Slim Chances

Inside the Kinder, Gentler Mind of Carlos Mencia

When basketball star LeBron James won his third MVP trophy this year, he probably wasn’t sure if the “V” stood for Valuable or Vilified. Carlos Mencia knows the feeling. Despite becoming one of the biggest breakout comedians of the last decade, he induced love-hate levels comparable to Nickelback, the Kardashians and the NBA’s self-proclaimed King James. A few years ago, after finishing another monster tour, Mencia decided to step back from the limelight. The personal attacks had become too much, and he wanted to take time to reinvent his act and stage a major comeback.

Looking back, the hater problem stemmed from his early days in the comedy clubs. For reasons he describes in this interview, Mencia was a talented but abrasive comic who pissed off a lot of other comedians. He was the last person his rivals wanted to see succeed, but the abrupt departure of Dave Chappelle opened the door for Mencia to become Comedy Central’s new comedic centerpiece. His series Mind of Mencia became the network’s second-most watched show behind South Park, and No Strings Attached became the first Comedy Central stand-up DVD to go platinum. His rivals must have seethed at seeing him star in a Super Bowl commercial. Rather than handle the stardom with humility, Mencia made a habit of returning to the comedy clubs, asking to take the stage and bumping the other comics off the bill. He rubbed his success in the face of his haters, and it set the stage for a major confrontation.

Joe Rogan, host of Fear Factor (which had recently been canceled), went after Mencia in 2007. He had called Mencia a joke thief for years, but this time he hurled the charges to Mencia’s face with cameras rolling in front of a live audience. Rogan brought reinforcements, who all backed up the allegations, and then edited the video with clips meant to verify their claims. This, of course, is the problem with a one-sided ambush. The video looks convincing on its own, except it ignores that the Mencia-hatin‘ posse needed and got career-boosting press, Rogan has his own rep for stealing Bill Hicks’ jokes and cohort Ari Shaffir claims theft on a joke that George Lopez told years before him. Maybe they are all joke-jackers, but the video went viral and continues to haunt Mencia to this day. In the end, the comic still refutes the plagiarism charges, but he accepts responsibility for what he did to incite such hostility.

Last December, Mencia reemerged with the new Comedy Central special New Territory. Even before the 44-year-old delivered his first line, one change was undeniable. The Honduras-born comic had shed about 70 pounds, almost the equivalent of an entire Miley Cyrus. When the jokes started, he unleashed a positive new perspective that praised American greatness and living life to the fullest. Furthermore, after years of keeping his personal life out of the routines, Mencia rolled out jokes about his one-thumbed dad, his English-language butchering brother and why he prayed Obama would become president. Haters will still be haters, but Mencia is turning a page in his life and career. CULTURE spoke with the comic recently and got a closer look inside the mind of Mencia.

A few years ago, you were bombarded with attacks from other comedians. In a recent New York Times interview, you said the attacks were “so far gone” and “so untrue” that you must have been complicit in this. How would you have been complicit?

I was complicit in the chip that I had on my shoulder. When you feel you don’t belong, you overcompensate. That’s what I did when I went to the comedy clubs. I had to be that guy in order to be successful. Back then, when I did go to the Comedy Store and other clubs, people looked at me like I didn’t belong or fit in, so I had to have that thick skin. That is how I could go home without having my tail between my legs crying. I became very cocky, which is abrasive to other comics. I got laughs at a young age, and I didn’t drink, I didn’t smoke and I didn’t do any drugs, so I really never hung out with young comics. That created a big part of the environment that happened later on. I didn’t have any friends in comedy.

I remember this friend who is a comedian. Back in the day, he came over to the house with a pad and pen and said, “Let’s write.” I said, “No, let’s make cookies.” If you ask him about this day, he saw it in a different way. He would say Carlos is more interested in baking than in writing jokes. Why do I want to write jokes on a Saturday? Let’s make cookies and bond. By not being friends with a lot of comedians, a lot of the things I said were misunderstood. When people said stuff about me, I didn’t have any friends in the comedy clubs to say that’s not the person I am. I had turned other people off, and I didn’t give a shit at the time. As a person, thank God you can change and evolve.

It’s a tough business, and you felt you needed to be tough as well.

I am a bit of an angry guy. I remember calling a club in Arkansas to see if I could perform, and the [club manager] said it wouldn’t work because there were no Hispanics in that town. I had to prove to them that I could do it. I had to cut deals, do a percentage of the door, and sometimes it was a really low percentage, like 30 percent, just to get my foot in the door. That bothered me. I wish I could say it didn’t bother me, but it did. I wanted to not be that guy, to not take it and use everything I could to show that I deserve this. I was born in Honduras, so I was treated like shit by the Mexicans. I never felt like I belonged. Still, instead of being angry and trying to prove everyone wrong, I want to share my happiness with the world. I am a fortunate man with a wonderful father who brought me here [to America] to give me a better chance. I am happy and grateful for that. If I was still in Honduras, I’d be the funniest broke guy milking a cow.

You’ve reinvented yourself and titled your latest TV special New Territory. Can you explain the process you went through?

A lot of things converged at the same time. When I was a kid, I saw a guy get really high from sniffing spray paint. I remember being 4 years old and saying, “I never want to be that guy.” I lived in the projects, but from that point on, I knew that I didn’t want to be poor, I didn’t want to be on drugs, I didn’t want to be gangbanging and I didn’t want to be one of those guys who didn’t go to college. Now all these years later after having had a decent career, I realized, “I know who I am not, but who am I?” When that question was posed, I didn’t have an answer. I only knew what I wasn’t. I had grown to a point with Mind of Mencia where I wanted to move on, which was weird for me. It was money, and I couldn’t believe I was saying “no” to it, but I didn’t want to do it anymore. I was changing, and I wanted to follow and guide that change as best I could. I realized I had to make a conscious effort.

During this time, I came to realize that the people who used to bully other people and the people who got bullied have now switched places. When I grew up, there were bullies at school who picked on you and called you names. These days, the bullies are those same nerds who now go online and say the meanest things that any one can say in anonymity. Now that they have a voice, they are doing the exact same things that were done to them as kids. What am I going to do?

I remember being in school, and my friend said he wanted to go to college, and our counselor said, “No, you should be a mechanic. You can be a mechanic, but I don’t know about college.” I thought, “What kind of counselor are you? Don’t look up, look down?” When you grow up like that, you have to have thick skin. You have to take that energy and say, “I’m not going to be that,” but it is an angry place to come from. That comedy club in Arkansas, I don’t think he was a racist at all. I think he literally thought no one would want to come see a guy named Carlos. I understand that. The ignorance bothered me, but I think that is something that I can address. The difference with me now is that this type of angst has gone away.

You now open up more about your personal experiences. Has this helped better connect with the audience?

In the past, I thought people understood I was just being funny, but people often took it so seriously. People were not able to differentiate between Carlos the person and Carlos the performer. I never got into personal things because I used to think it was boring. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to open up. Now they see more humanity. It was ignorance on my behalf. I didn’t get how it could be a better place to come from.

Speaking of personal experiences, what was your diet plan?

You know what is funny? I only talk about this when other people ask because there are three people who really annoy me. First, it is the person who lost weight and starts telling everyone how they’re supposed to do it. Second, I hate the person who just stopped drinking and now thinks everyone is an alcoholic. “You’re gonna drink?” “Yeah, it’s Cinco de Mayo, I’m going to drink.” Lastly, I hate the person who just found Jesus. That is the most annoying person on the planet.

I had a friend with diabetes who was about to have his toe amputated, and I wanted to keep my toes. He told me that I was on my way to where he was. I said, “I love you, and I want my feet how they are.” Really, the diet was more about not eating crappy food in the middle of the night. For example, I was drunk last night, everyone wanted to go eat, and I chose not to go. I would have eaten biscuits and gravy and scrambled eggs and then went to sleep. That would be a pound right there.

The lifestyle I lead right now makes me happy. I am in a good place. It is really hard to lose weight when you come from being poor. I related food to so much of my happiness, to being successful, to being an American, to knowing I can now eat whatever I want when I couldn’t before. It was about being a provider. That was the hardest part about losing weight for me.

What parts of your Honduran background help define who you are today?

It taught me to be happy with what you have in life, and what you are not happy with, change it. I remember going to Honduras and seeing the happiest poorest people I’ve ever seen in my life. They love being happy. I remember thinking the petty things that make me unhappy don’t mean anything to these people. They don’t have what I have, and they are happier than I am. Honduras gave me some of the greatest moments and definitely the best life experiences to teach me. You know, in some ways, it’s awesome that a lot of Americans don’t vote. I mean, it sucks that they don’t vote, but it’s also nice to think that a lot of people think our country is so great that they don’t feel the need to vote. I’m actually alright with that.

On a recent “Laughin‘ and Livin‘” podcast, you showed some tough love to the hood. What did growing up in the hood teach you? 

Bottom line for me . . . dream the impossible. I guarantee there is not one president who did not dream of being president. There is not one president who didn’t dream about success. People in poor parts of the world need to understand that it’s hard for everybody. There is this myth, in my opinion, that everything is easy for people with money. The idea is that I wouldn’t have to work this hard if I was white. That isn’t true. It’s hard to be Bill Gates, Barrack Obama, George Lopez and people like that. Everyone should know that, and when you encounter difficulty, know that everyone who is trying to be successful will have tough times. Listen, 25 years into a career where I have done movies, worked with Academy Award-winning actors, record-breaking DVDs and specials, a successful TV show, and people still ask me questions about my work [ethic]. That is my lot in my life.

Let’s switch to some topical questions. What do you think of the revelation that President Obama used to smoke marijuana?

I loved that! When I read that, if he had extra money in college, he would do some blow, I thought, “I love that guy!” I think there is the world “that is” and the world that “should be,” and I think people forget the two. Reality is the world “that is.” How are you going to represent the average American when the average American has done a drug at some time in his or her life? The majority of Americans have drank or smoked or done some drug in their lifetime. A president who understands can relate.

In past comedy routines, you mocked medical marijuana. Where do you stand on the matter today?

I have a medical marijuana [recommendation]. Interestingly enough, I went to my real doctor . . . not that pot doctors aren’t real, I meant I went to my doctor . . . because I suffer from insomnia. I have a lot of adrenaline in my body, and I think [at] about a million miles-an-hour, and I cannot turn my brain off when I try to go to sleep. My doctor said, “I’m going to prescribe you marijuana.” I explained that I am a 40-something-year-old man who spent my entire life staying away from drugs, so I don’t want to start now. My doctor said, “I can give you something like Ambien, but that is a drug, too, and it has side effects and can be very addictive. On the other hand, you can have some hardcore indica, and you will get sleepy. The only side effect is the munchies.” That is how I got into it. Marijuana, medically, helps me. I don’t do it midday since it stops me from functioning, but it is the best medicine I have taken.

Honduras has a strong Mayan influence. Where do you recommend people spend the end of the Mayan calendar and the possible end of the world?

I don’t believe the Mayan calendar has an end. I think they just ran out of space. Today, they would just make a new rock and move on. Get a new rock and start with 2012. I don’t think the world is coming to an end anytime soon, but we can learn from it. There is a reason old adages still resonate. You have a carpe diem, to prepare for the future but live for today. That is something that has been said since antiquity. Most truths always ring true and echo through time. We have lost touch with those values. In the past 30 years, it seems old wisdom has gone by the wayside. I feel like, when I was a kid, we respected older people more because they had lived life. Maybe we have read more and know more now, but we have experienced less.

carlosmencia.com

The Meltdown

Just because Carlos Mencia is now a patient who genuinely values cannabis’ medical benefits doesn’t mean he won’t talk about medical marijuana for laughs. During an interview on a Cincinnati radio show, he compared medical marijuana to heroin, saying, “Medical stuff is on another level . . . I didn’t move for seven hours. I was just dead, dude.” Though he admitted Xanax was probably more intense, he also compared the feeling to “melting into the couch.” Heavy stuff, Carlos.