PAUL RODRIGUEZ

Still Crackin'
Funny and unapologetic as ever, Paul Rodriguez continues to do things his way

How much stand-up and touring are you doing these days?
Well, I’m doing less touring. Stand up has always been, for me, kind of the main fit. It’s really what I like. But right now I’m trying to concentrate more on getting a couple of movies off the ground. I am currently in rehearsal for a movie with Burt Reynolds called Out of the Blue.

What kind of projects are you looking for?
I’m trying to concentrate on doing different roles. I’m interested in doing any role, big or small, that would be different, challenging…I got a script called "The Last Sorrow" which I really, really like, but I don’t know if any studios would ever do it.

THE OYE GIRLS:

EVA LONGORIA

JESSICA BURCIAGA

PAM RODRIGUEZ

CLAUDIA MOLINA

JEN JOHNSON

CC FONTANA

NIKKI TORRES

Why is that?
It’s about a patriotic young man. They kind of based it on the story of the guy from Guatemala who was actually the first person to die in the Iraq War. He was a guy named Gutierrez who wasn’t even a citizen.

The script tells the story of this guy who, in order to become a citizen, joins the service. He goes to war and losses a leg. He’s decorated with a Purple Heart and a Silver Star and then comes back to America, where they promptly start proceedings to deport him. It’s very sad. It didn’t actually happen, but it’s based on a compilation of things that have happened. There’s been, I think, over 60 or 70 salvadoreños, nicaraguenses, mexicanos who were in the service and later found out they hadn’t even gotten their citizenship.

A lot of people don’t know this, but you have done a lot for Latinos and your hometown. Tell us about some of the ways you’ve given back to your community?
Well…that’s a very embarrassing topic, because it sounds very self-serving. I don’t think I’ve done as much as I could have or should have. I have tried. First of all I have tried to live a decent life. I think that’s the biggest gift you can give: not be an embarrassment. There is a certain amount of responsibility that comes along with any type of celebrity.

I guess my main charity would be the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund, which I have tried, in the last 12 years, to at least do one concert a year for. The last two years we’ve done a show at the Universal Amphitheater, and we’ve given proceeds to the National Hispanic Scholarship Fund…I called my friend Linda Ronstadt and I think that was the biggest night. We raised about $275,000. She was really gracious.

I’m constantly being asked by every organization like Save the Whales…you know they really got offended with me. I mean I like whales. I want whales to live and prosper, and I have certainly never killed a whale. But they got upset because I don’t think that it’s a pressing issue. I don’t think that whales have ever really harmed any Chicanos—or have helped any Chicanos. I got a really mean letter from that organization saying that I was an uncaring person. It’s not that I’m uncaring, but when organizations like Keep Our Beaches Clean come to me and they want to do a big fundraiser I’m thinking, That’s really good. I am for the beaches being clean, but considering that I don’t know any Mexicans who own beachfront properties, it’s really not a burning issue for me. I try to keep it to education, because it’s something that will benefit all of us in the long run. We’re projected to be the majority in the future, and it won’t do us any good if we’re all still doing menial jobs. We need to get our children in the ballgame, and by that I mean getting powerful jobs, getting into the boardroom, both men and women. Education is the way to go, so I will continue to work to raise funds for kids to get an education. I realize that it’s a drop in the bucket, but it’s my bucket and it’s my drop.

Are other successful Latinos doing enough to give back to their community?
I wouldn’t be the one to judge. All my friends…I’m sure their hearts are in the right places. But if I were to sit here and go through a list and say so and so isn’t doing enough, we’d be here for a while. But really who am I to tell them what to do. If Eddie Olmos is trying to help the Zapatistas in Chiapas, I am for him…I think. I look up to him. He has a great heart, but I think charity begins at home.

I do have to say that everyone I’ve called to do a fundraising show has come running. Everyone from Jimmy Smits to Esai Morales…all of themhave come running. So I’d be the last person to judge and say celebrities aren’t doing enough.

Is there a downside to your fame?
There is a downside to everything. There’s a downside to being a cop. I have a friend that’s a cop who doesn’t get invited to a lot of parties. He calls me and goes, “Hey man. I heard you were down at Beto’s house. How come you guys didn’t give me a call?” I go, “Look, some of these guys were going to drink and raise hell and smoke some pot, and they don’t want you around.”

So there’s a downside to being a celebrity too, but it’s not like having a disease or something. It’s not something that just happened to me; I actually worked for it. I always have a problem with celebrities that say, “Oh, I’m tired of being harassed by the paparazzi.” Listen, you asked for it. I’m not complaining. I’d rather have them stalk me and chase me around then to not chase me.

Today we have the George Lopez show and Latino films popping up more often. Has it become much easier for Latinos to break into Hollywood?
We have a long ways to go. But I’m happy to say that George is doing very well and nobody is happier to see him succeed than me. For some reason I always get people saying, “Hey man, don’t you think you should have a show?” I had a show, and it didn’t work. I have never been a jealous person anyways. Believe me, George and I are fine. We have been friends for a long time. We did the Latin Kings of Comedy DVD. It’s been selling through the roof. It’s about to hit a million copies.

Things are certainly easier than when I started, and it’s going to be easier once George and I are through. I’ve never blamed racism for the lack of our notoriety. Latinos in the media; it’s like any other business. It’s all run by advertisers, and they’ve realized that Hispanics have become the largest ethnic minority in this country. So you are going to start seeing the George Lopez show. You are going to start seeing…Willie Barcena. You are going to start seeing Freddy Soto. Every network is looking for their own George Lopez show, and I commend them for it. I think that in the long run and to a certain extent my having AKA Pablo and other shows that didn’t succeed back then lead to the George Lopez show. And the George Lopez show is going to lead to five or six more shows. So yes. The short answer is, it’s getting better. Things are going to get better because Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola, Sears and Proctor & Gamble—and all these big corporations who want to sell us things—will realize that we like to see ourselves on TV.

Which of your film roles are you most proud of?
That’s like asking a mother which baby is her favorite. I’d have to say that it’s A Million to Juan, because I wrote it and directed it. I put my heart, my sweat, my tears into it, and nobody expected it to take off. Yet it got a theatrical release and to date it’s been very profitable. I haven’t directed another film since, and not because I haven’t been asked. It’s just that it’s a lot of work, and I’m basically a lazy man. It’s a terrible stereotype, but I’m not saying Latinos are lazy. I’m saying Paul Rodriguez is lazy.

And of course I also loved Born in East L.A., because I got to work with one of my heroes. And I guess I liked Bloodwork too because Clint Eastwood, who’s an Academy Award winning director, gave me an opportunity to jump out of character and become a nasty cop. So I guess those three. But, my favorite baby is the one I haven’t had yet.

Which character have you identified with the most? And please don’t say Castas in Chasing Papi.
You know it’s funny, because I was in Costa Rica and Chasing Papi was hitting big all over the theaters. I was sitting at a bar and this girl comes up to me and says, “¡Ay Dios mío! Usted es él maricón de Chasing Papi.” And I said, “No. I’m an actor that was just acting.” And she goes, “You did really great.”

I would probably have to say I identify most with my character in Quicksilver. I liked Hector’s (the guy I played) innocence. I liked the way he was optimistic about his future. It’s so ironic because Hector was trying to make it in America, and, at the time, I was trying to make it too. His wife is pregnant trying to have a child, and, at the time, I was having my boy. As a matter of fact, he was born the night after I did the scene.

Do you ever find it hard for people to take you seriously because you’re a comedian?
[Laughs] Unfortunately, yes. I was asked to be the keynote speaker at my college and also for the National Council of La Raza. When you’re a keynote speaker you aren’t out there doing a comedy routine. I was trying to speak from my heart and speak seriously about how I feel. But you see it in everybody’s eyes. Everybody is going, Wait a minute, when is he going to tell a joke? So the hardest thing about being a comedian is that, that’s how people know you. Everywhere you go you are identified as a comedian. I get pulled over by the police and they want a joke. The hardest thing was at my father’s funeral. I’m crying, and people want to tell me a joke. That was so insensitive. That really happened and it was really hard…but it’s a small price to pay. Basically I’m a comic and I’d much rather—100 times over—laugh than cry.

Comedians are supposed to find humor in all things and situations. Is there something that you can never joke about?
I haven’t found it yet. There is humor really in everything if you look at it. You can make jokes about everything. I went to Baghdad to entertain the troops last year at a hospital. There, with people in tubes and IV’s and injuries and everything, there was humor there. I mean humor is the body. It’s the mind’s response to adversity. Literally, the day when you lose your humor is…well, like Pablo Neruda said, humor is the language of the soul, and I believe it.

Have you ever pissed off anybody famous with your jokes?
Oh yes. That’s why my career is where it’s at now. What can I tell you? You are talking to the guy that got thrown out of the White House. I pissed off George Bush, Senior. I pissed off the former president of Mexico, Salinas. I called him a thief. I was right, but he didn’t like it. Unfortunately I’ve pissed off too many people. You name it. Johnny Carson banned me from The Tonight Show for a while. But you know what? I don’t regret it. I’d probably do it again.

What would you say is special about Latinos?
The flavor. That’s what we are: the flavor. Think of a world without Latinos. It’d be a world without salsa, peppers. Our music, our beer, our women, our bands, our songs…God, this would be a very bland world. We are the spice of the ethnic groups. We bring it home. A world without tacos and enchiladas and tostadas and gorditas, please! Who’d want to live in it?

Is there unity amongst Latinos in the U.S.?
Hispanic Americans could have it all. The only thing we can’t have is unity. Let me tell you, that’s our biggest hurdle. If we can solve this, we could have so much political and economic power. But the truth is that we are so “ethno-centric.” The truth is that Mexicans, Cubans, and Puerto Ricans, we really don’t get along. I have traveled to Miami and they don’t like us…and Mexicans take it even further. I mean Mexicans in Texas are Tex-Mex. And in New Mexico they are Manitos. In California they are Chicanos. Some of us can’t even agree on what to call ourselves. Chicanos, Mexican-American, Hispanic, Latino? We can’t even agree on a name. That is our fault. We are unable to see a salvadoreño, and a centro americano, and a colombiano as nothing more than part of our extended family. We are very subdivided.

Look at Mexicans. You don’t even have to go that far. In East L.A. you go two streets over and you belong to a different gang. It’s ridiculous. I have visited several prisons and in prison you have the Sureños and the Norteños. Now they are both Mexicans. They are both immigrants and they both share the same low rent and poverty-stricken areas. Yet they are deadly enemies. So go figure. There is no brotherhood. It’s all bullshit. We all just talk out of the sides of our mouth. There is no unity.

Why do you think that is?
What our raza really needs is a Moses. We’re all waiting for Moses, someone we can respect, someone who will lead us. We have no leaders whatsoever. The few ones that we have all sell out eventually. They’re all seduced by the dollar, the pool, and the white women.

Seriously, most Latino guys that I know have like this self-hatred. Their goal is to find a blonde. I don’t know why. It’s like they don’t see beauty in our women. I guess it’s been engrained. It’s what I call the Barbie and Ken syndrome. Like little girls, from the time they are little, they are subliminally taught that they have to have blonde hair. Look at our ladies. I go to nightclubs and it’s a shame. They color their hair and you see them with blue contact lenses. I don’t understand it. Haven’t they seen a picture of La Adelita? Haven’t they seen a picture of Salma Hayek? We are a good-looking race. But I guess it’s a subliminal thing. We all want what we are not.

What advise do you have for our readers, Latino men?
Be men! Don’t just talk about being a man, BE a man. Being a man means if you’re going to have sex and have a child, don’t put ‘em on my account. You raise them. I’m not saying you can’t have kids if you aren’t married. I’m a father to my son. He always knew where I was. He was never on welfare. I supported him.

Be a man. I shouldn’t have to explain it to you. Look up the word, and that’s what it is. Love your children. Raise them. Want better for them. Be there for them. Unless you can do that, you can’t call yourself a man. Having a penis doesn’t make you a man. I don’t care how small it is.