Carlos Mencia
Encyclopedia
Carlos Mencia born Ned Arnel Mencia, is a Honduran-born
American comedian
, writer, and actor. His style of comedy is often political and involves issues of race, culture
, criminal justice
, and social class
. He was formerly the host of his own show on Comedy Central
, Mind of Mencia
.
, Honduras
, the seventeenth of eighteen children. His mother, Magdelena Mencía, was Mexican
, and his father, Roberto Holness, was a Honduran
whose distant ancestors included immigrants from Germany
, England
, and the Cayman Islands
. At the time of his birth, Mencía's mother engaged in a domestic dispute
with his father, and declined to give her son his biological father's last name. The name appearing on his birth certificate is "Ned Arnel Mencía", although Mencia has said that out of respect for his biological father he went by the Holness name anyway, and was known as "Ned Holness" until he was eighteen years old.
Mencia was raised Roman Catholic in East Los Angeles
, California
by his aunt Consuelo and uncle Pablo Mencia. By his own admission, staying out of trouble was difficult while growing up, but with the help of his family he excelled in school and stayed out of gangs. He majored in electrical engineering
at California State University, Los Angeles
, but left early to pursue a career in comedy
after a successful performance at an open mic night at The Laugh Factory
. He has an older brother named Joseph Mencia who often appeared on Mind of Mencia
.
and The L.A. Cabaret. This led to appearances on The Arsenio Hall Show
and Buscando Estrellas, where he attained the title "International Comedy Grand Champion." Then, in 1994, Mencia was chosen to host HBO's
latino
comedy showcase Loco Slam.
Mencia followed up Loco Slam by hosting Funny is Funny! on Galavision
in 1998. He would continue to do stand-up
, including a very successful tour in 2001 with Freddy Soto
and Pablo Francisco
, "The Three Amigos." Mencia also did two half-hour specials on HBO, the second of which won him a CableACE Award
for Best Stand-Up Comedy Special. After the release of his first comedy album by Warner Records, Take A Joke America, Mencia performed his break-out performance on Comedy Central Presents
in 2002.
By the time his career began to take off in the early 2000s, Mencia was also working as an actor doing guest appearances in the television shows Moesha
and The Shield
, and starring in the film Outta Time and the animated show The Proud Family
.
. The show mixed Mencia's stand up comedy with sketch comedy
, much like Dave Chappelle
's Chappelle's Show
. The show achieved moderate success in its first season and was brought back for a second season in the spring of 2006, becoming Comedy Central’s second highest rated program behind South Park
. It was brought back for a third season that summer before being cancelled in 2008. Mind of Mencia was produced by Nedlos, a portmanteau of Mencia's birth name and the name he took prior to naturalizing in the US.
radio show on XM Satellite Radio
and CBS Radio
. He took part in the first Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour in 2006. In 2002 he performed on "Comedy Central Presents."
Mencia starred in a Super Bowl XLI
commercial for Bud Light. In November 2009, Mencia began appearing commercials for a weight-loss product called Belly Burner, which he has claimed to have used personally.
Carlos Mencia is currently on a 2011 stand up comedy tour, including dates at the Improv in Schaumburg, IL on June 24th and 25th, and ending in Las Vegas at Treasure Island on Friday, September 16, 2011.
. They have one child, Lucas Pablo Mencia.
In August 2011, Mencia posted a video on his YouTube
account, where it is shown that he has lost a significant amount of weight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv0gISxB3Oo&
named Mencia as the 12th worst comic of all time. A 2010 Wall Street Journal article noted that Mencia, along with Dane Cook
and Jay Leno
, were three of the most hated popular stand-ups by fellow comedians. In May 2009, Cracked listed 25 of the comic's actual Twitter
posts that they considered to be unintentionally funny.
wrote a post on his website publicly accusing Mencia of being a plagiarist
, alleging that Mencia stole jokes
from a number of comedians. On February 10, 2007, Rogan confronted Mencia on stage at the Comedy Store on Sunset and continued his allegations of plagiarism. Rogan posted a video of the altercation with audio and video clips from other comedians including George Lopez
, Reverend Bob Levy, Bobby Lee and Ari Shaffir, among others. Rogan has also posted audio and video clips of Mencia's interviews and joke routines being compared to those of other comedians on his blog
.
George Lopez
has accused Mencia of plagiarizing his material. In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Lopez accused Mencia of plagiarizing 13 minutes of his material in Mencia's HBO special. He also claimed he had a physical altercation with Mencia over the alleged plagiarism. The only joke that Lopez has publicly specified was stolen and used on Mencia's HBO special was a Taco Bell
joke. Comedian Ted Sarnowski countered this claim, stating that the joke he performed on radio in 1988 was later taken and used without permission by Lopez, the radio station's resident comic. Sarnowski claims to have given Mencia permission to use the joke, yet Lopez later began referring to Mencia as a "thief" over the joke Lopez allegedly plagiarized.
Mencia has also been accused of stealing a routine from Bill Cosby
. In his special, No Strings Attached, Mencia performs a bit about a father who spends years training his son for a career as a football
player, only to see the son say "I love you, Mom!" at his moment of televised victory. Cosby performed a very similar bit in his concert film Bill Cosby: Himself
and wrote briefly on the subject in his book Fatherhood
. Mencia told the Los Angeles Times
that he had never seen the film but regretted the similarities between his and Cosby's jokes.
Mencia's alleged plagiarism was satirized in an April 2009 episode of South Park
entitled "Fishsticks
" in which Mencia takes credit for a joke that somebody else had written. When faced with the prospect of being assaulted he admits "I took credit for it because I'm not actually funny!.... I just take jokes and repackage them with a Mexican accent!" The character is then killed by Kanye West
.
In the 2010 documentary, I Am Comic, Mencia outright admitted that he used other comedian's jokes and modified them by adding Latino themes to them.
Mencia also addressed the issue of plagiarism in two hour-long interviews with fellow comic Marc Maron
on his podcast WTF with Marc Maron in May 2010.
' celebrity lineup for New Orleans Mardi Gras
, citing inappropriate comments he made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
. Mencia remarked during his stand up: “I’m glad Hurricane Katrina happened. It taught us an important lesson: Black people can’t swim.”
Not including his comedy specials for HBO and Comedy Central, Mencia has also appeared on Comic Relief, and hosted Loco Slam in 1994, Latino Laugh Festival in 1997, Funny is Funny! in 1998, and Uncensored Comedy: That's Not Funny in 2003.
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
American comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, writer, and actor. His style of comedy is often political and involves issues of race, culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
, criminal justice
Criminal justice
Criminal Justice is the system of practices and institutions of governments directed at upholding social control, deterring and mitigating crime, or sanctioning those who violate laws with criminal penalties and rehabilitation efforts...
, and social class
Social class
Social classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
. He was formerly the host of his own show on Comedy Central
Comedy Central
Comedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....
, Mind of Mencia
Mind of Mencia
Mind of Mencia is an American television comedy series on the cable channel Comedy Central. Hosted by Carlos Mencia, it aired from 2005 to 2008.- History :...
.
Early life
Mencía was born in San Pedro SulaSan Pedro Sula
San Pedro Sula is a city in Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country, in the Valle de Sula , about 60 km south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean. With an estimated population of 638,259 people in the main municipality, and 802,598 in its metro area , it is the second...
, Honduras
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
, the seventeenth of eighteen children. His mother, Magdelena Mencía, was Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, and his father, Roberto Holness, was a Honduran
Honduras
Honduras is a republic in Central America. It was previously known as Spanish Honduras to differentiate it from British Honduras, which became the modern-day state of Belize...
whose distant ancestors included immigrants from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, and the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
. At the time of his birth, Mencía's mother engaged in a domestic dispute
Domestic violence
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, battering, family violence, and intimate partner violence , is broadly defined as a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, or cohabitation...
with his father, and declined to give her son his biological father's last name. The name appearing on his birth certificate is "Ned Arnel Mencía", although Mencia has said that out of respect for his biological father he went by the Holness name anyway, and was known as "Ned Holness" until he was eighteen years old.
Mencia was raised Roman Catholic in East Los Angeles
East Los Angeles (region)
East Los Angeles is the portion of the City of Los Angeles that lies east of Downtown Los Angeles, the Los Angeles River and the unincorporated areas of Lincoln Heights, west of the San Gabriel Valley, East Los Angeles and City Terrace, south of Cypress Park, and north of Vernon, California and...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
by his aunt Consuelo and uncle Pablo Mencia. By his own admission, staying out of trouble was difficult while growing up, but with the help of his family he excelled in school and stayed out of gangs. He majored in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
at California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles is a public comprehensive university, part of the California State University system...
, but left early to pursue a career in comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
after a successful performance at an open mic night at The Laugh Factory
The Laugh Factory
The Laugh Factory is a world famous comedy club located at 8001 on the Sunset Strip in Hollywood, California.-History:In 1979, after a dispute over club owners refusing to pay comedians, a then 16 year old Jamie Masada recognized the need for a new venue for comedians to perform...
. He has an older brother named Joseph Mencia who often appeared on Mind of Mencia
Mind of Mencia
Mind of Mencia is an American television comedy series on the cable channel Comedy Central. Hosted by Carlos Mencia, it aired from 2005 to 2008.- History :...
.
Career
Mencia was a quick success at such venerated LA stand-up venues as The Comedy StoreThe Comedy Store
The Comedy Store is a comedy club located in West Hollywood, California, at 8433 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip. It has a sister comedy club in La Jolla, San Diego, California.-History:...
and The L.A. Cabaret. This led to appearances on The Arsenio Hall Show
The Arsenio Hall Show
The Arsenio Hall Show is an American variety/talk show that aired late weeknights in syndication from January 3, 1989 to May 27, 1994. The show was created and hosted by comedian/actor Arsenio Hall.- Background :...
and Buscando Estrellas, where he attained the title "International Comedy Grand Champion." Then, in 1994, Mencia was chosen to host HBO's
Home Box Office
HBO, short for Home Box Office, is an American premium cable television network, owned by Time Warner. , HBO's programming reaches 28.2 million subscribers in the United States, making it the second largest premium network in America . In addition to its U.S...
latino
Latino
The demonyms Latino and Latina , are defined in English language dictionaries as:* "a person of Latin-American descent."* "A Latin American."* "A person of Hispanic, especially Latin-American, descent, often one living in the United States."...
comedy showcase Loco Slam.
Mencia followed up Loco Slam by hosting Funny is Funny! on Galavision
Galavisión
Galavisión is a Miami, Florida based Spanish language cable network owned by Univision Communications, Inc. The station is unrelated to the Mexican channel of the same name, other than sharing the Televisa-produced programming.-History:...
in 1998. He would continue to do stand-up
Stand-up comedy
Stand-up comedy is a comedic art form. Usually, a comedian performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them. Their performances are sometimes filmed for later release via DVD, the internet, and television...
, including a very successful tour in 2001 with Freddy Soto
Freddy Soto
Alfred Soto, Jr. was an American comedian, writer and actor. His stand-up comedy act focused primarily on his upbringing in a Mexican American household...
and Pablo Francisco
Pablo Francisco
Pablo Ridson Francisco is an American stand-up comedian of Chilean origin. He started his career doing improv in Tempe, Arizona.-Career:...
, "The Three Amigos." Mencia also did two half-hour specials on HBO, the second of which won him a CableACE Award
CableACE Award
The CableACE Award was an award that was given from 1978 to 1997 to honor excellence in American cable television programming...
for Best Stand-Up Comedy Special. After the release of his first comedy album by Warner Records, Take A Joke America, Mencia performed his break-out performance on Comedy Central Presents
Comedy Central Presents
Comedy Central Presents is a half-hour long stand-up show that features various stand-up comedians in each episode.-DVDs:Starting in 2008, Comedy Central started releasing "Best of" compilation DVDs, with uncensored audio...
in 2002.
By the time his career began to take off in the early 2000s, Mencia was also working as an actor doing guest appearances in the television shows Moesha
Moesha
Moesha is an American sitcom series that aired on the UPN network from January 23, 1996 to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Mitchell, a high school student living with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles.-Overview:The show...
and The Shield
The Shield
The Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...
, and starring in the film Outta Time and the animated show The Proud Family
The Proud Family
The Proud Family is an American animated television series that premiered on Disney Channel from September 15, 2001 to August 19, 2005.-Production:...
.
Mind of Mencia
In March 2005, Comedy Central announced Mencia's own half-hour comedy show, Mind of MenciaMind of Mencia
Mind of Mencia is an American television comedy series on the cable channel Comedy Central. Hosted by Carlos Mencia, it aired from 2005 to 2008.- History :...
. The show mixed Mencia's stand up comedy with sketch comedy
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
, much like Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle
David Khari Webber "Dave" Chappelle is an American comedian, screenwriter, television/film producer, actor, and artist. Chappelle began his film career in the film Robin Hood: Men in Tights in 1993 and continued to star in minor roles in the films The Nutty Professor, Con Air, and Blue Streak. His...
's Chappelle's Show
Chappelle's Show
Chappelle's Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedian Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show as well as starring in various skits. Chappelle, Brennan and Michele Armour were the show's executive producers. The series premiered on January 22,...
. The show achieved moderate success in its first season and was brought back for a second season in the spring of 2006, becoming Comedy Central’s second highest rated program behind South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
. It was brought back for a third season that summer before being cancelled in 2008. Mind of Mencia was produced by Nedlos, a portmanteau of Mencia's birth name and the name he took prior to naturalizing in the US.
Other work
Mencia is sometimes a guest on the Opie and AnthonyOpie and Anthony
Opie and Anthony are the hosts of The Opie & Anthony Show, a talk radio program airing in the United States and Canada on XM Satellite Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. Since the merger of the two satellite companies, this is now called Sirius/XM...
radio show on XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio
XM Satellite Radio is one of two satellite radio services in the United States and Canada, operated by Sirius XM Radio. It provides pay-for-service radio, analogous to cable television. Its service includes 73 different music channels, 39 news, sports, talk and entertainment channels, 21 regional...
and CBS Radio
CBS Radio
CBS Radio, Inc., formerly known as Infinity Broadcasting Corporation, is one of the largest owners and operators of radio stations in the United States, third behind main rival Clear Channel Communications and Cumulus Media. CBS Radio owns around 130 radio stations across the country...
. He took part in the first Opie and Anthony's Traveling Virus Comedy Tour in 2006. In 2002 he performed on "Comedy Central Presents."
Mencia starred in a Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI
Super Bowl XLI was an American football game that featured the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion Chicago Bears to decide the National Football League champion for the 2006 season...
commercial for Bud Light. In November 2009, Mencia began appearing commercials for a weight-loss product called Belly Burner, which he has claimed to have used personally.
Carlos Mencia is currently on a 2011 stand up comedy tour, including dates at the Improv in Schaumburg, IL on June 24th and 25th, and ending in Las Vegas at Treasure Island on Friday, September 16, 2011.
Personal life
Mencia lives with his wife, Amy, in the Los Angeles area of CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. They have one child, Lucas Pablo Mencia.
In August 2011, Mencia posted a video on his YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
account, where it is shown that he has lost a significant amount of weight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bv0gISxB3Oo&
Criticism
Mencia has been criticized for both his stand-up act and his television show, perhaps most notably from other comedians. In 2006, MaximMaxim (magazine)
Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....
named Mencia as the 12th worst comic of all time. A 2010 Wall Street Journal article noted that Mencia, along with Dane Cook
Dane Cook
Dane Jeffrey Cook is an American stand-up comedian and film actor. He has released five comedy albums: Harmful If Swallowed; Retaliation; Vicious Circle; Rough Around The Edges: Live From Madison Square Garden; and Isolated Incident. In 2006, Retaliation became the highest charting comedy album...
and Jay Leno
Jay Leno
James Douglas Muir "Jay" Leno is an American stand-up comedian and television host.From 1992 to 2009, Leno was the host of NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Beginning in September 2009, Leno started a primetime talk show, titled The Jay Leno Show, which aired weeknights at 10:00 p.m. ,...
, were three of the most hated popular stand-ups by fellow comedians. In May 2009, Cracked listed 25 of the comic's actual Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
posts that they considered to be unintentionally funny.
Accusations of plagiarism
In 2005, comedian Joe RoganJoe Rogan
Joseph James "Joe" Rogan is an American comedian, video blogger, actor, writer, podcaster, and martial artist. He is best known for his work on NewsRadio, his work as color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and his hosting work on Fear Factor.-Acting:In 1994, Rogan co-starred on...
wrote a post on his website publicly accusing Mencia of being a plagiarist
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
, alleging that Mencia stole jokes
Joke thievery
Joke thievery is the act of performing and taking credit for comic material written by another person without their consent. This is a form of plagiarism and sometimes can be copyright infringement....
from a number of comedians. On February 10, 2007, Rogan confronted Mencia on stage at the Comedy Store on Sunset and continued his allegations of plagiarism. Rogan posted a video of the altercation with audio and video clips from other comedians including George Lopez
George Lopez
George Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture...
, Reverend Bob Levy, Bobby Lee and Ari Shaffir, among others. Rogan has also posted audio and video clips of Mencia's interviews and joke routines being compared to those of other comedians on his blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
.
George Lopez
George Lopez
George Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host. He is mostly known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including the Mexican American culture...
has accused Mencia of plagiarizing his material. In an interview on The Howard Stern Show, Lopez accused Mencia of plagiarizing 13 minutes of his material in Mencia's HBO special. He also claimed he had a physical altercation with Mencia over the alleged plagiarism. The only joke that Lopez has publicly specified was stolen and used on Mencia's HBO special was a Taco Bell
Taco Bell
Taco Bell is an American chain of fast-food restaurants based in Irvine, California. A subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc., which serves American-adapted Mexican food. Taco Bell serves tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, other specialty items, and a variety of "Value Menu" items...
joke. Comedian Ted Sarnowski countered this claim, stating that the joke he performed on radio in 1988 was later taken and used without permission by Lopez, the radio station's resident comic. Sarnowski claims to have given Mencia permission to use the joke, yet Lopez later began referring to Mencia as a "thief" over the joke Lopez allegedly plagiarized.
Mencia has also been accused of stealing a routine from Bill Cosby
Bill Cosby
William Henry "Bill" Cosby, Jr. is an American comedian, actor, author, television producer, educator, musician and activist. A veteran stand-up performer, he got his start at various clubs, then landed a starring role in the 1960s action show, I Spy. He later starred in his own series, the...
. In his special, No Strings Attached, Mencia performs a bit about a father who spends years training his son for a career as a football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player, only to see the son say "I love you, Mom!" at his moment of televised victory. Cosby performed a very similar bit in his concert film Bill Cosby: Himself
Bill Cosby: Himself
Bill Cosby: Himself is a 1983 stand-up comedy film featuring the comedic routines of Bill Cosby. Filmed before a live audience at the Hamilton Place Theatre, in Hamilton, Ontario, Cosby gives the audience his comedic views ranging from marriage to parenthood...
and wrote briefly on the subject in his book Fatherhood
Fatherhood (book)
Fatherhood is a bestselling 1986 book attributed to Bill Cosby and published by Doubleday & Company, Inc. The book was ghostwritten by humorist Ralph Schoenstein.-History:...
. Mencia told the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
that he had never seen the film but regretted the similarities between his and Cosby's jokes.
Mencia's alleged plagiarism was satirized in an April 2009 episode of South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
entitled "Fishsticks
Fishsticks (South Park)
"Fishsticks" is the fifth episode of the thirteenth season of the American animated television series South Park, and the 186th overall episode of the series. It was originally broadcast on Comedy Central in the United States on April 8, 2009. In the episode, Jimmy writes a joke that becomes a...
" in which Mencia takes credit for a joke that somebody else had written. When faced with the prospect of being assaulted he admits "I took credit for it because I'm not actually funny!.... I just take jokes and repackage them with a Mexican accent!" The character is then killed by Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
.
In the 2010 documentary, I Am Comic, Mencia outright admitted that he used other comedian's jokes and modified them by adding Latino themes to them.
Mencia also addressed the issue of plagiarism in two hour-long interviews with fellow comic Marc Maron
Marc Maron
Marc Maron is an American stand-up comedian and podcast host.He has been host of The Marc Maron Show, and co-host of both Morning Sedition, and Breakroom Live, all politically-oriented shows, produced under the auspices of Air America Media. He was also the host of Comedy Central's Short Attention...
on his podcast WTF with Marc Maron in May 2010.
Hurricane Katrina remarks
In February 2009, Mencia was dropped from the Krewe of OrpheusKrewe of Orpheus
The Krewe of Orpheus is a relatively recent New Orleans Mardi Gras super krewe, which puts on one of the largest parades in the famous Carnival celebrations of New Orleans, Louisiana...
' celebrity lineup for New Orleans Mardi Gras
New Orleans Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana, is a Carnival celebration well-known throughout the world.The New Orleans Carnival season, with roots in preparing for the start of the Christian season of Lent, starts after Twelfth Night, on Epiphany . It is a season of parades, balls , and king cake parties...
, citing inappropriate comments he made in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. Mencia remarked during his stand up: “I’m glad Hurricane Katrina happened. It taught us an important lesson: Black people can’t swim.”
Filmography
- In Living ColorIn Living ColorIn Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series, which originally ran on the Fox Network from April 15, 1990 to May 19, 1994. Brothers Keenen and Damon Wayans created, wrote, and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Century...
(TV), playing a Valet in episode six of season two, (1990) - MoeshaMoeshaMoesha is an American sitcom series that aired on the UPN network from January 23, 1996 to May 14, 2001. The series stars R&B singer Brandy Norwood as Moesha Mitchell, a high school student living with her family in the Leimert Park neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles.-Overview:The show...
(TV), playing Carlos in the episode "Life Imitating Art," (1999) - The Proud FamilyThe Proud FamilyThe Proud Family is an American animated television series that premiered on Disney Channel from September 15, 2001 to August 19, 2005.-Production:...
(TV), starring as Felix (voice) (2001–2005) - The ShieldThe ShieldThe Shield is an American television drama series starring Michael Chiklis which premiered on March 12, 2002 on FX in the United States and concluded on November 25, 2008 after seven seasons...
(TV) playing Gabo in the episode "Two Days of Blood," (2002) - Outta Time (2002), playing "Juancho"
- 29 Palms29 Palms (film)29 Palms is a 2002 direct-to-video film directed by Leonardo Ricagni about a bag of money that affects the characters who possess it, and its varied contents, as it passes from one to another. It stars Jeremy Davies, Michael Lerner, Litefoot, Russell Means, Chris O'Donnell, Keith David, and Jon...
(2002), playing "The Comedian" - Mind of MenciaMind of MenciaMind of Mencia is an American television comedy series on the cable channel Comedy Central. Hosted by Carlos Mencia, it aired from 2005 to 2008.- History :...
(TV) Host (2005–2008) - Drawn TogetherDrawn TogetherDrawn Together is an American animated television series, which ran on Comedy Central from October 27, 2004 to November 14, 2007. The series was created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein, and uses a sitcom format with a TV reality show setting...
(TV) playing the King of Mexico (voice) in the episode "Mexican't Buy Me Love", (2006) - Farce of the PenguinsFarce of the PenguinsFarce of the Penguins is a 2007 American direct-to-video parody of the 2005 documentary March of the Penguins. The motion picture features Samuel L. Jackson as narrator, with the two main characters being voiced by Bob Saget, who also wrote and directed the film, and Lewis Black...
(2007) - The Heartbreak KidThe Heartbreak Kid (2007 film)The Heartbreak Kid is a 2007 romantic comedy film directed by Bobby and Peter Farrelly. Starring Ben Stiller and Malin Åkerman, The Heartbreak Kid is a remake of the italian film Luna di miele in tre and a version of the 1972 film of the same name. Also starring are Michelle Monaghan, Jerry...
(2007), playing Uncle Tito - MADtvMADtvMADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
(2007), playing himself - Our Family WeddingOur Family WeddingOur Family Wedding is a romantic comedy film starring Forest Whitaker, America Ferrera, Carlos Mencia, Lance Gross, Shannyn Sossamon and Regina King...
(2010)
Not including his comedy specials for HBO and Comedy Central, Mencia has also appeared on Comic Relief, and hosted Loco Slam in 1994, Latino Laugh Festival in 1997, Funny is Funny! in 1998, and Uncensored Comedy: That's Not Funny in 2003.
Albums and DVDs
- Not for the Easily Offended (2003)
- Down to the Nitty Gritty (2004)
- This is Carlos Mencia (2006)
- No Strings Attached (2006)
- The Best of Funny is Funny (2007)
- Performance Enhanced (2008)
- Mind of Mencia Season 1 (2006)
- Mind of Mencia Season 2 (2007)
- Mind of Mencia Season 3 (2007)
External links
- Official Website
- Mind Of Mencia at ComedyCentral.comComedy CentralComedy Central is an American cable television and satellite television channel that carries comedy programming, both original and syndicated....