Fabrizio Copano Uses Comedy to Tackle Politics

For Psychological Well being Consciousness Month, we requested Latine comedians and creators we admire how comedy has supported them in overcoming trauma and confronting life’s most vital challenges. Read the pieces here.

Fabrizio Copano, a rising star on the planet of stand-up comedy, is not your typical Latine comedian. His journey, formed by his Chilean upbringing below a pos-dictatorship and his subsequent disillusionment with the American Dream, fuels a novel comedic perspective that tackles critical political and cultural themes.

Copano’s youth in Chile was marked by the tail-end of political turmoil. Rising up, he witnessed firsthand the tough repercussions of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, a interval characterised by repression, human rights abuses, and a stifling political local weather. This expertise undoubtedly contrasts the idealized picture of the US he acquired via the media.

“Chile may be very Americanized in sure methods, and we glance up [to] the US,” Copano says. “The tradition shock was once I discovered that we’re forward of the US in so some ways as a result of we now have already lived via lots of the traumas that the US is simply now confronting.”

When Copano realized America is “simply as messy,” it allowed him to view People from a extra humanistic lens. “The system is not as good because it pretends to be. I now use this concept in my stand-up, that we’re forward of the US — we’re from the long run,” Copano says.

Certainly, Copano makes use of comedy to discover the disillusionment that units in when the romanticized American dream confronts America’s usually harsh realities. Copano weaves jokes about America’s obsession with individualism clashing with the collectivist values instilled in him throughout his Chilean upbringing.

In contrast to many US-born Latine comics who mine humor from the shared expertise of navigating American life as a minority, Copano gives a recent perspective. He injects Chilean historical past, tradition, and political sensibilities into his routines, making a richer and extra nuanced portrayal of the Latine expertise.

“A comic can contact a nerve of [what’s going on in] society. By laughter, you may open your self a bit bit extra to assume or view issues in a sure method that the comic is proposing. You’ll be able to benefit from the chaos,” he says. “That is why I like placing little nuggets of my standpoint. I feel we Latinos are the long run. We’re in all places, however on the similar time, we’re all the time [portrayed as] the sufferer in a really slender method that’s not the fact.”

Copano’s achievement as the primary South American comic to land a Netflix particular is a testomony to his expertise and perseverance. However paving this path wasn’t straightforward. He confronted challenges, together with restricted areas for comedic publicity or the stress to evolve to stereotypical expectations of Latino humor. Nonetheless, his success has paved the best way for future Latin American comedians, demonstrating the worldwide attraction of their distinctive views.

When Netflix approached him for his particular “Solo pienso en mi,” which was launched in 2017, he needed his comedy to resonate with viewers irrespective of the place they had been from.

“I’ve to make comedy journey,” Copano says. “Then doing comedy in English was one other layer of a problem — how do you join with individuals who don’t have anything to do with you and determine issues which are common or so private that you simply deliver them to your world and so they can join via their very own lens?”

Copano’s US touring stand-up show “Baby Coup” tackles the regarding resurgence of fascism worldwide. He acknowledges the ability of humor to disarm audiences and makes advanced political points extra accessible. Laughter can create a way of connection, permitting him to plant crucial seeds whereas preserving the viewers engaged. He makes use of satire to reveal the manipulative ways of fascist leaders and employs darkish humor to spotlight the risks of complacency within the face of rising authoritarianism.

“Humorous issues are common — distress is in all places, so you’ll find the humorous issues in distress,” Copano says. “By trauma and expertise, you may nonetheless see the scars, but when you’ll find a humorous method to discuss these matters and produce it again, you type of refresh individuals’s recollections and replicate on how absurd it’s.”

Copano appears ahead to taping his first-ever hour-long particular in English this summer time.

“It is type of about my first years within the US, the cultural conflict, the disappointments, but in addition all the issues that had been nice,” Copano explains.

Copano’s comedy reminds us that humor is usually a highly effective software for sparking dialogue and difficult the established order. Significantly in Latine communities, humor tends to play a significant function relating to survival. It serves as a coping mechanism for coping with troublesome circumstances, a method to bond over shared experiences, and a software for difficult authority.

Copano’s distinctive standpoint not solely gives priceless classes but in addition exhibits us find out how to confront darkness with laughter, discover energy in shared experiences, and maybe even encourage change, one joke at a time.

“I simply attempt to give this angle that whereas many Latinos are victims of wrongdoings from our personal governments, we’re additionally people,” he says. “We now have our personal ideas, we’re tremendous good, pushed, we all know what we would like, and we all know what the US wants now and could be very helpful when democracy is in peril.”

Kimmy Dole is a contributor for PS Juntos recognized for her sharp insights and compelling storytelling. An leisure fanatic, Kimmy immerses herself within the glitz of the trade, delivering a charming mix of superstar interviews, insights from trade specialists, and the newest popular culture tendencies. Her work gives readers a real and relatable perspective, particularly when exploring the complexities of relationships.