On the edge

Adrian Villegas, who likes trying to push the humor envelope, brings his one-man comedy to town this weekend.

By VALERIE CARINO, Times Correspondent

© St. Petersburg Times, published April 28, 2000

Give Adrian Villegas a newspaper, a piece of paper and pen and he'll give you any slew of jokes about Elian, Columbine and inner city shootings.

The comedian, in the tradition of his favorite social commentator/ethnic sketcher/trash talker Richard Pryor, isn't afraid to go there, even if some members of the audience cringe.

"I feel like if you can get away with it, why not?" said Villegas, who brings his one-man comedy, Six Mexicans Named Gonzales, to the Off Center Theater this weekend.

Beyond the newspaper headlines, though, the former University of Texas at Austin film school student has made a name for himself using his own Mexican-American roots as a dartboard.

But he does it in a loving way, whether it's a 19-year-old "gangsta-vato" or a 65-year-old World War II veteran with a penchant for Aztec based martial arts.

"I want to see this kind of stuff," said Villegas, 28. "Right now, it's not out there."

Ironically enough, the more culturally specific Villegas makes his routines, the more he strikes upon a universal element.

Raised in Waco, Texas, Villegas had high hopes of being a film director with the hipness, humor and cultural commentary of Spike Lee. But that plan took a detour when he realized he would rather spend time on his comedy writing and dropped out of the University of Texas.

"I thought that was the more worthwhile pursuit," Villegas said.

But what to do about money?

Villegas found a job as a film projectionist at an Austin theater. While audiences were watching the movies, behind the little square window in the projection room, Villegas was penning the material that would earn him critical respect.

"I thought all this time that I'm investing in writing is eventually going to pay off," he said.

In 1996, he got word of the birth of the Chicano Intelligence Agency, a key moment in Villegas' early career. Much like the Six Mexicans show, he got to try out several Latino/Hispanic jokes, to the delight of Austin audiences.

But the more he got involved in it, the more he discovered he would have more creative control on his own.

So he persuaded the University of Texas to let him perform a one-man routine in the spring of 1997.

Opening night, about 150 people packed in to see him.

"My nerves were wrecked," Villegas said. "I looked out and thought I had gotten myself into something really stupid."

At a glance

• WHAT: Adrian Villegas in Six Mexicans Named Gonzales
• WHEN: 8 p.m. today; 7 p.m. Saturday; 4 p.m. Sunday
• WHERE: Off Center Theater, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
• COST: $15.50
• INFORMATION: Call (813) 229-7827