The hunt is still on for that elusive holy grail of Latino family sitcoms. Most recently, CBS announced it was betting its chips on Nuyorican stand-up comic Gina Brillon, with a high-profile co-sign from Kevin James. Now Fox is jumping in the fray with a promising project from young Cuban-American comedian Chris Garcia.
The untitled comedy will be based on Garcia’s own life experience and follows the trials and tribulations of an LA high school student whose Cuban parents fake his address to ensure him entry into a desirable public school. There, the young man must navigate life amongst wealthy surfer dudes while his father takes ESL classes in the same building.
The project is being produced by the trio behind The Lonely Island, which includes Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone, and Fox has brought in writers from Modern Family to pen the pilot alongside Garcia. It’s a promising combination of experience and talent for the project, and will undoubtedly raise Garcia’s profile if it eventually gets picked up for broadcast.
So far, the comedian has been making a name for himself on the Bay Area and LA stand-up circuits, with recent writing credits on The Eric Andre Show and The Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber generating enough buzz to land him in the prestigious NHMC scriptwriters workshop. Keep your fingers crossed that this project ultimately makes it to our proverbial living rooms. If it’s anything like Garcia’s gut-busting stand up routine, it’ll be 1,000 times funnier than past sitcoms like George Lopez or Cristela.