Felipe Esparza

Felipe de Jesus Esparza
Felipe de Jesus Esparza
Born	Sinaloa, Mexico
Medium	Stand-up
Years active	1994–present
Spouse	Lesa O'Daniel Esparza (m. 2012)
Children	4
Website	felipesworld.com

Felipe de Jesus Esparza is a Mexican-born American stand-up comedian and actor. He began performing stand-up in 1994. He won Last Comic Standing in 2010. Felipe is currently on tour for his comedy show, "At My Leisure". In addition, Felipe hosts a weekly popular youtube podcast named "What's up Fool?"

Early life and education

Felipe Esparza was born in Sinaloa, Mexico. He lived on his mother's family's ranch in Sinaloa before moving with his family to live with his aunt in Tijuana, where they lived for about two years. His father had left the family to go to the United States alone. Eventually, before President Reagan's amnesty law, Esparza, his two brothers, and his mother illegally immigrated to the United States, traveling in the car of a "coyote" smuggler. During the trip, they were stopped at a checkpoint in San Clemente, California, and he was held in a holding cell with his brothers, separate from their mother, for a short period of time. The family was deported. They attempted the trip again, but they were stopped and deported again. They tried a third time, using the passports of cousins who lived in California. They changed cars twice and were driven to Carson, California. They were then moved to the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, where his father was living.^[3] Esparza was raised in the Aliso Village housing projects of Boyle Heights.^[4] He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School.^[5]

Career

Esparza began performing stand-up in 1994 after a stint in drug rehab.^[1] He won Last Comic Standing in 2010. He is currently^[6] on tour, "At My Leisure", featuring his unique and relatable comedy which includes his witty and quirky style of storytelling deriving from his own personal life experiences. He has two Netflix comedy specials which are in English and Spanish, "Felipe Esparza: Bad Decisions". His latest Netflix special "Raging Fool" will premiere on February 11, 2025. He also hosts a popular weekly youtube podcast, "What's up fool?". Felipe is currently working on some other exciting upcoming projects as well. ^[7]

Personal life

Esparza has been married to Lesa Esparza since 2014.^[1] Felipe has three children from a previous relationship and Lesa has 1 child. They have no children together.^{[citation needed]}

He has been vegan since 2011.^[8]

Works

Comedy specials


Year	Title	Distributor
2012	They're Not Gonna Laugh at You	Showtime
2017	Translate This	HBO
2020	Bad Decisions	Netflix

Two Netflix comedy specials, "Felipe Esparza: Bad Decisions" which are in English and Spanish.

Felipe's latest Netflix special "Raging Fool" will premiere on February 11, 2025.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
2003	El matador	Pablo^[9]
2009	The Deported	Fernando
2010	I'm Not Like That No More	Felipe Valenzuela
2015	The Fix	Pablo
2016	She's Allergic to Cats	Tow Truck Driver
2018	Taco Shop	Mugres
2020	The Opening Act	Cabbie Steve
2023	Blue Beetle	Security Tech #3

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014-2015, 2020–present	The Eric Andre Show	Himself/Hannibal's co-co-host/Co-host	6 episodes
2015	The Shop	Felipe	7 episodes
2016	Campus Law	Alan	2 episodes
2016-2018	Superstore	Cody	5 episodes
2020	Gentefied	Crazy Dave	Recurring role
2023	Royal Crackers	Mexican Officer (voice)	Episode: "Casa de Darby"

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Sager, Rebekah (September 12, 2017). "'Translate This': Comedian Felipe Esparza Finds the Funny in His Latino Identity". NBC News. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
^ "Basically how it happened... Happy 7th anniversary to my wife (& partner for the last 15 years) @lesainla. Let's keep going!". instagram.com.
^ Rogan, Joe (July 31, 2018). "JRE #1150 - Felipe Esparza". The Joe Rogan Experience (Podcast). Retrieved January 2, 2019.
^ "Ep 94 – Author Paul Hunt". felipesworld.com. March 18, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
^ Lee, Bobby; Kuhn, Khalyla (October 10, 2018). "Episode 163: Felipe Esparza Is Carnage Asada". TigerBelly (Podcast). Event occurs at 00:58:54. Retrieved January 2, 2019.{{cite podcast}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^ When?
^ Fulton, Robert (October 11, 2010). "'Last Comic Standing' winner Felipe Esparza headlines Improv". Washington Examiner. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
^ Kelemen, Matt (February 16, 2018). "Q&A: Felipe Esparza". Las Vegas Magazine. Retrieved January 2, 2019.
^ "Felipe Esparza". IMDB. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

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[NBC-1] Sager, Rebekah (September 12, 2017). "'Translate This': Comedian Felipe Esparza Finds the Funny in His Latino Identity". NBC News. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

[2] "Basically how it happened... Happy 7th anniversary to my wife (& partner for the last 15 years) @lesainla. Let's keep going!". instagram.com.

[3] Rogan, Joe (July 31, 2018). "JRE #1150 - Felipe Esparza". The Joe Rogan Experience (Podcast). Retrieved January 2, 2019.

[4] "Ep 94 – Author Paul Hunt". felipesworld.com. March 18, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

[5] Lee, Bobby; Kuhn, Khalyla (October 10, 2018). "Episode 163: Felipe Esparza Is Carnage Asada". TigerBelly (Podcast). Event occurs at 00:58:54. Retrieved January 2, 2019.{{cite podcast}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

[6] When?

[Washington_Examiner-7] Fulton, Robert (October 11, 2010). "'Last Comic Standing' winner Felipe Esparza headlines Improv". Washington Examiner. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

[8] Kelemen, Matt (February 16, 2018). "Q&A: Felipe Esparza". Las Vegas Magazine. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

[IMDB-9] "Felipe Esparza". IMDB. Retrieved January 2, 2019.

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