic reasons. We came because my father was assigned to be the pastor in San Pedro, California, the first apostolic church of Compton. Then he got assigned to Fresno.

And then from there, just in time for the riots, he established the church in Compton. It's still there, the apostolic Church in Compton on Rosecrans. So they probably thought this was a great deal because I would assume that as a Mexican, to do missionary work, to get Mexicans to come to this church. And it was hard convincing them because, you know, we love to drink. And it's what did Catholic things deep, man. It is deep. It is to the point where like- There's a lot of saints.

There's a lot of saints there's a lot of elaborate uh paintings the churches are beautiful it's a thousand years old shooting well i'll tell you another story that's quite interesting uh el chapo the uh famous uh be careful now i don't want to get shot the infamous uh drug lord yeah actually how i am related to him is because his mother is also an apostolic. Really? An apostolic. And my mother and her are very good friends.

And I remember meeting him when he was a kid. So, you're mother's friends with El Chapo's mother. They went to the same church and everything. Is your mom still around? My mom passed away about four years ago on Mother mother's day she lived to be uh 93 93 years old so now you're practicing catholic i'm not i'm not practicing oh but i i identify i've made a commitment to the jewelry yeah you know so i'd have to get rid of all the jewelry the truth be told uh the older i've gotten yeah i believe that mostly I believe in religion out of peer pressure, really.

It's a sense of belonging. Right. But do I believe the dogma? Have I gone to confession and all that? No, no. Okay, so you tell your folks, you get sent home from the school for fucking. Yeah, yeah. And then you got to sit down.

Your dad's upset. And then you said you joined the service? You just- Well, at the time, I'm 63 at the time, I was drafted actually. Oh, it must have been towards the end, huh? Yeah, the very end. And six months later, Nixon did away with the draft in 73, yeah, 72, 73. By then I had already, back then you had to sign at 17 before your 18th birthday.

And lucky me, I was born in January, so my number was high. Yeah. So I got in. They give you the physical. And I went. I didn't want to go to the Marines. I didn't want to go. So I took a test.

They gave me this little test, and I went to the Air Force. I figured, you know, if I have to go i the air force was uh you kill people from far away i guess yeah that was the that was the plan but what what ultimately and what'd you end up doing i i got into communications i was a uh a communications operator uh and then i went and then i crossed and i became a a load master where were you stationed i was stationed in iceland keflubic iceland that was a lot you saw a lot of action huh i saw i saw a lot of a lot of uh uh seals yeah and icelandic women i was stationed in uh in a remote area in iceland which is remote enough and called hornafiador which was a radar with 90 men and uh way at the very if you look at the iceland it has like a little uh like a peninsula yeah and

we had a lot of uh we still do i think uh radar sites that would track a russian bear the the the the big youtube's yeah that would fly to cuba that's where they would track them you know and well it was a lot of boring hours but what it did for me it it got me from the craziness of compton and all of that. And I was lucky enough to meet my commanding officer who took an interest, not in a gay way, but he took an interest in me and he gave me books to read. He said, listen, if you want to go to college, you use the GI Bill. All you really need to do is to read voraciously. And he gave me a lot of books that were very difficult. I read Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago to do is to read voraciously. And he gave me a lot of books that were very difficult.

I read Solzhenitsyn's Gulag Archipelago. I had to read it a couple of times. I didn't understand, but it was about the Stalinist. Prison system, right? The prison system. Yeah. And I read the ones at the Animal Farm. Oh, yeah.

And I read War and Peace. There was nothing to do. There was no TV or anything. So you would read. And after a while, you enjoyed it. For the year year and a half i was there i must have read a couple hundred books really yeah well i can't imagine i'd never been to iceland iceland's quite a place it was uh established by leif erickson yeah and they they still speak uh the most original uh icelandic which is the original viking language and it's a very very

difficult language uh uh it's it it sounds like i know i knew a couple of words uh because where we were at uh there was a little town hoffen yeah and uh and and uh we were allowed to go into the the city there blacks had to leave by noon and latinos could stay there till three and then whites can stay there forever and that had been going on for a while until we got a black colonel who was commanding and he he made it off limits to all the servicemen and within three months the icelandics were at our gates begging us for for alcohol and please come back. And, you know, nobody ever thought about doing that until we got a black colonel and he put racism to rest there.

Because you guys were important to the economy. Well, yeah, not only that, but at the time liquor was outlawed in Iceland. So we were the only ones that had Jack Daniels, had these bottles. So you guys would just drive in with the booze? And the girls would go just lay down. Yeah, oh yeah. That was the intention. You know, the the booze is that and the girls and the girls will go just uh lay down yeah oh yeah that they were that was the intention you know the thing about iceland is that yeah

alcohol was illegal at the time any kind of alcohol but everybody was drunk right they would they would make their own stuff a horrible tasting stuff called kurdus or something like that yeah made out of goat balls or whatever it was it fermented something and and uh that's what they would drink they would drink and they would they would it tasted awful iceland was uh they had a lot of a lot of icelandic ponies and a lot of uh goat a lot of fish and uh it was boring yeah it snowed terribly and it was it was not a place for for any tropical it was like the opposite from what you grew up in and i guess on some level that was probably a nice mind-blowing experience it was palate cleanser yeah i got to do a lot of fishing we did a lot of fishing but you know uh there was is that a hobby you've kept up with paul

no no i let that go right away you know i if i if i don't ever see another cod i'll be all right it was just a yeah it was you had to find something to do. And luckily enough, I got into, you know, I had someone that interested. The reading. The reading. The reading. It helped a lot. So how long were you in the service total?

I did four years active and two years reserve. And two years out back here? Yeah, back here. Which is one of the reasons how I got to know Carlin. Yeah. Carlin was Air Force and so was Sinbad. So a couple of other well-known comics were Air Force. And I first got signed.

Before you started doing comedy, you got to know? No, no, after I did, I got signed by a guy named Murray Becker, who was a legendary, he was supposedly the character that Woody Allen did about. Oh, no, Broadway Danny Rose. Broadway Danny Rose. Yeah. At the time, he had George Carlin. He managed Carlin's and Burns and Carlin.

Leno was with him. Oh, this was the guy, huh? What was his name? Murray Becker. Murray Becker. Leno was with him. Shannon was with him. Murray Becker.

So, but okay, so you come back from the service and you're back home, you're back in Compton. When do you start doing comedy? How does that unfold? I mean, like, did you do jobs other jobs oh yeah I used to work at a furniture store in in Gardena what I did is I used the GI Bill and I went to uh Long Beach City College which is basically doing high school all over again yeah I didn't graduate from high school it was impossible to graduate there there was uh two years at City College two years at City College I got an a8

and then i enrolled in long beach state and i went there you know spielberg's alma mater i went there and i was uh i i had a counselor there that said that if i if i wanted to be a trial uh lawyer which i wanted to be uh to take uh acting because basically all a lawyer does is uh you act in front of 12 uh people so you were doing like pre-law. Yeah, right. Yeah, it was. Right. And this guy, one of your teachers recommends go to acting class.

Right. And it just so happens that her name, Anita Cano, I had a teacher that also taught Spanish because I was reading Cervantes. Sure, yeah. And I was reading all of those classics. and I was reading all of those classics. And she, her husband, I think was a, worked at a firm that did accounting for the comedy store. And I used to, you know,

make people laugh in the classroom. And Anita Cano was the one that said, you know what, you should go to the comedy store. And she took me there to Westwood on amateur night. And the minute I got on stage, it was an epiphany. It wasany. I remember I had no material, but at the time, the Los Angeles Police Department had shot a black woman named Eula Love. Oh, I remember that. In her front yard.

In her front yard. She had a butter knife, and they shot her something like 38 times or something like that. And the observational joke that i did at the time was uh they were saying was this uh excessive force and i'm saying you know they only hit her 17 times they shot at her 38 times so i think if you have to reload that that is uh that is excessive you know the cops have to reload and shoot this large black woman. It's a sad situation. But ironically enough, it just happened again in Sacramento. In Sacramento, yeah, that poor kid. 18 times.

And I think the reason is because the police officers don't come from that community. So they go in there with their stereotypes, and they're afraid. These are young. They're afraid. They see a black man in the darkness. They're going to shoot first. They want to go home for their not good it's not it's not good yeah it's not good it's not it's indefensible but

uh they'll probably be absolved you know they seem to always get absolved yeah well i i i i it feels like the system protects itself and i think a lot of us who who are uh just listen to it as a new story we have a tendency to bring our own prejudices in there. We go, well, what's he doing? He's black. He's in the backyard. It's dark. He's holding a cell phone.

You know, all these things come into thought. In his yard using a cell phone, clearly a threat to everybody. Right. And what the police commission will probably say, well, they had reasonable fear for their lives. I mean, you know, in the darkness, they put themselves. But in reality, when they shot, you know, after they let go those shots, I have a friend of mine who's a police officer who told me that when an officer shoots,

he's going to empty the gun. He wants this person to die. He doesn't want this person to survive and sue him. Oh, that's it? It's about lawsuits? It's about you don't want this person to survive. If they survive, they have the right to sue you. But really, that's what's It's about lawsuits? It's about you don't want this person to survive. They survive. They have the right to sue you. But really, that's what's behind it, not just a-

Well, that's what he told me. They're not taught this at the academy, but it's like something that's unsaid, but they tell you. That's why police officers, they'll empty it. Once they shoot, they're not going to shoot once and stop. They're going to empty their gun. Now, think about all these shootings that have been going on. Brown in Missouri, they emptied their gun. You know, they don't shoot just once and go, maybe that's enough.

Maybe he got it. No. They shoot the kill. They don't shoot the maim or the, you know, these things about shooting a gun off. I guess the real question is the decision to shoot. Yeah. Once that first bullet goes, all of them are going to go. No, that's clear.

Yeah. Once it starts, it goes. And that's it. They don't want this person to go. No, I, that, that, that's clear. Yeah. Once, yeah. Once it starts, it goes. And that's it. They don't want this person to survive. You're shot. You should be dead. What year was it that you went down the Westwood store?

It had to be, well, let's see. I was in, I got out of service in 77 and eight, I must have 81, 80, 81.

So it was late. It was, it was, the store had been around since 73. It was like 81. So was that, was it was the store had been around since 73 it was like 81 so was that was kennison managing the westwood store kennison was there yeah kennison was uh there at the time he he would hold court there when everybody was gone and he was in the kitchen and he would do these long sets and it was after a while people started to know about it and it

became a people left from the ho store to go see Kenneth's. So, but when you started, you were just doing the open mic nights, and you took to it right away. I did. I did, but I figured, I got big laughs the first time I went in there, and it was intoxicating. The second time, I died. Yeah. Terrible. So, the third time, and I was taking a bus.

That was during the time they had the Jimmy Carter, the gas prices so my father had to stand in line to get gas and it was hell to get him to lend me the car so I had to take a bus and it was really hard so by the time you went there you didn't get on it was really really a bitch and then you you go to the improv where you had to put your name in a hat and Bud would pull out the name and I went there three or four times and he wasn't pulling out my name I finally told Bud I said look let me go on uh if i suck you don't see my face no more and he goes that sounds like a deal and he put me on i had a good i had a good set and and he said he let me on after that so you're primarily an improv guy at that time i was but i i was i'm one of the few guys that was allowed to go back and forth.

Why there weren't enough Mexicans? I was a three-headed mule, I guess. I was the oddity. And frankly, I make no bones about it. I used that. I made my bed, and I'm happy to lay in it. Because at the time, I used to have a mustache. I favored Freddie Prinze. Girls used to tell me used to have a mustache. I favored Freddie Prinze.

And girls used to tell me that. And you kind of look like Freddie Prinze. And really, that's what really impulsed me to. You know, a lot of guys said, well, I went into comedy, you know, to tell. We go in there to get laid, you know. There's something about the stage that attracts females or whatever. But I had a mustache. And I kind of favored Freddie Prinze.

And Bud was the first one to go take it off take off that the mustache he says you you can't compete with a dead guy oh yeah so so i i took it off and and then i was going to the comedy store on monday nights were you a fan of freddie prince's i was i was a fan i was a fan it's weird that like at that time if you think about i mean how mean, how many Latino comics were there? There weren't that many, right? No, there weren't any at all. I mean, there was Bobby Aguayo. I don't know where he is, but he was a nice guy.

Yeah. Bobby Aguayo and Danny Mora. Danny Mora, right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. He had a class, and I still look up to him, but none of them ever got their shot. Unfairly, too, I think. Well, at the time, okay, so so you go so you did some open mics in westwood then you get in at the improv right and then what what is that how do you get in how do

you get in front of mitzi how does that happen argus hamilton oh yeah argus hamilton had seen me and he says i'm gonna talk to mitzi and uh he did yeah uh he talked to her in bed i think sure and uh and uh it worked i went out there at the I was a prop comic. I used to have the knife. My joke was the American Express card. And it was cheap. And you look back, you know, like most comics yourself, you might look at your tape of your early stuff and you cringe, right? Yeah.

But it worked. It worked back then. And who could argue with success? Did you have like a suitcase full of props? Was that? No, I wasn't quite a carrot top. I had a knife. And the joke was at the time there was a very popular commercial about American Express. They used to go, hi, my name is so-and-so, and when I travel, people don't know my name.

That's why I carry the American Express card. I would say, my name is Paul Rodriguez, and when I travel, people don't know who I am, but I carry the Mexican Express card, and I pull out this big old knife, and I go, it's recognized and respected all over the world. Don't leave home without it. And now he says, well, how?

Mexicans, the Mexican-Americans will go, oh, you're making fun of us. That's cheap. All kinds of criticism. But I said, hey, fuck you. I'm not representing Mexicans.

I'm trying to get a job here. You know, and that got me noticed and Mitzi liked it and she made me a regular and I thought, oh, I'm a success now. But it wasn't like that. I was in charge of the parking lot. Sure.

I had that job once. Yeah. Yeah. So you were a regular and she gave you a job in the lot. I said, oh man, I thought it was, I was angry. I said, oh man, what am I doing? And then Harris Pete, a legendary guy he said listen rodriguez come here let me tell you something that's a great job that's a really really good

job because if if uh richard pryor or all these guys with these fancy cars if they're going to come and give you the keys to their car they want to know all about you they want to know who you are what are you doing who's this guy yeah you know and, and true enough, it happened to be. Richard Pryor was one of the guys. And I remember he sent me down to this liquor store to go get him a pack of Marlboro Reds box. He gave me a hundred bucks in his car. And there I was, man, in his car.

And I went there. I got him a- Did you go down the pink dot on Sunset? It wasn't pink dot then. I forget what it was. It was three guys from Italy or something like that. Oh, yeah. It was a liquor store, though?

It was a liquor store. Yeah. I went over there, and I remember he gave me a $100 bill, and I bought two packs of Marlboro box, and the change, and I went over there, and I parked the car, and he was sitting there at that little table where Mitzi Shore sat. Sure, in the original one? Right, and I said, here you go, Mr. Pryor,

and I started to count out the change. And he looked at me like, what the fuck are you doing? I said, 20, 30, 40. He goes, get the fuck out of here. Keep it. I said, you know, you gave me 100. I know what I gave you. He almost annoyed him.

But I couldn't believe it. Nobody ever tipped me. I think the cigarettes were maybe six bucks. Right, yeah. And I got to keep all this. That was more than I was making at the ever tipped me. I think the cigarettes were maybe six bucks. Right, yeah. And I got to keep all this. That was more than I was making at the comedy store all week. Yeah, and he was just hanging around then, huh? It was the mid-'80s?

What was it, 82? Yeah, he was working, but they weren't announcing it. He was preparing to do the show. Live on the Sunset Strip, I think. And everybody would come, as you would remember. Everybody would come, and they would all, everybody would come and they would all sit there and watch him struggle on Monday. You know, he'd go up there and he'd start on a bit and it wasn't quite done.

Yeah. You got to watch that? Yeah. But as the week went along, by the time Friday, he'd add a little piece to it, a little piece to it, and he would do Mudbone. He did the Dracula bit. He did all this. And Mooney really was the brains behind all that.

Paul Mooney was working with him then, huh? Yeah. He would sit there and watch him and make notes and do that whole thing. I always thought that Mooney really was the – I mean, Pryor had talent, of course. But I always thought that Mooney was really the the material was Mooney's yeah Mooney would he got it into shape yeah he did he would he would basically give it and then prior put it together and and it was it was magic you know Wow so that that partnership was pretty solid pretty solid how is Paul doing

Paul's Paul the last time I saw Paul here he's not doing well and that's gonna be sad because when he goes and and Paul, if you're listening, I hope you're around forever. But when he goes, that will really be a milestone. I mean, Pryor got all the, you know, not to be corny, but really the wind beneath his wings, really. Because Paul Mooney was on Richard's show, and he was. But really the material, the genius the the biting the the uh he was like the guy that would he was like uh half of richard's brain i think so because if you listen to to mooney you see you hear a lot of prior stuff and even some comics will accuse

mooney was oh man he's just doing no he was doing probably no the truth is prior was doing mooney yeah i believe yeah obviously and then he co-wrote that movie right the jojo dancer movie didn't he will accuse Mooney. He goes, oh man, he was just doing, the truth is, Pryor was doing Mooney. Yeah, I believe, yeah, obviously. And then he co-wrote that movie, right?

The Jojo Dancer movie, didn't he? He wrote a lot of stuff. He and I wrote a script called Blacksigans. You know, and we were almost, we went down to Magnolia, we went to the films.

We had a deal and then Mooney saw another black guy there that he didn't like and he blew the deal on that and i said i begged him i said man who the fuck is that guy he goes no but now this ain't gonna go nowhere so we had a deal for this movie and then uh it wasn't and it's still out there if anybody cares he got he got pissed off at somebody he was you know mooney's still a very particular person he don't suffer no fools you know but when you were there in 82 or 83 parking cars i mean who were the people that you saw all

the time well the big ones was uh williams the late great robin williams was there all the time rosanne one rosanne no not really not right that time you know who was big at the time uh the unknown comic murray langston oh really believe it or not, Murray Langston was the man. With the bag on his head? With the bag on his head. He was the man. Also, Letterman. Sure. Letterman was emceeing a lot. Really?

When you were there in the 80s still? Yeah, but he had gone out with Helen Reddy. Yeah. Jeff Wall had taken over. But he was hosting. Uh-huh. He was doing hosting. I guess you see a lot of the things that made him famous is sarcasm.

Sure. It was right there. He was hosting in like the, in the OR? In the OR. No kidding. They don't even have hosts anymore. They don't. Shanlon?

Shanlon? Yeah. Shanlon Latt. Who else was there? That was the heyday. As far as women, Elaine Boosler was the main one. No kidding. Yeah, Elaine Boosler was the main one. No kidding. Yeah, Elaine Boosler,

I've always thought she was- Sandra Bernhardt. Sandra Bernhardt. I always thought Elaine Boosler, of all the comedians, she's the least underappreciated. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because she really did,

she really took her job seriously. She really had good, solid material, you know? So you were going on what? Like every night and doing the lot? Was it one of those things where you were working the lot then you have to go do your spot and then go back down to the lot people be waiting for their car mike binder would get drunk and you're behind there binder what a great guy he told me the other night yeah yeah he's a good guy he's a good guy i uh i

owe him so much we hung out for a long time you know and uh i did he's the first one that took me to detroit he did the detroit comedy that's where he's from right that was right that was his show he put that together right howie mandel and myself yeah and uh had a great time there so you knew him before he got sober oh yeah oh yeah i party with him he was he was a vacuum cleaner he would i had. I had an apartment right there on, what's that street? There's a high, tall apartment buildings right there, right on Sunset Boulevard. Where it forks and you go up the hill there? No, the one that goes, the very next street where the Sky Bar is.

The apartment's behind there. Oh, okay. I had all my money, put it together, and I got an apartment. On Olive? Right, right there. And we'll go there. Argus Hamilton, we'll go down there. They were all banging girls in my apartment, giving me Coke.

Because you could walk from the comedy store? Right, you can walk there. You take a girl there, you walk there. And you know the usual, hey, I just saw your show. You were wonderful. Did you see the first or the second? Yeah, that joke. Yeah, that sort of thing.

Yeah, which set? show. You were wonderful. Did you see the first or the second? Yeah, that sort of thing. Yeah, which set? Right, exactly. Who else was a viable guy? Louis Anderson? Yeah. He came in later. But Howie Mandel was- Huge.

Huge. Yeah. He was doing St. Elsewhere. Right. Those were happy days. Howie was probably- He wasn't a big druggie, though. No, no.

Howie, he never- I could say that. I never did. Howie, he never... I never... I could say that. I never did. Which maybe he should have, you know? Because he wouldn't be so phobic now, you know? He's got a little germ problem. Yeah.

Shanley was probably the most amazing guy. I remember Murray Becker booking Shanley and myself to do a Catholic college in San Diego. He picked us up, and all the way down there, he kept saying, look, these goyim, it's clean. It's clean. I think I was getting paid 200 bucks, a lot of money. Gary, come on.

I've seen you do clean sets. I've seen you do that thing about how people repeat their names at the airport, looking for so-and-so, Mr. So-and-so. Do that. Please, this is a very important account. Yeah. He must have said it 200 times. By the time I went over there, I did my set.

And then he opened up with, there were some nuns there. And he goes, so, sister, you're going to tell me in your whole life, you've never sucked a cock. Gary Shandling did that? He did that. He said, but in his own way you know he did it so you know like you never sucked that guy yeah so you're gonna your whole life you don't know you never sucked a cock and there was a a just a a sucking in a silenced death yeah that vacuum silence it seemed like an eternity and then the room just blew up.

Oh, really? Big laugh. All the way back, I think they held a check. They didn't pay him or something. All the way back, Murray Becker's going, I told you, Gary. This is an important account. I told you. Please don't use that filth.

Where are you going with that? And then he goes, you never mentioned it. I don't remember you saying that. Paul, did you hear? I go, I may have. I don't remember you saying that. Paul, did you hear? I go, I may have. I don't know what to do. He goes, no, if you set that up, you should have told me. You know I can work clean.

He busted his balls. And Murray was a beloved guy. When he passed away at his funeral, I think only Leno and Carl and about two or three, even I was late to that because he had sent me off to Boston I think yeah he was a wonderful guy

I think he should be remembered I hope he's on the web or something Murray Becker he was so that was who Shanling was with before he went with like Brillstein Gray and whatever he was the guy that would find you and then some with like Brillstein Gray and whatever he was the guy that that that would find you yeah and then some other then Brillstein or whatever somebody else would come and take you

sure yeah it's a stepping stone yeah you know yeah and and he and it happened to him over and over and over in my case I got picked up by Sandy Gallen sure uh and uh and you know it was really hard but yeah what was your experience with Carlin I I mean, I did. Carlin was, he was a different guy off set. He was a, he was very kind of, I remember I was in, I was on Venice Beach one time and this guy with this hat and hair came up to me, goes, hey, I saw you on the Tonight Show. Look, it was a good set. And I was just going to blow him off. And I go, oh shit, it's Carlin. it was a good set and i was just gonna blow him off and i go oh shit it's carlin he was uh he was very warm he lived down venice right i don't know where he

i never went to his house but i know that he supported murray becker with money many times you know murray was always going uh oh you need money for a plane ticket i'll get it i'll talk to carlin i'll talk to carlin and and carlin always he was always good for for money for murray oh that's sweet yeah he took care even after he wasn't with him anymore yeah uh i said uh when are you gonna ask leno he goes that guy's tight so what was your break what was your big break the night show oh tell me about like yeah i don't know if you talk about it but like yeah you said you remember the night that belushi died i i remember being there yeah at the store at the night that belushi died i i remember being there yeah at the store at the store because that's where it started well every time a big big stars

like denaro and and was there and kathy was a staple everybody knew her her man the manager kathy no kathy was she was she was a dealer there was a lot of dealers there oh the one that had right there was there were a lot of dealers there that some of them were comedians quote-unquote comedians sure they're always yeah and mitzi that some of them were comedians, quote unquote comedians. Sure. They're always, yeah. And Mitzi knew all of them because they would supply Argus. Yeah.

And Argus at the time had a problem. We all had a problem. Sure, but they're always around. I don't know who they are now, but yeah, that was the case when I was there. There was a few. Everybody knew who they were. Yeah, yeah. And of course, Belushi was, he was God at the time.

I remember I got him a pack of Vantage cigarettes. That's what he smoked. Vantage? Vantage cigarettes. And I never heard of him. You were the cigarette guy. Yeah, you know, whatever they wanted. Vantage had the target on it.

Yeah. Yeah, that was, and I never heard of him, but I got him, and I gave him his pack, and he kept the change. He didn't give me no money. Let's just say that for the record. So Kathy was the dealer that was implicated in John's death? I don't know that, I guess. I don't know that to be a fact that she was a dealer or not.

I knew that, you know how everybody knows. Sure, yeah, yeah, yeah. Somebody's looking for. So she got the dope. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's sort of interesting element of the story.

I went home. I went home and the next day it was the biggest that's, well, that's sort of interesting element of the story. I went home. I went home and the next day it was the biggest news, you know, that he had died. And then you go, it's like, it's like if you were at a party and you go home and then you find out that, that the place burned down, you go, whoa. Well, the saddest thing about that is like having, you know, been around, you know, people doing drugs is that I imagine by the time it got to the point where he was doing that like that whatever the party was you know at some point it takes a turn and people like that's getting a little weird I never saw heroin though I know I never saw heroin yeah I heroin was such a hero was a drug that that the vato is used in Compton or you know yeah Aaron was like that was how drugs coke wasn't considered a drug and I didn't know about mixing or none of that stuff.

Yeah, I think that some people were like, I think some people secretly used it to come down. It was innocence. You know, like it's robbed us of so many brilliant guys. Oh, yeah. The guy that everybody pretty much knew, he was with Three Arts. Hedberg. Hedberg, who was a legend now. You know, so many people.

Three Arts. Hedberg. Hedberg, who's a legend now. So many people. But you kind of knew because Heron was a jazz player's kind of thing. Sure. And he had that kind of rhythmic, that kind of thing. Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah. Mitch. I knew Mitch. Mitch. I knew him in passing, but people knew that he used, but you never imagined him to do that. I mean, a guy's been doing that so long, you would think that they'd have control of it. Nah, it got away from him. You know, I mean, people didn't know until later, I don't think, but yeah. Coke was kind of a comics drug, really, because it hyped you up.

It made you happier. Yeah, and it was everywhere. Yeah, and you could tell the guys who were on Coke coke up there because their jaw was moving back and forth. And I remember Kennison and all of us putting our dollars together. You know, hey, here, buy a quarter. Sure. I remember the first time I saw $50 worth of coke, I couldn't believe it. I kept telling them, come on, don't fuck around.

Where's the rest of it? It was this little package. Yeah, a little pile. Yeah. That's it? That was it. That was it. I said, damn. Where were you?

It was too expensive. Yeah. We weren't making no money at the time. But the minute you did make money, the thing was you're supposed to come back and party everybody out. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. Yeah.

It's your turn to share. Yeah. To give back to the community. When I got my ideal, I went back there and i had a bag and i remember all those guys uh when was your first tonight show oh it was after it was the premiere ak pablo yeah that's when i got it that was your big break your sitcom yeah i had tried to audition before and uh and uh macaulay in the cordoba said uh well you know i don't know i was too mexican but norman lear had a lot of uh pull and, and he told him.

And I did the set, and of course, it was my dream, because that's the first time I ever saw Freddie Prinze was when Johnny called him over. And I went out there, and I did, and he called me over. And I sat down, and I did the Tonight Show 12 times. With Johnny. With Johnny. Yeah. Well, once with a guest host.

She's still alive. What's her name? Betty White. Oh, really? Yeah. I did a part on Golden Girls. And then she was

doing the Tonight Show. She invited me. She's a sweet lady. She's still around and man, it's unbelievable. She's like 100, I think now. I don't know what she is, but you know,

just to be all there. I mean, she's not, her mind is all there. You talk to her. Same with Lear. Yeah. I don't know what she is, but you know, just to be all there. I mean, she's not, her mind is all there. You talk to her. Same with Lear. Yeah, I just, I saw Lear not too long ago.

Mel Brooks. Some of them, the old people, they got the brains on fire. The comedy has to have something to do with that, I think, because they're not the only ones. Some comedians,

they either die really young or really old, you know? Yeah. So what happened with A.K.A. Pablo? That was a Norman Lear show? A Norman Lear show. You know, in hindsight, a lot of things.

I knew there was problems at the beginning. Yeah. First of all, to white America, we all sound the same. But to Latinos, we know the difference between a Puerto Rican accent and a Cuban accent and a Mexican accent. Yeah. And they cross-casted. You know, they put, my father was Joe Santos, Italian, and then my mother was Katie Jurado, Mexican. Right.

It didn't work. But the attempt was good. I just, they honored Norman Lear not too long ago in downtown and I was there. I still thank him. And he took me from sleeping in the car of the parking lot of the comedy store to put me in a tax bracket. I'll always thank him for that. He gave me a pay-or-play deal for lots of money.

He was a very generous man. He wrote a script that's really funny. It's about these older people. It's called Guess Who Died. It's about these guys. I read for a part, and I hope I get it. It's a new project? Well, it. That's a new project? Well, yeah.

It's a new project. I don't think I will, but just the fact that I was allowed to read for it. So over the years after that, you did some other TV stuff, but you didn't have the long run. No, I had no long run at all. I did eight episodes, and it's so ironic because I got canceled with a 28 share. You know what a 28 share is now? I know. That's unheard of. Unheard of, but back then, you had to have them 30s or 40s.

Really? Yeah. And it could have gone on, but I wanted to tell Norman, look, you're not doing this right, but I didn't want to come off as a smartass. But I knew it wasn't going to work because still it doesn't work to this day. Latinos are a nebulous crowd. To find a show that Cubans like, that Puerto Ricans like, that Mexicans like, the only thing that they like is soccer.

That's the only thing we have in common. It's very hard. Jane the Virgin is doing okay. Jane the Virgin, that girl is. She's great. But if you notice, it's not Latino based. She just happens to be Latino, but her humor crosses over. She's a very nice it

seems like the family situation is pretty latino based you know i i'll be honest with you i i don't see it all the time but she went to my house and i i knew she was eddie almost introduced me to her and uh i i certainly i wish her well you know i did a play about the lack of, I did a play called The Pitch at the Los Angeles Theater about that, about the absence of Latinos seeing us how we're more numerous than African-Americans. Sure. You know? Why do you think it is? It's our passivity. I think we don't protest.

Not that protesting is necessary, but, you know, African-Americans complained a couple years ago that the Oscars are too white. The business does have that. It will respond to that criticism. But I don't think our day is going to come like that. I think there are shows that are a hit, but they're a secret hit among the community. But for a crossover show, it hasn't been since the Lopez show. Right now, there's one on YouTube about a Cuban family. I hope it does well.

But there should be more. I mean, there's more channels. George did okay, huh? George did okay for several years. He had great writers. The showrunner is probably one of the best. And it was funny. If you look at it, ultimately, I think nobody sits down to see a show about blacks

or about jews or about that yeah they sit down to see something that's funny if it's funny it works yeah yeah you know and i hope to hope to try again well i'm sure you will so like over the years though like you just kind of chipped away you just kind of did gigs you did specials you hosted things like it's not it's interesting because you're pretty much a household name everyone knows who you are but you didn't it's not like you did a seinfeld you know you just we just never went away no i just you know it's it's fairly i wouldn't say easy but it's fairly possible yeah to to be famous for for a year or two and then just fade away. The hardest thing is to remain in the eye. You're always looking for some trick, some way, you know, almost ambulance chasing, you know,

if there's a hurricane relief, you're there, you know. And you feel like some kind of a media whore. But if you don't do that, you're not going to sell tickets. And my whole drive was always to have enough of a name that when you're out in some city and your name's out there, people will come and see you. Even if they don't know much about you, but if they heard your name, they'll come to see you. Then you got to do it.

But you also feel bad for the victims of the hurricane. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I hope Puerto Rico recovers right away. You know, every, I've been, I've I've been to every hurricane, every comic relief. Yeah. You know, when Chris Albrecht was president of HBO, he was my agent at ICM, and he was very good to me.

He gave me HBO specials that perhaps I didn't deserve. I wasn't prepared for that, but I took them, you know, and you learn. I'm comfortable with being the Mexican comic. I'm comfortable with being the Mexican comic although if you look at my act now it works in Rochester, New York you learn that but I don't complain

if that's all you're known for you're known for something well there's definitely a Latino comic scene now there is we lost Freddy a few years ago Freddy Soto right he was great he was doing good

yeah and Madrigal. But there's a whole bunch of them. I need to get out more. One of the saddest ones was he was great in The Roast. Oh, Geraldo? Harbor educated, very intelligent. But again, he had some series. It didn't work.

But his talent was amazing. He's great. I'm sorry. Great comic. He was really, really good. Sharp guy. He did. He had very astute points of view.

So when you did the special, before you came over, I was thinking about it. I remember seeing the special you did at San Quentin. Right. And I thought that was crazy. Well, it was, but I had it.

How that happened was the Sunday comics. Remember that they had that show they decided to go to san quentin and i went there with richard jenny elaine boosler george wallace i forget who the other guy was uh anyways and they told you don't jump out into the audience yeah well i was the second to the last and uh they had all done very well and i said what are we gonna do so i saw this huge samoan guy and i just jumped off stage and i just took a chance and i walked up to him and i go i hope never to land here but if i ever do i want to be your bitch you know and he stood up and he

was a towering guy and and he left and that caught the imagination and somehow people remember that you know it was kind of like when you did the rodney dangerfield special sure right it was always one that stood out you know right right it's a very gimmicky kind of thing but it didn't really matter what you did as long as as long as they remember you know you see a whole show and then you go oh so-and-so was good or so-and-so did this or you did that yeah when bobcat who's a brilliant guy when he set the chair on fire on the tonight show yeah he never back, but everybody remembers that. So sometimes you almost feel like you have to be like a P.T. Barnum in a sense. Yeah, but you weren't thinking that when you did it, were you?

You just sort of... Well, I just saw Richard Jenney destroyed. You need to do some crowd work. You got to do a little recon. Yeah, and Leigh Boosler had a vagina. Yeah. That was very popular in prison. Yeah.

So I saw this and I said, man, I don't know. I got nothing to lose. I jumped out there. And it worked. 40% of the audience is Latino. So, you know, it was like a high school reunion. And I squeezed that out. I did three HBO specials.

Well, I remember that. I just remember the special. It was crazy. I think Jeff Ross did one later at the prison. But, like, you did, like, the first one i'd seen in a prison i just the moment i remember is that you know it's it's prisons when you're inside there because i did a show at a women's prison once it's a different world it's not comfortable and it's it's it's a little visceral and weird and like i just remember on when i'm watching yours they kept cutting to the audience and i you know there

were definitely some you know some men who were dressed as women. And there was a moment where I'm like, I'm not sure they want to be seen in the audience. You know what I mean? You know, the camera is a weird thing. The camera, it is a drug. It's alluring to them. Yeah. There are people that would confess a crime just to be on tv right

and uh i remember what i did i did a dramedy i tried to do interviews and i got i got an opportunity to interview some of the guys from the ma the the mexican mafia who yeah who really run the show yeah how i don't know but they do and the cards will tell you and i interview these guys and and these are guys that that that have done whatever they've done to get there. Sure. But what really astonished me about all these guys that I interviewed is that they're parents. They're in jail, and they're concerned about their kids. They don't want their kids to follow them in the family business,

and they use whatever powers they have to try to do that. And I remember them saying, look, one of them, I got a word, says, look, I want to be on your show. I want to say this to all the kids out there. And he said, listen, you, if you ever come in here, I will fuck you in the ass. And you know, all this threading him. And he goes, thanks, Paul. And I go, am I going to put this on? And I go to my producer.

I said, I don't know. He goes, fuck yeah, I'm'm gonna put it on because he told me this better be on it's gonna be on here's your psa yeah so and and that uh that hit a chord with a lot of people got a lot of mail and stuff like that he goes some of it was like how can you put this killer this guy did this this guy did that but i also got mail from you know my kid is respects and admires that guy he That's what they want to be. And it straightened him out. And what show was this for?

It was for the San Quentin Live. Oh, you interviewed guys. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I went over there and I took Ice-T. He was a rapper. He wasn't all that well-known, but he did that. And then I did a show, but mostly I walked around the yard and I interviewed guys. I interviewed some of the Black i interviewed uh uh some of the

black gorilla family uh some of the guys from the ma and these are it's very segregated in prison i don't know if you if you're aware of that i didn't have no guards and they respected that i have no guards looking after me because i figured look if they're gonna get you they can get you in there they can get you out there yeah they got a long reach out there and uh i interviewed some of the guys from from the aryan yeah uh and uh they all wanted to talk and these guys are you know they i said to myself what am i going to ask these guys and i i remember asking them do you have kids he goes yeah you have parents yeah would you like and then just mention their kids they become human again uh-huh they start talking about yeah you know, I worry about this and I worry about that.

Right. Because they must feel guilty about being admired in a morbid way. I remember Richard Ramirez, the Night Stalker, wanting my autograph. He was there?

He was there at the time. He later moved. He said, hey, Holmes, hey, I'm famous too. That was it, huh? He wanted my autograph and i said uh you're not famous you're not famous you're not famous for the right reasons you're infamous

i'll get back to you infamous right i didn't get bad i didn't get nasty with him because he's just he just had a really weird way i met charles manson you did but he didn't want to go on camera uh he didn't want to go on camera he was didn't want to go on camera. He wanted to get paid a certain amount. He'd become real famous. He got married and everything. He had a whole, they told me that he had a whole mail section just for him. That there were offerings of marriage and stuff. That is just.

Did you talk to Manson at all? I mean, or not really? I said a couple of words but he he had nothing to do with me you do them you're the mexican guy he had apparently he got beaten up or something uh he had a fight with some other latino and so if he didn't got beat up i can't i can't imagine being around those it's just too weird but it was weird it was weird because you know you've seen these guys and there's a part of you that goes wow they're you know this is a good story you know and then it's another part of you go this motherfucker stabbed a pregnant woman well he didn't actually do it but i mean he ordered

that he's real evil in there so you go fuck i don't know how you feel about that you know yeah it's a little it's just a yeah the survival element in jail that just that what people need to do to survive in jail just there's an electricity to the be you know to being in there that was a little overwhelming for me it is so unbelievable for example edward almost was a very good friend of mine uh did a movie about the uh mexican uh mafia uh-huh the alleged there's no such thing by the way let me just say that yeah i hear you but uh they uh they had uh wanted his death you know and i and i remember taking the opportunity to talk to a couple guys ago why would you want to do that and the thing that bothered them the most was the in the movie there's a there's a scene where they they have sex anal sex there

that's all there is you know in jail but these are very, very macho guys who, that's the only, that's prison pussy, I guess. Yeah. But they don't want that to go out. Sure.

And they thought that he had broken that rule. And I said, you guys like to do your business in the dark and the quiet.

If you ever hit Eddie Olmos, I mean, talk about the heat. But on the other hand, what can they do? They're already in there. Is he still around? Eddie? Yeah. Oh, very much so. Eddie's a good guy. As on the other hand, what can they do? They're already in there. Is he still around? Eddie?

Yeah. Oh, very much so. Eddie's a good guy. As a matter of fact, we have a project together that we hope to do. It's three generations. I've been pitching it for the last nine, ten years. Since there are only two generations? There's three of them.

Now there is. But you've been pitching it since it was two generations? I'm trying to use my kid. My kid is a very popular X-Game guy. So we actually shot a sizzle reel that is very, and he plays a very racist guy stuck in his own time period. It's three guys in therapy is what it is. Oh, that sounds interesting.

Yeah. So what's the new special? It's my, it's my goodbye really, you know. To be honest, I think that's it for me. You know, I'm going to do something that I've always wanted to do

and the next year or so, I plan to just cash in my chips and travel. I always wanted to go to Tibet. I mean, I've been around the world, but I've never seen it. I land there, I do a movie,

whatever it is, and then I have to. Then you leave, yeah. But there's a lot of places I'd like to go without tibet i mean i've been around the world but i've never seen it i land there i do a movie whatever it is and then i have to leave yeah but there's a lot of places i'd like to go without no time schedule just to go there and travel all through south america go to tibet would be my first place where tibet i don't know why tibet but but i want to go there i've always had a thing about going uh and where'd you shoot the special i shot in it in the farthest place from Tibet in downtown Los Angeles, right on Skid Row. Yeah? Yeah. And people came out. People came out.

You did it outside? No, no. It was an old theater, the old Pan Pacific. You know, there's a lot of theaters that have Art Deco and stuff. Yeah, yeah. They shoot movies there. And I remember doing a movie called, with Mario Van Peebles, it was Sweetback's Badass Song. You were in Sweetback's, you were in that?

Yeah, yeah, I was in that. And I was the, Jose the filmographer. Real good movie if you get a chance. Yeah, I saw it. And they filmed it and I looked at this place and it's got story. Because back in the day, people used to dress up. Going to the movies was a thing. Yeah, yeah.

Now, you know, some guy's jerking off and no one goes to movies. No one goes to movies. Yeah. But the theaters that were Art Deco and beautiful and we shot it there

and it came out good. That's great, man. So you're going to travel with no cameras. Just going to go experience it. Just going to go, man. You got a wife? No, I have no wife.

Okay. That's why I'm going to go. Yeah. I just want to go. You know, I read the Motorcycle Diaries. Yeah. I just want to go. You know, I read the motorcycle diaries. Yeah. I read Kerouac and I read a lot of things.

And I'm not doing this for any other artistic reason other than I want to spend time in Argentina, you know? Yeah. I want to sell the house and sell the whatever properties that I want to liquefy myself. And I'm not going to go ritzy. I'm just a backpack in an American Express or whatever. Sure. I'm going to hostel here. Yeah.

And I've been told that it's dangerous. But if I wait any longer, I'll be too old and too feeble. Right now, I'm still healthy. I can still walk. Well, that sounds like a great idea. But it's not for sure. There's no taping or nothing. Maybe you'll write something.

If I could write, I would. You know, maybe I want to go down to... Take some notes. I want to go all over Latin America, you know. Oh, yeah. I want to go to Belize. I want to go to Iztapa. I want to go to all those places. Not as a tourist,

but walk around and see where death catches me, you know. Yeah. Well, I where death catches me you know yeah well i mean hopefully you know you don't want maybe you want to catch death somewhere out on the road well my kid my kid uh is always telling me he goes why do you want to do that if if you're going to talk like that make sure it's nearby where they have an airport i don't want to have to fly to brazil in some jungle and find bits and pieces of you but But it's not going to be like that. I've always dreamed about going somewhere. And dying.

Right. I've died plenty of times on stage. For me to get a heart attack in Lithuania. Oh, not Lithuania. Make it nicer than Lithuania. I want to go to the Czech Republic. I hear the babes there are. Oh, yeah?

There's a lot of porn there. Oh, yeah. You want to go get involved in the Baltic porn business? Yeah, you know what? I could just say. I bet I could. I hear the babes there are. There's a lot of porn there. You want to go get involved in the Baltic porn business? I bet I could star in some porn in East LA. Paul Rodriguez, his comeback is

in Lithuanian porn. It could be worse. He plays the Mexican guy. Yeah, you'll notice. That'd be a challenge. I'd like to get a role uh i'd like to be a uh play a role a chinese guy which actually i did in a movie with burt reynolds you did yeah very forgettable movie called uh about volleyball team i don't even know if it got released but uh i would like to play uh someone that's that's not latino that that would be that would be the name of the

movie yeah not the latino that's a showcase for you actually i played fred i played uh uh pacheco but he was latino but not really dr freddie pacheco and ali yeah a lot of makeup and stuff oh yeah yeah yeah and uh i've been very fortunate i'm not no i'm not gonna win no oscar there's no danger of that but i've done quite a few films that I got to meet a lot of people, you know? Yeah, it seems like you had a good career overall. You know, the pool's in, the patio's dry. Yeah. But I'm one of those guys that, you know, I never really hit, but I never went away.

Yeah, exactly. That's all right. It's good. Yeah, because you're still alive and you didn't have to deal with all that pressure. And there's no sexual harassment. There's no women coming out going going he fingered me without my permission i did figure somebody but i have to pay i did the old-fashioned way i pay for it all right man well it's great talking to you thanks man thanks for this opportunity and yeah

and uh you know try not to die in the jungle. I think your kid's right. I think I'm going to travel, and then if I can remember what I did, I'll write a road story or something. Great. Thanks, Paul. Thank you. All right, so that was me and Paul. Seems like an okay fella. Paul Rodriguez of The Here and Wow is available to stream

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