'This Fool' creator and star Chris Estrada

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Jesse Thorn

Society & Culture

4.5 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 21 July 2023

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris Estrada is a stand-up comedian and co-creator of the TV comedy, This Fool. Estrada also stars as the show's main character: Julio. Julio lives in South Central Los Angeles, where Chris grew up, but the show isn't autobiographical. Julio works at a local nonprofit that helps former gang members adjust to life on the outside. The show follows the misadventures of Julio and his cousin Luis who has finished up a lengthy prison sentence. The show is funny, human, unexpected and at times, surprisingly sweet. We talk with Chris about co-creating This Fool, his love of hardcore punk music and his late start as a stand-up comedian. The latest season of This Fool comes out July 26th on Hulu. A version of this interview originally aired in September of 2022.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.
0:14.7	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Thorn.
0:23.2	Chris Estrada, with his day job a few years ago, he was working in a warehouse in Los Angeles,
0:29.7	the town where he was born and raised.
0:32.2	He'd been doing stand-up at clubs for a while, even got a spot on a Comedy Central Showcase.
0:38.4	He kept working at the warehouse, when that set aired.
0:42.7	He kept working at the warehouse when he started getting calls from Fred Armason, who was
0:47.3	interested in developing a TV show with him.
0:50.6	He'd take meetings during his lunch break, wearing a sweaty back brace.
0:55.9	He even kept working at the warehouse after he sold the show to Hulu.
1:01.4	Because he says, well, the pandemic had just started and why give up a stable gig.
1:08.0	So he took a few months to, you know, make sure show business was real.
1:13.9	That show is why he came on Bullseye last year.
1:17.4	It's called this fool.
1:19.0	It's second season kicks off next week.
1:21.7	You can watch it on Hulu, you should, because it's great.
1:25.0	It is both deeply regular and deeply weird, it's surprisingly sweet and super fun.
1:33.4	Chris Estrada co-created the show.
1:35.3	He's also the star.
1:37.1	His character Julio lives in South Central LA, where Chris grew up.
1:41.5	He wears punk band t-shirts, Levi's and Chuck Taylor's, just as Chris does.
1:46.8	But Julio doesn't have a warehouse job, and he doesn't want to get into show business.
	...

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