Ok, at the risk of alienating Blabbeando readers, allow me to stay in Colombia for one more blog post. If you are of Colombian descent and 35 years of age or younger, you will probably recognize the Colombian sensation of the moment. No, it's not Carlos Vives, Juanes or even Shakira, it's stand-up comedian Andres Lopez. Lopez, in a stand-up act he has titled "Letter Ball" [Pelota de Letras, the name of a rubber ball covered by symbols and letters that every Colombian probably had as a child] takes a three hour journey into dissecting every Colombian generation from the early 1900's to today in a show that had me rolling on the floor when I first saw it on my trip to Colombia in January. Lopez honed the stage act for years and was burned when an illegally murky videotape of his performance got out and started to be passed around and sold online and elsewhere. He decided to release his own DVD (available for $30 US dollars at the above link) and has become a media sensation. He has performed at El Repertorio Espanol here in New York but, mark my words, his return will be met with a mob scene.
Anyhoo, I've just discovered Andres Lopez' blog. Appropriately, here is an excerpt from his post yesterday in which he answers a fan's question:
Q: What are your thoughts on gay persons?
Andres Lopez: I'm a civilized man, that's to say that society takes its stands on what it observes and believes is moral, I don't have any taboos regarding the topic, I have gay friends, and they are handling their situation, since society and the very perception of the issue is harsh, it's not easy. and I understand the situation. I am a declared heterosexual and I share my life with human beings that handle what they have and confront it every day, I don't see a problem, each person looks at their own truth as they wish, and that is what life is about, finding our own truths.
There are two stands that I don't share in regards to homosexuality: One, social intolerance against gays and lesbians, and another, that inside the universe of perception of some radical gays [there are attempts] to say or to try to convince people to change their sexual identity and that the whole world should be gay, translation: That every human being has the potential to come out of the closet; that is just as intolerant as the first.
Additionally its false fact that to be creative every artist has to be gay, men and women from anywhere can have good taste, be virtuous, etc. I am not interested in sexual stereotypes, that's a topic that has been burned from a comedic standpoint to the point of cynicism.
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4 comments:
I don't know. Lopez seems to make a lot of sense to me.
No offense given; no offense taken.
Andres rocks!
I watched Andrés Lopez's 'Pelota de Letras', and it's an absolute riot. If you speak Spanish, check this guy out, possibly the most talented stand-up comedian I've seen in a while. Even if I only got about 50% of the jokes, still had me in splits.
I like his article on his blog. He seems a very nice guy
I agree.
He is honest. He respects
I believe that Andres Lopéz is one of those talents that we didn't see for long time, "Pelota de Letras" is the expression of our culture in a funny way and very concrete. Congratulations for your work.
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