“Oh my gosh, it’s so overwhelming. Everybody is messaging me, telling me that they love it, and what it means to them, and how it resonates with them and people. Even non-Latinos are resonating with it,” says comedian Vanessa Gonzalez. “I just can’t believe it. I haven’t stopped smiling for like a week!” Gonzalez has a good reason to smile. Hell, she’s got una gran razón to smile! That’s because her first full, hour-long, stand-up special MAMONA just dropped on Hulu.
For the non-Mexican Latinos out there (and for anyone who doesn’t know), what exactly is una mamona?
“It’s a Mexican slang term we use for someone who thinks she’s better than everyone else,” says Gonzalez. “But, we would also just throw it around, like any little thing you did. If while we were hanging out, if your friends were telling a story and you didn’t laugh, ‘You’re mamona’. Like anything you did for you. It was just always called out.”
Wanna upgrade your fabric softener from generic to brand-name? Ah… that’s mamona.
How about buying the full-size dry shampoo over the less expensive travel-sized ones? Mamona. And don’t even get us started on the well-known seasonal phenomenon that goes by just its initials. Gonzalez has a whole bit about just how *mamona* the PSL can be.
The theme comes, of course, from Gonzalez’s life. “This is a true story,” Gonzalez said during our one-on-one interview. “I wanted to look like T-Boz from TLC. I wanted the mushroom cut, with the hair in the front. My grandma called me a ‘mamona’ for doing that,” she said. “So it’s like any risk you take for yourself is considered ‘mamona.’”
The risks Gonzalez takes in her comedy aren’t revolutionary, but they are meaningful. “Yeah, it was always such a contradictory thing growing up Latina, in Mexican culture,” Gonzalez says. “They (elders) want you to be like chingona, right? Like, be tough. Don’t cry. Don’t let anybody know your problems. And don’t ask for help,” she says. “But then, when you do, then you’re considered ‘mamona.’ So what am I supposed to be?”
That’s a good question: What is Gonzalez supposed to be? Ask her, and she’ll tell you she’s a writer, actor, and comedian. She, like all of us, isn’t just one thing. But at her core, she says she’s a storyteller.
“I’ve always loved storytelling. That’s my style,” she tells Latina Media Co. “I’m not really like a setup punchline type of comic. I’ve always just loved telling stories. I think that’s how I grew up – going to the carne asadas and the family outings.”
And that’s the part that resonates with everyone.
“My whole family is full of jokesters, and everyone was roasting each other. I feel like I was taught and brought up to be funny,” she shares. “When I found the art form of performing and writing, I just fell in love with that… I want to do more of that sharing my experience because it is so powerful when you get so vulnerable and truthful and then people are like, ‘Hey I totally get what you’re saying!’ There’s no other feeling like that!”
Her comedy has earned Gonzalez some pretty cool shout-outs to date. She’s nabbed a spot on Variety’s Top 10 Comics to Watch list in 2022. In 2019, Vulture named her one of its Best New Up-and-Coming comedians. She also released the comedy album My Birthday’s Tomorrow.
And she’s done all of that, despite comedy consistently overlooking Latinas. “It’s definitely hard,” Gonzalez says with a sigh. “There are so many Latina comedians who are so talented, but we don’t see them… it’s just so rare. As a Latina comedian, you do see that the men – the Latino men – get more attention. People go and sell out their shows, and watch their things, and support them.”
“As a Latina, we get criticized more, thought of as ‘mamonas’ for speaking our mind, saying what we believe in,” she explains, “Sometimes the culture turns against us for doing that. So it’s hard for us to get the support behind us, like the men do.”
“Even within my own family, I’ve been criticized for speaking about certain things that I believe in. And, they tell me they disagree with what I’m saying, and that’s fine,” she says. “Before, it used to stop me. Now I’m like, ‘well, you know what? They’re mad anyway, so let them be mad – I’m gonna do my art, and I’m doing this for me. I’m an artist. I want to speak about these things.’”
And as for you? Her wish for you is simple …. “I’m encouraging everybody to be as mamona as you can be. Who cares what people think? Follow your dreams! If you’re thinking like, ‘oh, I don’t want to do that, or what are people gonna say? ‘Get out of your own way! Do something for yourself! Put yourself first! Go to the doctor. Get checked. You know. Go to therapy. Get on your anxiety medications. It’s okay. Be my mamona!”
Mamona is streaming now on Hulu.
