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Carlos Mencia

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Carlos Mencia
Mencia prior to a live concert at a U.S. Army camp in the Persian Gulf Region
Born
Ned Arnel Mencía

(1967-10-22) October 22, 1967 (age 56)
San Pedro Sula, Honduras
Other namesNed Holness[1]
Occupation(s)Actor, comedian, writer
Years active1990–present

Carlos Mencia (born October 22, 1967), born Ned Arnel Mencia, is a Honduran-born American comedian, writer, and actor. His style of comedy is often political and involves issues of race, culture, criminal justice, and social class. He is best known as the host of the Comedy Central show, Mind of Mencia.

Early life

Mencía was born in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, the seventeenth of eighteen children. His mother, Magdelena Mencía, was Mexican, and his father, Roberto Holness, was a Honduran whose distant ancestors included immigrants from Germany, England, and the Cayman Islands.[2] At the time of his birth, Mencía's mother was engaged in a domestic dispute with his father, and declined to give her son his biological father's last name.[1][3] The name appearing on his birth certificate is "Ned Arnel Mencía", although Mencia has said that out of respect for his biological father he went by the Holness name anyway, and was known as "Ned Holness" until he was eighteen years old.[1]

Mencia was raised Roman Catholic[4] in East Los Angeles, California by his aunt Consuelo and uncle Pablo Mencia. By his own admission, staying out of trouble was difficult while growing up, but with the help of his family he excelled in school and stayed out of gangs. He majored in electrical engineering at California State University, Los Angeles, but left early to pursue a career in comedy after a successful performance at an open mic night at The Laugh Factory. He has an older brother named Joseph Mencia who often appeared on Mind of Mencia.

Career

Mencia was a quick success at such venerated LA stand-up venues as The Comedy Store and The L.A. Cabaret. This led to appearances on The Arsenio Hall Show and Buscando Estrellas, where he attained the title "International Comedy Grand Champion." Then, in 1994, Mencia was chosen to host HBO's latino comedy showcase Loco Slam.

Mencia followed up Loco Slam by hosting Funny is Funny! on Galavision in 1998. He would continue to do stand-up, including a very successful tour in 2001 with Freddy Soto and Pablo Francisco, "The Three Amigos." Mencia also did two half-hour specials on HBO, the second of which won him a CableACE Award for Best Stand-Up Comedy Special. After the release of his first comedy album by Warner Records, Take A Joke America, Mencia performed his break-out performance on Comedy Central Presents in 2002.

By the time his career began to take off in the early 2000s, Mencia was also working as an actor doing guest appearances in the television shows Moesha and The Shield, and starring in the film Outta Time and the animated show The Proud Family.

Mind of Mencia

Main article: Mind of Mencia

In March 2005, Comedy Central announced Mencia's own half-hour comedy show, Mind of Mencia. The show mixed Mencia's stand up comedy with sketch comedy, much like Dave Chappelle's Chappelle's Show. The show achieved moderate success in its first season and was brought back for a second season in the spring of 2006, becoming Comedy Central’s second highest rated program behind South Park.[5] It was brought back for a third season that summer before being cancelled in 2008. Mind of Mencia was produced by Nedlos, a portmanteau of Mencia's birth name and the name he took prior to naturalizing in the US.

Other work

Mencia is sometimes a guest on the Opie and Anthony radio show on XM Satellite Radio and CBS Radio. He took part in the first Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour in 2006. In 2002 he performed on "Comedy Central Presents."

Mencia starred in a Super Bowl XLI commercial for Bud Light. In November 2009, Mencia began appearing commercials for a weight-loss product called Belly Burner, which he has claimed to have used personally.[6]

Carlos Mencia is currently on a 2011 stand up comedy tour, including dates at the Improv in Schaumburg, IL on June 24th and 25th, and ending in Las Vegas at Treasure Island on Friday, September 16, 2011. [7]

In 2012, Carlos Mencia stated in an interview that he wished to adopt a less angry persona as his success had made his on-stage anger seem disingenuous. [8]

Mencia is the co-owner of the restaurant chain Maggie Rita's.[9]

Personal life

Mencia lives with his wife, Amy, in the Los Angeles area of California. They have one child, Lucas Pablo Mencia.[10]

Criticism

Mencia has been criticized for both his stand-up act and his television show, perhaps most notably from other comedians.[11] In 2006, Maxim named Mencia as the 12th worst comic of all time.[12][13] A 2010 Wall Street Journal article noted that Mencia, along with Dane Cook and Jay Leno, were three of the most hated popular stand-ups by fellow comedians.[11]

Accusations of plagiarism

In 2005, comedian Joe Rogan wrote a post on his website publicly accusing Mencia of being a plagiarist, alleging that Mencia stole jokes from a number of comedians.[14] On February 10, 2007, Rogan confronted Mencia on stage at the Comedy Store on Sunset and continued his allegations of plagiarism. Rogan posted a video of the altercation with audio and video clips from other comedians including George Lopez, Reverend Bob Levy, Bobby Lee and Ari Shaffir, among others.[15] Rogan has also posted audio and video clips of Mencia's interviews and joke routines being compared to those of other comedians on his blog.[16][14]

George Lopez has accused Mencia of plagiarizing his material. In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Lopez accused Mencia of plagiarizing 13 minutes of his material in Mencia's HBO special. He also claimed he had a physical altercation with Mencia over the alleged plagiarism.[17] The only joke that Lopez has publicly specified was stolen and used on Mencia's HBO special was a Taco Bell joke. Comedian Ted Sarnowski countered this claim, stating that the joke he performed on radio in 1988 was later taken and used without permission by Lopez, the radio station's resident comic. Sarnowski claims to have given Mencia permission to use the joke, yet Lopez later began referring to Mencia as a "thief" over the joke Lopez allegedly plagiarized.[18][19][20]

Mencia has also been accused of stealing a routine from Bill Cosby. In his special, No Strings Attached, Mencia performs a bit about a father who spends years training his son for a career as a football player, only to see the son say "I love you, Mom!" at his moment of televised victory. Cosby performed a very similar bit in his concert film Bill Cosby: Himself and wrote briefly on the subject in his book Fatherhood. Mencia told the Los Angeles Times that he had never seen the film but regretted the similarities between his and Cosby's jokes.[21]

Mencia's alleged plagiarism was satirized on the April 8, 2009 episode of South Park entitled "Fishsticks" in which Mencia takes credit for a joke that somebody else had written. When faced with the prospect of being assaulted, he admits "I took credit for it because I'm not actually funny!.... I just take jokes and repackage them with a Mexican accent!" The character is then killed by Kanye West.[22]

Mencia also addressed the issue of plagiarism in two hour-long interviews with comic Marc Maron on his podcast, WTF with Marc Maron, in May 2010.[23][24]

In 2011, Mencia stated in an interview that he had been in therapy due to accusations of plagiarism.[25]

Hurricane Katrina remarks

In February 2009, Mencia was dropped from the Krewe of Orpheus' celebrity lineup for New Orleans Mardi Gras, citing inappropriate comments he made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Mencia remarked during his stand up: “I’m glad Hurricane Katrina happened. It taught us an important lesson: Black people can’t swim.”[26]

Filmography

Not including his comedy specials for HBO and Comedy Central, Mencia has also appeared on Comic Relief, and hosted Loco Slam in 1994, Latino Laugh Festival in 1997, Funny is Funny! in 1998, and Uncensored Comedy: That's Not Funny in 2003.

Discography

Albums

  • Take a Joke America (2001)
  • America Rules (2002)
  • Unmerciful (2003)

Albums and DVDs

  • Not for the Easily Offended (2003)
  • Down to the Nitty Gritty (2004)
  • This is Carlos Mencia (2006)
  • No Strings Attached (2006)
  • The Best of Funny is Funny (2007)
  • Performance Enhanced (2008)
  • Mind of Mencia Season 1 (2006)
  • Mind of Mencia Season 2 (2007)
  • Mind of Mencia Season 3 (2007)

References

  1. ^ a b c "October 3rd: the Doghouse Comedy Jam". CarlosMencia.com. Archived from the original on February 12, 2007. Retrieved 2007-02-02. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ Inskeep, Steve (2006-06-12). "Conversations on Immigration: Carlos Mencia". NPR. Retrieved 2010-03-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ Adams, Noah (2006-06-12). "Don't Miss: Carlos Mencia". NPR. Retrieved 2010-03-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ Kozlowski, Carl. "Q&A: Carlos Mencia". Relevant Magazine. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  5. ^ "COMEDY CENTRAL DELVES DEEPER INTO THE "MIND OF MENCIA" AND ORDERS THIRD SEASON". Comedy Central. Retrieved 2006-10-21. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ IMDB page: "Carlos Mencia: Trivia."
  7. ^ "Carlos Mencia Stops In Studio With Eddie & Jobo".
  8. ^ http://www.marcoislandflorida.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120531/MARCOENTERTAINMENT/305310027/1188/Video-almost-killed-comedy-star-Carlos-Mencia-?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CHome%7Cp
  9. ^ Sandler, Eric. "Three Ninfa's Locations Replaced by Maggie Rita's." Houston Eater. Friday July 6, 2012.
  10. ^ Metz, Nina. "Got a yen for foot cheese? Stop by Carlos Mencia's". Chicago Tribune. [dead link]
  11. ^ a b Wall Street Journal article: "Why Some Comics Aren’t Laughing at Jay Leno".
  12. ^ Maxim article: "The Worst Comedians of All Time."
  13. ^ River City Reader article: "Controlling the Beast: Carlos Mencia, at the Adler Theatre November 10."
  14. ^ a b Rogan, Joe (2005-09-27). "Carlos Mencia is a weak minded joke thief". JoeRogan.com. Retrieved 2013-04-26.
  15. ^ Joe Rogan and Carlos Mencia face off at comedy club Times-Herald Record
  16. ^ Carlos Mencia conquers comedy and now eyes the cinema OrlandoSentinel.com
  17. ^ Goldyn, Debra (2007-05-02). "Is Carlos Mencia a thief?". Advocate. University of Colorado at Denver. Retrieved 2007-05-14.
  18. ^ CARL Kozlowski, Carl (2007-03-29). "Carlos Mencia Just Said That". Los Angeles CityBeat. Archived from the original on September 20, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-14.
  19. ^ Rogan, Joe (2008-04-28). "Joe Rogan VS Carlos Mencia, ONSTAGE VIDEO". Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  20. ^ Welkos, Robert W. (2007-07-24). "Funny, that was my joke". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-05-04. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "Fishsticks". South Park. Season 13. Episode 5. 2009-04-08. {{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter |episodelink= ignored (|episode-link= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |serieslink= ignored (|series-link= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ http://wtfpod.libsyn.com/episode_75_carlos_mencia
  23. ^ http://wtfpod.libsyn.com/episode_76_willie_barcena_steve_trevino_carlos_responds
  24. ^ Keller, Joel (27 November 2011). "A Comedian's Act Is Leaner But Not Meaner". The New York Times. p. 27. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  25. ^ "Orpheus Drops Carlos Mencia As Monarch" WDSU.com. February 5, 2009.
  26. ^ "Carlos Bio". carlosmencia.com. Retrieved 1 May 2012.

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