1
Mar
2021
John Leguizamo’s Latin History For Morons

John Leguizamo’s Latin History For Morons

In this one-man Broadway show, we see actor, stand-up comedian, producer, playwright and screenwriter John Leguizamo unravel 3,000 years of Latino History. Trying to desperately help his bullied son find some Latino heroes that he can present for his school’s graduation project, John discovers that he, himself doesn’t know any either. 

As informative as it is entertaining, John Leguizamo’s Latin History For Morons is another hybrid Netflix documentary that’s definitely worth your monthly subscription.

Armed with this unexpected realisation, this cues up an on-stage deep dive into the history books and peels back a legacy that has been largely forgotten, ignored or deliberately misplaced by America for successive generations. So, by running laps around a stage festooned with props and examples, Leguizamo tries to become the role models that maybe his son can look up to. From unarmed Aztecs killed by the Spanish to the fact that Columbus didn’t “discover” the music, art and culture that was already in place, no slice of history is deemed too heavy for Leguizamo to lift. 

With Latino populations now deemed to un-American by the previous cheese-puff-in-chief (aka Donald Trump), John constantly checks his progress in with his unimpressed son – thereby this gives the evening and the show its linear structure. Devolving into what feels like a battle of wills, John Leguizamo’s Latin History For Morons becomes so much more than a stand-up comedy show but instead a humorously sly quest for cultural rediscovery. 

As such, you can expect to laugh, cry and howl as John dust-busts his way through lie after lie where white history has systematically swept everything under a carpet of convenience. -Like chocolate? That’d be the Latin Americans who first cultivated cacao. -Enjoy watching eclipses? That’d be the Latin Americans who learnt how to predict them. And as more and more of these facts come at you thick and fast, it will become apparent that possibly neither you, nor the audience present, ever truly understood the privilege we all enjoy or the names of those we owe a debt to. -But John does. Jumping back froth between the past and the present, it’s his quicksilver delivery that keeps both the party alive and the history uncovered from ever being stale or obvious.

So, whichever cast or quarter that you claim to hail from – I would suggest is one class that’s worth turning in for. As informative as it is entertaining, this is another hybrid Netflix documentary that’s definitely worth your monthly subscription.