On Thursday, September 29, Deputy News Editor Paulina Rodriguez and Staff Writers Katie Christian and Manny Gonzalez attended a discussion with comedian Joanna Hausmann and professor Frances Negrón-Muntaner, hosted by Columbia’s Institute of Latin American Studies.

“The Art of the Latinx Rant” was a conversation between Joanna Hausmann and Frances Negrón-Muntaner on Latinx identity, humor, and well… ranting. Hosted by Columbia’s Institute of Latin American Studies in Pulitzer Hall’s Joseph D. Jamail Lecture Hall, the conversation drew much attention; the crowd was large and lively. Specifically noted by Hausmann, there not only seemed to be a significant Latinx presence in the audience but a great amount of Venezuelans, a fact that delighted her as she, a Venezuelan herself, stated that she typically doesn’t see more than two at events like this. 

Joanna Hausmann is a Venezuelan-American comedian and writer, best known for her work on her biweekly show Joanna Rants. Aired on Univision’s bilingual platform Flama, the show garnered much attention from multicultural audiences as it focused on bridging gaps and challenging stereotypes through, of course, humor. Some of her awards include Comedian of the Year and Creator of the Year from Hispanicize’s Tecla Awards in 2016 and Excellence in Online Story Telling from the National Hispanic Media Coalition in 2018. Most recently, she is the current head writer for Disney Channel’s animated show Hamster & Gretel.

Frances Negrón-Muntaner is a Puerto Rican filmmaker, writer, and professor in Columbia’s Department of English and Comparative Literature. She has won numerous awards and recognitions for her work exploring race and ethnicity, including but not limited to Columbia’s prestigious Lenfest Award and, most recently, the Bigs & Littles Impact Award. Acknowledged by the United Nations Rapid Response Media Mechanism in 2008, she is a highly regarded expert in the discussion around the Latino identity, serving as one of the world’s leading scholars in the subject. 

After an introduction from Maria Victoria Murillo, director of the Institute of Latin American Studies and Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs, Hausmann and Negrón-Muntaner sat down to discuss Hausmann’s lengthy career and approach to comedy. Hausmann is arguably best known for her series Joanna Rants, which airs on YouTube and Univision, in which the comedian monologues directly at the camera in the style of a late-night host, discussing a variety of topics tied to Latinidad and Latino American experiences.

Speaking on her approach to comedy, Hausmann shared a quote from musician Jack White, “within the particular lies the universal,” explaining that her comedy is driven by sharing her specific experience as a Venezuelan-American, rather than attempting to make content targeted toward a generic “Latino” audience.

Reflecting on her career beginnings, Hausmann shared she has always desired to create content about Latina identity, but as a young improv comedian was told she didn’t fit into the mold of how Americans would perceive a “Latina,” and would need to anglicize to build a successful career. Instead, Hausmann took her own approach to comedy, pivoting to YouTube at the height of the 2010s vlogging craze and starting the Joanna Rants series.

Indeed, Joanna Rants proved to be a quite literal overnight success, with the first video gaining over 8 million views in less than 24 hours. Since then, the channel has only seen continued popularity, with videos like “Latino vs. American Weddings” garnering her a loyal fanbase from around the world. On the appeal of the “rant” format, Hausmann explained that she wanted to capitalize on the rapid success of the vlog style while merging elements of Late Night talk shows, in which hosts open their shows by monolouging into the camera without interruption. However, she says, the format was also born out of a natural frustration after her early comedy career was plagued by what larger media companies perceived as “Latino” or “not Latino.” With Joanna Rants, Hausmann was allowed to make that decision for herself.

Since her pivot to Hollywood as a comedy writer for shows like Hamster and Gretel, Hausmann said this dynamic has changed yet again. “Now, I have to educate the people in charge of making decisions,” she shared, explaining that as a writer, she now takes on the role of both creating Latino stories and convincing executives that they’re a worthy investment.  

Here, the conversation turned to Negrón-Muntaner’s own work as co-author of Not Funny: Latinos in Comedy, which analyzes Latino humor in American media. As Negrón-Muntaner explained, mainstream comedy already allows a narrow palette for Latinos as it is—most comedy surrounding Latinos deals with few topics besides immigration, accents, not fitting into the dominant culture, and laughing at one’s country of origin.

“It all rests on a basic notion,” explained Negrón-Muntaner, “that Latinos deviate from some kind of norm.” Hausmann agreed, saying as a writer, she has also experienced the inverse of this problem, when studio executives overcorrect by refusing to allow Latino characters to be written as imperfect. Instead, in her own writing, she embraces the imperfect, while also allowing American idiosyncrasies to take center stage as the butt of the joke. “It’s a question of punching up, when you’re poking fun at someone in power, and punching down, when you’re making fun of someone with less power than you,” she explains, “and I always punch up.”  

Hausmann’s latest job, as head writer for Disney Channel’s Hamster and Gretel, is different from anything she’s done before. The show follows a young Venezuelan girl, Gretel, her older brother, Kevin, and their pet hamster as Gretel and Hamster both develop superpowers. It was the brainchild of Hausmann’s longtime mentor, Phineas and Ferb creator Dan Povenmire. As Hausmann explained, when Disney Channel approached Povenmire, whose wife is Venezuelan, about writing a series featuring a mixed Venezuelan family that reflected his own, Povenmire agreed only on the condition that he could ensure Latino writers, including Hausmann, would be in the writers’ room alongside him. In turn, Hausmann agreed to join the show so long as the writers’ room remained at least 50% Latino, making Hamster and Gretel home to one of Disney’s most densely-Latino writers’ rooms to date.

Indeed, Latino presence is evident in every aspect of the show, from carefully-crafted animation sequences featuring Venezuelan art and architecture to characters inspired by Hausmann’s own family members, like Gretel’s abuelita, based on Hausmann’s grandmother. Speaking on the difference between Hamster and Gretel and her earlier comedy work, Hausmann explained, “most of my content is about Latino identity. This is about building out a world and finding a way to incorporate Latinidad in a way that feels authentic.” 

The event was then opened up to the audience for questions, one of which delved into the idea of “Dora the Explorer” characters—characters that seem to switch their Spanish on and off in an unauthentic, fragmented way. Specifically, Hausmann and Negrón-Muntaner were asked whether this was improving in writers’ rooms. Both agreed that specificity and authenticity are factors studios are inching towards. No longer do they desire the “neutral Spanish accent”; now, accents that can be pinpointed to specific countries like Argentina, Cuba, or Costa Rica (these are simply examples) are becoming more common.

Hausmann and Negrón-Muntaner also touched on the idea that content packaged specifically “for Latinos” performs worse than expected. Citing an example, the two highlighted two movies in particular: In The Heights (2021) and Father of the Bride (2022). They demonstrated that a movie like In The Heights performed much worse in Latino communities than Father of the Bride as it sacrificed the specificity of the qualms of a Mexican and Cuban union in the latter for a more general, inauthentic representation of all Latinos. Looking towards the future, Hausmann hopes to one day see a show about “imperfect Latinos” that, although written with a Latino audience in mind, is so unequivocally good its humor attracts the “general audience” television producers stress. 

As the conversation came to a close, attendees were welcomed to a large display of Venezuelan-inspired hors d’oeuvres, including plantain chips, balsamic-glazed onions, and anchovies. Those with a still-wandering mind were invited to discuss their lingering thoughts with Hausmann and Negrón-Muntaner. For those unable to attend the event, Hausmann’s show Hamster & Gretel, which engages with many of the themes discussed, is currently streaming on Disney Plus.

Event poster via Institute of Latin American Studies