Luis Raúl is a Puerto Rican actor and comedian. He is known for his stand-up comedy shows and for his various characters. He was also the host of Univision's talk and variety show "Anda Pa'l Cara" from 2001 to 2003 and Telemundo's game show "Pa' Que Te Lo Goces" in 2006. Although he started as an actor, his comedy sketches have been widely popular amongst Latinos and it was all thanks to one person. "My mentor, Silverio Pérez called me one day, and I started doing the warmup for his talk show. I never saw that as stand-up comedy, but one day, he pulled me and said 'You can do this for a living,'" Luis Raúl said exclusively to Latin Times. "That's how my career started."
"I'm an actor and I love drama, I love action series, but the more you walk down your career path, you discover things you didn't imagine. I am a theatre actor and later became a TV actor, and when this came along, I got scared, because it was me, by myself, trying to entertain an audience. And I began to wonder, 'Can I do it?' 'Am I capable?' It's always a critical moment, but now there's no turning back," he expressed.
The truth is, Luis Raúl has had a successful comedy career. He was later recruited by Pérez for a new show called "¿Qué es lo que pasa aquí? Ahhh!" dedicated to political and social satire. It was this show that established Luis Raúl as a comedic figure. He moved to Los Angeles, but traveled back and forth to Puerto Rico and eventually established himself back there. In the meantime, he had two more shows, "Pa' la Cama con Luis Raúl," produced by Luisito Vigoreaux and "En Casa de Luis Raúl." He later was hired in Univisión's "Anda Pa'l Cara" and hosted the show until 2003.
In 2008, Luis Raúl kicked off a farewell tour called "Chiquito pero Juguetón" with the intention of retiring afterward. The tour was highly successful. However, people acclaimed him and he returned in 2009 with another tour. Four years later and Luis Raúl is in his prime, this time presenting the biggest stand-up show in Spanish to date, "Qué Ojones" at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum, also known as "El Coliseo de Puerto Rico" in San Juan, Puerto Rico, with a capacity of 17,000.
"For the first time I'm in a bigger venue, a coliseum. I stood in the middle of it and it's gigantic! I'm the first comedian to go and perform there. It's going to be a 360 show, the stage will be in the middle, so I will be surrounded by my people. That will be a whole new experience. We will also live stream the event, so the people who have been following my career but don't live in Puerto Rico, will be able to catch the show. This is all new for me," expressed Luis Raúl. "I'm happy but I'm really anxious. However, I hope this anxiety will help the success of this show. It's something like a positive anxiety, I'm also scared, but in a good way. Once I'm on stage, it'll be hard to get me down!"
This new show brings a very catchy name, "Qué Ojones" which literally means "Big Eyes," but it also has a little double meaning because of the common phrase "qué cojones," which could be translated to "what the f*ck" but literally means "what a pair of balls." "What I'm looking for with this name, is to let my audience know that I'm going to touch on subjects that will make your eyes pop out and make you go 'what the f*ck.' There are many situations in life that will cause that feeling, and since my comedy has always been a little 'hardcore' this won't be different. It will be a bold and spicy show."
Luis Raúl added that he always says what he feels and how he feels it and he doesn't make jokes, he tells stories. To put together a show, he takes the news he finds more interesting and covers them from different angles. He usually can get 10 minutes of his show out of a single event. And that's what he did with "Qué Ojones," which will be the highest point of his career so far, setting new comedic bars to Hispanic comedians that only perform in Spanish, and proving that being in comedy is a serious business, and although he was the humblest person ever when he admitted he was scared, he acknowledges that this is the result of years of hard work and everything will turn out fine.
"The day I don't feel nervous it will mean that I'm not caring enough. That day I'll quit. But this is going to be fine, everything will be alright."
To enjoy Luis Raúl's show via live stream, go to QueOjones.com and purchase the total access at only $9.99. The show will be live on Sept. 14 at 9pm.
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