\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFor comedian Cristela Alonzo, the last decade has taught her a little something about timing and the power of a joke.<\/p>\n
\n\tOn Sept. 23, the stand-up, actress and first Latina to create, write and star in her own U.S. sitcom released Upper Classy<\/em>, her latest Netflix special. It debuted amid a firestorm around Jimmy Kimmel, whose late-night talk series Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/em> had been taken off the air \u2014 and reinstated a day before her special released \u2014 by ABC Television Network (home to her series Cristela<\/em>) and parent company Disney, following a dispute involving the FCC, Nextstar and Sinclair.<\/p>\n \n\tThe incident, which quickly dovetailed into a larger conversation about government and Hollywood censorship, was seemingly par for the course for Alonzo and her specials. While speaking to The Hollywood Reporter<\/em> about the final chapter in her own take on class ascension in America, the comedian revealed how her two previous specials and her own relationship to comedy had also been shaped \u2014 literally \u2014 by the political landscape, including President Trump\u2019s 2016 election and the Jan. 6 insurrection.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cMy birthday is Jan. 6, and during my second special, I was going to shoot right around my birthday, so I rescheduled it to February. Then I got COVID, and I\u2019m like, this man really has it out for me,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWhen he won the first time, I fell into such a deep depression that I stopped doing stand-up for about a year and a half. I didn\u2019t want to be funny. I thought there was nothing to be funny about.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tThe experience of the last 10 years of American politics had left Alonzo at one point questioning the role of comedy. \u201cSometimes I have moments where I\u2019m like, \u2018Can people laugh? Should people laugh?\u2019\u201d she says. But that questioning has also opened her up to new ways to use her platform, and turning her work and art into a mechanism for tangibly showing up for people, communities and cultures.<\/p>\n \n\tThat\u2019s included using comedy to support the legal representation of immigrants detained by ICE, with Alonzo raising tens of thousands for the nonprofit Immigrant Defenders Law Center through a series of \u201cRoom Temperature\u201d shows. For the comedian, who points to Black women as the harbingers and leaders \u201cabout politics, about this country\u201d while discussing her work, it\u2019s also about recognizing how growing up with an immigrant mother in a Texas border town fueled her own success, as well as the power and necessity of speaking up.<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cWe all have to do what is needed when it is needed. If you don\u2019t, then you cannot chime in later with your opinion once the destruction has happened,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you\u2019re not going to do it as you see the volcano erupt, you can\u2019t be like, \u2018Whoa, that was disastrous!\u2019 Did you warn people that it was erupting?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tBelow, Alonzo discusses her creative, personal and political journey with comedy specials Lower Classy<\/em>, Middle Classy<\/em>, and Upper Classy<\/em>; what Kimmel\u2019s experience says about censorship in Hollywood; why she has no fear about speaking out and how she\u2019s using her comedy as a blueprint for advocacy.<\/p>\n \n\t***<\/p>\n \n\tYou filmed your first special and released it during Trump\u2019s first administration. Now you\u2019re back with Upper Classy<\/em>, and he\u2019s back in the White House. Did you imagine that, and how did he and this last decade of politics shape your specials?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tDuring the first election, I was on a boat with [feminist activist, Presidential Medal of Honor winner, and co-founder of the National Farm Workers Association] Dolores Huerta, and I didn\u2019t realize I was going to take it so strongly. I started crying, and Dolores said, \u201cI get it. It\u2019s the first time your country\u2019s broken your heart. It\u2019s not going to be the last time. This is what you do. You go home and you cry, you get angry, and then the next day you wake up and you keep fighting. And every time you feel like giving up, wondering why it\u2019s happening, you remember every time you cried and got angry, and you let that fuel you.\u201d <\/p>\n \n\tWhen he won the first time, I fell into such a deep depression that I stopped doing stand-up for about a year and a half. I thought there was nothing to be funny about. I really wanted to be there more for my people and try showing up for the community, and not just Latinos. During the first administration, right away, we had the Muslim Ban, and growing up in a border town, I know what it\u2019s like to be part of a group that other people see as a problem. I never forgot it.<\/p>\n \n\tMy birthday is Jan. 6, and during my second special, I was going to shoot right around my birthday, so I rescheduled it to February. Then I got COVID, and I\u2019m like, \u201cThis man really has it out for me. \u201cThis third one, I thought, \u201cWe went through it one time. We\u2019ve learned our lesson. What are we doing?\u201d And the moment I had the special date picked, which was June 14, it was No Kings Day \u2014 the day he decided to throw his Chuck E. Cheese military birthday parade. I\u2019m just like, this is tiring, you know? (Laughs<\/em>.) <\/p>\n \n\tSometimes I have moments where I\u2019m like, \u201cCan people laugh? Should people laugh?\u201d We also live at a time where, with social media, so many people get angry if you\u2019re not vocal about certain issues. What are you doing? Where do you stand?<\/em> You want to know the support and money you spend on someone or on a corporation is supporting you, and that they see you as people. What a weird time to have to take stock of things around you and ask, \u201cDoes this person see me as a human being?\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tUpper Classy<\/em> is the third and final installment in a trilogy, including Lower Classy<\/em> and Middle Classy<\/em>. What inspired your specific look at class, identity and mobility in America?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWhen I did the first special, I really wanted to do a trilogy, but it was kind of on a whim. I love Back to the Future<\/em>, and I thought what a great trilogy \u2014 beginning, middle, and end. That\u2019s how I started thinking about the Classy<\/em> specials. When I had my TV show, the notes I would get from the network and studio were \u201cmore ascension.\u201d I knew what they meant. They wanted me and my family to have money in the show, but it\u2019s like, no, I don\u2019t come from money, and isn\u2019t the interesting story a family banding together, improving the state of their lives and seeing a difference as we go on this journey, instead of immediately being the Huxtables? We\u2019ve already seen a lot of [financially] successful families on TV. The family that I come from isn\u2019t that. So I started thinking, what about a special about ascension? <\/p>\n \n\tFirst, I did Lower Classy<\/em>, and then when I had the second one, Middle Classy<\/em>, I started thinking, \u201cOh, shit, my life is completely different from the first one to the second one.\u201d I started going to the doctor, and health care is a luxury for so many people, so I was thinking, what if we bastardize class? What does class mean to everybody? Sometimes being classy means buying a Chanel bag, having an expensive car, but that doesn\u2019t mean anything to me. Class to me is being able to have health insurance, finding out that I\u2019m diabetic, and being able to have money for medication. That is the story of so many people. It\u2019s being able to pay pharmaceutical prices in the United States without having to worry about how you\u2019re going to do it. <\/p>\n \n\tThen, in this last one, once I took stock of where I was, I realized you get to the point where you don\u2019t live in survival mode anymore, and now you allow yourself to try and actually live a life. And by that I mean trying to enjoy your life a little bit more \u2014 that\u2019s hard. So many of us are told that you have to work first, and then, when you retire, you can have fun. But it\u2019s like, \u201cReally, when my back hurts the most?\u201d We live in such a culture where work is supposed to be the most important thing in your life, that now we live in a time where you can\u2019t even have hobbies. They want you to have your hobbies as your side hustle. So, when do you just enjoy anything? I can\u2019t just ride a bike. I have to Door Dash.<\/p>\n \n\tYour three specials also traced the time before the pandemic, during it, and now. You touch on it in your specials, as well as how your relationship to life and work shifted in Upper Classy<\/em>. How did it impact you and your special content?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThe lockdown was actually the moment that made me realize we plan for things that can be taken away in a heartbeat. It was a perfect example of how we have this trajectory that we are taught \u2014 you go to high school, graduate; go to college and you have a job; and if you\u2019re lucky, you get benefits. You might hate the job, but you can afford to go to the doctor with this job that you hate, and then you marry and you have kids and then live your life. But even at an early age, I was like, \u201cWhat if I don\u2019t want that? What if I don\u2019t want the corporate job? What if I\u2019m not looking for Mr. Right, and having children?\u201d Then you realize you can actually do whatever the hell you want to do in this life. You can choose your own happiness. Because the people who are telling you those things they\u2019re not living your life. You are.<\/p>\n \n\tPage Hurwitz, who worked on Netflix\u2019s <\/strong>Outstanding<\/em><\/strong> show and doc<\/strong>, and who has worked on The Rosie Show<\/em> and Last Comic Standing<\/em>, along with specials for Michelle Buteau, Wanda Sykes, Ms. Pat, and Fortune Feimster, directed this and Middle Classy<\/em>, but not your first special. How did you get connected, and why did she feel like the right director to end this trilogy\u2019s journey with?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tPage is one of my closest friends. When I did the first special, it didn\u2019t even occur to me I could ask her directly. I got the production company and the deal, and everybody\u2019s telling you the steps. After I did the first special, I was like, \u201cCan I get my friend to direct [the second one]?\u201d I met her maybe 15 years ago, and what I love about her is that she\u2019s a director, but she is also a comic. It was helpful to have a comic direct the special because she could actually see it in a way maybe not all directors can see it. I always believe that regardless of how well you do in life, you always need people around you who will tell you when something\u2019s not good or can be better. She is that person, and you cannot live a life and get to a point in your career where you think you know exactly what you\u2019re doing and that you\u2019re just so talented and so everything, because then you end up like Kanye.<\/p>\n \n\tI went to the Netflix Emmy party [a few weeks] ago. I hate these. I hate public settings. I\u2019m thinking worst-case scenarios. Page is like, \u201cCristela, you have to go.\u201d I know I\u2019m uncomfortable being there. But she knows me well enough to know that I can handle it and that it\u2019s something I should do. I got diagnosed with severe social anxiety and severe depression, and it\u2019s one of those things like, once you have a name for it, it is so satisfying. But it is also so good to have people like [Page] around you that remind you that you can and should do it, because it\u2019s really easy to say no and stop yourself.<\/p>\n \n\tThe power of naming is talked about a lot within spaces like the disability and queer communities, as going beyond giving other people a label for you, and into giving you a sense of understanding and control over experiences, situations and feelings that you didn\u2019t have before. That can be empowering.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tThere\u2019s a video I reposted on Instagram the other day. This host is asking a guest who is trans, \u201cAre you happy?\u201d And the guest says, \u201cYes, I am very happy.\u201d And the person next to them starts saying, \u201cWell \u2014\u201d and the host is like, \u201cShut it.\u201d How simple. It\u2019s just about, does that make you happy? Does who you are make you happy? In this life, achieving happiness or any kind of freedom is so hard for so many people. Why would you ever deny anybody the chance of having and feeling some kind of joy? Some people feel like they have to give their opinion, and it\u2019s like, why are you ruining somebody\u2019s happiness? Just let them figure out who they are, and let them go with that.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tCristela Alonzo during her Upper Classy<\/em> special at the Majestic Theatre in Dallas, Texas. <\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLauren Smith\/Netflix<\/p>\n \n\tIn the special, you address the realizations of class mobility, as well as how people find moments of joy even with little money. You also discuss your brother\u2019s citizenship journey, and share your mutual pride over that while noting he said it took America a long time to figure out that he belonged here, too. You\u2019re discussing the dualities of growing up poor and being an immigrant in America, the ways the U.S. can spend as much time creating a society that includes people as one that excludes people. How do you see the promises and disappointments of class and immigration structures in the U.S. intersecting?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s a weird thing I don\u2019t think that we talk about it enough. My family\u2019s from Mexico, and there is a caste system that exists, or that existed, that was really obvious growing up on TV. In the soap operas, the lighter-skinned people had all the power. They were the engineers, architects, lawyers. The people who looked Indigenous were the uneducated characters, the cartoon characters. Something we don\u2019t talk about a lot in this country is that the caste system exists here as well. It\u2019s this idea that if you grew up poor, then people are surprised that you can speak well. For some reason, because of the lack of money, they don\u2019t think or like that I had access to the same alphabet that they did. I can go to the same schools as all of them, but for some reason, because of my economic status, they\u2019re surprised that I know certain things. <\/p>\n \n\tThe hypocrisy that exists in this country for certain communities would be laughable if it weren\u2019t so painful. Especially regarding immigration. Everybody says we just want people to come the right way. OK, well, ICE is detaining people at courthouses. These people are going through all the processes. They\u2019re doing all of these things they\u2019re supposed to do. They\u2019re doing it the right way, yet somehow they\u2019re being detained. The argument was that this man in office was going to take care of the criminals, but the truth is that ICE doesn\u2019t want to go after the criminals because they\u2019re scared of them, so they go after the people that they can control. They are going after the people who want to be here so bad and go through the right channels that they can detain them at courthouses, in check-ins that they have been doing for years. Yet are now, all of a sudden, like, it\u2019s time for you to go home.<\/p>\n \n\tDon\u2019t say things that make you feel good about yourself when we all see that the actions you\u2019re carrying out say otherwise. With the Jimmy Kimmel suspension and talk about free speech, all of that shows the hypocrisy. Free speech is not free if we have to decide is it free or is it rented speech; if I have to pay you to say the things that I want to say. We have the First Amendment. We should be able to say anything. We cannot have the government control what we\u2019re saying. We have to decide what kind of country are we. What do we represent? Are we the people that believe in the poem that\u2019s on the Statue of Liberty \u2014 would you give me your poor, your tired? Or are we the people who want to charge $100,000 on HB-1 visas?<\/p>\n \n\tComedians are often talked about as primary <\/strong>defenders of free speech<\/strong>, but in the discussion around Kimmel, it seems some people don\u2019t understand what free speech protects, while others mix things like censorship up with <\/strong>concepts like cancellation<\/strong>. How is what happened with Kimmel different from cancellation to you, and what role do comedians play in shaping everyone\u2019s understanding of the difference between these things?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019s really weird to see an uprising of podcasters who say that they\u2019re comics and just throw out buzzwords. There was big talk about cancel culture, and I just want the freedom to say this<\/em>. \u201cNow I can say the R-word, and that makes me feel good for some reason.\u201d I have been looking for them to be on the record [Kimmel\u2019s suspension], and for some reason, they\u2019re quiet. So we pick and choose when we want to be vocal about and what we want to say. I think there\u2019s also a disservice that some comics have done. They know better, but they don\u2019t say that words are important. They make it seem like words are just words. They\u2019re just jokes, they\u2019re just this, they\u2019re just that. Words have power. Every word in an instruction manual is just a word, but put it together, and those words tell you how to use this thing. So let\u2019s not pretend that words don\u2019t have power.<\/p>\n \n\tI believe in being able to criticize anyone. I\u2019m a liberal, and if the people opposite me could actually write a good joke about why I\u2019m the problem to them, I would respect that. Because you also want to be able to laugh at yourself, right? But there is this punching down on communities. There is no reason why certain communities are easy targets for jokes. Those are the communities that show how lazy you are in writing jokes. It\u2019s a weird time to be a comedian right now, but I\u2019ll also tell you that I have no fear. I don\u2019t worry about anything that I\u2019m saying. Everything that I say, I will defend to the ends of all time because it\u2019s who I am. It\u2019s weird that some of the people who are so into the First Amendment and so into freedom and screw cancel culture were pretty quiet.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat happened to Kimmel was shocking to many, but censorship issues are not new to the country. Hollywood has a known history of it \u2014 from the blacklist to the Hayes Code. But for you, did this feel like new territory? Does this feel like the industry that you\u2019ve been working in?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt seems familiar in regard to it being a business, and when there\u2019s business involved, people will always go after the money. That is not unfamiliar. During the 2016 election, there was a network that wanted to try to create programming that catered to the demographic that won the election because they thought that that\u2019s what America wanted. It\u2019s the choices that always come in, trying to placate the masses, or what they think are the masses, because they confuse mass for volume. If you\u2019re loud, they think it\u2019s almost like a map, where an inch represents 10 miles and 5 million viewers. When I was growing up, I used to translate the news for my mom, so I was always a big current events news junkie. And even when I was a kid learning about elections, my question was, \u201cWhy is everybody so concerned about Iowa?\u201d I\u2019m asking genuine questions. Like what happened in Iowa?<\/p>\n \n\tYou hosted Room Temperature, No Ice shows, and raised upwards of $50,000 to fund legal representation for those currently being detained by ICE. That\u2019s an example of using your platform not just to talk but to walk, and through these shows, you\u2019re inviting other people to walk with you. Can you talk about your decision to host them, what precedent or blueprint it sets for others in Hollywood in terms of how to take action, and the specific impact of this work beyond simple donations?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tOne of the reasons I wanted to do the ICE shows was that during every election cycle, I work with voter outreach and I love trying to get people to understand how important voting is. But everybody always says, \u201cWell, it\u2019s just one vote.\u201d That\u2019s the biggest argument I get. People don\u2019t realize. There are so many examples of how important one vote is. When I started doing the shows, I was thinking about how I maintain a very low expense lifestyle on purpose. I always want to have the freedom to say no. In this business, one of the only powers you have is to say no. Having said that, I grew up in a border town in the 1980s in South Texas, where we had immigration raids, and my mom was undocumented. So when the ICE raids started in Los Angeles, I took it very personally. I\u2019m 46 years old, and I was instantly taken back to being a little kid and having to protect my mom and make sure she was OK.<\/p>\n \n\tAt 46, I can tell you that the trauma with that is so real that it never goes away. It just becomes dormant. I never though it was going to ever come back and flare up, but it did. So when I saw that, all the kids like me at that age, I started thinking, well, everybody knows that this is bullshit, right? Everybody knows this is wrong. Then you see people who weren\u2019t saying anything, especially people who make money off the culture, monetize the culture, use the culture to pad their wallets, and then when it\u2019s time to be loud, they stay silent. I couldn\u2019t do that because if I did, it would have been a complete betrayal of my entire family and who I am. So for me, it was like, I don\u2019t need the money, and I\u2019m so upset at what\u2019s happening that I\u2019m going to do these shows. I\u2019ll charge $30 a ticket. The people who can afford $30 are the people who need to have that moment. So instead of doing one big show, I will do six shows that people can come and see and feel like they\u2019re actually helping.<\/p>\n \n\tWith one $30 ticket added to other $30 tickets, we raised over $48,000 \u2014 just from people who wanted to contribute. And at every show, I told audiences, \u201cYou did that. Your $30 did that. Change is possible.\u201d Then I got the nonprofit [Immigrant Defenders Law Center] to set up a table at the end of the show in the lobbies of the clubs, and I would do a meet and greet next to the table so that people could get literature about the nonprofit, and people could see the face of this nonprofit. Because sometimes when you give away money, you don\u2019t see the people. You don\u2019t see the humanity of it. We ended up raising another $12,000 just with donations because they wanted to give more. I know that there are so many people who have the kind of life that I grew up with, but also that it was possible for me because of the sacrifices that my mom made. Just like the people who are getting detained, and because of those sacrifices, I have been able to live this life that I never thought was possible.<\/p>\n \n\tEspecially with immigrants, they are an easily vilified group when you don\u2019t know any of them personally, whenever you don\u2019t know any community personally. It is so easy to make them the bad guys, but once you give them a face and a heart, man, it is harder to hate them. Because now they have become human. I can\u2019t tell these stories and I can\u2019t talk about my life only to make a profit. I don\u2019t want to be part of the problem. I don\u2019t need people to like me. You have a problem with what I\u2019m saying, unfollow me. Leave. Somebody else will replace you. You cannot succumb to trying to appeal to certain people, appease these people, because you\u2019ll never be done. They\u2019ll always want more. So it\u2019s like, this is who I am. Are you with me? If you are, let\u2019s go. If not, there are other people over there for you. Have at it.<\/p>\n \n\t***<\/p>\n \n\tUpper Classy is now streaming on Netflix.<\/em><\/p>\n