A man. A road. A desire to forge a movie trailer voice and become a star. Pablo Francisco performs at DC Comedy Loft from Thursday to Saturday.
Listen to our entire conversation on my podcast “Beyond the Fame.”
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previewer Pablo Francisco on DC Comedy Loft (part 1)
A man. A road. A desire to forge a movie trailer voice and become a star.
Pablo Francisco performs at DC Comedy Loft from Thursday to Saturday.
“It will tear your voice up,” Francisco told the WTOP. “I got a hard skin with a cigarette butt.”
How can the film’s trailer voice describe the last two years of the pandemic?
“This summer, misery has written all over it,” Francisco said. “With Keanu Reeves, ‘Whoa!’, And Mark Wahlberg, ‘Hey man, do you have Delta? Do you have Omicron?’ [Explosion] This summer it’s ‘Omicron Delta Corona 2 Virus,’ [explosion]come to a theater near you! “
Born in Tucson, Arizona in 1974, Francisco started at The Improv and Laff’s Comedy Club.
“I was 18 years old,” Francisco said. “Every single week, owner Gary Bynum picked up the best headliners. It was Tim Allen and Bobcat Goldthwait.” Then Pauly Shore came to town “and I opened up to him at the University of Arizona.” I worked from there and jumped back and forth to Los Angeles. Angeles.… It was a beautiful thing. ”
His comedy colleagues proved to be important showbiz connections.
“You meet comics like Mark Brazill, we went out partying, I dropped him off at the airport, he said, ‘You do not want to see me again, I have an idea for the show,’ it turned out to be ‘That ’70. ‘is Show,’ “Francisco said.” You want to see comics that make $ 250 a week all of a sudden, boom, they’re writing a movie and it’s $ 1 million. … ‘Hey, man, I just bought a boat!’ ”
Francisco tried to put together his own development agreement.
“Back then, it was like, ‘Have you got your development agreement yet?'” Francisco said. “Mine was called ‘PABLO: Phoenix Auxiliary Biological Law Officer’ [with] one of the producers of ‘The Simpsons’. … It was a ‘Mork & Mindy’ thing, a kid who grew up watching TV… came from another country and [learned] these voices by watching TV… but it did not go through. “
Instead, he wrote commercials for Coca Cola, content for NFL Films, and eventually joined the cast and writing team in the hit sketch comedy series “MADtv” from 1996 to 1997.
“My dad saw me and said, ‘I do not know what this comedy industry is about, but you have to get out of this house’ … threw me out of the house,” Francisco said. “Five weeks later I came back. ‘He says,’ I have some bad news for you. There’s a woman on Channel 11 on Fox on ‘MADtv,’ she’s doing your thing. ‘ I said, ‘Dad, it’s me. I’m the Mexican girl.
What did he enjoy most about working on “MADtv?”
“The writing was so good,” Francisco said. “They said, ‘Artie [Lange] has got a movie deal and is leaving for the next seven episodes, do you want to join? ‘ … Talk about a powerhouse of great writers, Patton Oswalt was on the team, Orlando Jones. … You would go to Warner Bros. Studios and every week was different: Mark Hamill, Ike Turner. ”
It was around this time that he discovered his movie trailer talent.
“Kevin James just got ‘Star Search’ so we’re in Vegas … and I kept saying, ‘A man, a wish,’ and he says, ‘You really have to start doing more of this,'” said Francisco. “Frank Caliendo did it, so I talked to Frank.… He says, ‘I have this show,’ Frank TV. ‘Why don’t you come down. We’re doing The Three Tenors of Movie Guys.’
The third guy in the sketch was the real movie trailer king, Don LaFontaine, who invited Francisco over to see his house during a five-hour break from the filming of the show.
“He says, ‘Let’s go downstairs and do a voiceover,’ said Francisco. ‘He said,’ I go and do three of these a day, and I live like a king. ‘ … He takes me around his house and says, “This was my first movie.” Then he says, ‘We must work on your voice.’ He picks up a camera and says, “I want to take a picture with you because you make me better than I do.”
LaFontaine died in 2008, but Francisco continues the legacy.
“I used to call him like every week, so he asked if I wanted to do voiceovers,” Francisco said. “He gave me his own recording stitches. It’s in my house right now! This is where he made all his movie previews.… Now it’s starting to pick up well, so I’m activating the studio.… A guy is building a studio in my house.… At that time he treated me better than my father. “
Today, his father finally believes he actually made it.
“When you get home drunk and go, ‘Hey, Dad! I’m a star!’ … Your father says, ‘Yes, right,’ said Francisco. “I pulled out my Corvette and he said, ‘How much drug did you sell for it?’ After a while, we flew to Washington once on the Mayflower [Hotel]. He says: ‘I have to give it to you, I’m so sorry I never backed you up, I had no idea’ ‘.
WTOP’s Jason Fraley previewer Pablo Francisco on DC Comedy Loft (part 2)
Listen to our entire conversation on my podcast “Beyond the Fame.”