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Speaker 1: Dear, let you know USA listener.

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Speaker 2: Before we start, you should know that if you want

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Speaker 2: to listen to this episode, add free. Just join and

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Speaker 2: you can join for as little as seven dollars a month.

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Speaker 2: Joining also gets you behind the scenes access and yes,

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Speaker 2: some cheese me So click the link in the episode

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Speaker 2: description and after you do that, then click play.

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Speaker 1: Let's go to the show.

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Speaker 3: I'm sure you've heard this before. Immigrants should do things

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Speaker 3: the quote unquote right way.

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Speaker 4: I wouldn't have a problem with it if they bother

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Speaker 4: doing it, but why can't they come to the US

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Speaker 4: the right the right way.

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Speaker 3: Chances are you've read this reply or a variation of

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Speaker 3: it a million times under the comment section of an

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Speaker 3: immigration story. I used to take the time to try

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Speaker 3: and explain the realities and myths behind that statement. As

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Speaker 3: an immigration reporter, I wanted to make it clear that

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Speaker 3: for a lot of people, there actually isn't a right

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Speaker 3: way avenue available, or that it's not easy even for

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Speaker 3: those with access to that road. But honestly, I'm tired.

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Speaker 3: Maybe you are too, so recently I've considered just posting

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Speaker 3: a link to this book.

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Speaker 5: Welcome to America. Let me in a choose your immigration story.

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Speaker 5: This book will hopefully serve as the ultimate guide for

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Speaker 5: any person who's curious about what it's like to be

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Speaker 5: an immigrant who dares take on the daunting task of

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Speaker 5: leaving it all behind and moving to a country that

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Speaker 5: they picked.

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Speaker 3: That's comedian and writer for The Lay Show with Stephen

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Speaker 3: Colbert Felipe Torres Mevina.

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Speaker 5: That's the gist of immigrants, by and large, they choose

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Speaker 5: this place. And I believe there's no bigger active love

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Speaker 5: than willingly choosing something.

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Speaker 3: He's reading an excerpt from his book called America Let

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Speaker 3: Me in a choose your own immigration story.

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Speaker 5: I will also try to show many of the incredibly

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Speaker 5: complicated and challenging and expensive ways in which people try

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Speaker 5: to come here, which fulfills my true goal with this

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Speaker 5: book telling a bunch of stories about immigrants.

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Speaker 3: For the last several years, Felippe has written about a

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Speaker 3: marriad of things, both lighthearted and serious issues, each wrapped

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Speaker 3: in layers of comedy. Millions of people have seen his

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Speaker 3: work on Colbert's show, which we all just found out

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Speaker 3: is coming to an end.

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Speaker 6: Before we start the show, I want to let you

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Speaker 6: know something that I found out just last night. Next

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Speaker 6: year will be our last season. The network will be

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Speaker 6: ending the Late Show in May.

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Speaker 3: While this may have seemed to come out of nowhere,

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Speaker 3: something happened a few weeks earlier that makes this cancelation

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Speaker 3: seem less random.

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Speaker 2: The parent company of CBS agreed to pay sixteen million

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Speaker 2: dollars to settle a twenty billion dollar lawsuit brought by

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Speaker 2: President Donald Trump.

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Speaker 6: On Friday, Donald Trump posted, I absolutely love that Colbert

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Speaker 6: got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings.

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Speaker 4: How dare you, sir?

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Speaker 6: Would an untalented man be able to compose the following

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Speaker 6: satirical witticism godself?

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Speaker 3: But Felipe isn't really focusing on the end right now.

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Speaker 3: There's still nearly a year of work to be done

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Speaker 3: at a place that he deeply values, and lots of

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Speaker 3: great things have come from his time on the show.

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Speaker 3: He hasn't just been a writer for the legendary late

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Speaker 3: night show. He's even been a guest on the couch with.

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Speaker 6: Colbert now Here to discuss the lack of representation for

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Speaker 6: Hispanics on television.

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Speaker 4: Is an Hispanic Felipe.

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Speaker 6: Torres Medina, Felippe, come on out here, Felipe Torre Headina, everybody.

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Speaker 4: Have to see.

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Speaker 6: So, Felipe, how do you feel about this lack of

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Speaker 6: Hispanic representation.

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Speaker 5: Well, to put it in terms Hollywood wouldn't understand, it's

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Speaker 5: no bueno.

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Speaker 6: So what what's should television do differently?

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Speaker 4: Well, this shows up to a great start.

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Speaker 5: You have a Hispanic on screen with you right now

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Speaker 5: who's not playing a criminal.

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Speaker 4: How brave of me.

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Speaker 3: But just days before the controversial news about the show's

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Speaker 3: cancelation roared across the internet. I'm met up with Phelipe

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Speaker 3: to talk about his book Immigration and the power of comedy.

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Speaker 1: From media. It's let you know usay.

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Speaker 2: I'm Maria Jojosam Today a conversation with comedian and writer

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Speaker 2: Philippe Dorries Medina.

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Speaker 1: He breaks down his new book America Let Me In.

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Speaker 2: He's also going to talk about his work as a

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Speaker 2: comedian who tackles difficult conversations, and we'll hear his take

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Speaker 2: on how humor can help us all cope with dark times.

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Speaker 2: Latino USA producer Juliata Martinelli is back and she's going

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Speaker 2: to continue her conversation now with writer Felippe Torres Medina.

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Speaker 3: Felipe Dorres Medina, Welcome to Latino USA.

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Speaker 4: Thanks for having me. I'm very excited to be here.

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Speaker 3: You are a comedian, a comedy writer, and now a

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Speaker 3: book author. Earlier in the year you published America Let

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Speaker 3: Me In. It's this hilarious and educational choose your own

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Speaker 3: adventure book where you get to make choices and take

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Speaker 3: on different personas to experience as close as one can

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Speaker 3: get to at least just how complex it is to

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Speaker 3: quote unquote do it the right way. I have to

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Speaker 3: say personally, I've never seen a book about immigration quite

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Speaker 3: like this. I read the whole thing over a weekend

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Speaker 3: on vacation, and it's really centered in the comedy of

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Speaker 3: it all. So I want to know why I write

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Speaker 3: a book like this.

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Speaker 5: The need to write it was a little bit the

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Speaker 5: only way I could express myself and the absurdity of

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Speaker 5: the system. I mean, the why is I'm an immigrant.

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Speaker 5: I came here, I went to grad school here, and

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Speaker 5: I was able to get an alien of extraordinary ability

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Speaker 5: VISA and one. And as a comedian, how do I

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Speaker 5: heighten it and how do I talk about it in

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Speaker 5: a way that is honest but still tries to pooke

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Speaker 5: fun at the things that are happening, Because even just

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Speaker 5: the name of that visa, Alien of extraordinary Ability is

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Speaker 5: already so absurd, right, it's so yeah, it almost sounds

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Speaker 5: like a joke.

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Speaker 3: I would have paid to be a fly on the

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Speaker 3: wall when you had this conversation about what it means

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Speaker 3: to be an alien with extraordinary abilities. I mean, this

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Speaker 3: is a real thing. This is like the actual terms

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Speaker 3: that we're using for these visas.

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Speaker 4: I'm not making that up, Like I didn't put that

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Speaker 4: in the book.

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Speaker 5: That is the actual term that the government uses for

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Speaker 5: this visa.

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Speaker 4: I'm originally from Colombia.

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Speaker 5: From with that, and I moved to the States thirteen

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Speaker 5: years ago to go to school at Boston University. I

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Speaker 5: got a master's in screenwriting because I wanted to write comedy,

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Speaker 5: and then I moved to New York to pursue comedy

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Speaker 5: and I got this allenficx S ordinary Ability visa, which

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Speaker 5: was very helpful, but also like it's a very stressful

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Speaker 5: and complicated process. You have to have a huge body

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Speaker 5: of work, and you have to have like letters of

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Speaker 5: recommendation by like peers and like really impressive people in

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Speaker 5: your field who basically are sending letters to the government

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Speaker 5: saying this person's great and all that stuff definitely inspired

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Speaker 5: me and created this need for me to explain what

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Speaker 5: was happening to me, because I would talk to friends

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Speaker 5: in New York City who were progressive people who vote

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Speaker 5: for Bernie Sanders kind of people, and they wouldn't understand

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Speaker 5: what I was going through that they didn't know what

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Speaker 5: the system was. So people would be like, oh, but

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Speaker 5: you know, you came to school here, so like that's fine,

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Speaker 5: you can just get a job, right, And I'd have

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Speaker 5: to be like, no, have to do so many things,

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Speaker 5: you have no idea Like it seems like everyone has

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Speaker 5: opinions about immigration and has a lot of thoughts and

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Speaker 5: therefore or against or they like this or they don't

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Speaker 5: like that, but not a lot of people actually knows

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Speaker 5: what the system is. It's not as simple as you know.

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Speaker 5: Some people would have you think like, oh, just come

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Speaker 5: the right way, like my ancestors, right who came from

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Speaker 5: Italy or Poland or Ireland. Not to say that those

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Speaker 5: journeys weren't very difficult as well, but that path doesn't

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Speaker 5: exist anymore.

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Speaker 3: In your book, you highlight so many different paths that

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Speaker 3: are taken by people in very different migratory situations. We're

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Speaker 3: talking about tech workers or HEB visas investor visas international students.

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Speaker 3: You really break down the complex and often very confusing

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Speaker 3: world of visas and legal migration, and listen. I really

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Speaker 3: enjoy the book. But I'm very curious if you've received

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Speaker 3: any criticism for the tone of the book, for the

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Speaker 3: comedy and the book, and if so, who and where

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Speaker 3: is that criticism coming from.

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Speaker 5: I think for the most part, the reception has been

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Speaker 5: pretty positive. I think most people are excited to read

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Speaker 5: a book about or at least intrigued by the proposition

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Speaker 5: of reading a book about immigration that addresses the subject

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Speaker 5: through humor, and I try to do it through humor

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Speaker 5: with empathy. I obviously don't try to make fun of

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Speaker 5: the immigrants themselves or of the people who are struggling

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Speaker 5: so hard to come here. I will say, I think

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Speaker 5: the feedback I've heard from some people is that they

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Speaker 5: find it hard to find humor or be funny around

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Speaker 5: the stuff that's happening right now with the Trump administration

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Speaker 5: and the horrible things that they're doing now. Thankfully, the

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Speaker 5: book does not address irregular immigration and things that people

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Speaker 5: who are undocumented have to face because and I say

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Speaker 5: that very explicitly in the book. Those stories deserve a

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Speaker 5: little bit more respect than like the book that I

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Speaker 5: wanted to write can give them, because I wanted to

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Speaker 5: write a book that was humorism, that was jokey and

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Speaker 5: light to kind of like remove the weight around the

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Speaker 5: subject of immigration. There's this terming comedy called punching up

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Speaker 5: and punching down, And what you want to do with

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Speaker 5: comedy is to always be punching up. The jokes are

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Speaker 5: above you in status. That's why making fun of politicians

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Speaker 5: or the system, or even like when you're in school,

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Speaker 5: making fun of your chemistry teacher, you know that person

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Speaker 5: has a higher status than you. Whereas making fun of

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Speaker 5: people who are in a condition that is harder than yours,

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Speaker 5: people who are sick, that doesn't really feel like comedy

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Speaker 5: to me. It feels more like bullying. But I do

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Speaker 5: make fun of the government and like figures in popular media,

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Speaker 5: and I've heard some criticism of well meaning mostly like

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Speaker 5: older liberal people who are like I just don't find

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Speaker 5: any of this funny. I can't find any of this

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Speaker 5: funny because what's happening right now it's so awful and

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Speaker 5: so traumatic, and I totally understand that. But for me,

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Speaker 5: as a comedian and as I think a Latin person,

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Speaker 5: there is an element of having to face the horrors

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Speaker 5: with humor because it's the only way we can endure it.

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Speaker 5: You know, I grew up in Colombia in the nineties

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Speaker 5: and two thousands. That was like a very violent time

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Speaker 5: for our country that thankfully is getting better, and so

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Speaker 5: humor was always a huge part of growing up and

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Speaker 5: just the way that I lived in my country. It

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Speaker 5: was a way to endure and to go live through

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Speaker 5: the pain, and so to me, it was important to

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Speaker 5: address this thing through humor.

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Speaker 2: Coming up on Latino You, producer Julieta Martinelli continues her

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Speaker 2: conversation with comedy writer Filippe Dorris Medina. They dive into

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Speaker 2: why many people growing up in challenging circumstances seem to

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Speaker 2: have such a great appreciation for humor.

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Speaker 1: Stay with us, Yes, Hey, We're back.

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Speaker 2: Producer Julieta Martinelli picks up her conversation with comedy writer

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Speaker 2: Filippe Dorris Medina. He's going to be talking about his

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Speaker 2: new immigration book, which is both deathly serious and also

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Speaker 2: filled with humor.

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Speaker 3: I've always thought that storytelling and humor is kind of

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Speaker 3: like a built in survival mechanism of sorts. Yeah, right, Like,

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Speaker 3: not just for Latinos, but I think for many cultures

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Speaker 3: where everyday life is kind of complicated. And this reminds

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Speaker 3: me of some thing in your book, in particular, around

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Speaker 3: the middle of the book, I flipped the page and

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Speaker 3: I came across a history of Colombia in our route,

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Speaker 3: and I thought, Okay, this is where Phelippe is going

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Speaker 3: to talk about all the challenges that have made Colombia

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Speaker 3: and so good at humor. But instead, in short, you

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Speaker 3: basically tell us Gori, Gabril, Geria Marguez. And it also

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Speaker 3: makes me think about these videos right going viral of

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Speaker 3: Mexico Machico, right where it's like the most crazy thing

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Speaker 3: you've ever seen, but also it's like the most regular

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Speaker 3: day in Latin America. So I guess I'm curious. You know,

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Speaker 3: you're a comedian, you're a comedy writer. Why do you

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Speaker 3: think that humor is such a deep part of our culture.

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Speaker 5: I think it's the trait of humans who are facing uncertainty.

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Speaker 5: You know, the idea of gallows humor is very true.

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Speaker 5: And if you talk to anyone who has dealt with grief,

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Speaker 5: there is always that moment when they're talking about, you know,

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Speaker 5: the loss of a parent, the loss of a child. Like,

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Speaker 5: these moments are very sad, and you're there as a

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Speaker 5: family together and you're all very sad, and then one

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Speaker 5: of the members of the family makes a joke that's

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Speaker 5: like completely inappropriate, and obviously no one wants to say it,

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Speaker 5: but they say it, and it lifts the spell of

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Speaker 5: the grief for a second, you know, and you can

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Speaker 5: all relate in a human level. And I think that

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Speaker 5: it is a way to process the horrors and all

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Speaker 5: the horrors that can happen to humans because we have

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Speaker 5: to develop that muscle of humor to live in our countries,

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Speaker 5: to live in Columbia or in Mexico, where the reality

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Speaker 5: is stranger than fiction, and so we're always like trying

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Speaker 5: to find the fun and the levity. I don't want

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Speaker 5: to sound trite, but it is a form of hope,

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Speaker 5: I think, to be able to be in a dark

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Speaker 5: moment and just be able to still laugh as a

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Speaker 5: family and laugh as friends, have that shared moment of humanity.

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Speaker 4: That is a laugh.

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Speaker 3: I went through the legal process myself. It took a

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Speaker 3: long time. It was brutal, but there was also a

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Speaker 3: lot of lightheartedness around it. There's a sentence in your

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Speaker 3: book that I have right here that I highlighted. You wrote,

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Speaker 3: immigrants choose this place. And I believe there's no bigger

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Speaker 3: act of love than willingly choosing something. Then you go

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Speaker 3: on to make fun of people who say that their

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Speaker 3: dog chose them, which is hilarious. That really hit home.

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Speaker 3: But there's something really true and meaningful here right You're

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Speaker 3: kind of saying, I wasn't born here, I have no

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Speaker 3: real ties to this place. Actually, I'll have to leave

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Speaker 3: all my ties and everything that up until today has

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Speaker 3: meant something to me to come here where. Do you

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Speaker 3: think that the disconnect is the way that people see

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Speaker 3: immigrants the sort of rhetoric of we're here, Troy, We're

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Speaker 3: here to take advantage of the system, because that's not

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Speaker 3: what you're saying in this book.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the disconnect is not to sound like

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Speaker 5: an old man, but it's like, maybe get off your phone,

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Speaker 5: you know, and go talk to a real immigrant, like

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Speaker 5: a real life person, because what I think is true.

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Speaker 5: And I've been lucky to be able to travel around

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Speaker 5: the country with this book Red State's, Blue States and

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Speaker 5: anything in between, and I think every American, even if

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Speaker 5: they have opinions that would be more on the conservative

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Speaker 5: side or who would agree that, like we need to

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Speaker 5: do something about all those immigrants, but not my friend

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Speaker 5: god Loos. Yeah, And I feel like ones you get

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Speaker 5: to that point and you realize you get to the

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Speaker 5: human level. Everyone's a little bit like but not them.

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Speaker 5: Obviously I'm not talking about them, and that is obviously

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Speaker 5: pretty hurtful and a horrible situation to find yourself in.

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Speaker 5: I think every immigrant has found themselves in that situation

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Speaker 5: where someone will be like, well, I'm obviously not talking

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Speaker 5: about you, and it's happened to me. I'm sure it's

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Speaker 5: happened to you, and it's a horrible situation to be in.

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Speaker 5: But I do think there is a truth in there

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Speaker 5: that at a human level, people like immigration and like immigrants.

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Speaker 5: Americans in general. Americans are very friendly people compared to

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Speaker 5: people in the rest of the world, and I think

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Speaker 5: that is the disconnect. The disconnect is the narratives that

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Speaker 5: are being pushed by the media and social media, conservative

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Speaker 5: news but also like left leaning news outlets who accept

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Speaker 5: the narratives imposed on immigration without questioning them and without

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Speaker 5: really looking for a human approach. When you see immigration

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Speaker 5: only as an abstraction, that's when you can create any

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Speaker 5: narrative you want. And I think that that's the danger,

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Speaker 5: and I think that that's the thing that this book

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Speaker 5: tries to do. By putting the reader in the stories

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Speaker 5: as the characters in the stories, It's like.

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Speaker 4: No, no, you are the character.

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Speaker 5: You're embodying this journey, and you're going to have to

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Speaker 5: be the immigrant so that you can understand a little

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Speaker 5: bit how mass that this is and maybe have that empathy,

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Speaker 5: like the next time you talk about immigration.

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Speaker 1: We'll be right back. Stay with us. Yes, hey, we're back.

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Speaker 2: Producer Julietta Martinelli continues her conversation now with comedy writer

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Speaker 2: Philippe Torris.

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Speaker 3: Merina, you're a five time Emmy nominee Peabody winner for

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Speaker 3: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. I'm wondering, has there

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Speaker 3: ever been a topic you were like, Nope, we're not

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Speaker 3: going to go there, or is it more like, okay,

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Speaker 3: the news and immigration right now needs some sort of

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Speaker 3: punchy or sarcastic joke. I'm so curious, you know how

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Speaker 3: that's handled on these nightly shows, and I'm curious what

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Speaker 3: it is to be a Latino and an immigrant writing

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Speaker 3: comedy about these things that are happening on the daily.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: I mean it is a challenge sometimes because sometimes the

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Speaker 5: stories are very sad and hurts me sometimes to even

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Speaker 5: look into the abyss, you know, But I do think

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Speaker 5: it is it's great for these shows to have Latinos.

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Speaker 5: It's great for these shows to have any sort of

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Speaker 5: diversity in the writer's rooms. And the shows have gotten

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Speaker 5: a lot better overall about hiring more people of diverse backgrounds,

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Speaker 5: and that just gives you better ways to write comedy,

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Speaker 5: you know, even if it's not directly immigration related. I've

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Speaker 5: written stories about like that coup that happened in Peru

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Speaker 5: a couple of years ago before Dino or Lute became president.

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Speaker 6: There's a big story out of Peru because yesterday Peru's

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Speaker 6: president was impeached and arrested after he tried to dissolve Congress.

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Speaker 6: So you can take immediate action against the president who

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Speaker 6: attacks Congress. I thought you hadn't dither about it for

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Speaker 6: two years until he has dinner with Nazis and then

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Speaker 6: still not do.

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Speaker 5: Anything, and that stuff that I don't know that it

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Speaker 5: would have been on the show in the same way

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Speaker 5: if I hadn't been in that writer's room. Just adding

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Speaker 5: any sort of diversity to any room, be it immigrants

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Speaker 5: or Latinos or whatever, will bring new voices and new

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Speaker 5: perspectives and new ways to talk about stories. I have

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Speaker 5: been super lucky to be able to talk about very

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Speaker 5: like sad and horrible things about immigration, and it's been

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Speaker 5: done very artfully, I think, and very well. But I've

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Speaker 5: also been able to talk about stuff like last year

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Speaker 5: when those ads for Saturday Secuy Style from Chile went

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Speaker 5: viral online and I was upset with them because I

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Speaker 5: love Star Wars and also it was like a Latin beer,

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Speaker 5: and we ended up making it a huge runner in

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Speaker 5: our show. Like the beer kept coming back throughout the

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Speaker 5: whole show, not just the monologue there, Steven just kept

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Speaker 5: bringing out the beer.

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Speaker 6: Chilean TV broadcast cut beer ads into Star Wars. But

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Speaker 6: you can all rest assured here at the Late Show,

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Speaker 6: we will never stoop to that kind of blatant product placement.

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Speaker 4: Isn't that right, Lewis? That's right, Steve.

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Speaker 3: Show.

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Speaker 4: I felt very proud of it.

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Speaker 5: I feel so lucky, and I feel like it's such

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Speaker 5: a privilege and such a benefit to all these shows

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Speaker 5: to have more diverse voices.

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Speaker 4: It's so true.

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Speaker 3: It's such an important part of representation, right, not only

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Speaker 3: to represent or try to and our hard times, but

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Speaker 3: also the things that make us laugh that we find

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Speaker 3: funny exactly. It's like, okay, you want me to be

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Speaker 3: watching this show like this is also for me. I

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Speaker 3: have one more question. I may a note of this.

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Speaker 3: When I first started reading the book, you make a joke.

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Speaker 3: I think it's in your intro that there will be

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Speaker 3: an America. Let me in choose your own karaoke song,

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Speaker 3: you know down the line. So I have to ask Felippe,

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Speaker 3: what is your go to karaoke song?

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Speaker 5: Okay, here's the thing. If I'm doing karaoke, I think

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Speaker 5: this Mosito might be the winner if I'm doing it alone,

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Speaker 5: because I do all the parts, because you know, I

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Speaker 5: do the daddy yankee part, but I also do the loose,

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Speaker 5: funcy part.

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Speaker 4: And I really like I have a lot of fun.

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Speaker 5: And if we're doing karaoke with my friends who don't

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Speaker 5: speak Spanish, they're all like, oh my god, that's so cool.

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Speaker 5: But I will say a thing that I love to

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Speaker 5: do karaoke is do hips. Don't lie with my wife,

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Speaker 5: who's a much better singer than I am, and so

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Speaker 5: she will do the shakira parts and I will do

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Speaker 5: the white LeJean party.

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Speaker 3: I thought you were going to say, she does the

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Speaker 3: singing and you do the hip shaking part.

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Speaker 4: Also that yes, also that.

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Speaker 3: Those are very good choices, universal choices for karaoke. Immigration

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Speaker 3: can be such a dense, difficult, dark topic. And I

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Speaker 3: got to tell you I not only learned, I took

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Speaker 3: notes and I also laughed the entire way. Felipe Torres, Merina,

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Speaker 3: author of America let me in. Thank you so so

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Speaker 3: much for being with us and Latino USA today. It's

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Speaker 3: been a privilege for us.

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Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me. It's been a

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Speaker 4: joy to be here.

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Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Julia ta Martinelli. It was

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Speaker 2: edited by our managing editor Fernanda Echavari.

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Speaker 1: It was mixed by J. J.

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Speaker 2: Carubin, with production assistants by Diego Perdomo. The Latino USA

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Speaker 2: team also includes Roxa Raguire, Julia Caruso, Jessica Ellis, Victori Estrada,

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Speaker 2: Renando Laos Junior, Stephanie Lebau, Andrea Lopez Crusado, Luis Luna

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Speaker 2: ri mar Marquez, Marta Martinez, Monica Morales, Garcia and Nancy Trujillo,

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Speaker 2: Penilee Ramirez and I are co executive producers and I'm

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Speaker 2: your host Mariaojosa. Latino USA is part of Iheart's Michael

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Speaker 2: Duda Podcast Network. Executive producers and iHeart Carleo Gomez and

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Speaker 2: Arlene Santana Join us again next time, dear listener. In

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Speaker 2: the meantime, I'll see you on all of our social media.

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Speaker 2: And remember, it's so easy to listen to this episode

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Speaker 2: Asta aproxima.

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Speaker 7: Latino USA is made possible in part by California Endowment

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00:25:22,160 --> 00:25:25,680
Speaker 7: building a strong state by improving the health of all Californians.

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00:25:26,119 --> 00:25:29,600
Speaker 7: The Anni E. Casey Foundation creates a brighter future for

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00:25:29,680 --> 00:25:34,520
Speaker 7: the nation's children by strengthening families, building greater economic opportunity,

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Speaker 7: and transforming communities, and funding for Latino USA is Coverage

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Speaker 7: of a culture of health is made possible in part

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Speaker 7: by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation,