Comic Carlos Mencia Still has a lot on his Mind
Karen Shade - Tulsa World
Oct 28, 2009
It's been a fun year for Carlos Mencia. It's been a year of change.
"Change, man," exclaimed the comedian best known for the Comedy Central series "Mind of Mencia."
"I mean, I stopped doing the TV show, and then all these other opportunities popped up. I wanted to take it easy, but I'm really not able to. I'm feeling the calling again."
That calling is coming from several directions these days. Mencia has a few movies coming up -- including "Family Wedding," due out in March -- and he's working on a sitcom. He also stays busy on the road doing stand-up comedy.
"I live my life as full as I possibly can, and I've done that forever. I have no regrets," he said. "I get to make people smile and laugh and look at life from a difference perspective for a living. That's pretty amazing. I make people happy and get paid for it."
When Mencia makes people laugh, sometimes he manages to get them worked up, too, especially with jokes dealing with race. He insists that this is not done to get a rise out of people.
"No! I swear to God, I don't. I really, really don't. I think that people (who) get mad or take offense to my comedy don't understand America," he said. "They don't understand that it's a joke. I'm not a commentator. I'm not on the news. I literally am just being funny, and my intent is literally just to be funny."
When "Mind of Mencia" was canceled last year after four seasons, other doors opened. Mencia is now at work on "Family Wedding," a comedy also starring Forest Whitaker and America Ferrera, about two families -- one black, one Hispanic -- brought together by a wedding.
"It just feels like everything I look at is all about our differences and nobody wants to bring us together and make us laugh," he said. "I just feel like it's a good time for somebody like me, who just wants to make fun of anything and everything that's out there.
"I hope to God that somebody with a microphone is able to remind us that in the end we're all Americans. I hope it doesn't take another bomb."
CARLOS MENCIA When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Million Dollar Elm Casino, L.L. Tisdale Parkway and 36th Street North
Tickets: $45 and up, at the event center box office and by phone, 699-7667
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