A Google search of comedian Ralph Barbosa or a scroll through his YouTube comments shows fans are all asking the same question: When is he coming out with a special?
Now the wait is almost over. Barbosa’s Netflix special “Cowabunga” is set to release on Halloween, Oct. 31.
Barbosa has gained national attention performing on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” Comedy Central and Max. But before all that, Barbosa grew up in Mesquite and worked as a barber in Oak Cliff across the street from The Kessler Theater, where he filmed his Netflix special.
In this exclusive interview, Barbosa talks about his roots in North Texas, doing gigs at the Backdoor Comedy Club in Richardson, navigating comedy in the digital age and how Dallas cheesesteaks are better than Philly’s.
I know that you’re from Dallas. What was it like growing up here?
I don't even know if I'm allowed to say I'm from Dallas, though. I grew up mostly in Mesquite, kind of like where the Mesquite-Garland borderline is, which is very close to where it also meets Dallas.
But I do have a lot of strong ties to the Oak Cliff part of Dallas. Growing up, my dad had a body shop there. He would paint cars and we would go to Oak Cliff Barbers, which is across from The Kessler. I had family there, too.
But growing up at that barber shop and working at the barber shop as an adult, and getting to do the special right across the street – it just felt right.
In your stand-up, you talk about the neighborhood you grew up in, your family and friends. I’m curious: Growing up, who and what were the people and places that helped you develop your sense of humor?
I think growing up with, like, half my friends being very, like, nerdy, gamer-type dudes helped me stay true to who I am and not try to fake it.
But it also helped when I was trying to fake it, and I was hanging around more of, like, the troublemakers. Once I started getting into actual trouble, and it made me realize exactly who I was.
If I was hanging around, like, the dangerous-type kids to avoid fights or any type of trouble, I usually tried to make everybody laugh to kind of keep things cool. When I was hanging around the more nerdy type, the gamers, the goofy kids, I mean it just felt more at home. It was easy to crack jokes and they usually got my jokes a little better.
A lot of Dallasites have been excited to see your rise as a comedian given that you’re from Mesquite. Do you have any favorite memories from starting out with gigs around North Texas?
There used to be a bar or brewery called Noble Rey Brewing Company. It's not there anymore. But my buddy Wes Corwin, who would produce a lot of shows all over Dallas, he had an open mic that he'd run out of there. He would do a monthly showcase out of Noble Rey. That's probably one of my favorite memories when I started doing comedy in Dallas, going to that place and trying out jokes.
Also going to Backdoor Comedy Club almost every weekend. Miss Linda Stogner and Jan, they were the first ones to give me weekend stage time in Dallas. I was very, very new and just hanging out at that comedy club for the weekend was really fun.
So you decided to film your Netflix special at The Kessler. What was it like recording your first special?
It was fun, very nerve-wracking. But I mean, one of the perks of doing stand-up comedy is you can bring people along with you even if they're not necessarily doing the jokes.
I got to bring out a couple of buddies to open up the show, like my buddy Vince Caldera. He's a comic out of L.A., very funny. He's actually one of the writers for “This Fool” on Hulu and a very funny comedian. Very good friend of mine. He was able to come out and do some time, which it's not like he's gonna be on the special. But just the fact that he was able to come hang out like it made everything a little less nerve-wracking, because the whole process was very nerve-wracking.
But getting to do it with my friends, it just made it way more fun. My buddy Jesus Castillo, Luis Juarez, they’re two Dallas comics who actually kind of showed me the ropes. When I was starting out, they had already been doing it for a while. We'd always write together and I still tour with them to this day. Like they got to be there. A lot of my family got to be there. It was fun as much as it was nerve-wracking.
You make jokes about growing up Latinx because that’s a part of who you are. But I’ve read in a previous interview you said you’re a comedian who’s Mexican, not a Mexican comedian. Why does that distinction matter?
I mean, at the end of the day, I think I'm just whatever type of comic that people perceive me to be, whatever comes off is what it is. I don't think I can really establish or say what I am. I think that's for people to say. But I do try my best to write the jokes that are true to me or what I think is funny or personal to me.
My objective is not to be relatable. I try to be as personal as I can and I find the more personal you are, the easier it is to relate. But I feel like there's been so many comedians, hilarious comedians don't get me wrong, who kind of already do the “Hey, you know the thing about us Mexicans or us Latinos” and I don't want only Latinos to relate.
Now, I think most of my fan base is Latino which I love – don't get me wrong. But I think my main objective is for the majority of people to relate, regardless of their nationality or race. I just want everybody to hear because when I first started going to open mics in Dallas, I feel like the lineup of comics that were going up was a very diverse lineup, and the audiences that we were going up in front of were very diverse. So from the beginning, if I was going to do a more Latin-based comedy then I was going to struggle to find those Latin-based rooms.
I saw the other comics, who can relate to anybody and those were the comics that I really looked up to, as far as locally, the comics who were just very goofy with it and just could make anybody laugh.
You’re a younger comedian and it’s a totally different landscape in comedy now than 10 or 20 years ago with TikTok and Instagram as some like to say. But I’ve heard you express your frustration about more seasoned comedians saying younger comedians have it easy now. Why does that bother you?
I don't know what it was like for them coming up, I'm sure it was tough. I hear crazy stories and I'm sure it was really tough. I know it can probably make them angry to see somebody do a video of them just doing crowdwork, talking to the crowd, and it blows up and then that person’s selling tickets or whatever.
But I also think that they shouldn't disregard that a lot of the comics who are able to make a career from their videos or clips going viral online is that these comics are still performing, still writing.
The Internet has been a helping hand for comics, TikTok, Instagram, all that. But it also puts me into another gear. If I'm going to open up the gates to more views, it's going to be easier for people to access my material. That means I have to pump out way more material, whereas the comics from years ago, they could be doing the same jokes for years and years and years as their career grew. I could have gone that route and I would have gone that route. I would have gone any route that it would have taken to get to where I am. But this was the route that worked and so this is the route that I'll keep working at.
These days, more and more comedians are concerned about cancel culture and saying the wrong thing. You touch on pretty sensitive issues like politics, gender equality and gun rights. Where is comedy’s place in all of this?
I feel like life is kind of one big playground. You never know how people are going to react to what you say, you might have an idea. But I think as a comedian, you should be allowed to at least have the attempt to say whatever it is you want to say as long as your first priority is that it's going to be funny. Because I think a lot of the time people can tell when you're trying to be funny, or when you're just trying to be mean.
Now, I think that if you are saying a joke as a comic, and you've done it four or five times on the road, and you can tell it's rubbing people the wrong way, then you should know what you're getting yourself into. Don't hide behind the stage if people are getting angry. I mean, I think people have the right to come kick your ass every now and then. I don’t think people should be canceled, but I also don't think that comics should take advantage of the stage.
My No. 1 thing is always remember my point is to be funny. I'm not out here to leave a message, or to offend or anything. I just find something funny. In my special, I make jokes about water. Like people just drink water because I just saw something funny in there. So when I do talk about guns or politics, it's not because I feel like, “Oh yeah, I'm gonna offend somebody” or anything like that. It's just out of, like, what I saw funny in it. Now, if people were offended by it and want to cancel me, do what you want to do. You know? Because like I said, at least, like, I tried out the joke and I feel like people laughed at it so whatever. I also think if you're funny, or people like what you're saying, you can never truly get canceled. You can only get rid of fans who now know more about you.
You’re obviously all over the map now with touring and gigs. But when you come home to Dallas, what’s a restaurant or place you always hit up?
When I'm in Dallas, I love going to Aw Shucks on Greenville. I love Cheesesteak House. There's quite a few places I like but Aw Shucks – me and the guys from the barbershop, we'd go there for lunch almost every day for a while. They got the best crab legs. I also like going to Fish N’ Tails. Fish N’ Tails is great. I'm big on seafood, crab legs especially.
I've tried two cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, and they have not been as good as Cheesesteak House in Dallas. I know that’ll probably get me canceled quicker than my jokes would, dissing Philly like that. But Cheesesteak House in Dallas has some bomb cheesesteaks.
This story has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
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