Al Madrigal

Al Madrigal has a Mexican last name and has performed at his share of Latino comedy jams across the country. But he doesn’t call himself a Latino comic.

After making his way from the Bay Area comedy club circuit to Hollywood in the past six years, the San Francisco native says “I don’t do Latino stand-up, where I talk about Mexicans vs. white people.” “That’s been done. I’d say I’m a dark-complected comic who just happens to have a Hispanic last name.”

Madrigal performs stand-up and sketch comedy, and while he shies away from what he calls “typical one-liner” ethnic humor, he jokes about race to some extent because it’s part of his personal story. “I’m half-Sicilian, half-Mexican, I went to French school as a kid, and I don’t speak Spanish,” Madrigal says. “Latinos don’t really claim me, and neither do the Sicilians. It’s the plight of the half-breed. That’s where part of my humor comes from.”