Amid great reviews, Hulu launched its new comedy series This Fool on Friday. Based on the stand-up comedy and early life of comedian Chris Estrada, the show has him playing Julio, a straitlaced 30-year-old living in South Central Los Angeles with his strict mother.
Julio’s cousin Luis, played by fellow stand-up Frankie Quiñones, has just gotten out of prison when the show begins, and the pair make for quite an onscreen odd couple.
The show was co-produced by former SNL star Fred Armisen, who explained what made him want to sign on. “First and foremost is Chris’s sense of humor, the way he sees the world, his experiences,” he tells ABC Audio.
“And for me, it was just an exploration of that culture in South Central Los Angeles. And by that … I mean that there are so many dimensions and levels and depths and also lightness to it. So I just I wanted to see it, and then I would hope that everyone wants to see it.”
Estrada explains, “When we pitched this, we pitched it as Friday, but directed by the Coen Brothers. So it was really cool to think about how to present this world … and this point of view of this character in a way that felt cinematic and offbeat and a little and irreverent, as well.”
The series also stars Sopranos vet Michael Imperioli, who runs a nonprofit for rehabilitating gang members called Hugs Not Thugs, and Michelle Ortiz, who steals scenes as Maggie, Julio’s firecracker ex-girlfriend.
Estrada was already good friends with Quinones from the stand-up days, and he said the rest of the colorful cast was about finding people who felt “authentic” to the show’s off-kilter world.
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