When Marcello Hernández speaks, his voice takes ebullient leaps and bounds. He tells jokes with the same musical cadence of the Caribbean songs his parents raised him on; classics by Juan Luis Guerra, Celia Cruz and Tito El Bambino.
“My dad is like a funny little Dominican guy and then my Cuban mom is this larger-than-life kind of figure,” explains the 28-year-old stand-up comic. “Watching them all be funny in their own little way was important to me,” he adds.
In his 2025 Netflix stand-up comedy special, “American Boy,” Hernández painted a riotous picture of his youth in Miami, where he grew up playing soccer and eventually starred in comedic videos for the city’s beloved social media page, Only in Dade. In 2022, he joined the cast of “Saturday Night Live,” weaving his excitable Spanglish flow into recurring sketches like “Domingo” (which co-starred Sabrina Carpenter) and his English-language spoof of the Latin American variety show “Sabado Gigante.” In sketches like “Protective Mom” — partly inspired by his own aggressively doting mother — he’s tag teamed with talents like Pedro Pascal and Bad Bunny to amplify the vibrancy and absurdity of Latino humor for anglophone audiences.
Come May 10 in Los Angeles, Hernández will headline the biggest Spanish-language comedy show ever to grace the Hollywood Bowl, as part of the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival. The Bowl show will come with support from Mexican comedian Sofia Niño de Rivera and a special musical performance by the Colombian reggaeton sensation Feid— whose songs Hernández can’t help but sing at random throughout our interview. (His favorite at the moment? “Chorrito Pa Las Animas.”)
“It’s the first time there’s been an all-Spanish comedy event at the Hollywood Bowl,” Hernández says. “When my agents told me, I couldn’t believe it!”
Hernández greets me on a Zoom call wearing Clubmaster sunglasses, his head wrapped mummy-like by an off-white hoodie, knit scarf and beanie. He’s just taken a morning stroll in New York with his girlfriend, Dominican architect Ana Amelia Batlle Cabral, and is still defrosting from the wintry chill; he’ll be fully warmed up upon landing in California.
“I want to tell my kids about the Hollywood Bowl show,” he says. “Like, ‘You know, your father was the first guy.’ You know how your uncles were always ‘the first guy’ to do something?”
“Yeah,” he says, fanning his hands across the screen for emphasis. “‘I was the first guy … in the world!’”
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Your Cuban and Dominican family is a fixture of your Netflix special, “American Boy.” How do you think your family influenced your sense of humor?
I think you gotta be funny if your parents are divorced. My parents getting divorced made me [grow into] an adult quicker. All my friends of divorced parents have a funny thing about them, because what is more childish than being like: “I can’t be with you anymore?” I’d call my dad like a grown-up: “Pick me up at 7. We will have dinner and then you will return me to my home because I have school in the morning.”
Caribbeans love nicknames. What were some nicknames you had growing up?
Dominican kids that I met at summer camp were funny as hell. They used to call me “rubio” [and] “gringo” — they knew I was Dominican, but they just liked to mess around. My little cousin didn’t know how to say my name right, so he used to call me Mamelo. [Author’s note: That translates to “suck it” in Spanish.]
Do you ever consult your family before writing jokes?
I think I did my time! I earned the ability to say this stuff. We’re always together. I would never want to make my family look bad for a laugh. I don’t think that’s a smart way to play it. My mom has always gone to my shows and been like, “What is he going to say now?” But we have a great relationship. Something I love about immigrant families is that we have a pretty good sense of humor. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, because some parts of life are very serious.
Your mom is part of a Cuban refugee community — you managed to transform her stories into a running joke about your privilege in relation to how she grew up. How did it shape your perspective?
I never had to leave my country or start over again, especially like [she did] at my age now — she had kids and I’m stressed about jokes. She’s given me a lot of perspective. And I think perspective is the difference between a person that’s going to be OK and a person that’s going to struggle. I think it’s all based on your perspective. If you live your life from a place of gratitude, you have a better chance to last and give back too.
When I was a teenager, I used to volunteer at a retirement home with these Cuban ladies. I hung out with one who was 98 years old and would drive her around in her wheelchair. She was always happy to see me. A year after we started hanging out, she passed away. I learned to enjoy the time. At first it felt like a job to go there [when] I wanted to just sit around and watch TV. But eventually I started to feel joy, being there for people. I’ve met a lot of famous people [who] are really successful [but] also super nice, generous and caring. It inspires you to be better.
Who are some of those people for you?
Pedro Pascal has been a life changer in many ways with that first sketch we did on “SNL.” I think Kenan [Thompson] was always so unreasonably helpful with me in the early days. Colin [Jost] was always really nice to me, Ego Nwodim was like a big sister to me on the show. She’s such a powerful performer. Kevin Hart also had big brother energy with me.
As a Latino and the first Gen-Z cast member of “SNL,” you’ve helped propel the show in so many ways. You’ve written so many wonderful Latino characters into your sketches — and introduced people to “Sabado Gigante!”
That was with Steven Castillo, we wrote that together. He’s Mexican American. He obviously grew up watching that show as well. And it really felt like a real moment because that show was so important to us. It was just cool to do it with American people like with Paul Rudd [and] Nate Bargatze, who was so funny in that. I hope to look back on “SNL” and think I did something cool. You’re supposed to write about what you know — and I do know a little bit about being a little Latino boy.
The way you and Bad Bunny have teamed up in your sketches is enjoyable to watch. How did you develop rapport with him, as actors?
He’s just a guy! I’ve met his parents and all his friends. He’s just a guy that keeps his family very close and his friends very close. I’m blessed that he was cool enough to kind of let me in at all. He’s such a hard worker and such a creative talent, and when he comes to “SNL,” I feel a responsibility to give him something to play with. His “El Chavo Del Ocho” [sketch] was his baby.
You’re headlining an all-Spanish comedy show at the Hollywood Bowl with Feid — is there gonna be a musical component to your performance?
I love his music! I’ve actually been to one of his concerts on my own in the past. There’s gonna be some comedy at the beginning and then there’s gonna be freaking reggaeton! I want people to come and laugh and dance. What else can you ask for? That’s, in many ways, my ideal evening.
Say you were in a crowd of Latinos at a karaoke bar — what would you sing?
In Spanish, everything feels more formal. [Singing lines from “Se Preparó” by Ozuna] I went to high school in Miami and it was funny to be 15, 16, singing these heavy romance songs on the bus with the athletes, the football players. We were thinking that we were so cool! There’s so many [others] to choose from — I sign off my emails with “La Bamba.” One of my favorite songs of all time is “Loco” by Beéle. Also “Amor Narcótico” by Chichí Peralta. Shout out to “Me Rehúso” by Danny Ocean… And “Te Lo Agradezco, Pero No” with Alejandro Sanz and Shakira. I heard it playing from a food cart yesterday and it stopped me in my tracks!
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