Breaking the Rules: Angelo Colina on Spanish-Only Comedy, Democracy, and Surviving Dictatorships.

In this episode, I sit down with my dear friend Angelo Colina, a Venezuelan comedian who's carved out an entirely unique lane in stand-up — performing exclusively in Spanish. Starting in New York City, Angelo has sold out shows across 30+ states, Latin America, and Europe. We go deep in this conversation — talking about his journey from Venezuela to becoming one of the first Spanish-language headliners at the New York Comedy Festival (2023 & 2024), Netflix Is A Joke Festival, and the 321 Comedy Festival. We also dive into his reflections on life in Venezuela and his personal take on the recent ousting of dictator Maduro in Venezuela. 

This was an exciting, deeply personal conversation I'm honored to share.

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:00

Every Venezuelan I know has seen a gun. Because either they got robbed, because of the police, because of you name it.

SPEAKER_00 0:09

Including you?

SPEAKER_05 0:10

Yeah, twice. Uh recently I said it for the first time, but there was a time I hated Venezuela. And I'm not proud of it. I pinpointed my hate on something that wasn't deserved to hate. Because it represented my worst nightmares. I would go to bed sometimes earlier just to avoid dinner. And then I realized it's not Venezuela's fault. Yeah, I think. Certainly not my generation because we were young enough. We never voted and won. The first time I saw people celebrating around me because I won an election was here in 2020 when Biden won. And I remember seeing people outside of the window seeing people celebrating, and I'm like, oh, this is democracy. I'd never experienced it.

unknown 0:58

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

So I think that's a beautiful thing about you, and what makes you such a powerful comedian? You know, what makes you because you're an observer. What do you think is the artist's role specifically when it comes to politics? What do you think it takes to be a sustainable artist? The reason why I thought you would be amazing to have on is because you've done something really special. And it just happened to be that this whole thing in Venezuela just happened. But it's because you carved your own lane in the most special way. You know, when I first met you, you were doing total comedy in Spanish.

SPEAKER_05 1:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:40

Under, I guess, is it a production company, Gente Funny, or is it just kind of like your collective?

SPEAKER_05 1:45

It was it was the name of my showcase at the time, and now it's my company. It's my production company.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

So under Gente Funny, you know, or with and with other comedians that speak Spanish only. I think I went to like a little hole in the wall place in Brooklyn.

SPEAKER_05 1:59

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 1:59

It was packed, though.

SPEAKER_05 2:00

Wait, did you come to uh Pete's Candy Store? Which one was it? Um no, you came to Hard Bar.

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yeah, um Bush Week. Yes, yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:11

Yes, no, no, no, Hardboard, sorry. Uh uh Star Bar.

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:14

Starbar. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:15

And um again, it was packed. It was the first time I had seen comedy in Spanish. And for me, okay, so Dominicana, raised, you know, I was born in DR, raised here, and my Spanish is strong. I've never seen a Spanish comedian, you know, in action or somebody just fully doing a comedy bit in Spanish. And you were just such a great storyteller. And then maybe a year or two, because you started what year? 20 here in New in New York. When you when did you really start getting into the comedy scene in New York? Like what year?

SPEAKER_05 2:47

2021 I started. 2021. Yeah, like getting into the comedy screen. Because I was waiting for, we were waiting for shows to come back. That was in COVID. We were the first shows, actually. The first line of shows. Right. As soon as shows came back, we did the first show in Spanish.

SPEAKER_01 3:00

Yeah. And then so, but I saw you little by little. And then, and then the last time I saw you perform was.

SPEAKER_05 3:08

That was two years ago.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

That was two years ago. Like the one in Brooklyn.

SPEAKER_05 3:12

The one we're talking about, that was two years ago.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah. And again, it was packed. It was packed. It wasn't like a huge space, but it was.

SPEAKER_05 3:17

It was like 80 people or something. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

And um the one of the most fascinating things that I learned from you about your shows is that a lot of people that are non-Spanish speakers that are learning Spanish, like they might only speak English or something, they come to the shows and they sit front row.

SPEAKER_05 3:34

It's majority of the people that come to the show.

SPEAKER_01 3:37

And so it grew, it grew, and you were able to get these comedy, like legendary comedy spaces. Like I don't I don't know if you did Comedy Cellar or We haven't done the seller yet.

SPEAKER_05 3:50

But they haven't done a show in Spanish yet. Yes. We're still fighting for it. So maybe one day.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Maybe soon. But what are some of the other more established comedy spaces that you've done that you didn't think that you could ever, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 4:02

Or that you at first here already doing like New York Comedy Club or the even the stand. The stand at first, like now there are more shows. You know, Marcelo is doing more shows more often in Spanish. Um but I would say more like outside, like the improvs, yeah, just doing the Hollywood improv. Yeah. We did the second uh sold-out show there in 60 years of history in Spanish. The first one was Francos Camilla, he's a Mexican comedian that lives in Mexico, and this is what happened that there has been a lot of comedy in Spanish from our countries, and they would come here and do their shows. But there weren't a lot of people based in the states doing shows in Spanish. So it's not like uh the the reason why people started seeing it for the first time and connecting is because we were talking about things happening here instead of what's happening back home. Right. A lot of what comes from outside, it's either nostalgic, well, at least before. Yeah. I feel like comedians now travel so much and they're so much online that if you if a comedian that lives in Argentina did a show about did a joke about PDD, it's it it makes sense because they're online. Yeah. But before comedians would come from from abroad and they would do very nostalgic things, I would say. Yes. Or it would be only it would be very regional.

SPEAKER_03 5:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

Now it's for us, it's like we live the same reality. So I have more in common with you than with somebody from Venezuela.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:38

So that's why uh whoever's living a similar reality to what I do is the people are that are gonna come to the shows.

SPEAKER_01 5:47

I genuinely credit you though for carving that space to the level that it's been carved. And maybe, you know, I whatever. Like I think, you know, I I I will give you the props and the flowers for that. I do, you know. And by the way, do you think the the popularity of this might be us sound like a stupid question, but the popularity of Bad Bunny helped you too? Yeah, I always say that.

SPEAKER_05 6:12

Yeah, you um I haven't had the chance to speak to him directly.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Yeah. Speak to him right now because he is watching this podcast, but you just know it.

SPEAKER_05 6:21

You'd be you'd be shocked. Like that's how every that's how every connection in uh in right now it starts. It's just like they saw a clip and they weren't like, yeah, but I've I've always said that uh Bad Bunny and even the ones before, like we go back to Shakira and Ricky Martin, or even further back, they've been doing this, they've been putting it in as something cool. Like it was like the cool, the hot thing, and then it became more and more j bob into like uh Carol G, then and and and then they have their own on now. We go through regions, right? You had in Mexico, you got uh Peso Plum, and you they everybody has their own people who are representing, but he definitely is one of the most responsible. I and I've said that many times for being because of I have a job and I would say a lot because of him. I really mean that. Like not only did he make Spanish uh popular thune, uh too, but but you could also see it in places where it was never heard, yeah. And so I remember I did a show in Oklahoma City in Spanish, uh and that's uh one of the worst cities I've been to, Oklahoma City. Like I was I was it was tough. Uh but I I went I did my show and I remember people I had the show the same day he was performing in Tulsa. And so a lot of people are like, Oh, I'm not gonna come uh to your show because I'm coming to Bad Bunny's concert. And so it's like, oh, there's a correlation of like there's something in Spanish that I want to attend to, and that's how I started getting people that were gonna see me for the first time. Yeah, and then it went abroad nationality. So now I had when you say what was the first place where you were like, oh, it's crazy to do comedy in Spanish here, I wouldn't even mention the states anymore. I would go further. To me, it was just doing the Apollo theater in Paris. Because when I saw that the majority of people were from Paris, then I realized it didn't have to do anything with being Latino or all of this. It doesn't anymore, actually. I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna say that in a very responsible way. My show is just my show, but it it's and it's celebrated by Latinos, and I'm I'm so proud of it because that's what I wanted.

SPEAKER_03 8:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 8:46

Uh, but it's like us Latinos showcasing our culture to people who are from outside. And so, and they are in love with it because we we have it's so rich, our culture, so digestible, and it's been here for so long. You're just connecting the dots now.

SPEAKER_01 9:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 9:05

But they but it's been here for a while.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

So, as you know, this tour, you just had you just got off of like a would you call it a Latin American tour? No, international tour. International tour. Right, because you did you just mentioned Paris too. Um, was that Paris was in this time around? Um, or was that November? It was in November. Okay. So I don't know, as the observer that you are, kind of going to all these increas, first of all, congrats on that tour. That's amazing. Thank you. Like fucking crazy. Like it's just so wild. Like so tell me a little bit about that experience. And then also I want to know what you think is happening right now in the world if you step back and you connect those dots and you're like, okay. How how do you interpret the changes that we're experiencing right now? How do you see, like, do you have a an interpretation if you step back and you kind of you've been in these, you know, in all these countries, you've spoken to all these different people from different backgrounds? Just like, what's your interpretation?

SPEAKER_05 10:12

Well, there's something to add real quick before even given my own interpretation, and it was that this is my first time getting to see the world. And so it's different when you have been privileged enough to travel abroad and just for vacations or for somebody's wedding or whatnot. For me, I'd only lived in Venezuela and Colombia and I've been here in the States. I I hadn't seen the world. Uh luckily, I'm I'm old enough to appreciate something different about the world now. I'm not gonna uh you know be uh I'm I'm I'm I'm gonna I or at least that's what I think. I'm not gonna be convinced easier by something I see just from the outside. I wanna see a lot more, and that's what I do for my job. So it gets it buys me a lot of time to go and try to meet the cities and the people in the cities and and do things that are local. And it's funny because I feel like especially my American friends, and by that I just mean people who live here and are from here, they are hating on America, like hating on it, and and I've I've said this uh recently, I said it for the first time, but there was a time I hated Venezuela and I'm not proud of it, but I am proud enough to say now that I've overcome that feeling that it wasn't a mature one. I'm not gonna say something that's not true. I pinpointed my hate on something that wasn't deserved to hate, and I hated Venezuela because it represented my worst nightmares. I would wake up like I would go to bed sometimes earlier just to avoid dinner. And and it's hard to see that reality when you see somebody just in front of you because you go like you don't look like that. That's what Americans would some often think. And then I realized it's not Venezuela's fault. Yeah, I think certainly not my generation because we were young enough. We never voted and won. Uh never. Actually, the first time I saw people celebrating around me because I won an election was here in 2020 when Biden won. And I remember seeing people outside. I was uh like outside of the window seeing people celebrating. I'm like, oh shit, this is democracy. I'd never experienced it.

unknown 12:53

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 12:54

I know that is but I swear, I swear to you. I have a video of that day. I remember going outside and just seeing people celebrating. I'm like looking at them. I'm like, I'm I'm I'm so used to seeing people crying.

unknown 13:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 13:11

I am so used to seeing people marching and fuck again. Because people would still go and vote even though they knew they were gonna lose. Venezuelans were resilience, like nobody else. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:22

What part of Venezuela are you from?

SPEAKER_05 13:24

Maracaibo.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

What where where is Maracaibo and what what kind of town what kind of like city is that?

SPEAKER_05 13:29

Maracaibo is the second most important city in Venezuela. Thank you. But like for real, it's not uh something of uh me being I am proud of being from that city, but it actually is the second most important city. Uh it's located in Sulia. Sully is the state where you are gonna see it's actually the closest that there is to Dominican Republic. Okay, and we are very much alike. Specifically, people from Maracaibo are very similar to Dominicans, at least from Santo Domingo.

SPEAKER_01 14:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:02

Uh they're very, very similar.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

And uh that's why you love us.

SPEAKER_05 14:05

Yes, that's why I do love and and the other way around too. That's what you love too. But we uh Sulia is where the first like huge oil reserve was found. So that's that's why it's the second most important city. That's why you had all the real strong uh immigration from Europeans and everybody else coming when that happened, and before that happened too.

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 14:34

Um you had people from that's something I learned not that long ago. People from uh Spain that were escaping from the dictatorship, specifically from Canarias, the the Canary Islands, they they came to uh Maracaibo too. And so we have a lot of even the way we speak, um, we don't say we we do say it, we say como estás, but uh very informally, colloquially, people say come stais. And come stais, it's like an in-between, they but they don't pronounce the S that much. It's like more like Comestai. And it ends up sounding like a little bit like Italian.

SPEAKER_01 15:15

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 15:16

It's weird. Well it's uh it's a very interesting city.

SPEAKER_01 15:19

Okay. And you were there till how old were you?

SPEAKER_05 15:22

The first time I left, I was 19. That was the first uh wave of people my age that were well, people a little bit older than I was that were already leaving the country because of economic situations and everything happening.

SPEAKER_03 15:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 15:37

Uh repression too. That's when the protests, like the biggest protests I remember were 2014. The ones I experienced at least. And and right after that, people left. Like I think everyone uh I was just telling this to a friend not long ago. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you. That was the first time I got my heart broken. Like the first time you feel that thing people feel with relationships. I never felt that. I remember the time, and it sounds cheesy as hell, I know, but I remember the day when I felt I read the news about a guy who who got killed. He was a student. Yeah, it was uh uh seen uh um in in the entire country. Because the thing about it is that they were back then they didn't have their hands on social media as much. You know what I mean? They had more control over TV and stuff like that, and they had nationalized uh television channels and all of this, and the only public channels were from the government, you know, the usual thing.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

Right.

SPEAKER_05 16:55

But they hadn't had their hands on social media as much. They couldn't even track people that much because it was just relatively new, you know? And um, and so I think um I don't want to mispronounce his name, but I think his last name is Basile. Um he was just a student, and you can see it on the video how he's protesting, and he just like everybody else, and he just gets shot in the head. But like everybody saw that on their phone at the same time. Wow. Yeah kind of like what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 17:30

Like what's happening here right now, which will be.

SPEAKER_05 17:32

Which is you know, yeah. And so I could never be on that side.

SPEAKER_01 17:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:37

Regardless of who's in power, I'm never gonna be on on that side. And so I remember seeing that, and it was just like collective uh feeling all around the country of people my age who said, I don't think this is worth it.

SPEAKER_03 17:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 17:55

Like, let's try to like you, you I don't wanna die. Yeah. And and then more people died that week, and it was like, no, they didn't die, they were killed. Yeah. And so that's when people started leaving. And that that's when you see your group of friends, family, like kind of packing up, and people they they didn't even have time to say goodbye. And luckily, because I was a teacher at the time, uh, a couple of my friends were English teachers, and they had a they found a job working for Secretaria de Educación in Colombia. And they had their work visas and anything, and they kind of like hooked me up with them. But I was like, the my friends were a little bit older. They were like maybe like 23, 24. I was 19.

SPEAKER_02 18:41

Right.

SPEAKER_05 18:42

But I was it was a good chance I had just to go outside and make some money and maybe come back or just to explore. I had never lived, you know, without my parents or anything.

SPEAKER_01 18:52

Did you ever want to leave Venezuela?

SPEAKER_05 18:54

No. You just Why would you no?

SPEAKER_01 18:56

Yeah, you just wanted to be in your home.

SPEAKER_05 18:58

Yeah. It's not like you had dreams of grandeur of moving to like Well, uh uh when you're thinking about the possibility of maybe if I could ever get into comedy and go to New York, sure.

SPEAKER_02 19:10

Okay.

SPEAKER_05 19:10

But it wasn't like I have I have I wasn't, it wasn't my decision.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Right.

SPEAKER_05 19:17

We were kicked out. That's the way that we were forced.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 19:20

And we were like that's you can see the stats. Like it's just so many people. Um that I don't even know, and it's always this I the the best way I can do this is just by telling my story. I can talk about the others and how others feel. Um but this is what happened to me.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Why do you feel the need to give that disclaimer?

SPEAKER_05 19:47

Because I haven't been in Venezuela for so long. And I think it's very uh I have played a big part on that sometimes too. Like it could even be condescending uh on just like talking, being the voice of people, because am I am I really like I'm not there? I'm I'm sure people have changed too. People change the way they they speak. People also evolve on a lot of uh um just topics overall in general. And and it happens that I have that in common with my Dominican friends that you know you often, especially when you grow up and you start realizing the things that weren't okay in your culture, the things you don't agree on, yeah, and then you start kind of like bashing on that and like complaining about it, and then you go there and you kind of go like, okay, but this is not as much like that anymore. Maybe this got a little bit worse, maybe this is a conversation that's still being had.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:51

And like I think that particular thing about uh I don't I don't I've I would always say that I try to share Venezuelan voices, especially on the ground. And uh and you can see it like the Venezuelan like comedians, which is like the closest I have, and that I've met too that Venezuelan comedians that live there, I've I've met like a couple, only a couple, young guys. And just the way they do comedy, it's like it's it's it really is amazing. Because they don't talk about it, but they can't they can tell you how they feel. They've known how to do it. Like they've learned how to talk about how they feel, right? How to talk about what's obvious. Even like creatively, I think like they have this range of because I cannot talk about what's obvious, I just gotta come up with something else.

SPEAKER_01 21:57

You gotta do it like incognito, you gotta sneak it in somehow. And they've learned that.

SPEAKER_05 22:00

And even if you don't, it's also a challenge. Yeah. It takes a lot from a comic to write about something that they're not feeling. And a lot of people would, especially now, would demand from comedians to speak about things. And sure, I I I can see why you would do it. But I also feel like it takes a lot from a comic just to take a step back and see and be like, okay, let me see how this is developing. Let me try to put all my thoughts together. Because it's really easy to go for what's obvious.

SPEAKER_01 22:38

It's and right now it's really challenging to first of all be in the gray space and in the space of nuance. You know, what gets the most attention is often, you know, the big bold loud statements, right? And then also there's the pressure to produce content constantly. So of course I have to have a say on this immediately. I have to, you know, I have to say because people are looking, and it's like, well, I need to post something about it when you haven't even fully formed a thought yet. I get that challenge.

SPEAKER_05 23:09

That's I don't know how mature people gotta be to understand that. Because it sounds like it's nothing. It sounds like you're crying about something that's not important, but it's actually there's a lot of responsibility on it. Like, um, and then there's truth to it. Like, even the truth can be, you know, can just change like so quick now. Like what we all think it's true. Maybe it just it never really was. And so I I'm I'm you can even see me now. This is how I am in Spanish too, by the way. This is not a language barrier thing. I'm pretty slow when it comes to uh I think I take my time on developing an idea like this because I never want to be uh I I see it from afar as an audience, and when I see people talking with no filter, and they kind of they're proud about it, uh got no filter. I'm like, no, you should get filtered. You should be your own filter. Yeah. Like you should time should be your filter too. So the thing with Venezuela is like I used to speak a lot about it just like everybody else. Now I share a lot more. And now I try to connect with like journalists that are on the ground, uh, that have always liked their approach and the way they work, and it's it's tough for journalists because but you can see when they are really good ones when they are willing to say the truth, knowing they're gonna get backlash because of the way people feel.

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 24:49

And so just like um, and I'm gonna say a quick example. If a Venezuelan journalist right now were to speak about something he doesn't agree on with Donald Trump, then you can trust that journalist. Because the the amount of backlash that he's getting or she's getting is something you could never measure.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:14

And so when you see that's why I'm telling you, if you see a Venezuelan journalist talking about uh disagreements or just even just like um even just like like uh spreading real news that affect the way people see uh or majority of Venezuelans see the government here, uh then you can trust that journalist. Because you wouldn't even think it's worth the shot if you're uh if you're somebody there. So that's uh that's what I try that's what I try to do. I try to share Venezuelan stories.

SPEAKER_03 25:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 25:54

Because I don't think I'm one anymore. I mean, I'm one from from that time, and I am one maybe from now here, but I am not one from Venezuela, and I don't think being there is enough. Like being from there is not enough for you to speak about what's happening.

SPEAKER_03 26:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:16

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_03 26:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 26:18

Uh because you haven't lived there. And so it's just different. And I try to talk about things with like my family there. I my grandparents are still there. But it's just it doesn't. I feel like it's it's been it's been almost ten years of us just being on the phone talking about this that now the weather is a lot more exciting.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Right.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

You know, right.

SPEAKER_05 26:42

So it's it's it's hard. But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:46

I I I love that you share that perspective. We need more of that, more of the slow down, you know, process, share, learn, you know, go to trusted voices, explore who the trusted voices are. There's more of that.

SPEAKER_05 27:01

Disagree with them. You can also you can also disagree with them.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Yeah. I also think, you know, I I because I go back and forth in this, right? Like, cause sometimes I'll just I'll be mad at some something, you know what I mean? And I'll I'll share that. And I think there's power in that too. Yeah. You know, and but I'll only do that if I'm 100%, that's just me. You know, if I'm 100% like this is absolutely wrong, we should be This is not debatable. This is not debatable. This is not a black and white thing. And usually it's because I've come up to s with so much information already up until that point that I have a very clear point of view on it, you know, and then I also like to share, you know, uh joy and peace. And it it's a hard time right now to balance these things, you know, especially for artists, right? Because you want to create, you know, you wanna, this is, you know, and you can tell me about this, you know, from your experience, but I think in terms of like making sure that you are that unifying force or just creating space for for um understanding and all of these things, you know, as you're telling the truth, it's it's a challenge, you know. So how how are you navigating that? And I'm curious, what do you think is the artist's role specifically when it comes to politics?

SPEAKER_05 28:18

Um I do think there's uh I don't think there's a responsibility to talk about politics if you're an artist. I think there's a responsibility to talk about what's happening if you have a platform, but not necessarily if you're an artist. If you're an artist, maybe that's healthy for you to connect with what's happening and with your um, you know, with the your view about anything that's happening to you, but it's more about people who have a real platform. That's what matters. Like use it, using it the right way. Because we cannot I don't think I think it's very responsible. We just don't know how much it really means. Like somebody who has a million followers, it doesn't mean that they have any type of um credibility when it comes to any type of so why would you want them saying or talking about something that they're not ready for? Why should they be voices? That's what I'm trying to say, I guess. Like I feel like if you have a platform, you have to share uh either professional voices or people who know about things or just like or just the truth or just information. But I don't think we should be lecturing people. I at least I don't I'm I'm gonna talk about myself. And and this is something I was uh doing an interview for uh for um a journal in in in Washington and they were asking me what I wanted uh from America or what changed did I want, what change did I did I want for America for this year or something like that. I'm like, I'm in a position now where I don't even know if that matters from me, coming from me. And it sounds a lot, and I know it's harsh, but it is true what I'm saying right now. I'm uh I'm a US resident, I'm not a citizen. And so when when people complain about what's happening, I go like, yeah, go ahead, you should complain. That's your right. But you also have to deal with the truth. And the truth is you have a lot of people that don't think like you. So you have you need to have conversations with them. The worst thing you can do is like surround yourself with people that think like you. Because you're only gonna get more rage.

SPEAKER_01 30:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 30:54

And you're just gonna be you won't be able to even see the truth. Yeah. Like you can't, the people can't do that. That I don't think that makes any sense. Like, avoiding reality might be the worst thing that Americans, I think, can do. And and they have, especially people who I know here. Like, I remember people being shocked by the results of the presidential elections. I'm like, you haven't taken a plane outside of New York City. Like, I remember landing in uh where was it? Uh Missouri, maybe. Yeah. I don't remember where it was. And I was wearing a New York hat, and they would look at me like they wanted to shoot me. Like there, there really is uh a conversation that people Americans should have because they are thinking that they're that that everybody's on the same page.

SPEAKER_03 31:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 31:55

And unfortunately, they are not. They're not. And that's uh, and the the again, dealing with the truth is what hurts a lot. But that's uh people who got there got there elected like in a democratic way.

SPEAKER_01 32:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 32:14

You can you can talk about the influences and everything else, but but you didn't see people protesting for the fact that that was the result because they knew it happened democratically.

SPEAKER_01 32:24

They knew it was very possible.

SPEAKER_05 32:26

They knew it was possible.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Yeah, I I mean, listen, I I can run off a list of reasons why I think that happened. And it does include the fact that I live in New York City in a bubble, and I, you know, yeah, we're not exposed to the mentality of the rest of the country for the most part. I do think that there was some fraude, and I'll say that, you know, I do think that Harris was put in a really tough position. I do think the Dems had a poor argument. You know, I they I can rant, like I could go down a list, but to go back to your point, too, you're what you're saying, if I'm understanding correctly, is artists with a platform, people with a platform shouldn't bury their heads in the sand, essentially. Like they should understand the responsibility of their of whatever they're endorsing or not, whatever it is. Because I remember, I remember Mark Anthony specifically, he hadn't really said anything about the elections till like very late in the game. And he finally put something, oh my God. And I went into the comic, he was destroyed. But I was proud of him because I was like, you're standing up for something you believe in. You know what I mean? And you know, then there's like there was a lot of shut up and dribble kind of commentary, like shut up and sing, shut up, like whatever. And I was like, man, people are, you know, it shouldn't surprise me, but the level of it was like so intense. And then and then you see why people might then not even engage at all, because then they have this level of backlash. But, you know, I don't know. I mean, so I guess are you saying that he should that he in that situation maybe he shouldn't have said anything at all?

SPEAKER_05 34:00

Uh but no, I don't think so. I think if you say who you're voting for or anything like that, I don't I don't think there should be any hiding. I also come from a place where you couldn't say anything.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

Right.

SPEAKER_05 34:13

So sure, I'm here and now I'm like, oh, you can actually say it. But turns out right now it's changing a little bit. Like you can't like uh indirectly get censored. Yeah. You know?

SPEAKER_03 34:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:30

And and uh and yeah, and again, like I was I couldn't say much back home, right? So now that I'm here, I'm like, if they ever tell me not to say something again, then I I'm I might just leave. Because I'm not gonna go through that again. I didn't leave home just to do and in America that's everybody's dream to be here to finally be free, at least for something. And yeah, a lot of people, especially Americans who haven't been outside, they they would hear something like that and they would go like, oh, we're not free. I'm like, oh baby girl, like you don't know. Like you just girl, I wish you knew. Like you just I I know what you're saying, and I understand the complaint of how hard things are getting. I get it. I'm not saying that's not true. I'm just saying, and I'm not saying it could be worse. I don't want it to get worse. I'm saying we still have it. The fact that we can talk to a mic and put this online, what people cannot do that there. And so that's like, but you just can't. Like now you can actually be tracked down. That's the reason why I was telling you, like back then Twitter was so powerful for Venezuelans. That's why, that's why Venezuelans are so big on the internet. Have you noticed that? Like, they are, yeah, that's a strong. Like even though we're not a lot more, maybe that we're not more than Colombians in the world. Or but but we're very strong. We have a very strong presence online. And it's because we couldn't watch TV. So we've been dealing with the internet for longer. And you can see that with music, with comedy, with everything else, it it's been done for a while. You see them, and they have like thousands of followers, millions of followers, and a high engagement. And it's because we've been doing internet as our as our only way out for years.

unknown 36:29

Right.

SPEAKER_05 36:31

So we people wouldn't tune in uh tonight's show or something like that just to see, or like the daily show, which I I like. I enjoy a lot the the daily show. I remember watching it at home, back home, and then I would see things from America, but we didn't have that for our own things.

SPEAKER_01 36:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 36:46

So the internet was the only thing we had.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Right. You you mentioned the heartbreak that you felt when you were 19, right? So that happened, you had you had this heartbreak, because I I think a lot of people are experiencing that, you know. I I I call it acceptance. Like it was the grieving period, right? Which included heartbreak. And then now I'm, at least for me, I'm coming into acceptance. Okay, this is the path we are in, and we have to prepare accordingly. Like that's the way I see it. Um after you felt that heartbreak, then you started to see more because of the of the young man that was shot, right? Then you started to see more censoring online. Is that how what what happened with like how did you experience censoring or how did Venezuelans experience censoring when it came to what they would post and all of these things, like as as time went on?

SPEAKER_05 37:41

Well, that first happened uh with TV. With TV, right, we were talking about it. You remember that was very uh, I would say it was international news that the time when when they started shutting down like uh private channels in Venezuela, or like the private channels started being like influenced by the government. So that's that started like that for older people. Uh for the internet and online, it started when people started uh posted, they started posting pictures of about like um the the protest, right? And so they would be tracked down. Like uh the police would see where the pit the picture was at, and then they would go out looking for people. And they also your name was there. So they would even go to the university to pick on students. And that's how the political prisoners started. That's from back then. Literally last night, and this is how crazy the reality is for us right now. While these things are happening here in America, we also have that happening back there. And last night, uh the dad of a friend of my friend got released after four years in prison just for being at a protest.

unknown 38:59

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 39:00

So, you know what? Four years of your life. And we're not talking about just like prison, just the way people see it here, like prison break. They're not getting breakfast there or things like that. It's like the the amount of human rights violations that we're gonna see in the next couple of months that are gonna be reported. And just the fact that they haven't released all the prisoners for some reason too. Some of them might not even be there anymore. And that's how that's happening already. There are already announcing about people who unfortunately they they they got they were gonna get released, passed away, or something like that. So you know, that's that's when it started. When when they started going for students at the universities, when they started showing up at people's houses, that's when people were like, okay, let's not post anything anymore. Um, and then they would be careful with it. And a lot of us just left. Yeah, we found our way and and we left. We got I think I don't think I could have yeah, I couldn't have stayed. I just couldn't, like honestly. Um and I left everything behind. Like it's it's been nine years since I last saw my grandma. So it just like it it goes to show like cause because people no one's going to another country that's also suffering from economic situation and like gang violence and all of this, like Peru, even Colombia, we would even say, and you can imagine if if there are so many Venezuelans leaving, like millions, a quarter of the country. If we're all leaving, maybe maybe something is really, really, really bad, right?

SPEAKER_03 40:57

Right.

SPEAKER_05 40:58

And so that's why the people outside can be a lot more outspoken about it than the people that are still inside.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Right.

SPEAKER_05 41:07

Uh hopefully that'll change, but uh as of now, that's still the case. Like people there cannot show joy as much because some of them did, and some of them are in prison already because of that. That was reported. And because of what just recently happened, a couple of international channels went there and they have now experienced it. I don't know if you saw the Argentinian guy that was like reporting something and he got apprehended by the police like that because and then they don't know. And then when they know it's international, they go, oh, they they don't mess with them. Oh and so we will we will see more again. Like to me it's it would mostly be about sharing just the right information. But when you see Venezuelans who are a lot angrier and who are very passionate about what's happening, you can also understand that a lot more was taken from them than from others. I try to think that way a lot because I disagree on a lot of things with with uh Venezuelans in Miami, and I say that to them a lot. Like it's a recurrent joke I have. And they and them with me, you know, even my friends there. But I try to think, especially when I see somebody who's older, who lived their entire life in Venezuela, who married there, had kids, bought their house, uh made their entire lives were there. If everything gets taken away from you, from somebody, yeah, you're gonna be passionate if something bad happens to that person. You know, that's like we're talking about it. Same with me.

SPEAKER_01 43:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:06

But I'm I'm gonna say for me, less was taken away because half of my life has been outside already.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Right.

SPEAKER_05 43:15

My adult life was out was outside of Venezuela.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 43:19

And I try to think about that. And that's the thing about it. Like, um my teenage years were already pretty tough. It things were getting rough already. And so I I always tell this to my friends here in America, like, I haven't been to weddings. I've been to like three weddings, maybe four in my life, because all of my friends left to a different country. I haven't seen my friends like kids. I haven't met them yet. Um so just like the regular thing people live, like uh uh, you know, just like I'm so jealous of that because that's just time. That's never gonna come back. And and sometimes I I meet again with friends, and like I just I was lucky enough to see my best friends after eight years to just like five months ago. My best friends from childhood, like my brothers, literally, like the people who I love the most. I haven't seen them. And uh we met in Argentina because I was finally a resident, so I was finally able to travel abroad. And and they they they live in Chile, they came to Argentina, we met there, and things were just like before. But I have missed a lot of what's happened in their lives. I know we love each other, but that time is never gonna come back.

SPEAKER_03 44:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:45

And we're you know, and so sure I I have that resentment uh uh towards what Venezuela did uh or the regime did to us. But uh but some people have a lot more.

SPEAKER_01 45:04

Yeah, yeah. And like a lot more. Yeah. Yeah, because they're the kids they've been there this whole time. They're still there, they're trapped.

SPEAKER_04 45:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:12

Um and we that's something w everything you said about seeing your friends witnessing their weddings and their kids growing up and being born or whatever. It's all the stuff we take for granted. Which I I don't know, for me personally is why it does frustrate me even when someone's just not even aware of what's happening. Because I'm like, people fought for these rights in countries, there's countries where you don't get these rights, these basic human rights. And it's again, and it's not to say that we continue to fight for a more perfect union and more because there's as as we can see, this is it bubbled over now. Yeah. We could see why people have been fighting for so long. Yeah. Because this was coming. This this was has been coming, and we've been trying to, you know, deter it, you know. Um, but yeah, but the we grew up basically free, you know, for a a lot of us in again, you can look at every individual situation, and you know, there are degrees to this, but I think a lot of us take all of what you said for for granted.

SPEAKER_05 46:10

Um Well, which way is it though? Like it's it's true what you say, and I agree with you fully, but do we take it for granted, or is it just the way it should be? Because that's also the way it should be. Like, yeah, like when you think about the amount of violations that have been committed there, it's not like something it's just hard because people are never gonna really fully understand what it is until they see it like this close. And this this is why these influencers go to Africa or somewhere else and they come and they are completely changed. Have you met anybody who's lived in South America for six months? Like they completely changed.

SPEAKER_02 46:57

Right.

SPEAKER_05 46:58

Because they saw it, like they they they you they experienced it and they go, oh, okay. Yeah, now I can appreciate things a little bit more, but but that's the way things should be.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

And I agree, and I think it's both. It's the way it should be, and we should also know that every single right that we have was fought for.

SPEAKER_04 47:14

Oh, yeah. You know, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. I agree with you. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 47:17

Of course it should be that way. We know, you know, but but but yeah, we people don't realize that those were things that we we take them for granted because we don't know that somebody lost their life for you to, you know, have school or or a nine to five workday or you know, voting rights for women, or you know, desegregated colleges or whatever. Drink from the same water fountain. All these things were earned, they weren't given. Nobody wants to give you those rights, you know. But one thing I like I really admire about you, and God, we could talk forever. Yeah, like I could talk to you for literally five more hours.

SPEAKER_05 47:52

I know, me too. And I don't do it, I don't talk about this often. Yeah, so this is the first uh first time I I kind of, you know, I have the chance to put my thoughts together a little bit, at least just a little bit. Yes. And just like be in a better place to to talk about it, because I never know if people I think people care about it. I can feel it when I'm doing the shows.

SPEAKER_03 48:18

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 48:19

Uh sometimes they want to see what I think about uh something, but I don't I also feel I have a when I talk about anything, I have a responsibility because my grandparents are in Venezuela, my mom is here, my brother's here, my dad's here. So when I talk about it, when I talk about anything, it can have any some sort of repercussion on like you know, you you never know.

SPEAKER_01 48:47

Well, I appreciate you, you know, doing so here. And you and I have kind of been processing this in real time, sending each other voice notes and articles and you know, and I appreciated that from you a lot.

SPEAKER_05 49:01

Like the fact that you were asking uh about how I was because I had a lot of people doing that specifically with me, but not with my friends, because they knew my friends were um you know on the other side of it completely. And to me, it was like, oh, I have messages, like huge messages from people going like, Angela, I'm so happy for you know, I see Venezuelans are happy. I also think this, what do you think? What are your thoughts? And I would be like, I think it's too soon, let's just let's try to see. And I and I would try to uh express my opinion about it, of course, but I I wanted to tell people like try to see the patterns on the information you're getting. If it's too much on this side or too much on this side, you're not you're never gonna find the truth because the truth is somewhere around here.

SPEAKER_01 50:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:02

And there can be there there's also a couple of them.

SPEAKER_01 50:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 50:06

There's only not only just one, there's always gonna be the truth with the but.

SPEAKER_01 50:11

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 50:12

I think with Venezuela that's the case.

SPEAKER_01 50:14

Yeah. It's I don't know, it just makes me love you even more because it's such a rarity to you know, have someone that kind of can detach from their ego in that way. Because I think a lot of times too, it's ego and pride or shame or something where you feel like you have to or just experience. Let me not let me not let me not let me not downplay people's personal experiences.

SPEAKER_03 50:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 50:39

But I I to be open enough to hear perspectives is a gift, especially today, now nowadays.

SPEAKER_03 50:46

Right.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Everybody is very quick to want to give an answer or a response to something. So I think that's a beautiful thing about you, and what makes you such a powerful comedian, you know, what makes you because you're an observer.

SPEAKER_05 50:58

Well, first, thank you for saying that, but uh but I was also gonna say that I empathize, I empathize a lot more, not with what they're uh necessarily like um promoting, but what they're feeling. I'm always gonna empathize more with people who are victims. Always. I'm never not gonna be, I'm never gonna be, and and there's ways to be oppressor to an oppressor. If you think your opinion is just as powerful as somebody's experience, that's not okay. Like you can you can have an opinion on why this experience happened, but you gotta listen to that person. You just have to.

SPEAKER_03 51:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 51:45

And then that person needs to listen to you, of course. But listening, it's not gonna change what people felt. Like there there are things, because that's the way I'm gonna say I was lucky enough that after my life after Venezuela, I have met the nicest people. Like I've had the best friends ever, you know, like I I've I've been so privileged and so lucky to find like love, to find friendship, to find a career which had never had, I would have never met the amount of like different nationalities and everything that's happened here in the States for me. Like it's uh I'm I'm so grateful. Some other people never it never got better for them.

unknown 52:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 52:37

It was really good in Venezuela, it was their life, and then it was just progressively worse. And so I empathize with them a lot more because I I can see how it's it's hard for it to be better when you have experienced the things we have. We were not long ago, it was a group of like uh Latinos in we were in Puerto Rico with a group of friends. I was doing a show there, and there was a Puerto Rican, a Cuban, two Dominicans, and like four Venezuelans or something. We were just talking about whatever, and we saw something so crazy that sometimes we don't think about it. Like every Venezuelan I know has seen has um has seen a gun from up close. Yikes. Every Venezuelan I know, and I swear this on my brother, every Venezuelan I know has seen a gun. Because either they got robbed, because of the police, because of you name it.

SPEAKER_00 53:47

Including you?

SPEAKER_05 53:48

Yeah, twice. And the the second time I was gonna get killed. And I swear this on my brother.

SPEAKER_01 53:57

I believe you.

SPEAKER_05 53:58

And so when you see that, it just it changed. I I remember that the day I uh oh man, that was the worst experience of that. That's the worst, uh, one of the worst days of my life was that the second time I I was uh held a gun on me. Like it was the worst thing ever. My mom was there, my brother was there, he also he was eight years old, seven years old. He got the gun right here on his head. I had to look for my mom's first because she was just in shock, she couldn't do anything. And so when you experience that, it's just again, that's why they have a hard time when they see somebody lecturing them. And there, there I know there are a lot of people who are just sharing their opinion. But there are also a lot of people lecturing on Venezuelans, and the other way around. There are also a lot of Venezuelans lecturing on people, and that's what that's that's what I'm I'm trying to deal with. It's like, yes, I understand we gotta listen to each other, but I don't think people are ever gonna fully know or exactly what happened there to all of us. Yeah. That's it. Sorry. I know that was.

SPEAKER_01 55:20

No, no, no, no, no, no. I no apologies. I I well, first of all, curious, what was this gunman? He was just w who was the gunman that from that experience that you just shared? What what was happening? What was the context?

SPEAKER_05 55:34

I was getting robbed, but this was uh the wor uh worst time of probably being outside on the streets. Gotcha. Uh our car broke broke down, and I told my mom we have to keep try to keep driving any other way, because if we stay here, we're gonna get robbed. It wasn't that far from my house. And uh but but it was so violent right now. Like there it was so because people weren't eating that much, you know, like everything, everyone was just hating on each other and and its own reality. And uh and the the the amount of stories people can tell about the ways they got robbed, it it it's it's not human. It's not even like people lost that um perspective of what a human life like what a somebody's life means. Yeah. And then people would get shot for a cell phone. People would get shot for their car. Yeah, like for just it, it's not even it's not even hate crime because it's not for because for your religion or your political views. It was just everybody against each other. Yeah. And this is 2016 and 17, which were like the worst years of my life for sure. Like for sure. Like the worst. You couldn't go outside. I'm not like you had to, you couldn't be at a traffic light. You have to kind of see on the sides because then you would see the motorcycles. I think you've probably seen those stories. And and yeah, we saw it so many times, but the but there were twice that it was like pretty close. It was like that was the day I got the closest uh to to being killed. And there's no point, there's no turning back from that. And so when again, people have lost people they love close to them because of this. Yeah. So when you see somebody trying to uh whitewash the image of uh people who who made the who made this happen for a lot of us, for all of us, uh then that's why Venezuelans lose it. Like they're in there's no way uh they are gonna at least somebody who lost a lot more. Again, that's that's what I'm telling you. Like I'm not the only one like this. A lot of my friends are could have the same conversation with you. A lot of us, especially the people in New York, they're gonna feel like, uh, okay, let's have the conversation. Let me try to explain it to you. But some others have lost just too much, Carol. Yeah. Like they've lost too much. And uh, there's just no way they're ever gonna be okay with anybody else. Um trying to explain to them what's happening or what could be better or worse, or how they should feel.

SPEAKER_01 58:45

How they should feel, yeah. Yeah, I think I think listening, right, which is what we've been doing in these conversations. I wanted to listen to you is it's a lost art. You know, it's a it's a lost art. And, you know, I'll speak from the perspective, you know, listening to opposing point of views. Because I I I think what's happened in the US specifically is that communications have shut down with you know, because because there is the extreme part of this, right? Like I remember I'll I'll share just two quick situations. One when when Trump first ran for office, you know, um a a my a beloved school, you know, teacher of mine was posting about how, yay, Trump, and I was like, what? And that was heartbreaking for me. And I DM'd him and I was like, hey, like, why would you, you know, say, or or like just tell me more, not why would you? I was like, tell me more. Like I was actually trying to have a very loving conversation with him, but then it went off the rails, you know, and then everything he posted was like, and it so then now you're supporting something that's literally it's it's my oppression, you know. So you're basically justifying this. And then another thing happened with a with a friend of mine from my 20s. Actually, I'm only 21, so it was a recent friend of mine. Um and so, and I saw him, you know, he started to DM me about things that I was posting. And I actually said, Why don't I call you on the phone? You know, and we can talk, we haven't spoken in like 15, 20 years, like we used to. And he was like, he was surprised that I would like even say that, you know. Um, but then again, he kind of went off the rails and started commenting like vulgar stuff on my on my wall. And I was like, oh well, yeah, yeah, well, you can't do that. Right, you know, and then so at some point I had to end up blocking him. Right. And I didn't, I I felt so bad doing that because I was like, fuck, I could have kept this communication, like if I was stronger, I could keep this communication open with this person. But this is a person who honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they're real deep in what's happening now. But let me not even make any assumptions about him. But like everything was like such misinformation, everything he was saying to me. I was like, you you're on the deep end. Like, I can't get that.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:58

That's a thing. They see you just the way you see them.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:04

And so where are people gonna find themselves? Right. Because that's what you're saying is you also have to uh have that in mind that they see you as an uh somebody very far too, very far left or uh on the extreme side of it. Like they also see you like that, so that's why they also uh can be aggressive sometimes because they know they're not gonna find a place in the middle to meet. And and that's that's not I think people often try to see, oh, I cannot deal with these people anymore. I cannot believe they're doing this, I'm just gonna block all of them and I'm gonna stay here. And so when you do that and you don't pay attention to what's happening all around, instead of like just fighting with it and trying to and and and what you were saying earlier, being able to turn down our egos, our the way we feel about it, because that's that would say that I would say that's a smart thing to do, especially if you can. If you don't, and it's not the healthy thing, maybe, you know, maybe you get frustrated and it just uh there's a lot in there, you know. But if you don't do it and you're waiting for them to do it, then maybe it it'll never happen. But we cannot, you cannot uh avoid or omit or pretend something's not happening because eventually it's gonna get to you. And that's what's happening here in New York.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:56

That's exactly what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:58

Well, yeah. I mean, I I listen, um I think the way I've decided to approach it, because I I'm very vocal. Yeah. You know, and where where I was trying to understand certain voices, I was like, I think for me, and I think this is what's happening with a lot of people, is this like we don't have the capacity anymore, right? To explicate a tirava. You know, I'm gonna do that. You know, and also fight this huge fight we're fighting for our for our lives. We're fighting the fight of our lives. You know what I mean? So it's like I can't then I I'm exhausted because I I I can only do so much thing aside from taking care of my family, paying the rent, all these things. But now I have to explain to you an entire history of our lives. You know what I mean? Like, it's like I think that's the frustration that's coming with a lot of people. That said, caveat, I still think I don't like bully culture. Even even, you know, I don't like bully culture on any capacity, on any, on any level, or cancel, or you know, all these things, you know, like I still think if you want to promote humanity, you have to be humanity too.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:19

You know, so that's so even when I if I wall out at some point, if I'm like, ah, and I'm and I like, I you I usually catch myself and then I I soften again, you know, because because I know that there is no other way. We have to, we have to do it in that way to to get anywhere, right? Like, but like you were saying, you can't blame people, you know, from Venezuela to say, like, I'm relieved. I'm fucking, I've been through hell, you know, and it's also like the people who've suffered here, you know, whatever levels you want to, not it's not a comparison, you know, but to say the same thing to them. It's like I'm fucking exhausted. Yeah, yeah. Like I can't keep arguing the same argument. By the time you meet people that are good people, you know, like it's probably because they're there already. They've been through the explanations already, you know?

SPEAKER_05 1:05:07

I I also think you know why it uh we it's a little bit easier for us to be exhausted, but still go along with it. It's because we fought worse. I have fought way worse than this. This is you and we know, and there's a lot of Venezuelans that are gonna tell you a lot of my friends that I can share to you that are not fans of the administration because they see a lot of resemblance. And so, and and they still were happy on January 3rd to see an image they never thought they were gonna see in their lives. They're just to see a little bit of justice on one person, yeah, on two people, actually. Um we want to be inclusive enough also to mention. But they they both got captured, and just to see the image was uh an amount of happiness that people don't know, you cannot suppress that. And this is why. There's two options, right? It can either, let's just say it can go uh either the right path or it could be horrible, right? There's maybe three, but sure. Like maybe the the the ideal scenario for Venezuelans would be for us to have the elected president, Edmundo Gonzalez. The world knows all of the organizations that you respect, and the ones you don't already said those democratic were not democratic. Um and so they were stolen, right? So it's either that or just go to elections again, but right away. Do it now, right? That would be the ideal scenario for Venezuelans to have a sovereign nation, and that's it. That's the ideal scenario. Then you have this one where these people stay in power and they work together, right? And then you have this thing that happened right before, which is Maduro getting captured. If I am waiting to see how this develops, then I'm never gonna be happy. Because maybe the worst thing happens too. And so I wasn't even happy once. I cannot say, let me let me see. I don't know how to feel about this. I'm not gonna celebrate because I gotta see how this is gonna end. You can't ask that for people. So that that's why it was just like an immediate reaction to something they've they never thought. And in a world of AI, a lot of us thought it wasn't true. I my eyes couldn't believe it. I swear it's a kind of event in our lives. Like everybody's always gonna remember where they were. You spoke to your uh I spoke to people haven't spoken in like 10 years or so. Like, and it wasn't just celebrating, it's like, is this shit really happening? Is the worst person the per the the probably the person I hate the most in the world captured captured? Like how? How is this happening at 5 a.m.? It's January 2nd, it was such a weird moment. But going back to it, uh I think the the best way to, and I was gonna tell you, I was waiting to be in person because I really want you to see that most mostly because of something something of observation I want you to see. Any uh political view you have on any other category, if you're gonna say you're here in New York and you're gonna see a protest, uh, people marching saying free Palestine, right? And then you go to the protest, you're probably not gonna find a Palestinian on the other side saying, no, we don't want that.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:19

And I told you, let's go see it for ourselves.

SPEAKER_05 1:09:22

So if you're seeing majority of people from that country telling all these protesters we don't want Maduro free, why is our opinion less? Because that's certainly happening on any other uh fight that you agree. Probably, I think we saw that probably on Black Lives Matter, and that was kind of like tough, tough reality for me to see from afar, because I was just getting here. It was my first year in the United States when I saw like the protest. Yeah, I was in Salt Lake City, Utah, so I didn't see any out I but I saw them on Twitter, right? And I was already thinking about coming to New York City. And it was shocking for me seeing like Candace Owens or people like that, and there are a lot, there are some of them, not a lot, but there are some that don't agree with it, right? But there's but the majority are for it, right? Right, because they understand history. So again, if we go to a Venezuelan uh demonstration here in New York or anywhere, you're gonna see the two sides of it. So if majority of the people from the country are saying something, why not hear them out?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:45

Very important. You have to hear them.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:47

You gotta hear them out.

SPEAKER_01 1:10:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:49

Because you're not gonna, again, you're not gonna see that on any other type of uh you're and you're I promise you, if we go together, and I'm and I'm exaggerating, you're not gonna find more than 20 Venezuelans on the side of Free Maduro. And I'm exaggerating. I would say none. But let's just say some of them, who else? But who knows?

SPEAKER_01 1:11:17

You know, let's just I want to give a caveat to this too. Um, and then I want to ask you just very briefly about your tour and how that went. Yeah. And then, because we got to talk about your incredible work. But like I said, I could talk to you for five hours about this. But I do want to give a caveat to say that it still holds true. All these things are true.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:11:39

Number one, it's true that there is a tremendous relief from the people who have been under this dictatorship, the Maduro dictatorship, and that they are free to celebrate, you know, feel relief, feel, you know. Number two, a lot of Venezuelans are rightfully so feeling a lot of fear and confusion and uncertainty because they understand who this person is, who Trump is, too. You know, number three, it's still wrong to go to a country and capture their president and basically kidnap them. Yep. And it sets a horrific precedence for the rest of the world, for this country, like he's already trying to do it in other places. In other places, yep. So, so and so all of that said, all of that being true, yes. Oh, and the last point that I would say is that you and I were talking about this, how, you know, and I would say I think you know a covert Trumpist when you see, you know, I I know covert Trumpers when I see them, or someone who is, you know, because like you, you're you're taking it in, you're taking the information, and you're not necessarily um shouting through the rooftops. You feel a sense of deep relief.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:52

And, you know, um, you know, it's like a psychological break from this, from this terror of all these years, right? Um, and then there are people who unfortunately maybe celebrating it in the same breath that they are exalting Trump. And then I think that's the that's the part that a lot of people take issue with, because it's like, bro, like don't you see like this guy is not good for you. You know what I mean? So yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:19

Well, I agree, and this is wild for me to say, but I I agree a hundred well, ninety-nine percent to the fourth of your points. The my only correction would be that that was not a precedent.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:33

Oh, right. But but the dictator, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:35

Yes, yeah, and but but but it's the semantics of it. Because I really I really want to start telling people, hey, everything's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:43

Let's just rem and it's still wrong that that happened, that they came into our country. You know, it's like not not uh illegal.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:52

Yes. But he was a dictator.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:54

But he was a dictator.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:56

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:56

And uh like uh uh and and it it's not it doesn't take that much for people who know that they've been in power for 27 years.

SPEAKER_01 1:14:04

Right. Just look at the record. Nobody, nobody that's not a dictator isn't in power for that long. Yeah. And I also want to add to what you're saying, too, that um something you and I haven't talked about, but I meant to mention, is that when people are talking about this, I it hurts my soul that we don't say, but then what do we do to help the Venezuelan people? Because we have this very individualistic well, we shouldn't have done that. But the sentence should not be period, right? We shouldn't, we he is a dictator. And that happened already. Trump doesn't have the right to, you know, just take out people. It shouldn't end, the sentence shouldn't end there. The sentence should continue. What are we gonna do to help the people of Venezuela? Even if we're dealing with our own problems or whatever, on a global scale, this happened because the people of Venezuela did not get any help. So we can't end the sentence with Yeah, we can't.

SPEAKER_05 1:15:00

But that saying that, that would be I'm so like I I am so grateful that you said that because that's what most Venezuelans have been saying. We've been saying this shit for years. Why are you paying attention just now? Why are people just paying attention just now? I just saw, and I'm gonna say this like in in a very responsible way. I just saw a clip of NPR saying that I don't know who shared a video of AI of Venezuelans celebrating in the streets, and the guy from NPR said, like, hey, I'll tell you what, this is not a real video, this is AI. They are not celebrating in the streets. It's like, yeah, they're not celebrating in the streets. Of course they're not celebrating in the streets because they can get killed or kidnapped or in prison, right? So, yes, it's right what you're saying. That's an AI video, but why didn't you report the real videos from all of these years? Why are you reporting what's not real now? Why are you not reporting what's been happening for so long? If you could also go in there, because there was way before they wouldn't even be let in. Because Venezuelans started asking for visa for Americans, I don't know, five years ago, four years ago. It wasn't that long ago.

SPEAKER_01 1:16:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:22

So before, why didn't you report?

SPEAKER_01 1:16:25

Why hasn't the global community, and I mean, of course, I mean, look at Gaza, you know what I mean? Like there's a lot of things that the global community has been powerless to do. But even in the rhetoric, right, we need to be talking about how are we empowering the Venezuelan people? How are we helping the Venezuelan people? The the sentence should not end in, no, no, no, that should not have happened. No, it should be like, yeah, that shouldn't have happened in that way because he doesn't have that kind of power. But we need to figure out another way. We need to have enough imagination.

SPEAKER_05 1:16:55

Yeah, well, but it's a publicity to talk about it. And it also happened already. And they see, this is why I was gonna tell you that the conversation needs to be it's like that thing about he shouldn't have done that, and it's like, but it happened.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:09

It's done.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:09

That's done.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:10

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:11

Maduro is here, yeah, and it it's done. Now, what do we do now?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:17

Why are we friends with Delcy Rodriguez now? Why are we whitewashing her image, like saying that, oh, she worked on this. She worked in Yeah, she was also head of Sevine. The right Wait, I don't know, Delcy.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:33

Who's this?

SPEAKER_05 1:17:34

Delcy is like the in interim, I think it's a word, president, president, interim president at the moment. Uh, but she um she's she's also the worst. Like it's still the same people in power. It's the same people. Yeah, it's just Maduro and Celia out, but it's the same people in power. The same.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:17:54

So sure, we're gonna see that they're releasing prisoners and all this, but we got it's a lot more than that. Yeah, there's a lot more to do and to dismantle. And if again, if when when millions of Venezuelans were out on the streets when they won the elect the elections, uh that was not reported with as much passion as this is. So yeah, I agree with you, and I agree with you a hundred percent. You you do know that. Like, like sh we we had a back and forth on what the things were happening because I do feel like it's important that even when you are um showing some type of contrast, let's try to look for at least the Venezuelan or or the Venezuelan journalists, people who are experts in, because it's not like you're not gonna find one. There's a bunch of them.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:51

Right.

SPEAKER_05 1:18:51

And with the thing with the Venezuelans in Miami celebrating and all of that, again, I would I would only say, uh, and they trust me, I'm not saying this to be liked by them. They never come to my shows anyway. So and they they know this. How do you know they're missing a bit of a I'll show you the picture, the the tweets and Angelo Colina, like uh Trump, you know? I'll show you the and then on the other side too, uh Angelo Colina, what a disappointment. You're happy, uh happy that Maduro got captured. I'll show everything to you. But the real thing about uh the Venezuelans in my in Miami is like what I'm telling you. Like to me, is we don't know how much each one of them suffered. Yeah. So I I'm not gonna ask them to be um imparcialist.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:48

Like I temper, temper your examination. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 1:19:52

I just can't. Yeah, I do I haven't I don't know how much they have uh been through. I I know what I have been through and my family has been through, but the stories are you talk to some people sometimes. I met a guy not long ago, about a year ago, who came through the jungle, Darien. And he's a comic. Uh he's a comedian in Ohio. And the story just it destroys you. Yeah. I'll I'll tell you one off the record later because it's it's too it's horrible what people went through. And so when you see them and people go like, oh, you're celebrating, he wants to kick you out. I think they're celebrating uh despite of the fact that they're gonna get kicked out. They're celebrating because they'd rather be kicked out to a free nation if it ever gets free. But that there it's not because they don't know. They know that all of them got their TPS revoked. Like this is not uh they know that there's a lot of condescending with Venezuelans. No, I think they're celebrating because they would still rather to go back home. Uh yeah. So I think that's where they're at.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:17

Was there anything else in terms of where we're heading? And then I only have two final questions for you.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:26

No, no, no, yeah. Um, I mean, where we're heading is uh well I could also tell you I have plans. This is the first time I'm saying this publicly, but I have plans on moving eventually to DR.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:40

Like Diablo Man, I get that.

SPEAKER_05 1:21:45

Alfie Seal infatuated with that. I want people to say good morning. Ah, see, yeah, yeah, yeah I I it sounds cheesy as hell, but let me be. Like that's what I want. No, I I just want just people to treat me and then you know, just I don't want to hide anything. I can just speak the way I do all the time. Um I just I just I'm so in love with it and it's so similar to Venezuela. Yeah, and I have so many friends I love too. And comedy is also in a great place in the art. It's like it really is moving forward, and there's a scene and I haven't experienced that yet.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:27

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:22:28

It's not I think I mean it's different, but it's but to what you've seen, but you're gonna see a lot of beauty in it too. And and I'm just a fan. I like the food, I like the music, it's like the music I grew up with. So to me it's like, yeah, I and I need the beach. Yeah. And um, yeah, I'm um, but in general, just like Latino culture, I just want to go to every country that speaks Spanish. That's my that's my plan. Uh to get to know it a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:03

Well, I'm gonna have to stalk you down in one of those countries and go see a show. But I'm gonna ask you, because you've done so well for yourself carving this lane, you know, this show is called The Sustainable Artist. And I I let the guests interpret that in whatever way they want. But you know, I have multiple interpretations of what that could mean from a mental, spiritual, environmental um position. But how do you how do you believe uh or what do you think it takes to be a sustainable artist?

SPEAKER_05 1:23:39

I think I mean I'm I'm new to this. I think I just became one a couple of years ago. Um but I think letting ideas flow through other points of view of artists, that's what makes it uh art. Because if not, it's just an idea and it's your idea. I think art is your idea being appreciated by others. If your idea is just yours, to me it doesn't make a lot of sense. And this is why this is everybody has their different method, but my way of uh writing jokes is never to be on my book, like beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep. It's having kind of an idea I find funny, uh bullet point, just a story, whatever, and then going to a show and seeing the reaction of people or just telling them like that one I just did, that joke, I I I know it still works because I have that reaction from you. That's when it becomes art to me.

SPEAKER_01 1:24:48

When it's a community effort.

SPEAKER_05 1:24:50

When there's somebody else, you're uh to a joke, the let's say the background music of the of uh it would be the laughter. So to me that that's art when somebody's laughing. If if it's something that I just wanna say, then it's not art, it's just an idea or an opinion. To me, art is should be uh creating a different feeling, either happiness or sadness or whatever, to somebody else. Yeah, and so to be sustainable, I think you gotta collaborate. And um just in my in my field in comedy, that's why when I was doing my show in Spanish, I realized it's way different in English. Because in Spanish, every nationality is gonna hit a it's gonna hit just in a different place where I'm never gonna hit. Yeah. I'm never gonna be as funny or just funny in the same way my friend from my friend from Nicaragua's gonna be. Um never and and just the the different accents was so refreshing for people, you know. Just it was a Dominican, and then it was me, and then it was a Puerto Rican, and then it was a Mexican, which is like completely different. And then you started knowing cultures and so to me to make it sustainable, it has to you you gotta uh you gotta let ideas flow. Uh you gotta let even even just the success of it, it's gotta be shared with others. Yeah. And you have to be part of something. It's not sometimes uh colleagues ask me, how do you get so many people in some place to come to your show? I'm like, yeah, but I go to Puerto Rico, which is a place where I get more people, and I don't just go and do my show. I've been to Puerto Rico so many times, and every time I go, I go to a local business and I meet people and then they come to my show. Right. But of course I already went to the restaurant. Like I'm spending the money they come and they to my show on them. Yeah, and I do that here too a lot. I go to restaurants here, especially now. Every every big city where I do well in the States, I have friends that own a restaurant or whatever that I have made through comedy. There's uh a guy from uh Michoacan, he's in Portland, he has a place, uh Taquería, tacos al pa al pastor amazing place. I met him two years ago. He came to my show, brought tacos, I invited the family. It was beautiful, Mexican family, right? I met them whatever two years after. I had to go to his place completely empty because of ice. Oh and I haven't spoken to him, but um it was it seemed like they were gonna shut down uh a business that they've had for like twenty years. This is important. Portland, Oregon.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:02

They've been attacked.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:03

To make it sustainable, we also have to help the people that are consuming your art. It cannot all be about you. You're not that important.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:12

Woof! Mic drop.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:15

Well, you you're just not. You're just a piece of it. Yeah. You gotta be a piece of it.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:20

It's a shared experience.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:21

Yeah, a hundred percent. I'm never gonna be, I don't wanna be up there by myself. I want to be with everybody I know, or like I just want people to do well.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:30

Yeah. Even though, and you know, to clarify earlier, you had mentioned you still created the art alone in the sense of you had to kind of go deep into your own experience, and writing comedy can be a kind of like a lonely thing. But then once it's out there and once you're exploring the topics and the places and the people, it's a it is a shared, it is a shared the refining of this shared art, really. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:28:57

Now it's only a part of it, being alone.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:29:00

And it's a healthy one. Yes. It's healthy to be by yourself too.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:04

Yeah. All right. And then last thing that I ask all the guests is, you know, we talked a lot about politics and we talked a lot about, you know, what's happening here, what's happening in Venezuela, what's happening around the world. I like to get people imagining, right? Imagining what a better world, a better future could look like. So, you know, in the affirmative, you know, if you can indulge me to just say, you know, what you believe to be, could be, you know, the the ideal future, you know, the ideal better future. So that people's imagination can get a little stirred up. What would that look like? What would that feel like?

SPEAKER_05 1:29:46

Um where do we even start? Um just for I think education is key. Uh that's something that I even feel like had I not left, I wouldn't have known so much about what's happening back home. Because I wouldn't have understand how how how he really got to that point. Yeah. Wouldn't have understood that. And and so I wouldn't want to see a world where people get the chance to be educated first and then choosing what part of the political aspect they're gonna be on, the religion, we're born into it. We don't have a choice, we're born into it. And so I I wish more people could get the chance to have like it. I think education is key.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:58

In your ideal world, education is number one. Number one, everyone gets an education.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:03

Because if everyone was educated, they would know the idea is to listen to one to another and to be to have some empathy. Yeah, you cannot have empathy if you don't know what people have been through. Just cannot ask for it. It's not something you can turn on and off. I'll give you an example. And this is again, it's us coming and and telling the truth. When uh when I was back home in Venezuela, I would also see things here, and I'd be like, I think even the Me Too movement at the time, I was like, uh, but she wanted the job. I'm saying that with a lot of responsibility right now because I know I'm not that anymore. I was also a teenager.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:48

But you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:31:49

Like Yeah, and people still think like that, by the way.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:51

Some people sure, but maybe they haven't been educated enough.

SPEAKER_01 1:31:54

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 1:31:55

And it wasn't my uh, I'm not gonna say, oh, I grabbed a book. And I no, I had luckily I had people around me too that eventually I met, that I could see their perspective, and so we're never gonna get to a place where we even want the best for us if you don't know what the best for somebody else is. How are you gonna know that? Yeah, it's just by being educated. So I think education is key. I would want to see a world where people have the chance to know what people have been through, not the realities that governments or certain companies want you to know, but the real truth history, that way you can pinpoint the real, actual uh creator of these issues historically. Um go to a museum and see it. Like it's pretty, it's pretty quick to go and see like how did you get this? Oh, it was given to you. Given as a gift? It's a big gift, you know. So I don't know. Um I I would say that, but who am I? Um I'm not that I'm not I'm not uh I'm I'm I'm making it up for the time I couldn't be educated.

SPEAKER_01 1:33:17

Yeah, well, I think you're pretty special, Angelo Colina. Gracias, amiga. Thank you so much for being on. Thank you. You know you gotta do that really low at the end of the podcast. Thank you so much for being here. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03 1:33:32

Gracias a todos por escucharnos. Thank you.