Erik Rivera is the new Latino in stand-up comedy

Erik Rivera chit-chatted with VOXXI about new show. (Photo: Twitter/@ErikRivera)

The young Rivera was mesmerized by these giants who made people laugh for a living. That’s what he wanted to do.

“It always started the same, ‘Don’t tell your mother,’” Rivera said. “I’d sit there and watch. Then I’d go to school and do bits and get detention because I didn’t realize profanity wasn’t allowed in school.”

It wasn’t until Rivera was attending PACE University in New York City that he sort of snuck his way into comedy. The New Rochelle, New York native said in college he was a part of the student activities board.

It was post-9/11, and he had the idea to schedule comedy shows to boost the morale of students.

Part of that role was finding comedians, which meant spending long hours in various New York City comedy clubs asking comics to perform on campus.

“I sort of fell into it,” Rivera said. “I loved what comedy was and what it stood for.”

As for his mother, well, she wasn’t happy.

“It was funny, because I was going to comedy shows every night and I’d come home late at night,” Rivera said “She sat me down and actually thought I had a drug problem. When I told her I was going to be a comedian she would have been happier if I had a drug problem because I could go to rehab.”

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Rivera performed at his first open-mic night in 2003 and never looked back. As far as his style is concerned, the irony is he was dirtier as a kid in middle school compared to his current stage presence.

He said the reason he’s clean on stage stems from the sage words of a comedy legend.

“I saw an interview with Bill Cosby where he said not that it’s easier to be a dirtier comic but if you find you’re getting a laugh on the dirty word and you take that word out and do the same joke and it doesn’t work, then the joke wasn’t funny to begin with,” Rivera said. “So I always strive to make the joke funny.”

The truth is being a young, clean and talented comic has opened doors for Rivera that he never knew existed such as appearing on AXS TV, MTV, Comedy Central, TV Guide and NUVOtv, as well as participating in NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” and “Stand-Up for Diversity College Tour.”

The biggest notch on his belt is an appearance he made last year on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.” Rivera knows it’s major for a Latino comedian to get this kind of national attention.

Still, there are pockets of America where Rivera would run into awkward situations based on his ethnicity.

He said, “I’ll go to middle America, do my show and people will come up and say, ‘Oh my gosh, it was so funny. We didn’t know what to expect. We thought maybe the show was in Spanish, but we related to you so much.’

“People are surprised when they see a Latino name. I’ve showed up colleges and the poster said, ‘Tonight Erik Rivera. Caliente Comedy. We have free nachos and taquitos.’ I’ll say, ‘No. 1, I’m not Mexican and No. 2, wow, you guys really went all out.’”

Going all out is what could be next for Rivera who is working with Eva Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble Entertainment production company to craft a sitcom around Rivera’s life and stand-up material.

“I was always a big fan of sitcoms,” Rivera said. “I loved ‘The Cosby Show’ and ‘Seinfeld’ and ‘Everybody Loves Raymond.’ I always wanted to do that for the Latino community. I want to bring, ‘Everybody Loves Erik.’ It’s got a good ring to it.”

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Whatever the show is, let’s hope for the sake of Rivera’s mother he plays a doctor or lawyer.

“Exactly,” Rivera laughed, “then she’d be happy. She’d say, ‘There it is. I got it.’”