Uproarious, uncensored, and undeniably entertaining, Latin History for Morons is the show we need right now: a night of eye-opening historical narrative courtesy of Tony® and Emmy® Award winner John Leguizamo. The self-professed ghetto scholar schools America on Cinco de Mayo—no, it’s not the Latino Fourth of July—and every other aspect of Latin history they’ve misunderstood and forgotten to create a heartfelt and funny tribute. From a mad recap of the Aztec empire to stories of the unknown Latin patriots who won American independence, Leguizamo breaks down the 3,000 years between the Mayans and Pitbull into 110 irreverent and incisive minutes.
LATIN HISTORY FOR MORONS
Reviews
John Leguizamo is a brilliant talent, but beware his humor is raw and not for young children. Leave the kiddies at home. You will laugh out loud at the characters he creates and what he has to say about reeducating America about Latino history.
He’s an electrifying performer who can hold an audience in thrall, eliciting loud and sometimes vociferous reactions, including cheers, laughter, and the occasional “Preach!” His characters are all distinct, and he paints them all—even the villains, such as Christopher Columbus, whom he calls a “genocidal, pedophilic rapist” and “the Donald Trump of the New World”—in broad, colorful strokes.
... remember this is John Leguziamo. In service of this noble cause, he employs a comedian’s grab-bag of stereotypes, homophobia, and more than a little misplaced machismo. He’ll offend you even as he enlightens you...
It’s powerful stuff, even when Mr. Leguziamo undercuts it with a joke.
His performance is the most imaginative, rude, funny, coaxing and frank lesson in American history to occupy a major American stage, for which a lot of credit is also due to director Tony Taccone, who helped him create it a few years back at Berkeley Rep and who has shepherded it ever since.
Leguizamo has an effervescent presence, and he’s a great entertainer and teacher. The show lags slightly (it now runs 10-15 minutes longer than it did on Broadway or on Netflix), and while his portrayals of his family are affecting, the show is most compelling when Leguizamo is leaping in and out of history, showing the audience an aspect of history that was previously unacknowledged. It’s an educational evening, which Leguizamo tries to make palatable for as many people as possible.
Leguizamo’s “Latin History For Morons” is a brilliantly conceived piece of writing, wonderfully executed by this most gifted actor who gives a tour-de-force performance. While you will laugh you way through the evening (or afternoon) underneath it all is the hidden subtext of just what the “white” world has visited upon not only the Latin population, but the Jewish population as well. I wish this most entertaining production could also serve as a cautionary “tale” of just what dangers we are facing in our country that are manifesting in both a symbolic and actual “ethnic cleansing.” That said, if you need non-stop laughter to get you out of the national doldrums, this play is a perfect prescription to accomplish just that.
John Leguizamo chronicles his real-life efforts to help find a suitable Latino hero for his kid to select as the subject of a middle school project, going back all the way to the Mayans in 1000BC and on to perform a dead-on impersonation of Pitbull. Along the way he makes a legion of discoveries of his own, leaving many golden opportunities to get a laugh from his personal realization that “ColumbASS” was the Donald Trump of the New World and that the randy and disease-carrying Conquistadors spread deadly viruses to our vulnerable continent faster than MBA players at a Kardashian pool party.
But in addition to being informative and fun to watch, what really pushes Latin History for Morons from good to great is how surprisingly touching it is, particularly in its final moments when the throughline of his son’s heroes project is paid off beautifully.
“Latin History for Morons” concludes with “Latins are so American that it hurts. They have shed blood for America in every war in America, and are the most decorated soldiers.” If all this information was put into history books for our children to read, imagine how Americans would see Latin people and how Latin people would see themselves.
In the end, what makes this a play, and not simply an entertainment from the high school or college history professor you never had but wish you did, is that Leguizamo structures it around his trying to reach through to his son (and marginally his daughter) about the dignity and richness of his paternal heritage (the mother is Jewish, so that’s a whole nother story.) In the acting out of his paternal, caring impulses, albeit in the clumsy, ineffectual way that “Dad” is now portrayed in our popular culture, this history lesson gradually catches up to you as a side-by-side coming of age story, not only for the kids but for the author himself as a now 50-year-old.
It also helps that Leguizamo doesn’t get everything quite right, the numbers don’t always add up, the facts are still a bit blurry, the spelling is off. It’s part of the bad-boy charm. This is a man on an urgent quixotic quest to study, learn, grow and teach, before it’s too late.
Newly added references to the atrocities being perpetrated in detention centers across our southern border make Latin History For Morons as current as this morning’s headlines, and since it’s long past time for us morons to get ourselves educated, who better than human hurricane John Leguizamo to do the trick?
Writing on a huge, reversible blackboard, quoting from books and speeches, calling up the music, songs and dances of his people, Leguizano takes command of the Ahmanson’s huge stage and never loses control of it, barking his lines out, sometimes in anger and protest, other times with pride and triumph, making sure to always lighten the polemics with satire, humor and laughter.
This ninety-minute show is fueled by a zany, high-octane, and passionate performance from John Leguizamo. As the author and performer, he has infused this piece with broad humor, snippets of his personal life, and of course several hilarious impressions of the people in his life as well as historical figures and celebrities.
Director Tony Taccone, who just left his helm at Berkeley Rep, elucidates just why these one-man shows need leadership. Adding stage nuances that the book lacks, and adding super-tight light and music cues, Taccone takes what could have delved into a brow-beating White-shaming lecture and turns it into a show that is for everyone, even those who could get perturbed at the professorially clad Leguizamo’s mocking display of cultural stereotypes. In almost two hours, 3000 years simply flies by.
A more fun time in a classroom I cannot imagine. He incorporates just about every type of humor imaginable–stand-up, skit, blue, impressions, accents, ethnic, performance art, even musical. And the guy can dance!!! How can one person be so talented?!
John Leguizamo: Latin History for Morons is entertaining, clever, educational, informative, hysterical, and touching.
Kudos to John Leguizamo!
Profound and profane, John Leguizamo’s solo show “Latin History for Morons” enlightens and entertains, delving into the triumphs and destructibility of civilizations and the human heart.
If the father-son story hits the same note once too often, Leguizamo’s embrace of his pedagogic failure glows with affection. Alternately referring to his son as “buddy” and “honey,” he teaches not only us but also himself that the root of education is a loving, two-way connection.
After learning that Latinos have shed blood in every American war, Leguizamo storms in protest, “We’re so American it hurts.” In the ongoing battle against bias and ignorance, he deserves a comic medal of valor for his indefatigable verve alone.
John Leguizamo is a brilliant talent, but beware his humor is raw and not for young children. Leave the kiddies at home. You will laugh out loud at the characters he creates and what he has to say about reeducating America about Latino history.
He’s an electrifying performer who can hold an audience in thrall, eliciting loud and sometimes vociferous reactions, including cheers, laughter, and the occasional “Preach!” His characters are all distinct, and he paints them all—even the villains, such as Christopher Columbus, whom he calls a “genocidal, pedophilic rapist” and “the Donald Trump of the New World”—in broad, colorful strokes.
... remember this is John Leguziamo. In service of this noble cause, he employs a comedian’s grab-bag of stereotypes, homophobia, and more than a little misplaced machismo. He’ll offend you even as he enlightens you...
It’s powerful stuff, even when Mr. Leguziamo undercuts it with a joke.
His performance is the most imaginative, rude, funny, coaxing and frank lesson in American history to occupy a major American stage, for which a lot of credit is also due to director Tony Taccone, who helped him create it a few years back at Berkeley Rep and who has shepherded it ever since.
Leguizamo has an effervescent presence, and he’s a great entertainer and teacher. The show lags slightly (it now runs 10-15 minutes longer than it did on Broadway or on Netflix), and while his portrayals of his family are affecting, the show is most compelling when Leguizamo is leaping in and out of history, showing the audience an aspect of history that was previously unacknowledged. It’s an educational evening, which Leguizamo tries to make palatable for as many people as possible.
Leguizamo’s “Latin History For Morons” is a brilliantly conceived piece of writing, wonderfully executed by this most gifted actor who gives a tour-de-force performance. While you will laugh you way through the evening (or afternoon) underneath it all is the hidden subtext of just what the “white” world has visited upon not only the Latin population, but the Jewish population as well. I wish this most entertaining production could also serve as a cautionary “tale” of just what dangers we are facing in our country that are manifesting in both a symbolic and actual “ethnic cleansing.” That said, if you need non-stop laughter to get you out of the national doldrums, this play is a perfect prescription to accomplish just that.
John Leguizamo chronicles his real-life efforts to help find a suitable Latino hero for his kid to select as the subject of a middle school project, going back all the way to the Mayans in 1000BC and on to perform a dead-on impersonation of Pitbull. Along the way he makes a legion of discoveries of his own, leaving many golden opportunities to get a laugh from his personal realization that “ColumbASS” was the Donald Trump of the New World and that the randy and disease-carrying Conquistadors spread deadly viruses to our vulnerable continent faster than MBA players at a Kardashian pool party.
But in addition to being informative and fun to watch, what really pushes Latin History for Morons from good to great is how surprisingly touching it is, particularly in its final moments when the throughline of his son’s heroes project is paid off beautifully.
“Latin History for Morons” concludes with “Latins are so American that it hurts. They have shed blood for America in every war in America, and are the most decorated soldiers.” If all this information was put into history books for our children to read, imagine how Americans would see Latin people and how Latin people would see themselves.
In the end, what makes this a play, and not simply an entertainment from the high school or college history professor you never had but wish you did, is that Leguizamo structures it around his trying to reach through to his son (and marginally his daughter) about the dignity and richness of his paternal heritage (the mother is Jewish, so that’s a whole nother story.) In the acting out of his paternal, caring impulses, albeit in the clumsy, ineffectual way that “Dad” is now portrayed in our popular culture, this history lesson gradually catches up to you as a side-by-side coming of age story, not only for the kids but for the author himself as a now 50-year-old.
It also helps that Leguizamo doesn’t get everything quite right, the numbers don’t always add up, the facts are still a bit blurry, the spelling is off. It’s part of the bad-boy charm. This is a man on an urgent quixotic quest to study, learn, grow and teach, before it’s too late.
Newly added references to the atrocities being perpetrated in detention centers across our southern border make Latin History For Morons as current as this morning’s headlines, and since it’s long past time for us morons to get ourselves educated, who better than human hurricane John Leguizamo to do the trick?
Writing on a huge, reversible blackboard, quoting from books and speeches, calling up the music, songs and dances of his people, Leguizano takes command of the Ahmanson’s huge stage and never loses control of it, barking his lines out, sometimes in anger and protest, other times with pride and triumph, making sure to always lighten the polemics with satire, humor and laughter.
This ninety-minute show is fueled by a zany, high-octane, and passionate performance from John Leguizamo. As the author and performer, he has infused this piece with broad humor, snippets of his personal life, and of course several hilarious impressions of the people in his life as well as historical figures and celebrities.
Director Tony Taccone, who just left his helm at Berkeley Rep, elucidates just why these one-man shows need leadership. Adding stage nuances that the book lacks, and adding super-tight light and music cues, Taccone takes what could have delved into a brow-beating White-shaming lecture and turns it into a show that is for everyone, even those who could get perturbed at the professorially clad Leguizamo’s mocking display of cultural stereotypes. In almost two hours, 3000 years simply flies by.
A more fun time in a classroom I cannot imagine. He incorporates just about every type of humor imaginable–stand-up, skit, blue, impressions, accents, ethnic, performance art, even musical. And the guy can dance!!! How can one person be so talented?!
John Leguizamo: Latin History for Morons is entertaining, clever, educational, informative, hysterical, and touching.
Kudos to John Leguizamo!
Profound and profane, John Leguizamo’s solo show “Latin History for Morons” enlightens and entertains, delving into the triumphs and destructibility of civilizations and the human heart.
If the father-son story hits the same note once too often, Leguizamo’s embrace of his pedagogic failure glows with affection. Alternately referring to his son as “buddy” and “honey,” he teaches not only us but also himself that the root of education is a loving, two-way connection.
After learning that Latinos have shed blood in every American war, Leguizamo storms in protest, “We’re so American it hurts.” In the ongoing battle against bias and ignorance, he deserves a comic medal of valor for his indefatigable verve alone.