You’re a faithful reader of Remezcla, so you already knew that Guatemalan-born Arturo Castro of Broad City fame has been busy developing his own sketch comedy web series for Comedy Central entitled Alternatino. In a February interview, Castro laid out his vision of bringing wacky, authentically Latino comedy to a broader audience, with a dash of #millenialproblems mixed in. Think Walter Mercado meets, well, Broad City.
And now we’ve got some good news for you: Alternatino is finally here, and that’s basically what it is. Which is to say funny, universal, and at the same time very, very Latino. If you need proof, just take a gander at episode 2’s four minute dramatization of a dreaded, unintended falta de respeto committed against Castro’s fictional mother. After enduring a circle of emotional blackmail rounded up by his tías, grandma parts the family like the red sea and displays some freaky abuela magic that we all know actually exists.
The other two episodes currently available aren’t quite as culturally specific, but still embody clever sendups of Latino media culture that just about anyone with a TV or cell phone can get down with. Episode 3’s gag about the over-the-top twisted plotlines of Spanish-language telenovelas are well-worn territory for American comedy, but we can appreciate the small details that suggest the sketch’s writers might have actually watched and understood a telenovela at some point in their lives.
And episode 1 takes on exuberant Spanish-language voiceovers by bringing us the struggles of an English-language voice actor who just can’t seem to get it right.
Of course Alternatino is only three episodes deep, but Castro is clearly raising the bar for quality Latino millennial comedy. So buckle in, cause there’s gonna be plenty more where that came from.