Rafi Bastos joins us to share his journey from starting comedy in Brazil to become the country's most famous comedian before moving to America and rebuilding his fanbase from scratch. This is masterclass is finding your voice and most authentic self.

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Welcome back to Hot Breath, your weekly comedy tune up.

I am your host, comedian Joel Byers, and our guest today is not only a comedian, but the man who started stand up comedy in South America, which means nothing, which means nada.

As I know Mexican, Spanish, I don't know Portuguese.

Oh, yeah.

Vote Vosotros.

That's all they taught us.

That's not Portuguese.

In America it is.

You thought you knew something, but you know actually nothing.

That's good, that's good.

Well, he started comedy actually at a point in South America where they were having to teach the audience what stand up comedy already is.

He built the scene from the ground up in just a few years, becoming the biggest comic in Brazil, where he was actually known as the Jon Stewart of Brazil.

After getting sued for a couple jokes and going through a bit of a cancellation and people coming after him, he stood his ground and still maintained that loyal following he had from the beginning.

But he decided he wanted to get out of his comfort zone.

Your favorite line.

Oh, my God.

It looks like you're reading, but you're not.

You.

Did you memorize all of this?

Yeah.

Thank you.

For you.

This is wow.

For you.

Thank you, my friend.

Yes.

And should I keep going or.

Please.

Yeah.

I'm in awe.

I was about to get you moving to America.

No, please, please, please go do your thing because this is amazing.

I'm going to cut clips from this part.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

So he moves to America, starts from scratch, doesn't try to leverage his following in Brazil, builds another successful stand up career here in America in just a few years, where he is now going consistently viral and selling out venues across the country.

This man has built two successful comedy careers in two different countries, in two different languages, and today we're going to learn how he did it.

Ladies and gentlemen, hot brother and sister, welcome to the hot breath of verse, Hafina Bastos.

Thank you for having me.

Yes, yes.

Welcome, welcome, welcome very much.

It's my pleasure.

I asked.

I actually asked to be on the show.

Yes.

Yeah, we connected.

Years ago, I asked two people to.

Be on the show.

I asked this one and I asked to be on Mark Norman's show.

The only two people.

Wow.

I actually asked to be on the show.

Why did you want to be on it?

You.

Why?

Because you talk about comedy and I like.

I love to talk about comedy.

You know, I love to be able to go into specifics and the process.

I like to.

I love stand up comedy and it's good to have a place where you can Actually express yourself and talk about the art form.

Yeah.

What do you love about it, man?

For me, it was a chance to actually match what I was doing at the time.

I was a journalist, so I. I already had the observations, you know, because I think journalists try to look for interesting things outside of the box a little.

And also I was starting to do some comedy in Brazil, a little, like, impersonators, like, doing some costume stuff online.

So when I learned about Stan, I was like, oh, so I can be funny without all of these accessories.

That's amazing.

And I started watching some people at the time because I went here to live in America to play basketball.

So I watch it on tv, and I was like, this is awesome.

I would love to do something like this.

And then I started doing stuff.

So I love it.

I love the.

Because I think it matched my.

My personality a lot, you know?

But you're doing.

You say you start stand up, but you're doing it for people that don't even know what stand up is.

Well, in the beginning.

Yeah, in the beginning, nobody knew what stand up was.

So we.

We.

We were going up on stage, people were confused.

Right, right.

Because, like, is this a speech?

Is this like a.

Because this guy, is he actually himself?

So I'm a guy from the south.

I come from the south of Brazil, and my father is Jewish.

So some people come to me at the end of the show and come up to me and be like, I love the Jewish guy you do on stage.

It's.

That's the character that people need to watch this.

I was like, no, no, I am that guy.

Okay.

People don't believe that you're actually yourself.

So that actually was very confusing for a lot of people, not only to understand the format because of the controversies, because people are like, is that really his opinion about this?

Is he just making fun of the.

Well, what is.

What is.

What is going on?

It was confusing for them for us, too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Because I had all the backlash with jokes.

It's like, I don't want people to think that I'm a Nazi, but I want.

I would like to be able to talk about.

You had Nazi jokes.

I don't have it, but I'm.

What I'm saying, like, well, I'm not a. I don't hate women, but if I. I can make a joke that go and touch that subject, you know?

Right.

So it was confusing for the press, for the people, and even for us to actually differentiate ourselves.

You know, what.

Who is.

Who is me?

And what do I Actually think about those different subjects, you know?

So what were those early shows?

Where were.

If people don't even know what stand up is, where are you performing?

What is the crowd?

We started doing bars.

Okay.

Yeah.

In days that they didn't have music.

So, like a Tuesday in a bar.

I remember the first bar that we started doing stand up in Brazil was a BDSM bar.

So we would go to the bathroom, and there was, like, cocks and vaginas.

Yeah, I remember it was like this was the only place was set that as doing comedy.

They had a stage.

It looked good.

Like, the.

The setup was good.

Right, right, right.

But the.

The vibe was weird.

Like chains, bro.

Yeah.

And, like, pictures and weird pictures of people having sex.

But it was the only chance, the only place who gave us an opportunity to do it.

So after a while, when people actually got to know what stand up was, then it was easier.

We just would book somewhere and they would.

Okay, then people are coming to the show because they watched us on YouTube, you know?

Okay, so you were already thinking of social media even back then.

Oh, yeah.

The whole thing about cutting clips from the show.

Five.

Oh, my God.

I was.

I actually had a viral video before YouTube.

It was a video of me talking about marriage.

It was a very old joke that I did.

One of my first jokes that I used to say that marriage is a happier moment for the woman than it is for the man.

That's why she wears white and he wears black or something.

It was very simple observations, very predictable, because we were just studying.

Of course, we couldn't even watch other people doing.

I think that was the biggest challenge.

We.

Some of us.

It was like a small group of guys.

We had a CD.

A CD with files from those Comedy Central presents, remember?

Yeah.

24 minutes.

25 minutes.

Yeah.

So I remember we had, like, a CD with Ted Alexandro, Adam Ferrara, Brian Regan, Jim Gaffingen, Louis CK There was, like, a few of those, and we would watch them.

It was like, oh, look at this.

There's material here.

When YouTube popped up, and then people start posting stuff there.

We could watch more things.

Then we would start.

We started having more reference to do what we were doing.

Right.

But how did you find other people even to do stand up?

Like, if you're.

You learned about it here in America, and then go back and now I learned here.

I remember I met two other people who knew what stand up was.

They didn't.

They didn't ever watch it in person or anything like that.

But Seinfeld was big in Brazil.

Okay, okay.

Seinfeld was big in Brazil.

So it was a reference, a guy speaking on stage.

I remember, like our.

My first video promoting our show in Brazil started with.

Have you ever watched those little monologues that Seinfeld does every episode?

That was the first video of us promoting Stand up to a new audience.

So that was our reference.

So we had that.

Are you still cool with those early people?

Did y' all keep in touch or.

Most of them.

Most of them, yeah.

Yeah, most of them.

Some of them are not doing anymore and they quit in the beginning.

But actually, most of those people in the be.

They became stars in Brazil.

Wow.

Still have a good relationship with a few.

Some of them, I don't talk that much.

Some of them, we hate each other.

That also happened because you started.

You hate each other.

Yeah, that happened too.

Was such a small group of people.

People were so different.

Competition was a little.

Was a little too much.

And comedians, we all have such small egos.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was kind of bumpy.

But I have very good friends from that time.

I still have very good friends from that time.

So what was the situation?

I saw the joke you did online that, like, got canceled and you got sued.

I'm just trying to think of what was the transition to.

I mean, moving to America is not something you just like, oh, I'll just move to another country and start my career over.

It's kind of like, what was the point in your career in Brazil to where you were like, I got to switch it up or I'm going to go take this huge chance and start over in this new country known for comedy.

What was the.

Well, I feel there, Joel.

I feel like there's a few motivations for me to try to do it in another country for.

First of all, I was always a guy trying to hang with high level in everything I was doing.

So I remember when I was playing basketball, I wanted to play ncaa.

I always trying to aim for the stars.

That's what you want to do.

If you're playing basketball in Guatemala, you wanna.

Your dream is to play in the NBA.

Even if you're in the bench of the Minnesota Timberwolves, you wanna be there.

So you dream about being there.

But I was always active on trying to pursue that.

So I actually came here to play and study.

So it was always a dream in the back of my mind.

Like I would love to see how I would, you know, how I would.

Am I gonna be able to actually have a career or actually.

Or step on stage and do well in New York and stuff?

So it was.

I was always curious about that, but it was never something that was possible or real because I was doing so much, so many different things in Brazil.

It was like a very distant dream for me.

Then I had a career in Brazil, was able to build a career for myself, made, made a little bit of money enough for me to be comfortable, you know, was a little tired of the whole controversies and backlash with jokes and having to explain myself all the time.

And a little.

I didn't want to be afraid of being creative because this is, this is, this is a trap that we all have to run away from.

Like when people start to look at you and see everything you're doing, you start to be a little more careful.

And the good thing about what we do is that we have control and we can say whatever we want.

And we don't necessarily have to say the most horrific shit.

But I want to be the one who's going to choose what I'm going to say or not.

You know, I'm not saying that people are like not allowing me to say stuff there, but it was causing so many problems and issue for me that I was like, it's not fun anymore.

The only thing that the repercussion with my work is only the controversies people are seeing.

Like there's a psychopath.

I'm not this guy, you know?

So you become a little careful.

And I didn't want to be careful because when you start being careful, you lose your authenticity.

So I was like, I need something, I need more, you know, So I had every.

I did everything I wanted to do in Brazil.

I'm not saying that everything was a success, but I did everything.

I did series, I did TV shows, I did movies, I did SNL in Brazil.

I did a few things that was like dreams of mine, you know.

My ex wife at the time was like, we gotta, we.

Why don't we go to America?

This is like, this is too much.

The things here are crazy.

Let's just move, let's just try something new.

So I kind of made everything possible for me to try this thing.

So when I first started doing shows in English, I was like, I felt alive again.

I felt in love with stand up again because I felt the same excitement that I had in the beginning.

And I wasn't feeling this for years already, you know, Years.

Because I was doing another show and another show and traveling my country.

We are very limited in Brazil because we have good people.

It's a big country.

But also we speak a language that only, like, three or four countries speak in the world.

It's Brazil, Portugal, Angola and Mozambique.

It's just like.

And we don't go to Angola and Mozambique to do shows.

So it's very small.

So I was like, I need to be able to.

I want to conquer the world.

Right?

That's what I wanted to do.

I want to conquer more, you know?

So doing in English was the.

Was the path to do it, you know?

Did you know English when you moved here?

Yes, I knew it because I played here.

I played here.

My English was not that good.

My wife helps me so much because she has been living in America since she was, like, 20 years old, and now she's 22.

She's not.

She's 36.

I'm just kidding.

She's so.

She helps me a lot.

She helps with translating everything.

When I say something wrong, she corrects me.

So my English got much better.

I wouldn't.

I wouldn't be able to get to.

Okay.

You know.

Yeah.

Let me plug this recorder in.

Don't worry if dies.

Do you lose the file?

No, I don't think it was still safe.

I just bought it this week.

Yeah, I have an H6.

Like, but it's not.

Like, this one's more.

Mine has more buttons.

This is.

Is a.

This is the newer version, but it.

I just.

I'd been using the same recorder since I started this show, like, eight or nine years ago, and then it finally just.

I had an issue, you know, earthquake.

You know, the community earthquake.

So I was supposed to interview him when he was in Atlanta, and the recorder wouldn't work.

So we ended up doing it when I was in la.

But, like, that was kind of the last straw of, like, I need to figure this out.

So we're plugged in now.

We're good.

Yeah.

So we're talking about you learning English.

Yeah.

Basically America, comedy.

You started in LA and then moved to New York, and now you are basically.

I mean, New York is like the Mecca of comedy.

That's where if you want to become one of the greats, that's where iron sharpens iron, for sure.

I feel I have.

I love to do shows like we just did here with my people.

People paid to Watch me, right?

It's crazy because the process with me, it's kind of different.

Like, the dream of every American comedian is hustle and then headline and be famous.

I. I feel like I had that in Brazil, so now I feel like I have more fun doing spots in New York then.

I love to be here.

Of course I make money, I connect with my people, I take pictures with them.

It's awesome.

But I feel like I moved here to live the life of a comedian in New York, so I'm happy there, you know?

So I don't.

I'm not.

I'm not, like, excited, so I. I don't.

I'm not even searching for fame, and I want to be, like, conquering so much.

I just want to do comedy and do stand up.

So having, like, two or three spots at the Cellar in one night is the best.

I can watch people.

I can get excited watching other people.

You know, this.

This little.

The little insect of the success sometime is, like, biting me a little.

And I'm like, I wanna.

I wanna do more.

I wanna conquer.

I wanna.

But then I was like, I have to rethink and think, like, why did I move here?

Just to be a comic.

And this is what I have been doing the past few years.

So did you go from like, performing for thousands of people in Brazil to then doing, like, open mics?

No, I never did open mics back here.

I never did open.

I never did.

Okay.

I kind of.

I wouldn't say open my.

It's crazy because Stand up here has, like, clear, right?

Clear, like, comic steps.

Yeah, steps.

And, you know, like, you.

For sure, there's a hierarchy here.

You start and then you MC and then you feature and then.

I didn't do open mics when I went to la.

I started performing at the Left Factory and the Improv, they kind of embraced me.

Okay.

I did.

Well.

People knew who you were.

No, they didn't.

They didn't knew.

They didn't know who I was.

I had a friend, a comedian friend called Jade Carapo.

Okay.

She's a.

She's from Brazil.

She was born in Brazil, but she moved to America when she was, like, five, six years old.

She introduced me to the clubs, and I remember my.

The first time I performed at the Laugh Factory, Jamie, you know the guy who owns there?

Jamie.

Jamie Masada came up to me and said, yeah.

He said, buddy, you need to move here.

I was like, oh, you think so?

You are very good.

This is.

Is this your, like, first time?

It was my.

It was my first Time doing standard English.

And he was like, you.

There's so many things for you to do here.

It's a big.

You have a lot of Latinos.

You should definitely come and moved here.

I was like.

It was like my first time doing it, so I was like, that's good.

So I did well.

I did well.

I had a differential.

I was from a big country and there was no Brazilians doing it.

So I think probably the following kind of helped me.

They know.

They know that, you know.

Right, right.

So.

But it happened because I. I did.

I did well.

But you didn't like la.

No, I. I kind of liked it, but New York was better for a few reasons.

Logistically is much better for me.

Closer to Brazil, there's like the shorter flights, cheaper flights, more flights.

I have a kid in Brazil.

I need to go a lot there.

I also, I like to.

I write every joke I do.

I actually write.

I memorize those jokes.

That's the way I do.

I don't.

I'm not the guy who just go, ah, you know what, let's talk about the Pope and see what I come.

What I can do.

No, no, no, I don't, I don't, I don't, I don't.

No, not.

Not even in Portuguese.

I used to do it.

I actually write everything, every little verb.

And when I do.

When you do it in another language, I need to really be memorized so then I can make it look like it's not memorized.

I can play, I can act like it's just coming now, this idea, if I'm not memorized, then I look stiff, you know, So I need to be really sure of what I'm doing.

So New York was better for that.

I feel like New York's more like material oriented la.

It's a lot of actors, a lot of acts.

It's fun, you know, but it's a different type of comedy.

So I felt like I had more to learn in New York too.

And I got passed at the Comedy Cellar, which was.

Which became my.

My house.

Yeah.

That's the best.

Yeah.

So was there any ever, like, like you said, it can be kind of cutthroat and whatnot.

Was there any of that when you came into New York?

Was there any kind of hesitation from other comics, like, who is this guy?

Or anything like that?

I.

No, no, I don't, bro.

I think probably there was But I didn't see.

Oh, yeah, and you're funny.

Being funny helps.

Yeah, I think he helps.

Yeah.

The problem with comedy is we never know exactly what people think about your comedy.

I don't know what they think about what I do.

Because there's no.

Rarely you get compliments, and rarely you get someone honest that come up to you and be like, you know this joke you're doing kind of hacky.

What do you think?

I would love for someone to come up to me and be like, I had a few people who gave me advices, and I love those advice.

It helped me so much.

Little things.

Little things that helped me.

I remember I used to do this joke.

This is one of my first jokes in America.

I used to say, I'm from Brazil.

I'm Brazilian.

So I know what you guys are thinking.

This guy waxed his vagina was.

Was like one of my first jokes.

Talking about myself, because that's the first instinct.

And someone told me, you know, awesome, you have this special cut.

This.

You know what you guys are thinking.

This is old.

This is an old.

So just go straight to the joke.

So the little things like this.

And then I became like, I'm from Brazil.

I'm Brazil.

So yeah, I wax my vagina.

Little things that made that thing doesn't.

Is not as sucks.

It's not the worst joke in the world.

I'm just giving example.

Of course, of course.

Of like a little tweak that a comedian told me.

And I'm like, oh, thank you.

Nobody says anything.

They all.

I'm.

I'm pretty sure people talk between themselves.

All, this guy sucks.

Oh, that guy's amazing.

But they don't talk.

I compliment people when I go and when someone is doing a spot and I'm going after, if that person did well, I tell them, that was awesome, bro.

You killed it.

Not everybody does that.

Yeah.

Why?

I don't know.

You know?

Yeah, I like more camaraderie in comedy for sure.

That's what this show's all about.

I would love to have someone listening to me like, oh, I have an idea of a tag for you.

Mm.

I don't know if people feel offended.

Do you think some people feel offended when you.

I don't know.

I wouldn't feel offended.

I'm open to suggestions.

You never know what may spark what.

Because even like that edit took the word like the joke from like 15 words to eight, and it may take it from a four to a seven exact.

You know, like every.

Like, you said every single word.

Matters, and every single word counts.

And.

And it's more personal now.

Instead of, I know what you're thinking now.

You're telling them.

And now it's more confident in a way.

See, we don't talk about the way.

That's why places like this are good when you talk about the process.

That's why I love, like, Mark's and Sam's to talk about comedy.

They don't.

They don't.

They're not worried about getting more audience because they want to be more broad.

Not going to specifics, because I think it's cool.

And I think people are enjoying seeing this too, you know?

Yeah.

People are having fun watching people talking about the process of being a comic.

Yeah.

And I'm excited to see more people like Mark and Sam doing it on their shows because it's creating more of an appetite for it.

Because, I mean, I did.

And this was back before anyone was, like, thinking about, what do you set up Punchline?

What are you.

What are you talking about?

Like, none of this.

People weren't caring about that.

But I feel like as the bigger comics are now starting to talk about it, I can see it starting to trickle down to this show of, like, oh, there's.

Where else can we learn about this kind of stuff?

Do you.

Did you have, like, big comics that sent you messages?

Oh, I love your show.

Like, comics, like, yeah, I've had Mark on and I've had Sam on for sure.

Yeah.

And, like, Joe List, who Mark does another podcast with.

Earthquake is one.

Did they send you messages like, oh, I love your show?

No, Earthquake did.

I'm thinking.

I'm trying to think of examples of who reached out.

Earthquake was definitely one who.

We did a review of his comedy special, his Netflix special, and he reached out with, like, gratitude about how helpful, like, how much he loved it and just the positive spirit of the show and all that.

So, I mean, I've definitely had comics reach out nice.

And just show gratitude that it exists.

But it's been a.

It's been a steady climb.

I would say it's been a labor of love for a while.

And, you know, now with a kid, it's kind of like, oh, I don't.

You can't buy diapers with karma.

You know, maybe.

Maybe we can start to ramp this thing up a little bit, which it is.

So I'm very grateful.

And now you're on here, so which.

To the moon now.

Oh, my God, it's gonna get Views.

My people watch this thing.

Yeah, they do.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's a few podcasts that if you see them, the.

The number of views takes time because the algorithm distribute.

They're not gonna come here in the first week.

Right.

But my name is going to be there.

So all of a sudden, they're getting a podcast from Rafi and they're going to watch, like, in a month, two months.

There's a few podcasts that all of a sudden they have, like, with me, like the one I did with Natalie Cuomo, Greg Stone, if you see the.

Views are like, oh, look at this, people love you.

I mean, the show tomorrow, sold out.

This one tonight was almost sold out.

And it was really.

I mean, they were mainly Brazilian, actually.

No.

You know why it looks like it is because they're loud.

Oh, well, they weren't.

They were looking at me like, why is this guy from immigration up here right now?

If you ask that Brazilians in a house, you're gonna hear a lot of noise.

But if you actually ask who's not Brazilian, you see, like a good 40%.

Is like, oh, well, that's good, though.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

But like, immigrants, what I would say Brazilians.

Yeah, but immigrants.

A lot of immigrants there.

That's my audience.

That's the people who actually identify of with what I'm doing, which is something that I'm trying to run away from right now creatively.

And I've been thinking about it a lot, you know, because my first show was very like, fish out of water.

Which I would say is your first instinct when you're an immigrant comedian.

Coming here is watching everything with a perspective of like, I'm an immigrant and things are weird.

Let me point out the weird things.

And in Brazil, for years, I was talking about myself, my life, my kid, my.

My wife, my.

My dog, my dad, my father.

And I feel like my first show was very like me with this outside, outside perspective of America.

This show that I did here.

I already have like a good 50, 60% of the show, which is about my father, about the Internet, about technology, about my kid, about marrying a younger woman.

I'm trying to go that more probably I won't have the same appeal with my people, but I don't want to be the immigrant for the rest of my life.

I am an immigrant.

I'm proud to be an immigrant, but I don't want to be the guy who you go for just for this look specifically, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

But I still have the comfort zone.

I have those jokes that work with my people.

But I'm trying to, you know, to balance a little.

So I'm not just this extraterrestrial who landed here and is pointing fingers at everything, you know, I want them to know me a little more.

That's so interesting.

Was in comedy in Brazil.

It sounds like it was very autobiographical.

Yeah, a lot.

So was there much of a difference with the audiences here?

Like, you just had to figure out how to do these things in English, but, like, the sensibility kind of similar.

Well, what I would say is that I'm being personal recently.

I'm writing more things personal recently.

My first whole hour.

I would say almost whole hour.

It's me writing about things I see here.

Well, I didn't.

I actually never translated a lot of my material I wrote.

One of the reasons why I moved here was to be creative.

I want to write things in.

I want to put myself in another reality and be able to be creative.

That's why I moved here.

I could translate a lot of the jokes, and some of them I did.

And I just posted on Instagram.

I use a lot of my old material for clips, right?

So I memorized, like, a one minute of an old joke in Brazil.

I was like, oh, I'm talking about my.

My.

My cell phone here.

Oh, I could translate.

This could be a clip.

And then I go with the cell that I recorded and I posted.

It's not part of the hour, but I do that a lot.

But I feel like in the beginning was a lot of me just pointing fingers, you know, like, pointing and seeing, oh, look at this, you guys.

Are we.

Your commercials, you know, your medication commercials, because everybody's happy.

Medicare people are dying.

Those people are like, the AIDS people have aids, and they're dancing in commercial.

So this is me, like, looking how things are weird.

And even America, it's not only immigrants who like this.

Even Americans, I can see they are so used to those things that they don't see them anymore.

So when I come and I point along.

This is weird.

You guys shoot guns for fun.

It's weird.

It's me.

But now I want more of the.

I want them to know where I'm leaving, what's the moment that I'm living in my life.

You know, I'm trying to balance this.

Yeah, I think that's good for young comics.

Starting out is to try to tap into that stuff early and not try to think of, like, oh, what's the silly turn?

Or whatnot.

But think about, well, what is unique about me or my point of view and how can I find humor in that?

And I feel like that's when you start to connect to that authenticity, I think.

Yeah, it's crazy, right?

Because we are living in this moment where people are celebrating all the storytellers.

You know, I feel like people are celebrating guys like Chappelle and people who actually talk about their lives and their perspective about reality and life, but also, like, the observational.

I'm a huge Jim Gastingen fan.

I think he is amazing.

Amazing.

He should be celebrated much more than he is, because now it's this moment where people like to see.

Yeah, but who is this guy?

What is his thinking?

Right?

And I feel it's so unfair.

Seinfeld is a genius.

Yeah.

He has been doing a lot of the same material for a long time, but whatever pieces of art that guy has, you know, So I think there is a little bit of both, you know?

That's true.

There is no.

Should I mean, comedy.

There is no shoot.

It's whatever you want, really.

I just think that your perspective, even if it's not about your life.

Right.

Can be unique, and you can be creative in things that other people even already talked about.

As long as it's you looking at that thing, you know, it's difficult to be unique, and it takes time.

I. I think, like, I've heard that when.

When George Carney, like, five.

Like three years before George Carlin died, he was like, I feel like I'm getting right now.

I think.

I think.

I think I know who I am.

Right, bro.

That guy with that many specials and a huge career at seven years old, he was like, hey, I think I'm starting to figure out who I am.

So it takes time, you know?

Yeah.

So I think.

I think she's trying to kick us out.

Yeah, she's trying to kick us out.

Okay, well, we can land the plane.

We'll do.

Yeah, we'll.

We'll do.

We'll do this again, though, I think.

I don't want her to.

She was.

She like, get out of here.

Yeah.

Does she know who this is?

Well, I mean, do you have any.

I mean, you.

You like the show?

You know, the spirit of it.

Do you have any closing advice or anything?

We didn't get to.

That.

You want to get to.

I hope that some other immigrant comedians can watch this and.

And I hope that my story, it's an inspiration for other comics to actually try to come to America and do it, you know, and be yourself and create a narrative and be able to tell your Story.

There's so many successful comedians in other countries that see what I'm doing, they're like, oh, that's so cool.

So try it.

You know, I know this is a lot of comics.

Watch this.

Try it.

Try to be different.

I'm starting to do.

My plan is to have an hour in Spanish.

Now, that's what I wanted to do.

So challenge yourself.

Mix it up to be creative.

Put yourself in other places and situations that can make you more creative and.

And.

And create more material.

You know, don't just keep running to the same cities and doing the same shows and the same theaters for the rest of your life, because that's not.

It's.

It's cool.

Yeah, it is.

You're.

You have an audience.

You have a loyal audience.

But build that audience is difficult.

But if you have a chance, just try to do something new and different because you're going to be happy.

Well, I appreciate your time.

My pleasure, my friend.

Where would you like people to go and support and show love?

People are kicking us out, but, yeah, people are.

We get no respect around here.

This is the.

This is the biggest comedy interview show in the world.

So many people today, they're making money out of my.

Making a lot of money.

And they tried to upsell on me when greets.

They tried to do meet and greets.

It's horrible.

Horrible.

And now they're saying, get out of here after all this money you made.

For them, my friend.

Americans, America, because you're an immigrant.

Americans, because you're an immigrant.

I heard him talking.

They're like, we would let.

If he was American, he could stay all night, but he's.

He's an immigrant.

You know, this country is just.

You came at the worst time.

I'm so sorry for us.

Yeah, it was three years ago with Biden.

They wouldn't be kicking this video.

Let me tell you something, Rafi.

Comedy.

Just follow me on my Instagram and.

And.

And I'll have a lot of material there.

Beautiful.

Well, there you go.

Hot breath the verse.

Go follow Rafi on social media.

If you enjoyed this episode, let him know you appreciate his time.

And we'll do a round two where we do it even longer.

So subscribe to our YouTube channel and we will see y' all next week.

Thank you, guys.

Bye.