Comedian Marcello Hernández has been one of my favorite comedians ever since his first appearance on Saturday Night Live in 2022. His most famous SNL moments, like the “Weekend Update,” the viral “Protective Mom” skit and of course, the iconic “Domingo” parody, never fail to make me laugh out loud.
So when I saw that Hernández was breaking out of his typical SNL role and releasing a Netflix comedy special, “American Boy,” on Jan. 7, I knew I had to check it out.
Hernández’s skills of comedic timing and relatable anecdotes are not exclusive to SNL; his stand-up comedy was as unhinged as his SNL personality, but it was a hilarious rollercoaster to go on.
“American Boy” is mainly about Hernández’s experience growing up in a Hispanic household. He hilariously discusses the contrast between his upbringing and the upbringing of the white students he met in college, along with how unrealistic the show “Full House” was for him as a child.
The special starts off with Hernández’s mother introducing him to the crowd, which was surprising at first, but later on it was more heartwarming than anything since he talks a lot about his mother raising him as a single parent throughout the special.
From there, it gets a little chaotic as Hernández covers a wide range of topics in only 64 minutes. He explains stories like his extreme Christmas Eve dance-offs, the fact that he’s “not allowed” to have a mental illness and his unexpected beef with skinny kids.
Hernández also covers how “scary” it was growing up in a household with only women. While it can be very easy for comedians to go down the path of making misogynistic and sexist jokes when bringing up women in their stand-up comedy, Hernández is able to execute the bit without disrespecting women and remaining authentic.
Throughout his special, Hernández showcases a lot of his comedic talents, like his diverse range of accents, and also his comedic timing. One of Hernández’s most unique qualities as a comedian is his timing and tempo; he’s great at slowly building up momentum, and then, towards the peak of the joke, he speeds up to get the audience more engaged. In each of his stories, you feel as though you're in his shoes and don’t know what’s going to happen next.
On SNL, the sketches are typically built around characters, storylines and catchphrases, so one-liners never really stand out, but in Hernández’s stand-up, his one-liners are jaw-dropping. They’re even a little controversial without context, like the line “Depression is something that you have to earn.”
I did miss getting to see Hernández bounce off of other comedians like he does in SNL, and seeing the goofy yet hilarious characters he typically plays on the show.
It was amazing to watch him branch out into more solo comedy, and hopefully, he’ll have more stand-up specials to come, with “American Boy” already being one of the top 10 movies in the U.S. on Netflix.
However, I'll be honest. I still enjoyed his top SNL sketches more than I enjoyed his solo comedy special, but that’s to be expected with his first Netflix special. I'd be lying if I said I'm not going to be spending my free time rewatching both.
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