Marcello Hernandez, a young Hispanic comedian from Miami got his break break, started performing on Saturday Night Live and is now touring colleges with his comedic act. Hernandez came to Penn State on Friday night and performed at the Eisenhower Auditorium.
The Miami Effect
Hernandez’s brand is all about being a young, loud Hispanic. He tries to be relatable while also pointing out his various differences with American culture. When Hernandez first came out on stage, he started the show with a quick Q&A from the audience.
One girl asked Hernandez “What his favorite and least favorite part about living in Florida was?” To this, Hernandez replied, “Well, my favorite part is that I don’t live in Florida, I live in Miami.” This joke is extremely common to many Miamians as Hernandez further explains that there truly is no place like his hometown.
There were a few Miami Residents in the crowd like sophomore Bianca Silva (psychology major), who believes he is an accurate representation of Miami. “As soon as he walked on stage, I just knew he was a Miami Boy,” Silva said.
Yell It Out
From the beginning of the night, the audience could tell it was going to be a casual comedic act. Audience members felt prompted to yell out commentary starting with the engagement of the opening act, Matt Richards. Hernandez would also engage with their comments and was unafraid to go off script and follow the night’s natural flow.
It is clear that Hernandez has a bit of an old soul. He shares many of the ideals his parents have taught him. He encourages the audience to live in the present moment when there was an audience member who was constantly filming the show, and Hernandez would joke telling them to put their phone down.
It Really Happened and It Was Really Funny
Hernandez is extremely talented when using his niche real-life experiences and turning them into relatable jokes. Throughout the show, he made comments on his upbringing, some dark references to being spanked and others more light-hearted like learning how to dance. No matter what Hernande was talking about, he made sure to keep an upbeat mood with an occasional random scream.
He had this way of communicating serious issues going on around us and turning them into a joke. He talked about gender equality and respecting pronouns as it affected one of his coworkers. He also discussed issues of shootings and murders while expressing the dynamic issues of a Hispanic household and an American one.
The Marcello Effect
For some people in the audience, this was their first comedy show, while others were religious stand-up comedy fans. For senior Emilia Montalvo (supply chain major), this was her very first comedy show, but she loved everything about it. Marcello came out with great charm, and he held it all the way to the end. He was happy to be here, and the crowd was happy to see him. “As a Latina, there were so many comments he made that made me laugh because I could relate to them without really living it with him,” said Montalvo.
Hernandez would joke about his height saying he is a “short king,” and explaining that he has to excel in every other aspect of his life to make up for his height. “His laughter and joyous energy were contagious and made it the perfect way to spend my Friday night,” said Sophmore Nicolas Urdaneta (engineering major). You could feel the joy in the audience as they walked out of the auditorium, Hernandez made sure of it.
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