Mama's Boy: Matriarchal Miami in Marcello Hernández's Debut Special

By Julia Krys

Poster art for Hernández's Miami Netflix special tapings via LateNighter

Marcello Hernández’s debut Netflix stand-up comedy special, American Boy, is emblematic of the Miami-centric humor he has built his career on. Filmed at the Olympia Theater in Downtown Miami, Hernández fully leans into performing on his home turf. The special begins with his mother, Isabel Cancela, introducing him to the stage over Bad Bunny’s “Después de la Playa,” to which they dance a few pasos as the audience rises to its feet. This moment establishes the foundation for what becomes Hernández’s consistent permission to laugh as he delivers jokes at his mom’s expense.

The majority of the special revolves around his upbringing as the only boy among four women in his household, and how the parenting styles of immigrants draw a stark contrast to the “traditional” American upbringing portrayed in shows like Full House. He has seen how women operate, and it’s not for the faint of heart. Hernández describes witnessing everything from hair removal to being forced into constricting clothes like violent war stories. These stories are brought to life through his signature physical comedy and exaggerated expressions, which resonate especially well with a Miami audience. This heightened expressiveness also speaks to his experience at SNL. Though he got his start in stand-up, Hernández has continued to develop his comedy chops as a character performer, and in this special, both modalities shine.

Marcello Hernández and his mother Isabel Cancela; Marcello/Instagram via Entertainment Weekly

While not everyone may resonate with the Latin-informed humor Hernández delivers, he does not appear to be catering to the masses. The same permission to laugh that he granted his audience by having his mom introduce him is re-established when he launches into several jokes at the expense of his white counterparts, often illuminated by his experience studying in Ohio, or, as he puts it, “studying abroad.” This preamble acknowledges that his jokes about white people are generalizations and highlights how he is totally white within the Latin community, yet deeply Hispanic in Ohio.

One of the first contrasts he draws between white Ohio and Latin Miami is the party-going mentality. In Miami, parties revolve around the presence of girls and trying to invite as many as possible; in Ohio, the goal was to gather as many beers as possible. This moment underlines how the matriarchal themes baked into Hernández’s comedy mirror the way Latin culture views the presence of women in the household. He takes this contrast further by exploring how parents are viewed so differently in immigrant communities. Hernández walks the audience through scenarios he saw on TV as a child, and how they would have played out extremely differently in his household. For instance, representations of American households where children had locks on their doors felt like a fantasy to Hernández as a child. 

There is an endless wealth of jokes to be made in these juxtapositions, and the audience can identify with echoes of how immigrant parents completely alter one’s outlook. Hernández drives this home with his vow to not stop the cycle, and jokes about how he will raise his kids in the same unforgiving tradition. All of these scenarios continue to poke fun at the mindset Miami is built on, one where a child’s suffering will never compare to the sacrifices an immigrant parent has made.

Marcello Hernández performing his special; Samuel Rivas/Netflix via Variety

Like any stand-up special, American Boy was not perfect. It had moments where it grew repetitive or dragged its feet. Still, he delivered on speaking to his hometown community directly and committed to this Latin niche without compromise. Netflix may have filmed other specials in Miami before, but rarely have they captured the Miami perspective as effectively as Hernández does in American Boy. Aware that this special will live a second, far more expansive life on Netflix than it does in the Olympia Theater, he is deliberate in the contrasts he draws. Ultimately, Hernández thrives in the amplification of levity found at the intersections of generation, gender, and ethnicity.