More often than not, U.S. history classes fail to include the contributions of Latino people. Leguizamo's three-part PBS docuseries, VOCES American Historia, is an attempt to set the record straight. Also, David Bianculli reflects on SNL's season 50 opener. Subscribe to Fresh Air's weekly newsletter and get highlights from the show, gems from the archive, and staff recommendations. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
Support for this NPR podcast and the following message come from the UPS store open this Wednesday.
Come into your local store today.
Most locations are independently owned.
Products, services, pricing and hours of operation may vary.
See center for details.
The ups store be unstoppable this is fresh air.
I'm Tanya Moseley, and today my guest is John Liquizamo.
For the last four decades, we've watched him go from a one man show and stand up comedian to television and tv actor, activist, and now educator.
His latest project, an ambitious docu series on the history of Latinos, feels like an inflection point for a man who has spent his career asserting himself as a Latino American while also discovering his place in this country.
The new docu series now airing on PBS is called American the Untold History of Latinos, which he co created with director Ben DeJesus.
It's like a textbook on screen with Leguizamo at the head of the class exploring latino contributions to the americas over thousands of years.
If this sounds familiar, that's because this series is an evolution of La Guizamo's 2018 one man show called Latin History for morons, which aired on Netflix.
John Lake Wazamo is an Emmy and Tony Award winning performer who began doing standup in the eighties and gained critical acclaim for his one man semi autobiographical shows about growing up in Queens, including mambo Mouth and Freak, where Leguizamo portrayed dozens of characters from his life growing up in queens, including friends, relatives and neighbors.
He's performed in over 100 films and television shows, including his breakthrough roles in 93 as Luigi and Super Mario Brothers and Brian de Palma's Carlito's way as Carlito's nemesis Benny Blanco from the Bronx.
He also starred in Moulin Rouge, and he currently hosts the MSNBC travel show Lake Guizamo does America.
John Lake Guizamo, welcome back to FreSh Air.
Thank you, Tonya.
What a pleasure to be here with you.
John.
I absolutely loved latin history for morons and for those who don't know it, in 2018, you did this one man show on Broadway where you essentially got on stage and traced 3000 years of latin history.