Actor and playwright John Leguizamo

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 April 2022

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Leguizamo has been in well over 100 movies and TV shows, including the recent Academy Award-winning animated smash Encanto. That is impressive enough but John's also a writer who has created and starred in a handful of powerful, hilarious one-man shows over his career. This includes his 2019 show, Latin History for Morons. During the show's run, he joined Bullseye to talk about it. He also chatted with us about creating works of art from a sometimes painful past, fighting for Latinx representation in Hollywood, and some of the comedians who have inspired his craft. He also got very personal about a certain incident that changed his life, and we are honored that he chose to share it with us.

See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:11.2	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:22.7	John Legwazon, the actor, works a lot.
0:26.8	He has more than 150 credits on his IMDB.
0:31.6	Carlitos Wed, the past, the Ice Age movies, two-wong food, almost infinitely more.
0:38.3	He recently starred in the Academy Award-winning animated smash EnCanto.
0:43.3	He played Bruno.
0:45.5	The Bruno that we don't talk about.
0:47.7	But it was my wedding day.
0:59.8	But it's great as all of those screen roles are, they're only one facet of Legwazon
1:19.7	's work.
1:21.4	For 30 years, Legwazon has also been working in the theater.
1:26.7	Working award-winning solo shows like Mamba Mouth, Sexaholics, and Freak.
1:31.9	When I talk to him in 2019, he was in the middle of touring his most recent show, Latin
1:37.0	History for Morons.
1:39.6	The title kind of explains the show's conceit with a chalkboard and a professory outfit
1:45.3	Legwazon gives the audience a history of the Americas that you don't always see in textbooks,
1:51.2	stories about oppression, exploitation, disease, and war.
1:56.1	And because it's John Legwazon, he tells these stories with funny voices, recreating historical
2:02.7	figures who have long since died.
2:05.9	The show starts on a personal note.
2:08.4	Legwazon tells a story from a few years back when his son was bullied over his heritage
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.