The 26-year-old comedian got the idea for the exhibition shortly after she launched her stand-up career in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was going to open mics Monday through Friday and then even sometimes on the weekends, but all of it was in English because that\u2019s all there was here at the time,\u201d said Calvo. \u201cI was looking for somewhere to perform en espa\u00f1ol in L.A. I looked everywhere, I asked around, but I couldn\u2019t find any showcase in espa\u00f1ol.\u201d <\/p>\n
Around that same time, Calvo first came across the work of Venezuelan comedian Angelo Colina<\/a> and saw how he was putting all-Spanish lineups together in New York.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you don\u2019t see what you want to exist, you have to create it,\u201d she said. \u201cAt first I was like, \u2018I guess I\u2019m gonna have to go to New York to do this.\u2019 But then I [decided] I can figure it out here. So that was end of 2023; at the beginning of 2024 I booked a theater.\u201d<\/p>\n She called up fellow Latino acts she had made friends with in the English-speaking comedy circuit to perform in the showcase, even though she had never seen them do a set in Spanish.<\/p>\n \u201cI believed in them. I knew they\u2019re Latino. I knew they knew comedy,\u201d Calvo said. \u201cAnd I knew they knew Spanish because we\u2019d talk in Spanish backstage and stuff. It was just people from the local comedy scene.\u201d<\/p>\n The first \u201cNo Hablo Ingl\u00e9s\u201d shows took place in early 2024, with Calvo relying on bigger acts to promote the program as headliners since she was relatively unknown and had only about 10 minutes of workable material at the time. <\/p>\n It was through that rotating cycle of headliners that she got to connect with acts like Jose \u2018Hoozay\u2019 Velasquez<\/a> and Francisco Ramos \u2014 with whom Calvo would later go on to program the first-ever showcases en espa\u00f1ol at the Belly Room in the famed Comedy Store. As the showcase has progressed, Calvo has become one of the acts headlining the shows.<\/p>\n \u201cI love that I\u2019ve been able to create a space for Latinos in a predominantly straight, white, male institution,\u201d Calvo said.<\/p>\n In the time since starting \u201cNo Hablo Ingl\u00e9s,\u201d the Miami-raised comic has come to form a friendship with her comedy idol Colina and has consistently opened for him when he\u2019s in Southern California. Calvo is now prepping to perform twice as part of the upcoming Netflix is a Joke Fest<\/a> in L.A. \u2014 once in English on May 4 at the Hollywood Improv and once in Spanish at the Comedy Store on May 7. She is also gearing up to tape her first hourlong special at the Lyric Hyperion on June 5.<\/p>\n Ahead of her whirlwind run of shows, Calvo spoke with The Times about \u201cNo Hablo Ingl\u00e9s,\u201d uplifting the Latino community, the radical nature of performing in Spanish in the time of ICE raids and how she\u2019s finding her own way to be the perfect immigrant daughter.<\/p>\n This interview has been edited and shortened for clarity.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve noticed all the \u201cNo Hablo Ingl\u00e9s\u201d take place in Latino-owned businesses. Is that intentional, and if so, why is that important to you? <\/b><\/p>\n Absolutely. Core to my mission with \u201cNo Hablo Ingl\u00e9s\u201d is to bring crowds to Latino-run businesses, specifically Latino restaurants. This year, my project for the showcase has really been to go across the county, find Latinos and invest back into my community. If I can bring business to a Latino restaurant and the audiences get to eat Latino food, it\u2019s a win-win for everybody.<\/p>\n In what ways is doing shows in these unconventional locations different from performing in traditional comedy clubs? <\/b><\/p>\n It\u2019s such a different experience. It\u2019s a little more indie, it\u2019s a little more guerrilla, and that\u2019s fine. Sometimes the mic cuts and we roll with it and it\u2019s part of the show and it\u2019s funny. Maybe the walk-on song for the comedian doesn\u2019t come up. I\u2019m doing the things that usually the comedy clubs take care of, like logistics of the production of the show, me queuing the comedian, raising the volume up and lighting the comedians. <\/p>\n I do have a couple of production assistants that I\u2019m working with that also help connect me to restaurants, because they\u2019re from here. I\u2019m just so grateful to them because I didn\u2019t know where the Latinos were. I\u2019ve just been living in Hollywood for the past few years and I\u2019m not from here.<\/p>\n \u201cNo Hablo Ingl\u00e9s\u201d was on a bit of a break for a minute. What brought it back?<\/b><\/p>\n I was really inspired when I visited Miami this past December. I go back to Miami every year, and I\u2019ve been performing en espa\u00f1ol in Miami every time I\u2019m there for the past two or three years. The capital of stand-up en espa\u00f1ol is Miami and it wasn\u2019t there when I was growing up, but it\u2019s there now that I live here. This last time I was there, I performed a show every night for like two weeks. It was crazy. I thought, \u201cI want this to happen in L.A.\u201d So that\u2019s when I knew I was gonna have to do the showcase again.<\/p>\n My dream would be that the stand-up en espa\u00f1ol scene in L.A. eventually becomes similar to Miami\u2019s, where every night of the week there\u2019s a show at some different bar or restaurant that you could hop on. I\u2019m starting to do my part by reaching into the San Fernando Valley, reaching into East L.A., reaching into Orange County, and trying to work with these restaurants by teaching the restaurants how to put on shows like this.<\/p>\n Angelo Colina told The Times last year<\/b><\/a> that doing Spanish-language stand-up shows in the U.S. felt like a transgressive act given the ongoing demonization of Latinos in this country. Do you resonate with that sentiment and do you wear that as a badge of honor?<\/b><\/p>\n Yeah, that really resonates with me. When I started \u201cNo Hablo Ingl\u00e9s\u201d back up this year and decided to go to perform in Latino restaurants, I was really scared. I thought, \u201cAm I doing something that is going to put people in danger?\u201d I worried about that. I was like, \u201cAm I doing something that\u2019s a bad thing?\u201d But I think I do want to piss people off with this show. There are people that don\u2019t like that I speak in Spanish. Some people don\u2019t like that I\u2019m so loudly Latina here in L.A.<\/p>\n And I don\u2019t think I\u2019m putting people in danger. I\u2019ve come to the realization that I\u2019m helping bring people to Latino restaurants that are struggling right now because of that very reason, because of the [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] raids. And I\u2019m also giving people a reason to get out of the house and be in community \u2014 they need that. At the shows, we get a lot of families showing up together. It\u2019s a very multi-generational show because for a lot of these family members, it\u2019s the first time that they\u2019ve been able to watch a stand-up show in their own language. I want to believe I\u2019m creating a space for community for Latinos when we need it the most. This year has been really hard for Latinos in L.A. and across the country.<\/p>\n The showcase tends to focus more on local comedians. Was that something that felt very important to you as someone who didn\u2019t see that opportunity when you were coming up and now that you\u2019re able to provide that opportunity for other people?<\/b><\/p>\n Absolutely, when I was starting out, I would have loved to have a 10-minute spot on a show en espa\u00f1ol and it just didn\u2019t exist. I really want to protect \u201cNo Hablo Ingl\u00e9s\u201d as something for the up-and-coming comedian en espa\u00f1ol in L.A. Most of them are comedians who have performed in English already, but it\u2019s their first time doing it in Spanish.<\/p>\n Do you think that being a comedian, in some ways, is a dream job for a child of immigrants because it\u2019s not always something you can do freely in other countries?<\/b><\/p>\n I can\u2019t believe this is my life, but that was not my parents\u2019 dream. They hated that. I was supposed to be an engineer. I was gonna be the perfect immigrant daughter. I tried, but I felt this calling to become an artist. I\u2019m meant to tell stories, to share my point of view and to bring light to topics that I care about. For me, this is the way that I can help my community. Laughter is such a clever way to get people to think about something because if you\u2019re laughing, you relate. It\u2019s a great way to increase tolerance, too. <\/p>\n Going back to the idea of not being able to do this job in our parents\u2019 home countries, I think it\u2019s not just about freedom of expression, freedom of the press, but also economic freedom. It\u2019s so difficult in Latin American countries to start any type of art business. Yeah, there are many successful comedians in Argentina that tour the world, but it\u2019s a lot harder to get to that level. There are a lot less opportunities. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a crazy thing to say that I am a full-time comedian. I feel like I\u2019m living out my ancestors\u2019 dreams. My abuela didn\u2019t go to university and my mom was the first in her family to go to college. The fact that I\u2019ve been able to get an education in this country, pursue stand-up comedy and now become a full-time comedian is just insane. I\u2019m so grateful. I feel like my life is a movie, for real.<\/p>\n (Jackie Rivera \/ For The Times; Martina Ib\u00e1\u00f1ez-Baldor \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Majority of Latino voters in Virginia called for redistricting<\/p>\n On Tuesday, voters in Virginia narrowly approved a redistricting measure<\/a> that could help Democrats pick up 10 of the state\u2019s 11 congressional seats in the upcoming midterm election. Critical to the yes vote were Latinos\u2014 data from the Center for Politics<\/a> showed that the most heavily Latino parts of the state largely backed the effort. However, the status of the vote is currently up in the air as a Virginia judge blocked the certification<\/a> of the congressional map referendum, deeming the legislation \u201cunconstitutional\u201d in Wednesday\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n Regardless of how this specific redistricting battle plays out, it\u2019s become clear that Latinos will play a crucial role not just in the state\u2014the Latino population in Virginia is expected to nearly double<\/a> in the next decade\u2014but at the national level as well. In California, over 70% of Latino voters helped pass<\/a> Proposition 50 last November, allowing state legislators to redraw a new congressional map that will also happen to increase Latino political representation in the state<\/a>. And in Texas, which kickstarted this redistricting fight, Republicans might not actually be able to pick up all the seats they are hoping for. Why? Latinos.<\/a><\/p>\n Stories we read this week that we think you should read<\/p>\n Unless otherwise noted, stories below were published by the Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n Politics and immigrationArts & EntertainmentSouthern California <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Friday night, Argentine American comedian Daniela In\u00e9s Calvo will emcee and headline the latest iteration of the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":750183,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[308876,1582,276,308874,9958,82298,308873,6276,2961,34525,308875,27382,224,5337,380,3546,4370,49756,58235,6620],"class_list":["post-750182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-26-year-old-comedian","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-calvo","tag-country","tag-espanol","tag-hablo-ingles","tag-l-a","tag-la","tag-latino-community","tag-latino-restaurant","tag-latinos","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-miami","tag-people","tag-show","tag-showcase","tag-spanish","tag-time"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116460572481318327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=750182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/750182\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/750183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=750182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=750182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=750182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777047201_831_.gif\")
<\/p>\n