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LatinLegends - Comedian (C)

Male
Registered on: 06/03/08
Location: New York, NY
URL: http://www.dailycomedy.com/u/LatinLegends

Biography:

Comedian turned Director Ray Ellin showcases comics Joey Vega, J.J. Ramirez and Angel Salazar, three great New York City Latino comedians who paved the way for todays blossoming Latino stars. This documentary style feature includes a special one night performance by these three legendary comedians. Also the film includes special one-on-one interviews with each comedian about their unique journey and experiences of being one of the first Latino comedians in the New York City comedy scene.

Ellin recently sat down with Movieweb.com to talk about his experience directing this film.

First off, could you please tell MovieWeb.com about The Latin Legends of Comedy DVD?

Ray Ellin: On the DVD is the top three, I think, Latin comedians in the country; certainly the top three in New York. Angel Salazar, Joe Vega and J.J. Ramirez. These guys were the first Latin comedians in New York, they're sort of pioneers in the stand-up comedy scene. Their inspirations were comedians like Don Rickles, Robert Klein and Richard Pryor. They didn't have any Latin role models to choose from other than Desi Arnaz and to some extent, Freddie Prinze. In the film you learn about their lives and you see some of the struggles they've had to go through to get into the New York comedy scene. They all perform at the same venue that they started their careers, The Comic Strip Live in New York City. It's a club where Seinfeld started and Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock.

In the film we shot different performances of each of these guys but in the movie they're all performing in front of the same crowd on the same night. It was really interesting to see how each one of these guys, who totally have a different style... and they were all able to work the same crowd and get incredible results. It's sort of a documentary/concert film hybrid. There's no laugh track, there's no intercutting between shows. You learn about each of their lives. You see how family is important to them. They do have fairly consistent values and consistent backgrounds. Yet, their approach to performing is very different between the three of them.

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