In his four seasons on Saturday Night Live, Marcello Hernández has played, in no particular order, an emo teen, a soul-patch-wearing wife-stealer named Domingo, a frozen embryo, and himself, patron saint of short kings. He’s relentlessly affable, cheekily charming, and, as the first cast member to introduce Spanish-language sketches, a breath of fresh air on a 50-year-old program that has changed little during its reign over American comedy.
SNL‘s inflexibility has been apparent over Hernández’s run, as the show quickly cycled through a handful of junior cast members plucked from TikTok, old reliable comedy clubs, and its vast network—signaling a clear confusion about where good humor grows in an era of bite-size content (these days, SNL’s biggest hits come from YouTube recaps posted on Sunday). Hernández’s near-instant success on the program provides one clue. At 28, the show’s first Gen Z cast member is fluent in the digital-first tone without pandering to it and offers a long-overdue perspective on American culture—even if, ironically, this means he’s already outgrowing the platform that made him a star.
His first stand-up special for Netflix, last January’s American Boy, gives a look at what Hernández might be capable of outside the constraints of a sketch. He recalls life in Miami, where he grew up with his oft-joked-about overprotective Cuban mother before turning tail to try his hand at comedy in New York clubs. There are jokes about mental health, white people, and how long it takes women to get dressed that, even now, feel remarkably fresh. The special overflows with an exuberance that’s become Hernández’s trademark, so it’s surprising to hear that he broke out in nervous sweats moments before stepping out on stage. Luckily, he was able to call up a new friend and mentor—the peerless Jamie Foxx—for some reassurance. Now that the special has thoroughly seeded the Internet, the pair hopped back on the phone for a post-mortem and some friendly advice on how to ride the wave of a cresting career. —CULTURED
Jamie Foxx: You remember when we met up when you was making the special? Remember you said, “I was so nervous my hair was sweating.” And I said, “Nigga, what does that mean? I ain’t got hair!” You’re young. You’re good looking. You’ve got the swag. Now that it’s in your rearview mirror, how are you feeling now? Were you breaking yourself out for no reason?
Marcello Hernández: Yes, but also no, because now looking back I can say to myself I gave it every single piece of me. When we called you, I was sitting there going crazy. And after our conversation, I was like, “Yo, Jamie Foxx is the regulator.” You put it in perspective. Like it’s already shot. It’s too late to be really freaking out. I wasn’t enjoying it. I was suffering it.
Foxx: Okay but let me give you this: Michael Jackson. “Billy Jean.” Motown 25. Iconic! But he went backstage after and cried because he thought it was the worst performance of his life. You can’t always see what we see. So I told you, “Get in the Ferrari. Pull the fuck out. And have a great time.” The special had like 46.5 million views. I just wanna know how that feels. What’s it feel like to be on top of that mountain, man?
Hernández: I don’t know. Let me ask you this, Jamie. After you did Ray, did you go [relaxed], “Ahhh,” or did you go [stressed], “Ahhh!”
“What I love is that you didn’t change. You gave us what you about. You took us into the world.” —Jamie Foxx
Foxx: For some reason, that motherfucking trophy, when you get that Oscar, you start speaking with an English accent. For some reason, I started going, [in a British accent] “Quite.” I said, “Get that shit out my motherfucking hand.” After I won, my boy set up a party somewhere. Not at the Governor’s Ball. I said, “Yo, I wanna be where the niggas at. We gotta party.” So you see all these Cadillacs and SUVs going to the Governor’s Ball. We take a right, and go to this club where all the cool motherfuckers are.
It was Black excellence, as they say now. It was crazy. They took the Oscar out of my hand. I didn’t see that motherfucker for like two hours. When the Oscar got back to me, it was off its stand. Its eyes were bloodshot. I said, “I know Denzel ain’t did this kind of shit, man.”
We had such a great time, but the biggest thing, Marcello, was to enjoy the moment and then get right back to being who I was. I wanted to do jokes, and they didn’t want me to do jokes no more. They’d be like, “You won the Oscar.” Everybody’s speaking British. “I said, I wanna go talk some nigga shit.” So I was at this Madison Square Garden show, and they said I shouldn’t say this joke about me and Oprah Winfrey dating each other. That was a rumor at the time.
Hernández: I remember this.
Foxx: But I get onstage and immediately go, “So, I’m laying in bed with Oprah. And I leaned over to Gail and said, ‘Wow, that shit was crazy, huh? Stedman, could you grab me some juice? We thirsty.’” So the very long answer to your question is I accepted it. I loved it. But I wanted to share it with everybody. That’s the comedian in us. You got that and then some. You’re doing stand-up, but you’re also performing. Do you feel like you’re traditional in your stand-up?
Hernández: I’ll tell you what, Jamie, when I first started doing comedy, I wrote down in my little yellow pad the two people I wanted to be like. I wrote, “I want to be physical like Eddie [Murphy]. I want to be meticulous like Jerry [Seinfeld].” And then as I got older and I started to see more, when we started thinking about how we wanna shoot the special, I thought, I want to shoot it like Pryor. I want to be sweaty. I want a flowy shirt. You know, Richard Pryor filmed in Miami, and so did I. I wanted it to have grains, look old school, look vintage.
Foxx: What about the girls though? Because you look way better than Richard and way better than Eddie.
Hernández: [Laughs] Let’s stop right now.
Foxx: This motherfucker’s 19. You look fantastic. How do you balance that?
Hernández: First of all, I’m 28. We’re closer than you think.
Foxx: What that mean? I’m 58.
Hernández: I do have a girl. She’s an architect.
Foxx: Ooh, my bad, my bad.
Hernández: The other thing I was feeling with that special was, I gotta get this out of my system. For me, it was growing up with women in my house. Growing up in Miami and then meeting white people for the first time in college. And finally, the way people are looking at immigrants in the world versus my experience with immigrants and the way we talk. Oh and definitely growing up with a Latina mom that didn’t let me have no mental health issues. Those were the things I had to get out of my system.
Foxx: What I love is that you didn’t change. You gave us what you about. You took us into the world, having a Latina mom and having those different values, showing the contrast. Was that important?
Hernández: It’s always going to be a part of me. I used to watch stand-up when I was a kid: Eddie, Kevin [Hart], you. I remember wishing that more people talked about what I was going through. I feel like young Marcello would’ve loved this special. The next iteration of this—that I’m working on now—is really about what it’s like to grab that kid and throw him into adulthood.
Foxx: Has it been tough? It’s probably hard for a motherfucker to be around you and not be a little bit jealous. Comedians, by nature, are very territorial. We’re not quite battle rappers. We all root for each other. But sometimes it can get a little testy. Does the competitiveness make you funnier?
Hernández: I’ll say this. I operate from two mindsets. I operate from sports: the more you grind, the more you get. And then I operate from gratefulness. I’m lucky to be here. So when those two come together, I feel like nothing can hurt me. I’ve bombed at an SNL table more than you could imagine. I’ve had that sketch where I go in, and it’s me and a big cast member, and nobody’s laughing. My mom and the way I started just prepared me, bro. I don’t know how you started, like those real early days. I was selling tickets on the street. I was making videos for no views. I was cleaning vomit. I was running food. I was selling electricity.
Foxx: How do you sell electricity?
Hernández: There was a guy in New York. He said that he had a way to compete with ConEd. We were offering different suppliers, and we said, “You might have a little bit less reliability, but it’s a lot cheaper.” Obviously, we never sold anything. I never made a dollar.
But I really fought for it. I never got any handouts. I always think of what Tom Hanks said: “If you think you’re on top of the world and you know everything, you’re wrong. And if you think that you don’t know anything and you’re screwed and nothing’s ever good gonna happen to you, you’re also wrong.” When you’re looking back, what is the moment that you go, “I can’t believe I got here from there”?
Foxx: I couldn’t believe I could lie in California like that. I could say my name ain’t even Eric Bishop. I told that motherfucker, “My name’s Jamie Foxx.” Like, God damn. I just lied. Motherfucker just accepted it. I was trying to get on at the club, and they wouldn’t put me on when I was Eric Bishop. But they’d choose Jamie Foxx.
I’d say, Fuck it, and go to the dance club. I go to the DJ. “Yo man, I wanna tell some jokes.” “Huh?” “I said I’m gonna tell some jokes.” “Where?” “Right here, nigga!” The club owner started letting me tell the jokes before the club popped. I ran into everybody there. Next thing you know I see New Edition, Devo, come in. Matter of fact, I was trying to get to this girl. This girl was incredible. I ain’t got your looks, but I knew if I could just talk to her, tell her jokes, I got her. She had on this white dress she wore every week.
So I went in there, and the whole club’s seeing me die. She’s acting like she can’t hear me. You know how pretty girls act like they can’t hear you? Then the next thing you know, the New Edition niggas came in. She said, “Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky, Mike!” She was gone. I left that night and said, “I’m gonna go do stand-up every single night ’til I get what they have.” That’s what pushed me. It wasn’t that I wanted the girl. I wanted what those guys had. I wanted that mist, that fame mist. That mist was so great, the girl can’t even see your face. They don’t even know you’re ugly.
We are the same, in the fact that you are fearless. Man, I would take cue cards when I would do a comedy club, and I would say, “If you like my jokes, put your name on the cue card and leave your pager number on there.” I had 800 signatures, 600 women and 200 guys. I was the first social media guy. I would call during the week, and say, “Hey man, Jamie Foxx is gonna have a show.” That’s how I would get 5,000 people to show up, and that’s how we got it cracking.
That’s why when I see you, I know exactly what it is. I see you climbing this mountain, this great trajectory that you have. Now the question for all of us is, where do we see you next? In the movie, on the TV?
“I’ve bombed at an SNL table more than you could imagine.” —Marcello Hernández
Hernández: We need to do a Jamie Foxx movie. A guy asking the DJ to give him the mic is crazy, bro.
Foxx: Hey, I’m the old lion. Now I’m watching the young lion go down and stalk his prey, man.
Hernández: I did my first movie with Kevin Hart, which comes out this summer. It’s for the boys. I did a couple animated things. I’m gonna be in Shrek, bro. I’m Shrek’s son.
Foxx: What?
Hernández: I have a few things in the works, and I would love to sit down with you and go through it. You need to tell me how to approach that next stage. I came up the same way you did: sketch comedy into acting. Obviously I want to be in big movies. I do feel I’m gonna have to step up. You know how when you play college ball, you got this coach, and you go shoot with him? And then you join the NBA, they say, “You gotta work with this guy.” You’re that guy.
Foxx: Hey, lean on me. Your jump shot on that college floor is the same jump shot on that pro floor. You get that bitch off quicker, but it’s the same form, the same follow through. Your follow through is amazing. You are lighting the world up.
Grooming by Evy Drew
Photography Assistance by Layton Davis
Styling Assistance by Jordan Hartmann
Location: Nine Orchard
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