Episode #412
Frankie Quiñones is a stand-up comedian and actor best known for his character work. Frankie stars as Luis on the Hulu series, This Fool, which was just picked up for a second season. He also co-starred in a web series that got bought by TBS, The Dress Up Gang, put out his own stand-up and sketch special on HBO Max, Superhomies, has begun recurring as cousin Miguel on the FX on Hulu comedy, What We Do In The Shadows, and just launched his own podcast, The Frankie Quiñones Show, presented by Will Ferrell’s Big Money Players Network and iHeart Radio. Frankie joined me over Zoom to talk about creating characters such as Creeper and Emo Primo, his real-life relationship with This Fool co-star Chris Estrada, and more.
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This transcript has been edited and condensed only slightly for your convenience.
Last things first: Congratulations on your scene-stealing, show-stopping performance as Luis on This Fool. I know Chris (Estrada) has been on record saying he didn’t write it for you specifically, but it feels like I don’t know anyone else who could play this character.
Oh, right. Yeah, man. Thank you for saying that. Yeah, Chris has been a longtime friend for almost 10 years now. You know, I was always around him when he was working on the show, he’d spit ball about it. He was telling me what the process was and stuff like that, but they were more looking for something more on the nose, like a guy that was bigger than him, tatted up like, that kind of vibe and they were having trouble finding him. And then they had me start reading for the part. And then a couple of the producers were like, ‘Oh, man. He’s making it more interesting, being this Joe Pesci kind vibe.’ And the other producers and writers I’ve known for over 10 years also, like Pat Bishop, Matt Ingebretson, and Jake Weisman.
Those are the Corporate guys, right? (NOTE: Corporate aired on Comedy Central for three seasons from 2018-2020)
Yeah, they did that show Corporate.
You were on that, too.
They gave me a little cameo on that, yeah. So it was kind of cool because it helped that we already kind of had a chemistry going, but not everybody was on board. They were like, I don’t know, Frankie, because they all know me as positive vibes. Hey, guys! What’s up? Let’s kick it! They were like, we need this tough dude. And I’m like, Well, you know, I did grow up around guys like that, and I knew I could do it. And Chris knew I could do it. And so he kind of went to bat for me, and they started having me read for the part. Slowly, other people that didn’t see it at first started coming on board like OK, we do see it. After that, it made it fun after that, because then when they started writing the actual script, we already knew the vibe and they’re kind of throwing me alley-oops in the script where I could be like, OK, here we go! Boom! And then Pat Bishop, Matt Ingebretson, and Diego Velasco — they directed all the episodes and they would always give me my takes. They’d go, alright Frankie, we got it. This next one is for you. Do you want another one? They would let me have fun with it and then in the edit, they would piece them together. Yeah, it was cool, man.
You’re an LA native, right?
I was born in San Fernando but I mostly grew up in Ventura County. We lived here when I was little, and then we moved to Ventura County, so Oxnard, Camarillo, Ventura, all of that area. And then I lived in San Francisco for almost 15 years.
That’s why I brought it up, because it struck me as odd, that’s where you developed as a comedian first was, was Northern California, in the Bay Area. How did you decide to go north first?
I went there just go to school and I had family there. And so I went to San Francisco State, was living with a cousin of mine, met a lot of friends. I always knew I wanted to do stand-up. I had graduated school. I thought I was gonna come back to LA after, but I ended up staying up there. I was working in shipping and receiving. I was working at a hardware store and shipping receiving job after I graduated, because hey — gotta put that diploma to good use! — but I was like doing pallets and stuff like that. But a friend of mine was like, hey I found this place. I kept telling him that I wanted to try stand-up. And I was already about 25 at the time, and he goes, oh man, I just went to this place. We both took broadcasting and audio engineering classes in school together. He said, this guy hired me to record him at this place. You should come try it here. They had this open mic, it’s called the Brainwash Cafe. And it was like a laundromat/cafe. It was the longest running open mic in San Francisco at the time, like 21 years or something. And so I was all nervous. Got my five minutes ready and that’s the first place I ever did stand-up. That was 16 years ago now, but I went up there super nervous. Did stand-up for the first time. I was doing low-hanging fruit jokes like diarrhea jokes and sex jokes, and stuff like that. But I got some laughs and thought, I’ve got something here. That place was pretty cool. Robin Williams would pop in there. Dana Carvey. Like all these like legends, you know. It was a pretty cool place that had a built-in audience cuz people would be doing there laundry, standing there waiting for their clothes to dry, watching us do stand-up. It was cool, man.
I think I remember back when Last Comic Standing was on. In the early seasons, they would have these challenge episodes, and one of them was set in a laundromat and people were like, Wait. Why are you doing stand-up in a laundromat? But then if you like really dig into it, you find out, oh yeah, there’s places in California where that’s actually a thing.
And that place, Brainwash Cafe, actually had good food and craft beers and burgers and stuff like that. So it was a good vibe. Sadly, it’s one of the many places that has closed down in San Francisco.
How did you decide it was time for you to move back to Southern California?
San Francisco is a great place to hone your craft because you get to get a lot more stage time there. Places like LA, so many people move here to try to to make it in the game, some use stand-up as an angle to get into other things like acting or something like that. Where you know, you’re paying your five bucks to get three five-minute sets at places. In San Francisco, you could be three months in and getting 10-, 15-minute sets. I was grateful for that. But then I got into the clubs, at Punchline and Cobb’s, and I started doing monthlies there. I was hustling man, it was back when flyers was a thing. I was flyer-ing with my homies, and flyer-ing like all day long, passing out like 10,000 flyers and have like 20 people show up. But slowly it built. And then I started to gain a following there. You can only take it as far as you can, in my opinion, in a place like that because there’s no industry there. So I started doing a show bi-monthly at the Hollywood Improv. I was coming back down, and I was like OK man. I think it’s time to make the move down there. Because you either gotta go to LA or New York, depending on what avenue you want to take in this thing, so I took it as far as I could up there in San Francisco. I love it up there, but I was like alright, time to go back home. And then I came. I was like sleeping on a homie’s couch, bussing tables, and then me and some homies — The Dress Up Gang, it’s a sketch group I’m a part of — we sold a show to a TBS, and that happened about you know, we were already kind of doing stuff. So I thought, it’s time for me to go there, but I was a starving artist, definitely, for a while. And then we sold that show and that’s when everything changed for me.
So you were still living in the Bay Area when The Dress Up Gang happened?
We all met up there. I lived with Cory (Loykasek) and Donny (Divanian), and then we started doing that web series. They’re like, hey, do you want to do a web series. I was like, yeah, we’re here. We were in that apartment doing that web series, and it caught wind, and then Abso Lutely Productions was like, we love this. They started giving us a little money to keep doing the web series. And then we ended up selling the show, and they actually built a replica of our apartment on a stage in Burbank, which was really cool, man. But then this merger happened with AT&T, Time Warner — I don’t want to get too into it.
That’s even crazier to hear that they built a replica of your apartment to film this show for TBS, and then TBS never put it on TV. They put it on tbs.com. It might still be there.
Like two years later.
But I checked earlier just to see because I remember writing about this when I reviwed Superhomies, that for whatever reason, you guys aren’t on HBO Max, which would seem like — Dress Up Gang should be on HBO Max.
It was heartbreaking, because a lot of our peers that we saw, even like big names in this industry saw it, thought — they said Oh my God, it was so good, so heartfelt and warm and ridiculous at the same time. But you know, it’s that subtle dry humor. I loved it. I think it would have done great. But things happen. This industry is crazy.
OK, so I still have a couple more questions about this. First question. How did you end up becoming friends with Cory and Donny to begin with?
I met them at the Brainwash. We were doing open mics. Yeah. Me and Cory kind of hit it off and then Donny and then, from that little cafe, I started getting — I got my first paid gig, $20, thinking aw, yeah! It’s all about to be happening! Then you realize four years later that oh, this is gonna be a marathon. Nothing is gonna happen overnight.
So what did Turner tell you guys at the end of it? Did they give you an explanation or what did they say?
They were going to launch a whole comedy block that was gonna be their new thing. And then that merger happened and they basically canceled that whole comedy block that was gonna come out. It was not only our show. I think it was like four other shows.
That was right around the same time as Angie Tribeca?
TBS ordered The Dress Up Gang in 2017, and released the episodes online only on TBS.com in 2020. In that time period, TBS also was broadcasting Angie Tribeca (2016–18) People of Earth (2016–17), Search Party (2016–17; moved to HBO Max) The Detour (2016–19), Wrecked (2016–18), The Guest Book (2017–18) and The Last O.G. (2018–21). The animated Final Space also premiered in 2018, but then got moved to Adult Swim.
Yes around then. It’s crazy, because we shot all 10 episodes. It wasn’t a big budget show, but it was an emotional roller coaster. We sold that show, I was delivering a sandwich when we got the news and that was the last time I delivered sandwiches, but then CholoFit went viral like a month after that. So I was like, dude, this is happening, and then, our show was supposed to premiere that winter, but then they were like, hold up. All the people that were all fully on board, just develop it. They all moved to other networks or other companies. It just got lost man, and buried. It was so hard. We were like, just put it on air! We don’t care if you air it at midnight or 1 a.m. on a Tuesday. Just put it out there! We want people to see it. Yeah, it’s incredible, that those things happen.
So that was when you thought you were quitting your day job, right, because you just delivered your last sandwich.
I did. I was on my way to deliver a sandwich to the dormitories at UCLA, like this college kid at UCLA. I’m delivering him a sandwich. And they called us and said, we sold the show, and so, you know, we got to get work. I almost didn’t deliver the sandwich. I really had a moment where I thought, dude, should I just eat this sandwich?
What company were you delivering for?
It was when Postmates first started. I was really bummed, too, because I had gotten a DUI like, whatever, like years before. They were like, Oh, you can’t deliver food unless you get that expunged. So I had to come up with this money to get the thing expunged because I was on good behavior for five years. Got that expunged. OK, cool, I can do Postmates. I was on that grind, delivering food because I would get fired a lot from restaurants because I would bus tables, but I would request a lot of days off for comedy. They’d be like, we can’t give you these days off. It’d be like, alright, I would just take it. I’m not coming. I got to do the show. I’ll be honest with them, and they’d be ok, but they’d fire me. And then on to the next gig.
The show doesn’t go but during this process you mentioned CholoFit goes viral. That’s Creeper. Was that through Mas Mejor?
We definitely did that on our own. Mas Mejor was Broadway Video’s attempt at, like, hey, we’re doing things for Latinos. Yeah, they gave us…these interesting contracts. But yeah, it was a character that I was doing before. I was doing Creeper before that. Yeah, we did that and it went viral on that platform. So I’m grateful for that. Because I was able to sell tickets at shows, and it was cool because a lot of people would come expecting to see like, oh, a YouTuber. That’s how they knew me. They didn’t know what I was gonna do. Like they didn’t know I had been doing stand-up. That’s how I started. So it was kind of cool to just fill the seats and, bam! Here’s what I’ve got. I do a real show. Not just going to do a Q&A or whatever. And so I was able to start making a living, just touring and then we got paid for the TBS show even though it didn’t never aired. But from there, I just kept moving and during that time is when I took Chris Estrada — I met him at Echoes Under Sunset at an open mic that’s no longer there in Echo Park. When I started catching those gigs or going on weekends, I took him with me on the road. So we spent a lot of time together. When Chris started working on this, it’s funny because our relationship in real life is very similar to what it is on camera in This Fool. Normally I’m like real nice and everything but our relationship is we’re talking smack to each other all the time, so it kind of worked organically in that way.
Was your experience with Dress Up Gang and Broadway Video — did that make you a little more cautious when you’re watching Chris develop This Fool, not trying to get his hopes up or your hopes up?
Oh yeah. Because Chris and I were friends during that whole process as well. The more people you meet or the more friends that I came up with that are going through similar things. It’s like this business is very crazy and so wild, and even to the gatekeepers executives all that it’s like, everybody’s pretty much trying to keep their jobs. But things are always changing, what people want. And so I always was like, Alright, I was rooting him on. It couldn’t happen to a better guy. He’s such a hard worker. He’s like an old soul. You know? I met him shortly after he started stand-up and he just, he’s a student. He’s always reading, doing his research, like, so he knows what’s up. And so, he was always like, who knows? I know. Because it gets very discouraging, you know, especially trying to put our voice out there. The industry will be like, Oh my gosh, we love it. We love what you do. We need your voice, but we need you to do it this way, to be not so much like you know. It’s like, oh, ok. I’ve been asked that many times to change stuff and this and that, but I’m like, Oh man, I just want to do what I want to do. I’ve only got one life to live on this planet. I don’t want to do the little song and dance and get a check. Like, I don’t ever want to do that. But it worked out. I just stuck to it. And so did Chris. Once those the producers got on board, the most important thing was for that show to feel authentic. And so you have to the pick of battles with people. But it was like the first time that I experienced like producers, not from our community or upbringing. To me, it’s all one, love. But they were like very like about it. Hey, does this feel like authentic to you guys? Would you say like this? It was like down to the T. And so to me, when that authenticity happens. I’m always happy to see our shit on TV, but I’m like oh man, you almost had it. It could be some little details, or some other hands could’ve been in this. It was cool to see that, them like really caring about the authenticity, because to me I’m like it could be from any background, if you see something that just feels really like real, you can kind of get drawn into it a little more and then can go for that ride because like all these are just real people. You could be from a totally different place, but then funny is funny in the end. Chris was like if you saw him in the process, you’d be completely surprised that it was this guy’s first time producing a show or even acting. He was just on another level, cuz he did his research to the fullest. And the other producers on board, the homies Fred Armisen and Jonathan Groff are also part of the team. Those are obviously old-school legends, experienced and so they would just kind of it’s gonna help
Had you already made Superhomies before This Fool?
Aw, man. Superhomies. Oh man. That was — thank you for your — because I was like, grrr.
Well, I only bring it up because, you talked about when you first took the mic, that Brainwash, you were doing like diarrhea jokes, and then at some point, you shifted to character work. Creeper is like the biggest hit character you have. But you have all these other characters. When did that shift happen for you?
So my stand-up I do like a lot of storytelling and voices and stuff like that. So naturally led into character work. I was doing like JC and all these other characters, Pachanga, in this place called the Dark Room in the Mission District in San Francisco. And I would do my stand-up and characters there, and that’s when I started like developing it. So naturally, it led to like, I’m gonna start filming sketches and doing that stuff. I was doing it on my own. Long story short, Creeper was based off my father. Who was an old-school Cholo, one of the most positive people I know. Creeper’s an extension of that. When I really got him dialed in — because this past February was 10 years since I did Creeper in videos — but I got him dialed in and polished up and really grounded. And even though it’s like an over-the-top character, fitness instructor, but like, people I know, they’re like he feels like a real dude. So when he went viral. I was like, oh, OK, well, people are showing up to these shows because of that character, so I had to start developing live acts for them. And so that’s when I like fully got into it. And I was like, well, if you’re down to see this character I’m going to show you my other characters. In my live show, I would do like at least three characters and myself. It just turned into a thing. I get a lot of love from my peers and musicians and all this stuff and that’s when I start being like, oh, man, we got something here. Robin Williams is one of my personal idols and obviously he took it as far as you could go with character work and stuff like that. And also the show Martin. He would do the characters in a network sitcom. That was like, really inspiring. And it’s like, one of my personal goals is to like, hopefully to get to that level of doing like features and stuff like that with characters just like Adam Sandler.
You mentioned Robin being a hero of yours. And earlier you mentioned that, that he might drop in at one of the shows in San Francisco. What was it like then as a new young comedian to see your hero suddenly show up randomly at a venue?
I tried not to be all, oh my gosh! But I was just so in awe. But he was so nice, man. Like, he’s going out of his way to be nice. That’s what he gave a fuck about man, is trying to be nice to motherfuckers. And I met him like four or five times. And then one time, I was going to see there’s a legendary LA photographer, Estevan Oriol. I was like, following him for a long time, and he was doing collaborations with Upper Playground. This company, they do clothing, stuff like that really artsy place in San Francisco. Lower Haight. I go there to see Estevan, he’s like doing ra elease with them with his photos printed on shirts. And Robin Williams is there, like supporting this dude? And I’m like, Oh my gosh, it just took it to a whole nother level. I’m like, Oh my God, this dude is about dope shit. You know, like, he just knows what’s up. He’s cool as fuck. He’s a nice-ass, bright, articulate. Oh man, I loved that dude. Man. I loved him so much. One time he walked up to me because I was wearing a shirt, and he comments on the shirt. It was this artsy T-shirt. He goes, I know that artist. Oh, Robin! Thank you! Like that energy I just carry it with me man. I’m so grateful that this dude was on this planet for when he was.
OK, so obviously you have mixed emotions about Superhomies. But then you’ve turned it into the new podcast that you have, The Frankie Quinones Show, on iHeartRadio, with Will Farrell’s network. What went into that decision to go, OK, so it might not have worked completely how you wanted it to as a sketch show, but maybe audio can work? How did that happen?
I’m very grateful that HBO Max, that they let me add the sketches because the stand-up part we shot before pandemic, like towards the end of 2019. It was supposed to be out by the summer or spring of 2020. But obviously that changed. I rushed myself, didn’t look at all the details before stepping into that taping. I look forward to preparing, getting everything lined up and knowing that I’m gonna film this (next) special like three months from now or four months from now. That was not the process for Superhomies. But I’m grateful that I had that opportunity. It was done through a third party that HBO Max hired. By the time it came that they said they were gonna put this out. I was like man, it was so far back then. And I mean, we’re all our worst critics. So I watching the footage going, Dang! Like I wanted to redo this. I was like, can I add some sketches? I was grateful that they let me add the sketches and to me that made it watchable, at least. But yeah, it was cool. We have some opportunities coming up with making a sketch show. But when iHeart and Big Money Players and Will Ferrell, which is like, love that dude, he’s obviously a legend. He’s like, I love these characters, man. Like, they’re super specific but also super funny. I think people will love him, like a wider audience. He’s like do you wanna do this? Because he had a successful Ron Burgandy, his character from Anchorman, podcast. And so that went so big that iHeart, they made a deal and he started his own podcast company. And he reached out to me. He was like, you know what you think about this? And I was like, oh my gosh, because the wheels had already been spinning for me to do want to do a podcast, but I was like, Oh, everybody has a podcast. But then, I’ve got friends like Tom Segura, and he said, yo, start a podcast.
Oh yeah, Tom and Christina, their podcast Your Mom’s House is huge.
Oh man, and they’re great. They show me so much love. And I’ve been on their podcast. They’re one of the people, you know, like, it’s a way to get the people right to you. And so, yeah, I wanted to do all sketches. That’s so much work. We do a lot of sketches. Because, you know, I grew up listening to Cheech and Chong tapes, Adam Sandler CDs, and the Jerky Boys, even though some of that doesn’t hold up. That was like my inspiration. And so I was like, I’m gonna do sketches. Toward the end of the first season we started incorporating interviews, too. And so this second season we have interviews with some of my friends and celebrities and stuff like that, and we just we weave it into sketches that we pre-record with sound effects and characters and stuff like that. So it’s a lot of fun man and the fact that Will Ferrell is a producer. I mean, it’s kind of a dream come true for me. So I’m very grateful for that. And it’s just cool man that I can just put that out there, and people listen to it.
I also learned through it that you’re really a big fan of emo music.
It might be too late when people listen to this podcast to really appreciate your Halloween song but does Emo Primo have a bunch of other songs?
He’s got a couple of songs on Spotify. One of his main songs is Everything is Lame.
Are you big on social media still, or are you just focused on actual media?
That’s been a learning process for me, because when I started doing comedy, it was MySpace. I’m showing my age, I’m 42 now. I’m grateful for all those platforms, because that’s where my name got out. Now people are like, you’ve got to get on TikTok. Man! I’ve already got all these things. Now I’ve got to get on TikTok? But a year ago I did get on TikTok, and that’s where the most followers are. Creeper is on there. And he has like (edit: 762,300) followers, and I need to get hip to it, still. They’re like, you’ve got to feed the algorithm. Ah! Ahh! I just want to make good shit.
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Can’t you just listen to my podcast or watch me on This Fool or even now What We Do in the Shadows? What other cool stuff do you have coming down the pipeline?
Man, I mean, that’s pretty much it. We’re pretty busy with the podcast. You know, the second season of This Fool is being worked on but I leave next week to go back out to Toronto for a while to do some more What We Do In The Shadows. So I’m excited about that. And then I’m touring again. So it’s cool. We’re already on that grind building audiences and cities and now This Fool the Hulu shows add an extra layer to go back on the road.
Your other experiences, you’re working with a lot of people that you have history with. With What We Do in the Shadows, it’s a completely different thing when you’re dropped into a pre-existing community of actors and creators. What’s it been like for you to get thrown into that?
Oh, man. It’s been cool because now like a lot of stuff I get booked on is because people are like fans. What We Do… when that opportunity came up for that, you know, my reps are like, hey, just read these lines on your iPhone real quick right now. And I was like, Alright, cool. And then three hours later, they called, said you got it. Whoa. What? I didn’t really ask like, what the details were and then I just go out there to Toronto, and then I get there. And I’m like, studying my lines, making sure I know every line. My first day on set, they say thanks for being here, do you have time to meet Paul? Paul wants to meet you. I go upstairs and it’s Paul Simms, who, he’s done a lot of things like Atlanta, Girls on HBO. He goes, oh, man. Thank you so much for being out here. We quote all your CholoFit videos with Creeper. I’m like, shit, what? These people know who I am? I am grateful for that. And then we get to filming and the director of my episode was Kyle Newacheck, an old-school dude who did Workaholics. We did takes where I do the lines. He pulls me aside, Hey man. Thanks for doing the lines, but know I know what to do. I’m a fan. Go do that. Most of that show is improv. It was a lot of fun and it’s just a well-oiled machine, that show and the set was just crazy. Disneyland Haunted Mansion but on crack. They have like a whole construction company… it’s all like spooky and crazy with little details. Yeah, it was cool man. And so I’m just grateful that people, you know, like me and want to work with me. Because I always lead with that, with gratitude and stuff like that. Obviously there’s people on set that are the divas and just give me the blue m&ms only or whatever it is, and they don’t want to talk to you. And that’s all good too. But when you meet cool people that want to work with you? I think in any business you’re gonna find your tribe, and when you meet people like that, that’s when the best shit comes out. In my opinion. I’m like, Yeah, let’s do this, homie!
it’s a testament to what you’re doing that the people on a critically-acclaimed show want to have you. That Gabriel Iglesias who’s selling out Dodger Stadium wants to do CholoFit with you. You’re doing something right Frankie.
Oh, thanks, Sean. I appreciate that, man. Thanks.
Thanks for doing this. I really appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
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