'This Fool' star and creator Chris Estrada

Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

NPR

Society & Culture

4.7 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 September 2022

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Chris Estrada is a stand-up comedian and co-creator of the new 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 punk music and his late start as a stand-up comedian.

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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.
0:26.8	It's Bullseye, I'm Jesse Ford.
0:29.6	Chris Estrada quit his day job a few years ago.
0:33.2	He was working in a warehouse in Los Angeles, the town where he was born and raised.
0:38.2	He'd been doing stand-up at clubs for a while.
0:41.2	He had a spot on a Comedy Central Showcase for up-and-coming comics.
0:45.4	He kept working at the warehouse when the special aired.
0:48.6	He kept working at the warehouse when he started getting calls from Fred Armason,
0:52.4	who wanted to develop a TV show with him.
0:55.7	He'd take his meetings at lunchtime, wearing a back brace.
0:59.6	Chris Estrada even kept working at the warehouse after he sold a show to Hulu,
1:04.2	because he says the pandemic had just started and why give up a stable gig in such an uncertain time.
1:12.1	So he took a few more months to make sure show business was for real.
1:18.2	That show, the one he sold to Hulu, is the reason he's here to talk with me today.
1:23.0	It's called This Fool. It's brand new. You can watch it on Hulu. It is great.
1:27.8	It's funny and human and surprising and surprisingly sweet.
1:33.8	This fool was co-created by Chris. He also stars in it as the show's main character, Hulu.
1:39.4	Hulu lives in South Central LA, where Chris grew up. He wears punk band t-shirts,
1:44.6	Levi's and Chuck Taylor's, just like Chris does in real life.
1:48.7	But Hulu doesn't have a warehouse job and he doesn't have any interest in getting into show business either.
1:54.4	Hulu works at a local nonprofit that helps former gang members adjust to life on the outside.
2:01.2	The perfect place for Luis, Hulu's cousin, and the show's other main character.
	...

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