Felipe Esparza

Felipe Esparza is a Mexican-American stand-up comedian and actor. He began performing stand-up in 1994. He won Last Comic Standing in 2010.[2]

Felipe Esparza
Born (1976-06-11) June 11, 1976
Sinaloa, Mexico
MediumStand-up
Years active1994–present[1]
SpouseLesa O'Daniel Esparza[1]
Children4
Websitefelipesworld.com

Esparza has hosted a weekly podcast called What's Up Fool? since 2014.

Early life and education

Felipe Esparza was born in Sinaloa, Mexico. He lived on his mother's family's ranch in Sinaloa before moving with his family to live with his aunt in Tijuana, where they lived for about two years. His father had left the family to go to the United States alone. Eventually, in the years prior to Reagan's Amnesty, Esparza illegally immigrated with his two brothers and his mother to the United States, traveling in the car of a "coyote" smuggler. During the trip, they were stopped at a checkpoint in San Clemente, California and he was held in a holding cell with his brothers, separate from their mother for a short period of time. The family was deported. They attempted the trip again, but were stopped and deported again. They tried a third time, using passports of cousins who lived in California. They changed cars twice and were driven to Carson, California. They were then moved to the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, where his father was living.[3] Esparza was raised in the Aliso Village housing projects of Boyle Heights.[4] He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School.[5]

Career

Esparza began performing stand-up in 1994 after a stint in drug rehab.[1] He credits Greg Boyle for convincing him to go into rehab. Boyle is the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, the largest gang intervention and rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. In rehab Esparza was asked to set five goals to focus on for his recovery. One of his goals was to be a professional stand-up comic. He checked out books from the library on writing comedy, and rented videotapes. He found open-mic nights through the LA Weekly to practice his comedy routine. He started at underground clubs and coffee houses.

He won Last Comic Standing in 2010.[2]

What's Up Fool? Podcast
What's Up Fool?
Presentation
Hosted byFelipe Esparza
GenreTalk
FormatAudio
LanguageEnglish
Length60 - 100 min
Production
No. of episodes227 (as of Jan 2, 2018)
Publication
Original release2014 – present
Websitefelipesworld.com/podcast

Esparza has hosted a weekly podcast called What's Up Fool? on All Things Comedy since 2014. The podcast features interviews with numerous people, particularly fellow comedians. As of January 2019, there have been 227 episodes of the podcast.

Personal life

Esparza is married to Lisa Esparza.[1]

He has been vegan since 2011.[6]

Works

Comedy specials
Year Title Distributor
2012 They're Not Gonna Laugh at You Showtime
2017 Translate This HBO

Filmography

Film
Year Title Role
2003 El matador Pablo[7]
2009 The Deported Fernando
2010 I'm Not Like That No More Felipe Valenzuela
2015 The Fix Pablo
2016 She's Allergic to Cats Tow Truck Driver
2018 Taco Shop Mugres
TBA The Opening Act Cabbie Steve

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2014, 2015 Eric Andre Show Himself/Hannibal's co-co-host 2 episodes
2015 The Shop Felipe 7 episodes
2016 Campus Law Alan 2 episodes
2016, 2017, 2018 Superstore Cody 5 episodes
2020 Gentefied Crazy Dave Recurring role
gollark: Oh, also, maybe I could hook into the infipage somehow.
gollark: You probably can!
gollark: Any other achievement ideas?
gollark: Yes.
gollark: Joining random clauses together?

References
  1. Sager, Rebekah (September 12, 2017). "'Translate This': Comedian Felipe Esparza Finds the Funny in His Latino Identity". NBC News. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  2. Fulton, Robert (October 11, 2010). "'Last Comic Standing' winner Felipe Esparza headlines Improv". Washington Examiner. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  3. Joe Rogan (July 31, 2018). "JRE #1150 - Felipe Esparza". The Joe Rogan Experience (Podcast). Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  4. "Ep 94 – Author Paul Hunt". felipesworld.com. March 18, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  5. Bobby Lee & Khalyla Kuhn (October 10, 2018). "Episode 163: Felipe Esparza Is Carnage Asada". TigerBelly (Podcast). Event occurs at 00:58:54. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  6. Kelemen, Matt (February 16, 2018). "Q&A: Felipe Esparza". Las Vegas Magazine. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
  7. "Felipe Esparza". IMDB. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
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