Julio Torres on 'My Favorite Shapes,' 'SNL,' and 'Los Espookys'

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 August 2019

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Julio Torres has created some of our favorite sketches for Saturday Night Live in recent memory. His sketches on the show are a little different than standard SNL fare. It's not the in-your-face humor about politics or the need for cowbell, but it's a little dreamy and magical. Julio recently released his first comedy special on HBO, 'My Favorite Shapes.' It's a little sideways from what you'd expect from a comedy special. Julio talks about ... his favorite shapes. The shapes have lived lives you'd never quite expect, but really, the shapes help us learn more about Julio. He's also one of the creators of the new HBO show, Los Espookys. In the show, a group of friends who turn their love of horror films into a business. Think the gig economy for spooky events. We're big fans of Julio, and we're thrilled to share this conversation about Julio's recent success!

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:08.4	I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:13.0	So Julio Torres is an actor, a writer and a comedian.
0:17.5	And he's one of the funniest comedians I've had on the show.
0:20.6	The LA Times recently called him defiantly unique.
0:24.5	I think that's a pretty fair description.
0:27.6	He doesn't have the typical background you see from people in entertainment.
0:30.7	He grew up in El Salvador.
0:32.4	He spent his entire childhood there and he thought he'd end up as an architect, like his mother.
0:37.8	But even in Salvador, he grew up on TV shows from the United States.
0:41.7	And ultimately he decided that's what he wanted to do.
0:44.6	It was classic stuff like The Simpsons and I Dream of Genie.
0:48.2	But his one true love was the late 90s legal comedy drama series, Ali McBeal.
0:54.0	I loved Ali McBeal as a little boy.
0:58.4	I just loosely lose character.
1:01.2	And Ali McBeal was, I thought, the funniest thing.
1:04.6	And of course, go to the flockard and everyone in it.
1:08.5	But I loved, loved, loved Ali McBeal.
1:12.2	I mean, it's just a very tender form of imperialism, really.
1:17.0	That as a kid, you're consuming these,
1:21.5	you're lovingly consuming these American products.
1:25.2	It's Bullseye.
	...

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