Cristela Alonzo has done a lot of things in the entertainment world.
She’s the first Latina to create, write for and star in her own sitcom, called "Cristela." She’s been a guest host on the daytime talk show "The View." She voiced the character Cruz Ramirez in the film "Cars 3."
Tomorrow night, she’s bringing her new standup tour, called "Upper Classy" to the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts. The show is a follow up to her two previous stand-up tours, "Lower Classy," and then "Middle Classy." The first two include stories from her life and family, and ascending in class as she grows up.
Alonzo says she’s a big fan of trilogies, even though she says it’s a happy accident that these specials ended up as one.
Alonzo joined The Show to talk about her process of not only coming up with jokes for a set, but then winnowing it down for a special.
Full conversation
CRISTELA ALONZO: Well, you know, I actually, I like, I love the process. I love the writing of it. I love everything about it. I consider myself a little meticulous when it comes to my approach because I literally, I have recorded every set I've ever done in my life and I do it because you never know as a comic what comes out of your mouth that the audience might laugh at, that might be a new idea.
So every time that I'm up on stage and I throw something new that I thought the audience responded to, I will go to my, you know, back to my hotel room or back to my place. I'll listen to the set I just recorded and I'll transcribe it and, you know, that's kind of, you know, but I also write in notebooks because to me writing out the jokes, helps me memorize it better.
So now, right now I'm doing about an hour, 20, hour 30 on stage, depending on, you know, the mood and I whittle down the 20 minutes that I'm not gonna shoot in the special. So I try to see what hits the hardest, what can be tightened up. It's like writing on a TV show except that I have a long time. I give myself a long time for the finished product to be ready.
MARK BRODIE: So your specials and, and your, your previous two tours have dealt with in large part, your own life and your experiences and growing up. And,, you know, sort of becoming an adult. What is the, the balance for you in terms of being able and OK to tell jokes about your family and about your own experiences and like maybe things that are maybe too personal or maybe off limits to, to tell on stage?
ALONZO: Yeah. You know, to me, I think the important thing is to always talk about things that, that I think are interesting that people might be surprised they have in common with me. And to me it's like, you know, people always ask me like, well, why do you talk about your family? I'm like, because I know them really well. You know, it's like, why do you talk about yourself? Because I know me very well.
You know, it's like, it's just something that has always been part of my family dynamic, especially with my mom and my family. They're all storytellers, that's how we communicate. So for me, when I started doing stand up, it was organic, it was just inevitable that I would talk about myself in stories. And what's funny is that that medium, that form of stand up really connected with people, which I mean, I guess is the goal, but I never thought about it to me stand up was always about doing the thing I loved.
I never really thought like, well, what, what will the audience think is funny? I always approach it as well, I think is funny. Let's see who, who agrees with me and those are my people.
BRODIE: I mean, it's kind of an interesting scenario that you find yourself in on stage, right? Because it's, it's just you, right? And, and a microphone and maybe a stool and some water and then all these people who are staring at you waiting for you to make them laugh. So, it's in some ways I would imagine it can be, it can feel very isolating. But as you say, it's also about trying to bring people in and, and like you want them to laugh at something you're saying. So you have to sort of engage with them even though you're sort of isolated from them.
ALONZO: Yeah. Well, you know, and I actually think that, you know, I actually see stand up as a conversation. I really feel like the audience when they laugh, that's part of their conversation.
BRODIE: Have you run into situations where family members have either before the fact or after the fact said, please don't tell that or I wish you hadn't told that.
ALONZO: No. And actually, you know, I think it's also, I think that I am very respectful of my family. So my rule is I never say anything if it's not true, but I also don't wanna tell any stories that would paint them in a negative light because I love my family and they're the most important thing for me.
BRODIE: Have you found that you have learned anything about yourself or, like, realize things maybe about your, your childhood during the course of talking about it and writing material about it?
ALONZO: Oh, my God. Yes. You know, I actually, I, it's a weird thing when you're a child, you think that your childhood is what life is like for everyone. You are in a bubble, this is your world. And I think that through, I've learned a couple of things throughout just doing my stand up and talking about my experiences. And one of them is not everyone had my childhood, meaning that, you know, I had a very hard upbringing. You know, we lived in poverty, you know, immigrant family, we, you know, we are not the quintessential family that you would see on a sitcom, even though I had my own, right.
You know, but it is the thing where like I've learned that my childhood and where I come from is very specific to me. But at the same token, you realize that when you're specific about your life and when you're able to tell details about when you can paint a picture, a picture about what's happening, you actually see that so many people connect with you even though they didn't come from the same background.
And I think that one big thing that I've learned that I'm still learning is how I'm playing catch up on life, the older that I get and the more I ascend, you know, meaning that like for example, going to a doctor, right? Like I found out I was diabetic about 10 years ago and I had to learn how to go to the doctor because my family didn't have money to go to the doctor, we didn't have checkups, we didn't do anything, you know.
So I realized that even in my 40s, I feel like a child sometimes having to learn all this stuff kind of on my own. You know. And that's what I think is so interesting though, is that so many of us actually have those issues, whether it might be health insurance or something else. There's a lot of us that didn't do certain things when we were younger that now we have to learn how to do as adults and it can be eye opening and it could be surprising and it can be frustrating, but it can also be hilarious.
BRODIE: Yeah, I was gonna say all that sounds like kind of a gold mine for comedy.
ALONZO: Absolutely. I mean, look, it's like, yeah, II, I mean, you know, it's like my last special. I did a joke about how I found out I was diabetic. I went to the gynecologist. She told me, you know, and it was like this thing where like I went to the gynecologist because I was just like, it was, I got health insurance. I'm like, oh, I'm gonna go get a checkup. I didn't even know what checkups were like, you know, I even, I say it, I'm like, you know, checkups are like when people go, when people with money go to the doctor just for fun. Right. That's what a checkup. Right.
So I go to the gynecologist because she's the first doctor that would see me and I had no idea. I had never been to one and I didn't know what they did and I get to the doctor's office and I realize what she does and I'm just like, oh, my God, like, that's your area of expertise. Like, you know what I mean? Like, oh my God. Like, you know, I even make a joke about it. I'm like, how do you know it's sick? I've never heard it cough. You know what I mean? It's sick, you know? Which is true.
That is how, you know, like, you know, I found out I was diabetic from the gynecologist because of my urine sample. You know, it's a story in truth, but it's ridiculous the way that I had to find out. And having done stand up for so long I'm able to see that that's the funny of it.
