Though Jesus Trejo has spent the last decade making the rounds from Long Beach to the Comedy Store, his performance on Guam last year might set the record for most hours flown for a single gig. Get to know this comedian who leans on his experiences growing up in Southern California for his material.
What's your favorite taco?
There’s this yellow lunch truck I saw in Wilmington, and then again La Cienega, it’s called El Gallito, which means baby rooster. They have this great guac sauce and big ass quesadillas. They’re also opening this new taco shop down the street from the Comedy Store, called Trejo’s Tacos, and it’s actually owned by Danny Trejo.
I met him once at a car show, a long time ago, so I pulled out my ID and said, “look it says Trejo!” and he asked me if I was one of his kids.
Where is the first place you performed?
I don’t want to say the name of it, because I was underage. Like most comics, I started off watching, and then decided to do it. There was this place in Long Beach three blocks from my high school, but I was only 20 at the time, so I was too young to be in the bar. I asked the guy in charge if I could just do three minutes on stage, and he said, “all right, if you can get past the bouncer we’ll put you on.” So the next week I came back, and whatever happened, the bouncer wasn’t there. I just hung out in the back, and asked if they could put me on stage, they said no. I was like, “but you said,” so finally they put me on for three minutes, just to get rid of me.
It was miserable. It took another year for me to get back up. You think it’s going to be one thing, and it’s so bad. I came back three years later, and conquered the place, but I would never play there again. It’s not a good place for comedy. Everybody’s drunk, and there are homeless people heckling you in the back, asking “can you do that joke again?” “No, you just heard it.”
What is your favorite comedy club?
The Comedy Store. It’s owned by Mitzi Shore, Pauly Shore’s mom. I started here. First you do the open mic, and if they like you they put you as the door guy. You take tickets and park cars for comics, and move your way up to being a paid regular, you get your name on the wall and you don’t have to do the door anymore. I became a regular on Sept. 8, 2012, I kept the line up and had everyone sign it – Mark Maron, Niel Brennan, Bobby Lee.
Complete this sentence: We're living in the golden age of ___________.
Comedy. The cool thing about the Comedy Store is you can be a fly on the wall and hear all kinds of cool things from comics.
