#23 – Al Madrigal on Being “Half”

“Being ‘half’ has always been confusing,” Madrigal says in the opening of his film. “White people think you’re Mexican—I’ve had people throw me towels at health clubs—and Latinos give me shit for not being Latino enough.” For most of his life, Madrigal has been called “pocho,” Mexican slang for being brown on the outside and white on the inside (think coconuts).

While on his journey to self-discovery, Madrigal is joined by a number of well-known figures, including the Univision news anchor Jorge Ramos, who attempts to teach Madrigal how to pronounce his last name. Though he’s patient with Ramos, Madrigal isn’t sold on his critiques: “I think any way I pronounce my name is the right way,” he says. “For people to tell me it’s the wrong way is just absolutely ridiculous.”

By the documentary’s final frames, the comedian (who was born in San Francisco to a Mexican father and Sicilian mother) has come to terms with his identity issues. “It took the documentary to get there,” he says. Making it helped him realize that, “a lot of people feel the exact same way.”