Latino Success- Paul Rodriguez a.k.a. Pablo
How A Poor Latino Became Rich and Famous Telling Jokes
I have a famous cousin. He’s a stand-up comedian, TV personality, and movie actor. His name is Paul Rodriguez a.k.a. Pablo. It wasn’t just the name of his first sitcom, it is what we called him at home “El Pablo.”
Since the early 80’s, Paul has experienced much success in the entertainment industry. He was the first Mexican-American to appear on the Johnny Carson show. He was also one of the first Latinos to get his very own TV sitcom “a.k.a. Pablo” in 1984. The only Latino comedian more famous at the time was Freddy Prinze who committed suicide at the height of his career.
Paul has achieved fame and fortune in both the American and Latino entertainment markets. However, Paul was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His road to success was not without it’s failures and set-backs.
Paul was born to a poor family of five children from Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico. Paul’s father was an Apostolic pastor before he brought his family to the United States.
The family ended up in Compton, California where Pablo Sr. would continue to pastor and where my “Tia Tere” would raise her family. Living in Compton would bring it’s challenges as it was known for poverty, high crime, and gangs.
This is where Paul grew up, and where he learned to negotiate his way around the gang infested environment. He told me once that in order to avoid getting caught up in the gang culture he became the neighborhood “jokester” so the gang members would leave him alone.
This early experience with the gang culture served him well later in his career. In 1995 Paul performed live at San Quentin State Prison. Even though this prison houses some of the most hardcore criminals and gang-bangers, Paul was a huge hit with his audience. He had them rolling in their seats with laughter, probably because he knew the jokes that they could relate to, based on his experience as he grew up among the gang environment.
Paul knew and decided as a young adult exactly what he wanted to do. He wanted to be a stand-up comedian. That’s what he set out to do once he got out of the Air Force.
He started to perform as an opener at concerts, universities, and small clubs. Eventually he became a regular at the famous Comedy Store on Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles.
In fact, I got to watch one of his performances at the Comedy Store early on in his career. We were sitting in the audience listening to another comic doing his skit but he was not getting a lot of laughs. Paul got up and told me “Now watch how a pro does it.” Paul got on stage.
Paul immediately had the audience aching with belly laughs. What a difference! I was so impressed!
His hard work paid off when he got the attention of Norman Lear, the very successful producer of very successful TV shows. Lear was so impressed that he wrote a sitcom especially for Paul called “a.k.a. Pablo.”
Unfortunately, the sitcom did not last long. But, it did open other doors that led to other sitcoms, movie parts, and highly acclaimed comedy shows in English and Spanish.
Paul has had a very successful career as a comic. He has earned many awards and acclaim. Moreover, he has helped other comedians to achieve success by showcasing their talents in movies such as the “Original Latin Kings of Comedy.”
You can Google his bio and you will see the many achievements from his life as a comic. In fact, Comedy Central ranked him #74 on its list of the “100 Greatest Standups of All Time.”
Most importantly, I wanted to share a little bit of his story as an example of how he used most of the steps in my “Success System That Never Fails” to achieve so much success in his profession.
As you read more of Paul’s story, you will notice that he has much in common with other very successful persons in other professions. For example, he knew exactly what he wanted to do. He had a plan, and set goals. He persevered, had mentors, and worked his butt off to achieve what he wanted!
If you are trying to achieve success in your life, or profession, I invite you to check out “The Success System That Never Fails.”
It’s a system of proven steps that are condensed from success principles as taught by Confucius and Plato, to the more contemporary teachers such as Jim Rohn, Brian Tracy, Brendon Burchard, and Tony Robbins.
As you learn about the “Success System That Never Fails,” I urge you to take note of how many of the steps you think Paul used in his quest to become successful and famous.
Finally, I encourage you to apply this system to achieve greatness in YOUR life. Click on the link below to go there now. . .
Click Here To Immediately Get FREE Access To “The Success System That Never Fails”
To your success,
David C Figueroa- Success Coach
*This post may include affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, I may earn an affiliate commission at no cost to you. I assure you that if I recommend something, it is because I believe it will be of great benefit for your personal development and success. I need wine! Thanks!
Learn the “3 Keys to Release Your Limiting Beliefs, Develop Unstoppable Confidence & Develop the Mindset of a Millionaire!”
Click the banner below for Your FREE E-Book!
About the Author David C Figueroa
David C Figueroa is a psychologist with over 35 years of experience teaching personal development. An awesome success coach, and internet marketer. Now retired, he has refocused his goals into helping ambitious men and women to create exceptional lives.
