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.
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.
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