I’m So Excited for Friday’s Pachanga Twitch Show
I love the holidays! I’m one of those cheesy people who loves to cook big fancy dinner for the people he loves while blasting yacht rock and making sure everyone is having a good time. There’s a reason we called our group the Pachanga – we want it to feel like a party when you’re with us!
This Friday, December 18 at 8:00 pm PST will be no different! Richard Aaron and I have gathered some of our favorite Latinx comedians and we’re going to put on a big fun show to wrap up 2020 – Holidays with the Latinx Comedy Pachanga!
We’re going to have improv in Spanish from Impromundeando, Clown Work from the Winners, characters from The 69 Steps with Jon Lopez, a new panel show called Cuñados, Cuñadas, y Carnales, a pilot reading from Marcelina Chavira and Jared Nathaniel Lomeli, stand up from Pamela Pacheco, and the Pachanga Podcast with Richee and Fernando. And it’s all going to be hosted by the amazing Audrey Pinto!
Here Are 9 Reasons Why I’m Excited for Holidays with The Pachanga
1). It’s going to be hosted by the amazing Audrey Pinto.
Audrey is so funny, someone whose range can go from funny to tragic with the flick of a switch. She’s going to be our guide for the night, and I can’t think of a better person.
2). Impromundeando is going to rock the house!
Alright, so this is an eclectic group of native Spanish speakers and non-native Spanish speakers, which might like sound an alarm in my head, but after watching them, they are a legit group!
I had the pleasure of being their guest monologist earlier in the year for one of their Facebook Live Shows – every Wednesday at 7:00 pm PT! – and they did an amazing job picking apart my monologue and doing scenes from it. They are coached by Mario Barra, one of the best improvisers around, and one of the key figures leading the development of the Spanish improv scene in Los Angeles. Check them out in the 8pm slot!
Check out Impromundeando at 8:00 pm PT!
3). The Winners Are Show Stealers
I know all the winners as individuals. I have witnessed each one bring down the house with their specific comedy gifts. Together they are a clown work beast called “The Winners.” When I think of the word “supergroup,” I think of them. But with all the expectations delivered and none of the disappointment.
Now I’m not saying the can’t have a bad show. They are just so committed and prepared for their performances, that is if there is an instance of failure, there professional resolve absorbs the failure and makes it part of the act, an ever evolving performance piece that is peak clown work.
The Winners are:
Natasha Mercado
John Ryan
Marilyn Mineo
Check out The Winners at 830pm!
4). The 69 Steps with Jon Lopez is my favorite thing to do in the whole world!
Okay, something I don’t like to admit, but I have a background in affiliate marketing. What is affiliate marketing? I won’t go into it right now, but a lot of it revolves around social media influencers selling you stuff. It could be a business course, a health product, a book that has the secret to success – stuff like that.
Because of that background, I created a character called “Jon Lopez” who is a parody of that world and who has cracked the code to happiness with his groundbreaking course, The 69 Steps with Jon Lopez, a very expensive series of online classes that teach you how achieve maximum joy as revealed to Jon Lopez by Sammy Hagar’s autobiography, Red: My Uncensored Life in Rock.
To sell that course, I put on a “Free Seminar” where I bring on some of my favorite social media influencers and we answer some of life’s hardest questions. The influencers are just my favorite improvisers who play these fun parodies of social influencers. They become their characters. They find a very well defined POV and interpret the world from that lens, giving answers that sound crazy to the everyday person but are completely normal for them- this is great character work, and a lot of fun to watch.
Meet the Influencers:
Robert Souders
Fernanda Perez
Hugo Fernando Muñoz
Elisabeth Sofley
Frankie Estrella
Dani Gomez
Nic Yocca
Victor Bryan Olivas
The 69 Steps with Jon Lopez will be at 9:00 pm PT!
5). The World Premier of Cuñados, Cuñadas, y Carnales, our new Latinx Panel Show
I love panel shows! I love quiz shows! I love answering random pop culture trivia questions in fun games with my friends! And I love being Latinx! So why not combine all these things into a fun new panel show with a Latinx focus?
When I first got this idea, I knew I could not do it alone. I immediately thought of, my very funny Chicano stand-up friend and sketch comedian, Joe Felix. Joe has a comedy sixth sense that feeds directly into his witty and acute observations on life. I’ve been witness to these revelations many times, and they always end up with me laughing.
I told Joe about my idea, how I wanted it to be a Latino Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, and how I wanted him to help me write this new project, and he said, “Yes.” While I said, “Yes!” We then brainstormed the bones of the show.
Basically, Joe came up with one half of the show and I came up with the other! The final vision of the show represents a synthesis of Joe’s and I’s taste in comedy. But it doesn’t end there! We’ve brought on the wonderful Andy Lomeli to host and the amazing Serenity Garcia to host one of the segments.
The panel we got lined up for Friday will be super fun to watch:
Pachanga co-founder, Richard Aaron
OC poet and activist, Anatalia Vallez
Supervāse Video co-founder, Ally Kloster
and clown extraordinair, Natasha Mercado
Join us at 9:30 pm PT for the premier of this new panel show!
6. We got a new pilot from Marcelina Chavira and Jared Nathaniel Lomeli
Marcelina and Jared have written a funny, half hour animated pilot called BOTANICA LUNA about “A magical religious supply store in a neighborhood that is staving off gentrification,” (from Marcelina and Jared’s amazing Show Bible).
From the Show Bible continued, “The story centers around Paloma Luna, the third generation of Luna women to own and operate Botanica Luna, as she grapples with all the challenges that her business, her customers, and her family bring to her.”
I was able to get a sneak peek at BOTANICA LUNA, and all I can say is “Yes!” This story speaks to me! As someone who grew up with a botanica on his block and whose family had a curandero in their family rolodex, I can relate with this story so much.
As Latinx people, rarely do we see our stories portrayed in mainstream media. Even more rarely are stories that focus onto the specific things about our culture that are normal for us but may seem strange to outsiders. I’m just going to say it – we believe in magic, ghosts, pre-Columbian gods with stone faces and indigenous names, the power of traditional healing as passed down from our ancestors, and other supernatural phenomena that provide some explanation to life’s mysteries and questions. To see a sitcom that normalizes that ultra specific aspect of my lived Latinx experience is beautiful. How often do I see that story on TV?
Finally, Marcelina and Jared have brought in a great group of Pachanguerros to do the table read!
The Pachanga Ensemble:
Maria Felix
Kiki Anderson
Ammy Ontiveros
Leslie Martinez
Alexandrea Ortiz
Alejandro Garcia
Victor Bryan Olivas
Check it out at 10:00 pm PT.
7). Pam “The Burrito Lady” Pacheco will have you busting up!
I just realized that “Pam ‘The Burrito Lady’ Pacheco” is the same as “Randy ‘The Macho Macho Man’ Savage,” which is a cosmic coincidence since they are both supremely talented, keep you watching, and make your jaw drop with what they say.
If you’ve never seen Pam, I don’t know what to tell you. Pam doesn’t hold back. She says what’s on her mind. And there’s a lot on this woman’s mind!
Pam has what every great comedian needs: a well defined point-of-view that makes it easy for her to interpret the world around her. I’m telling you, this is the secret weapon of comedy! If you can interpret the world around you in a unique and hyper specific way, you will have the audience’s attention! They may not always agree with everything you say, but at the very least they will be hanging onto your every word. And this is who Pam is – once she starts talking you’ll start listening.
You can see Pam around 11:00 pm PT in the Pachanga Podcast!
8). I love having heart to hear talks with Richee on the Pachanga Podcast
Alright, y’all, Richee Aaron is one of the coolest dudes I’ve ever met, one of my best friends in the universe, and just a dude I can open up to few other people.
The Pachanga was born from our conversations. Through our discussions – whether we knew it or not – the idea of the Latinx Comedy Pachanga was gestating. There’s a freedom with Richee that I don’t experience elsewhere. I guess you would call that kind of one-to-one freedom: vulnerability.
There’s a lot of vulnerability between Richee and I. Now let me tell you why that’s important. The last thing Latinx men want to be is vulnerable. From a young age we are programmed that vulnerability is unmanly, that it is weak to share your feelings and have an open heart. Vulnerability is for effeminate men who will never provide for the family and will bring shame upon them through the arc of his life because he has failed as a macho man.
It’s all heteronormative, toxic masculinity bullshit, but we’re all still in its grip. I’m convinced that part of my journey on Earth is deprogramming myself from this poisonous world view. And with Richee, that’s we do! We de-program ourselves a little bit every time we talk. We get each other’s pain, and from there we can heal. So come see two dudes who really love each other talk it out and heal generational wounds!
9). It’s Our Last Show of The Year
This is your last chance to see the Pachanga perform in 2020! I love it when me and my gente get together because it’s always a party, so this is your change to join the fun and spend the holidays with us!
Holidays with the Pachanga starts at 8:00 pm PT and goes till 11:30 pm PT. Join us for an awesome time at https://www.twitch.tv/latinxcomedypachanga! Hope to see you there!
Fernando
