By Cesar Arredondo
After a long career in Los Angeles, rising comedian Aida Rodriguez is finally getting her first hour-long standup comedy special. Aida Rodriguez: Fighting Words premieres Nov. 4 on HBO Max.
In her show, the Afro-Latina jokester of Dominican and Puerto Rican descent is tackling current issues that dominate the headlines and talking about getting back into dating, her upbringing and family life, and embracing her Caribbean heritage.
Her trademark comedy is turning her life’s pain into humorous material. Having been the subject of two kidnappings by warring family members during childhood, her personal tragedy is not off-limits.
Rodriguez’s HBO Max show concludes with a documentary of the Boston-born comedienne traveling to Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic to celebrate these two nations’ vibrant cultures. The TV special also gets serious with family matters and also acknowledges new talent. Cameras capture her reunion with her estranged father and the jokester’s effort to support up-and-coming comedians.
Misogyny, racism and other social ills afflicting humanity are also targets of this funnywoman who also happens to be a regular commentator on the political YouTube show The Young Turks.
Aida Rodriguez: Fighting Words is directed by two filmmakers who hail from distinctively different genres, Kristian Mercado and Nadia Hallgren. Mercado has directed a handful of funny TV specials like HBO Max’s Phoebe Robinson: Sorry, Harriet Tubman; Hallgren directed Becoming, the Netflix doc about former First Lady Michelle Obama. Rodriguez’s special is executive produced by herself as well as Michelle Caputo and Shannon Hartman for Art & Industry.
Fighting Words arrives two years after the Latina humorist was featured on Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready, the series led by Primetime Emmy Award-winner Haddish and which aired on Netflix.
Making a living out of making people laugh wasn’t in Rodriguez’s career plans. She reportedly pursued a degree in English and law at Florida State University but dropped out after she became pregnant. She was married to a Florida State Seminoles player but divorced him before moving to Los Angeles in the early 2000s, turning to filmmaking, acting in minor roles and standup comedy. Her first film credit on her IMDb page is as second unit director in the 2006 indie horror flick VooDoo Curse: The Giddeh. The following year she got a small role in the video Black Woman’s Guide to Finding a Good Man, the first of many comedy projects at the same time that she started to delve into penning and producing humor and drama and traveling the comedy club circuit.
After several years of wearing multiple creative hats, Rodriguez joined the eighth season of NBC’s Last Comic Standing, placing seventh among ten finalists and later in Fusion’s TV movie All Def Digital’s Roast of America, which she also co-wrote.
Then came the opportunity to work with Haddish in 2019, performing in six episodes of Tiffany Haddish Presents: They Ready, where she shared the stage with the seasoned African-American comedic star and a about a dozen up-and-coming standup talents.
Now, in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic, Rodriguez gets ready to do what she may do best, turning her wounds into jokes about life.
“Took this trip with some amazing people during a very complicated time. Looking forward to sharing it with you,” posted Rodriguez along with a poster promoting her cable channel’s Max Original show.
Featured Photo: Aida Rodriguez (Courtesy: Artist)