Summary
Marcello Hernandez’s energetic demeanour might be off-putting to some, but it helps to offset some of American Boy‘s more trite observations, and it really helps his stand-out bits to resonate.
As far as I know, ADD isn’t contagious, but Marcello Hernandez’s debut Netflix special, American Boy, will make you wonder. Filmed in Miami and bristling with an energy that can barely be contained, the hour-long set, in which the SNL alum riffs on his first-generation American background, is enlivened by this boundless enthusiasm, helping to improve some of the more trite observations and really enhancing the stand-out personal anecdotes. Hernandez is still a green comic, and there’s room to tighten his material as he grows, but the fact that one hour in his company leaves you feeling as if you’ve been through some sort of assault course is going to make him hard to ignore.
None of this is a criticism, by the way. Mileage may vary with the singing and dancing, and a certain subsection of white people are going to be very annoyed by this special, on account of the first-generation focus just as much as the more overt material about that certain subsection of white people, but what struck me about Hernandez immediately is how likable he is. I’d still make the case that some of his stuff is a bit surface-level and played-out, like an extended bit about the differences between men and women and the behind-closed-doors violence of the female experience, but when he really leans into his own experiences as a Latino raised by a mother who fled Cuba when she was young, he’s extremely engaging.
Hernandez’s mother introduces him, and she’s referred to near-constantly throughout the hour, so this feels as much her special as Marcello’s. That personal thread weaves in and out of everything — the mandated dancing as a child, the family parties, the refusal to allow Hernandez to be diagnosed with the most obvious case of ADD in the history of humankind. Hernandez’s experiences with his mother have shaped his worldview immensely, and they shape his special too, recalling lashings in the mall’s women’s restroom for one perceived slight or another, and an excellent extended song-and-dance bit about his mother’s rejection of the idea that her kids could be depressed.
The special’s two best bits both pertain to this theme of immigrant parenting. The first involves a bit of schoolbus gossip metastasizing into a fully-fledged Child Protective Services investigation, and is superbly well told with a great payoff; the second is about watching Full House from the perspective of a Latino kid and is similarly brilliant stuff, where Hernandez achieves the best balance between physical performance and personal insight.
Hernandez isn’t overtly political in American Boy, but there is some good stuff about white people — if you feel offended, he’s probably talking about you — and the othering of immigrants that is so rife in contemporary discourse. This is good stuff, and the counter-arguments that Latinos only commit fun crimes or solid ones like working illegally are cogent, especially since, as he points out, there are plenty of white people who won’t even work legally. This isn’t preachy, though; it’s more of an earnest take on the subject from someone who grew up almost exclusively around immigrants, and knows better than most how damaging misrepresentations of certain communities can be.
American Boy has its share of “first special” issues, including uneven material and spotty pacing, and there’s a case to be made that Hernandez hasn’t quite nailed his stage persona just yet. But this is a young, fresh, excitable comic with a compellingly specific viewpoint to share. You’re going to see a lot more of him.
