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Step Into The 'Mind of Mencia'
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Posted by matt Wed Nov 30, -0001 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments **The following story first appeared in issue 17 of Mas Magazine

MATT MUNOZ
Mas  / Bakotopia staff

Carlos Mencia considers himself pretty lucky.

Not only is his show, “Mind of Mencia,” a hit on cable TV's The Comedy Channel, but he's also in the midst of a nationwide comedy tour, appropriately titled, “Mind of Mencia Live Tour,” which stops at the Bakersfield Fox Theater on Saturday, Jan. 14.

Fans of light-hearted comedy be warned.

Mencia does not tread lightly around heated topics only to be swept under the “rug of political correctness.” Instead, Mencia, 38, believes in exposing the evil behind what he calls “society's hypocrisy” and making laughter a part of the American diet.

Born Ned Arnel Mencia to parents Magdelena Mencia and father, Roberto Holness, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Mencia was one of 18 children.

But he grew up with his tios, Pablo and Consuelo Mencia, in California where he soaked up the cultural landscape of East Los Angeles life.

A former student of electrical engineering at Cal State University Los Angeles, Mencia would drop out of college just one credit shy of graduation to pursue a life in comedy.  Taking advice from LA's Comedy Store owner Mitzi Shore, Mencia adopted the stage name, Carlos, for his stage act. Lifting material from everyday life, a young Mencia would struggle on the club circuit, but eventually got a break hosting cable comedy shows such as HBO's “Loco Slam,” and Galavision's, “Funny Is Funny.”

That success would eventually lead to featured roles in TV (“The Shield,” “Moesha”) but it's today that Mencia has finally reached a new level of success with his signature brand of thought-provoking comedy.

Taking a break during sound check at a recent tour stop in Riverside, CA, Mencia sat down with Mas Magazine to talk about life, the politics of race, and success as one comedy's hottest social commentators.

Mas: So how's the tour going so far?
Mencia: Everything's been going awesome, man.
It's really weird, because since the show (“Mind of Mencia”), I don't have to sell myself anymore. Before, people would either know what I did, or someone who knew me would tell others what I did, but something always gets lost in translation, and so a lot of people didn't know what I was about.
Now when I do a concert, people know exactly what to expect.

Mas: What's the theme behind your tour, “Mind of Mencia Live”?
Mencia: I don't really know. Stupidity and a lack of common sense is always a threat. It's about putting a mirror to society and saying, “This is what we do and this is how that's interpreted. This is what we say, and that is what we should be doing.”
Basically, (it’s) to point out all the stuff, that, we as people tend to ignore on a daily basis, which is obvious to me, you know what I mean? And laugh at how absurd it is.

Mas: Do you have an equal amount of East Coast / West Coast dates?
Mencia: Now I will. I didn't before. It's tough because when you live in LA, and you have (California) comedy clubs in the surrounding LA areas, the Inland Empire, San Diego, Bakersfield, Fresno, Sacramento and the Bay Area. Those are all money markets so, it's hard to get out.
I haven't even gotten to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada. It's very difficult with a constrained time period, when you're doing comedy clubs and mixing it in with some theaters, to get out of that and go to the East Coast.
I've been to New York recently, smaller cities: Richmond, Virginia, Atlanta, and it was just crazy.

Mas: How does your mind function anyway?
Mencia: I'm always on, never off. Whether listening to the radio, watching the news, or listening to a conversation. I mean it's a constant bombardment of information coming in, and I just kinda go, “Okay, that's good, that's good, irrelevant, irrelevant,” you know what I mean? That's kinda how the day goes by.

Mas:  What's the source of your material?
Mencia: It differs. Ask me that question every two or three months, and it'll be something different. Right now, I just got back from a two-week vacation, so I don't even know what I'm gonna talk about.

Mas: Who was your biggest comedic influence?
Mencia: My dad, but in a non-conventional way. He's just a really honest, funny guy in real-life. He was that guy for me.
I learned a lot from my contemporaries, but mostly from my dad, and a comedian named Paul Mooney. I saw Paul do stand-up one time, and I said to myself, “I could do that? I thought you did jokes, and it was just a joke to make people laugh. Because of Paul, I found out that in comedy, you can say anything you want as long as it's funny, and nothing is taboo.”

Mas: Do your concert routines differ from night to night?
Mencia: Yeah, it’s always different. I have no idea what's gonna happen. I never really do, but right now, it's more so than ever.
I mean, I know the mechanics of it, you know what I'm saying? I know how to put it together. It's kinda like one of those things where you get somebody who's built car engines their entire life, and then you put up a motorcycle engine. All of a sudden, they put it together, because it's, you know, the same building process. You allow your brain to make the same neuro-connections, and it works.

Mas: “Society's hypocrisy” has been a topic in your past routines. Is there anything lately that really gets on your nerves?
Mencia: One thing is the Red State / Blue State (expletive). It
(expletive) annoys me. I hate the fact that for TV viewership, if for nothing else, people are separating this country into two groups of people, like that's all you are. You know, if you're a Blue State, you have nothing in common with the Red State.
I guarantee that I could go every single Blue State and find conservatives, and I bet ya' I could go to every single Red State and find people that accept me.
And this whole immigration thing, this whole lack of acknowledgement of immigration and what's going on. The problem or whatever you want to call it. That annoys me.

Mas: What about Bakersfield's reputation as a “Red” (Republican,) city in the middle of California (Democrat) “Blue?”
Mencia: Bakersfield is one of the most liberal cities I've ever been to.

Mas: I've heard you mention “racial hazing,” before to mean that every race is eventually set-up to be a target for racial epithets, and that before the term, “beaner,” there was “wop,” and on down the line. What is the ideology behind that sentiment?
Mencia: It's unbelievable, but ... everybody has them.
Everyone goes through it. It's not a bad thing, but I don't know that it's a good thing, either. I just think that we see ourselves as what we should be sometimes, and not as what we are. We see the world a way the world could be, or the way we think it should be, and not the way it is. And that is always a problem because the two are not the same.
They're very, very different. And that is what my comedy is about. It's about taking off that “shade,” that you have that tells you, “We can all get along and we can all love each other.” No you can't. That's impossible. The world's not built that way. It's a violent world.

Mas: In a perfect world, should all Latino cultures label themselves “beaners?”
Mencia: Yes, that's why I use the word, “beaner.” I'm serious. I started saying “Hispanic,” and then there were those who said it was wrong. I started saying, “Latino,” and then people would say, “Well I'm not Latin. I don't even speak Latin!”
After that, I said, “We all eat beans, right? We're all beaners, then (expletive).” It wasn't to be irreverent, or to use the word. It was literally the safest word to use. We're all beaners.

Mas: Now you're one of the most recognized comedians, has the “Latino”
label has become irrelevant?
Mencia: Look, some of us want to help the world become a better place or help change the world in a positive way and want to leave our footprint in the sand, so to speak. Most of us won't get the opportunity to do this, but some of us do. It just worked out that way.
I just want to inspire and give kids hope. (Expletive) money. Hope is the most important thing a human being can have. Because when you have hope, there's possibility. And when there's possibility, that's all that matters. I appreciate it when I get e-mails from kids who say, “I went to college because of you. I didn't drop out of high school because of you. I wanna be a comedian because of you.” All of that stuff is just phenomenal.

Mas: Do you ever look back and realize all the things you've accomplished?
Mencia: I love what I do for a living. I'm lucky. What hits me is how blessed I am that what I do for a living is a commodity. That is a blessing to me.

Mas: Do your feel pressure knowing that you and George Lopez are the most visible Latinos on TV, and people are watching your success or failure?
Mencia: No. I am what I am. You're gonna catch me picking my nose, it just happens. I'm a regular guy. I'm always gonna be ghetto. You know what I wanted last night? I wanted Top Ramen. I can afford anything for dinner. I can rent a jet and go to China to get Chinese food on a whim, but I wanted Top Ramen. That's just the way I am.

Mas: So you were born in Honduras, not East LA?
Mencia: I came to Los Angeles from Honduras when I was seven months old, but my mom's Mexican, so I was raised with all of those traditions. That's kinda how that worked out, plus living in “Little Mexico (East LA.)”
As a matter of fact, one of the biggest jokes that I used to do was that, no matter where you live in LA, you're Mexican. I told that joke because people assumed I was Mexican before I told them I wasn't. And I tell them they're going to perceive me as Mexican, even after I tell them I'm not!

Mas: Do you ever visit Honduras to perform a show?
Mencia: I visit family sometimes in Honduras and I've done shows in Mexico.

Mas: Did you ever become a U.S. citizen?
Mencia: No. I'm in the process of that. Here's how American I am. I went through all the classes and (expletive), took the test, but before it was time to go swear in, they called me for a gig and I took off.

Mas: What reaction do you get in Mexico with the Chicano humor?
Mencia: There is no Chicano humor in Mexico. In Mexico, you're a pocho, an outsider. You're not a Mexican to them. I think it's funny when people who were born here claim they're Mexican. No, you're not. Try going to Mexico. They'll let you know just how Mexican you're not. You left. They didn't. You're not the same people. That's another big part of my act. My acceptance that I'm not like that. I'm a descendant of them, but that's it. For example, white people in Europe are very different from white people in America.

Mas: Because your comedy is emotionally charged and bound to anger some people, do you ever get death threats?
Mencia: I've had a few.

Mas: Are you ultimately trying to send a message of hope with your comedy?
Mencia: Sure, but not everybody's gonna get it, and that's OK. I tell my jokes my way. I don't cater to make it easier for you to accept. It doesn't function that way for me, because I am just me. There are hundreds upon thousands of comedians you could pay to go see.

Mas: Any parting words for all of your Bakersfield fans?
Mencia: Please get your tickets early ’cuz it's gonna sell out and you're gonna get pissed and say, “Man, I didn't know it was gonna sell out and (expletive)!”
But most of all, I appreciate all the fans who have been there before my TV show and the ones who are here now.

http://www.masbakersfield.c...

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