Rojo Perez: We Laugh Together

It’s always spe­cial when you get to sit down with a guest again and real­ly catch up rather than just get acquaint­ed. It’s espe­cial­ly nice when that guest is indeli­bly tied to such won­der­ful mem­o­ries. For me that guest is Rojo Perez. He is such an inte­gral part of my ear­ly Moon­tow­er Com­e­dy Fes­ti­val expe­ri­ences and mem­o­ries, as well as one of our first inter­view guests from the fes­ti­val. But enough about me! Five years after our first inter­view with Perez, we reunit­ed at the Driskill Bar to find out how he’s changed.

Here’s the remark­able thing about Rojo Perez, though … he hasn’t changed. Grown, yes … evolved, absolute­ly, but at his core Perez is still the warm, kind, true-to-him­self come­di­an that Com­e­dy Wham fell in love with five years ago. Now, about that evolution.

When we sat down with Perez five years ago, he was ten years into com­e­dy and very self-aware about his com­e­dy and what he want­ed. He had done Just For Laughs and had sev­er­al tele­vi­sion cred­its already, but he was much more struc­tured in his word-for-word writ­ing process. He also jok­ing­ly gave out his phone num­ber on the pod­cast for gigs. Today, fif­teen years into the busi­ness, we find him a lit­tle more relaxed in his process, and he’s keep­ing that phone num­ber a lit­tle clos­er to the vest. Perez says, ​“I think I’ve got­ten much more com­fort­able in trust­ing [that] what I think is fun­ny is funny.”

Not long after that Moon­tow­er in 2017, Perez start­ed tour­ing with Tone Bell and soon late-night tele­vi­sion came call­ing. Four months after we inter­viewed him, he got the call from TBS’ Conan. I dis­tinct­ly remem­ber watch­ing his set like a proud cousin; he killed it. He also did the won­der­ful spe­cial HBO’s Entre Nos: Spot On, which is a must-see (proud cousin again). 

Perez was actu­al­ly get­ting quite busy just as the world was forced to take a break. The pan­dem­ic slowed every­thing to a halt in New York City, where Perez is still based. The come­di­an took advan­tage of the break, though (with the excep­tion of some online shows), return­ing to his fam­i­ly in Puer­to Rico. Despite the trag­ic cir­cum­stances, the time home was a much-need­ed respite from the ​“rat-race” that his busy indus­try career had become. Not even aware how need­ed the hia­tus was, Perez returned refreshed with a lighter voice in his writing. 

That break also taught Perez how to be selec­tive in say­ing yes and how to bet­ter nav­i­gate the ​“rat-race” to main­tain joy in his work. One of those ​“yeses” came in the form of his debut album Words, a hilar­i­ous win­dow into his life, fam­i­ly, and Ben­ny (you just have to lis­ten). Anoth­er major yes came in 2021, when net­work tele­vi­sion called. Perez was the first com­ic back in-stu­dio fol­low­ing the pan­dem­ic shut­down for The Tonight Show Star­ring Jim­my Fal­lon. Back from his break and and already armed with expe­ri­ence in late-night tele­vi­sion, Perez brought a more relaxed pres­ence to the show. The result is some­thing you need to lis­ten to Valerie’s inter­view to hear for your­self; I got chills.

While Perez no longer writes all his sets down, he does focus on the nuance of his per­for­mance and how very sub­tle changes in body lan­guage and pac­ing can land a joke so dif­fer­ent­ly. Hear­ing these nuances described remind­ed me of why I love com­e­dy, and even more, why I love hear­ing come­di­ans dis­cuss the art­form. Rojo Perez has evolved to that next lev­el where he can ana­lyze a set and tell you exact­ly what hits, what doesn’t, and why … that’s what I’m talk­ing about.

We’ve talked about the evo­lu­tion of Rojo Perez, but remem­ber how I said he hasn’t changed? Perez still main­tains at his core that while he is a proud Puer­to Rican and wears it more on his sleeve, he will nev­er trade that cul­ture for cheap laughs. Perez main­tains, ​“You’re not gonna hear me do accents. We laugh; we laugh togeth­er; we’re not laugh­ing at.” While he doesn’t avoid his her­itage on stage, Perez adds, ​“I think I’ve got­ten much more com­fort­able in my skin, so I know how to talk about it now. I know exact­ly what I’m try­ing to put for­ward.” He’s true to him­self, and that’s why we love Rojo Perez. Lis­ten to our inter­view now to fall in love with him for your­self, and don’t for­get to lis­ten to his album Words, now avail­able on all stream­ing platforms.

Fol­low Rojo

• Web­site — rojop​erez​.com
• Twit­ter — @rojoperezzz
• Insta­gram — @rojoperezzz
• Face­book — Face​book​.com/​r​o​j​o​p​e​rez02
• Youtube — Youtube​.com/​R​o​j​o​Perez

Rojo can be seen and heard:

• Album — Words (2021)
• TV Appear­ances
  • Conan
  • Late Night with Jim­my Fallon
  • HBO’s Entre Nos