edited by sarina e. guerra
formatted by justin orsino
Los Angeles-based comedian Willie Barecena makes his way back to the Imperial Valley to light up the stage and work comedy fans’ laugh muscles once again this on November 15, at Prestige Event Center in Heber.
Barcena, a 20-year “road warrior” comedy veteran, will share his personal brand of…
“raucous,
irreverent, &
Never
politically correct”
…comedy, hoping to once again bring big laughs to entertain Imperial Valley crowds just as he did in his first visit to the Valley. This Saturday will mark Barcena’s second visit to the Valley since June 29, 2024.
According to this bio on his website WillieBarecena.com, Barcena has appeared on a variety of television shows including sit-coms like “Moesha” and “The Wayans Brothers.” He has also hosted the Si-TV production “Latino Laugh Festival – The Show,” in addition to his comedy specials such as “Willie Barcena: The Truth Hurts” (2016). “The Truth Hurt” ran on Netflix but can also be seen on Prime and Amazon video streaming services.
A little more background from the comedian from our last interview in 2024 (Imperial Valley Press):
Willie B spoke about growing up in Chihuhua, Mexico and living in Cuidad Juarez before moving to LA as a child. He spoke about growing up wanting to be a police officer until a friend told him he was funny and should try his hand at comedy because he was always the ‘class clown’ type of student. He spoke about re-evaluating his dream of a career in law enforcement after getting a DUI and feeling “lost” afterward. He talked about still having a positive relationship with his ex-wife, and raising their three boys, one of which works with him in media, one who attends college and another is a professional baseball player in Europe. All three play baseball.
Since performing in the Valley over a year ago, Barcena said he has continued entertaining in his concert on tour, continued writing new material and has since started his own podcast, titled
“Willie Barcena’s Drop-IN Podcast,” which first dropped-in on YouTube in January 2024 with his first episode, chatting with legendary comedian Paul Rodriguez.
“You guys were an amazing crowd last time. The people were amazing,” Barcena told People’s Press just a few days shy of returning to Heber.
Barcena took some time to chat with the Valley’s own Gabriel Iglesias lookalike-reporter to chat about his upcoming concert at Prestige.
ROMAN: What would you like the public of the Imperial Valley to know about you as a comedian, and you as a person?
WILLIE B: “Me as a comedian and me as a person really mesh; it’s intertwined.”
“Every comedian has a certain persona on stage versus when they’re by themselves, and for me – because of the comedians that I loved coming up – I liked comedians that were very real, regardless of their flaws. Bill Hicks…Richard Pryor…George Carlin…Jerry Seinfeld’s work ethic…just comedians who were honest about who they were. Those guys are a tremendous influence on my life.”
“And the connection that I feel with Heber and its surrounding towns is that I was born in Mexico, you know. I came here (to the US) when I was a little boy, and I grew up in poverty. There’s no other way to say it. I don’t feel sorry about myself…we were always told to move forward, succeed and don’t feel sorry for yourself.”
“So, I feel the connection that I’m going to have with the audience even though I grew up in LA – which is the second-biggest country in the country I believe – in my soul…
I’m more of a
Small-town Guy.
Even though I play cities like Miami, Dallas, New York, Chicago, I always feel that there’s a big connection with small towns because I was an immigrant.”
“Whether you are in a big city or not, your household is your upbringing. Even though the city around me was a big city in my home around me was small-town vibes, so my comedy connects with people very well in big cities and those who are in small towns.”
“And I do love people from small-towns – and I’m not putting down people from big cities – but small-town people have like a grassroots type of everyday personality which I connect with. So yeah, I feel there’s going to be a strong connection there with my comedy talking about my issues in life, you know, growing up with a single mom. …and then me as a parent having to adjust and making sure that I don’t trigger my children. The word ‘trigger’ didn’t exist back then. I don’t think. There were issues with alcohol in my family – it was part of my culture – so I share those stories with a lot of humor, because without the humor the audience would just sit there and pray for me.”
ROMAN: What kinds of things have you been up to since you were last here?
WILLIE B: “Just writing, and my podcast is growing, which I am excited about, and sketches. I’ve been doing sketches, which you can see on my Instagram. The landscape for performers has changed with social media, the power is really in the hands of the people. The fact that I can just go directly to the people is something I am excited about in comedy today.”
ROMAN: Tell me about your podcast.
WILLIE B: “It’s on YouTube and it’s called ‘Willie Barcenas Drop-IN. On my podcast I have different guests: actors, athletes, businesspeople.”
When I don’t have a guest it’s usually Fabian, who is my producer and my son. He’s the one that puts up all my videos and is basically my producer on everything. (My son) is the one who encouraged me to do it. Robert Zapata is another regular and DJ Vasquez is an alternate regular.”
“My style of interviewing is never ambush…I just want to hear your human story. How did you get where you are, what was your path like, and what were your ups and downs?”
“I want to show people that even people who have done extraordinary things are just regular people that were able to set and meet a goal. A lot of times they share their obstacles in that journey…
and a lot of times
there is Failure.”
“I want to get the message across because I want people to understand that no matter what people are gonna do, they’re going to have a lot of failure – and I don’t even like using the word failure. I hate using the word ‘failure’ because there really is no such thing – what the word ‘failure’ is telling you is ‘don’t do it this way, try it another way.’ I love the guests to share that journey on the podcast…the obstacles that made them want to quit, and what made them not quit. Humanize people.”
ROMAN: And your sketches?
WILLIE B: “We’ll come up with a scenario. Some of them are blue, not very clean comedy. We did a P Diddy sketch…things about friends arguing about things. You can find them all on my Instagram @williebarcena.”
ROMAN: Anything else you want to add to kind of re-introduce you to locals here since last time?
WILLIE B: “Well…I’m sober now. Going on two months.”
ex“I drank for a long time. For me it was a spiritual thing. Without sounding too religious, I just had kind of a spiritual awakening, and that’s what led to that.”
*chuckles* “I write a lot more clearly now. There are two friends of mine, acquaintances that started me on that journey. One I had on my podcast, Sam Tripoli, a pretty well-known comedian. He was a heavy drinker, sobered up, and then I had him on my podcast and then it blew my mind. And the other was Jay Mohr. He told me to go to a meeting, and that started my path. They were my guides to me making a change.”
“So there it is, you’ve got a scoop. I’ll probably be in one your churches there on Sunday.”
ROMAN: Has that changed your writing style at all, or it something that is just starting to change?
WILLIE B: “The last few sketches I posted on Instagram there was no cursing. I’m not afraid of cussing, (but) it just made me peel the onion a little more. Once the alcohol would kick in on stage I would tend to go for the low-hanging fruit like sex or drinking, where obviously there are so many more things to life.”
“So that’s how it’s changed me; I believe it’s made me a better and more creative writer.”
ROMAN: What can people expect from you this time around?
WILLIE B: “I love writing. There’s comedians that maybe their style wasn’t a lot like my style, but their work ethic was, and that influenced me a lot. Jerry Seinfeld’s work ethic was above and beyond what a comedic should be doing and that influenced me. I was on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno many times early in my career, and he pushed me to write a lot.”
“The reason I am saying this is because for those who saw me last time, I promise you: maybe 10-percent of the material may me some jokes you heard last time, but 90-percent of the material is going to be brand new and fresh for everybody.”
ROMAN: What was the crowd response that you saw last time on stage? Anything else you want to leave with the public here?
WILLIE B: “I was very well received the last time I was there.”
“I had a genuinely good time performing for the people that were there, it was very organic, and they were very receptive. Sometimes when you do a small town, they want to yell stuff out… (and there wasn’t that last time). I was so happy it was a really good crowd (there). Really good energy.”
“I’m excited
about going
back.”
Willie Barecnas will be in concert at Prestige Event Center in Heber on Saturday, November 15, at 8 p.m. “Willie Barcena Drop-IN Podcast” can be found online at youtube.com/@WillieBarcena. His sketches can be found on his social media pages.
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