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Arturo Castro: Creating Funny Latino Characters on TV

Alternatino with Arturo Castro A Sketch Show Based on Arturo’s Experiences as a Latino Millennial in the U.S.A. Tuesday. 6/18, 1030 PM ET/PT Tuesday, 6/25, 10:30 PM ET/PT Saturday, 6/22, 2:15 AM ET/PT Sunday, 6/23, 12:30 AM ET/PT Monday, 6/24, 11:30 PM ET/PT

By Elia Esparza

On Monday, Actor-Comedian Arturo Castro took the mic at a special Comedy Central screening of Alternatino with Arturo Castro at the Cosby Steet Hotel in New York City.


What Castro is doing through his show of skecthes, is creating Latino characters for television, since they tend to be few and far in between. He dove in and created a funny show for the Comedy Central Network, where he morphs into every character — I guess to drive in the point that Latino actors, performing artists can portray just about every film and TV human being that have ever been cast. Is it a one-man show? Absolutely not! I mean he morphs into each personality convincingly and hysterically.

On TV, Castro has been seen as a murderous druglord on Narcos and a loving, nurturing BFF on Broad City. On Alternatino with Arturo Castro, he portrays these two complete opposite of the most common of archetypes, and he’s only just begun.

Alternatino was originally created as a web series in 2015, to show off the limitless range of Latino talents, and he is proof of it. Whether it’s a spurned bridesmaid, a clueless dad having the sex talk with his kid to turning into Che Guevara.

Castro has said in media interviews that he is trying to combat and transcend the dominant Latino stereotypes in American culture.

“I’ve never seen a neurotic Latino dude on television,” Castro said in a recent interview. “White folks think they have the monopoly on neuroses. I’m like, ‘No, dude! I’m neurotic as f-ck!’”

Alternatino with Arturo Castro airs on Comedy Central and we all know that show’s discord with Donald Trump, so let’s see what he does in tapping the power of Latinx voices in the U.S.A. Considering 24% of movie box-office tickets are sold to Latinos, Castro further drove his point by stating, “If 24 percent of people went ‘We want this!’ Hollywood should be scrambling all over itself to create something to cater to that.”

Alternatino with Arturo Castro is Comedy Central’s new sketch series and it is the latest culturally relevant sketch comedy from the CC network. Other talents who have launched their careers at CC are Dave Chappelle, Amy Schumer, Nick Kroll, Keegan-Michael Key, and Jordan Peel. On June 18, we’ll see first hand how the Comedy Central tackles Latinx misconceptions through the creative genius of Arturo Castro.

Castro is repped by William Morris Endeavor (WME) Entertainment, Avalon Management, 42West (Publicist).

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