On this day in comedy on January 5, 1974 Comedian, Impressionist, Pablo Ridson Francisco was born.
Beginning his comedy career in Tempe, Arizona, Francisco built his reputation on his frenetic, hyper brand of stand-up. Using a barrage of non sequiturs and a cornucopia of callbacks and sound effects, he became an audience favorite. His forte was impressions and Francisco counted Keanu Reeves, Ozzy Osbourne, Jackie Chan, Christopher Walken, Danny Glover, Dennis Haysbert, William Shatner, Aaron Neville, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Springer, “Tony Montana”, Ricky Martin, Chris Rock, Kermit the Frog, Mr. Magoo, Celine Dion and George Clooney as part of his crowd pleasing expansive repertoire. However, his most famous was of Don LaFontaine aka “The Movie Voiceover Guy”. That characterization put Francisco on the industry radar.
Francisco got recognized and got the work. He was a featured player on MADtv in the 1990s. From there the Chilean-American humorist got his own half-hour comedy special on Comedy Central Presents in 2000. He toured with Freddy Soto and Carlos Mencia, calling themselves “The Three Amigos”. Francisco also appeared on The Mind of Mencia as Voiceover Man. He was a perennial on the comedy show circuit on shows like Make Me Laugh, Last Comic Standing, Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand-Up Revolution and Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen. He did The Tonight Show when Jay Leno had it and Frank TV when Frank had it.
Pablo Francisco released his comedy album, Knee To The Groin in 1998, Sausage in 2000, his DVD Bits and Pieces in 2004, Ouch in 2006 and They Put it Out There in 2011.
By Darryl “D’Militant” Littleton
Check out this clip of Pablo:
