#1243 - Rafinha Bastos
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Rafinha Bastos is a Brazilian comedian, actor, journalist and television personality.
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we had some technical difficulties. So let's try it again. So anyway, brother, welcome. Thanks for coming here. So what we were saying before, we actually said this already, but let's say it again, because the people didn't hear it. You're one of the pioneers of stand up comedy in Brazil. Yeah, yeah, it was, I started with like four or five guys. We started doing like 16, 17 years ago. And nobody knew about stand up. It was something that I found out when I came here to live and play basketball. I had a scholarship to play basketball. And I watched Jim Gaffingen. Oh, wow. And Brian Regan. Ah, I know those guys. And I thought it was so weird because those guys were like, that's, I was questioning, is his, does he call, is his name? Brian Regan, does he is actually him? Because we used to have characters and impersonators. So it was kind of weird. But at the same time, it was interesting because I'm not a guy who does characters. And I do observations and I write, I was a journalist, I'm a half degree journalism. So it was interesting for me to see those guys doing comedy. And I thought we could do the same in my country. It's so crazy that it took that long for it to get to Brazil. Yeah. You would think that because everything else, I mean, you guys have movies and, you know, I mean, City of God, you have action movies, you always, you have so much that's so similar. The fact that stand up comedy made it there is so unusual. It took, it took a long time. It was, I don't know why, but the image of a comedian speaking like with a blazer, like a suit or something was very American, you know? And those jokes, did they actually connect that much with us? Like, oh, I have those pockets. And it was something that we have bigger problems than, oh, I just have a pocket and when I put my pen, I was like, it was, it was something that I couldn't, we couldn't connect that much. But when we, when we saw there was a lot of people doing other stuff and that was like this huge role that we could actually explore, that was when it become interesting for us. So comedy in Brazil, there would basically be like, like, say if I was a Brazilian comedian, I would come up with a fake name and I would do a character, a wig, bro, wig, a wig, certain outfit, outfit, like a very over the top, screaming and that still exists in Brazil. This is like a popular part of the people stand up. I'm not saying that it's for everyone. Now I have my Netflix special, it's becoming huge because we have some other options right now with internet, everything changed, the game changed completely. So we have what is good has its own space right now is not only what the TV wants you to watch it. So the game changed a little for for all of us. So how did you start out? Did you start out by going to music clubs or it was I actually starting a BDSM club, a potato masochist club. I remember that there was like pictures of cocks in the bathroom and like vaginas like huge vaginas and we had that show and it was it wasn't good, but it was an experience for all of us to go on stage and try to to to show them our opinions and our jokes and some irony and sarcasm we wish which was something that people wasn't watching. But then it becomes it becomes something huge and we got chances to go to TV and everything else. But at first it was difficult because people could not understand is he a character is he playing a part. Right. So that's why I had and I still have a lot of problems with the law because like I did a rape joke, which I'm not proud of. I'm saying it's not something Oh, I'm so over the line. But it was like does does this guy wants people to be raped? What is what is he thinking? What is because all those jokes was taken out of context and put it on newspapers and kind of killed it kind of killed my desire to the comedy over that as well. Really? Yeah, it was it was difficult man because it was like journalists journalists in the audience waiting for me to say some shit to put out of context and then got like fucking like billions of clicks on their websites because of the joke I did. Yeah, that's how the controversy was starting over that. I don't know. It's the same thing here. So they knew that this was a new thing. Yeah, they and then so they would come to see it. And then what were they criticizing it before this? It was he was huge. Everybody loved it at first. But when we when when when we started to have money and TV shows and
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Rafinha Bastos is a Brazilian comedian, actor, journalist and television personality.
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