His first salary, at 18, was making people laugh. “They introduced me as’ the Pocoyo of monologues.” He wanted to dedicate himself to comedy from the age of 14, but just in case, he enrolled in Hispanic philology. He became known with his YouTube channel, Barnacles and turnip greens, and today, already 27, celebrate the success of podcast Stretching the gum with Victoria Martín.
Question. Why Barnacles and Grelos? Sounds like Smiles and tears.
Answer. I used to like random words as a nickname for social media, but now I’m trying to get rid of it. They ask my grandmother on the street if she is Barnacle’s grandmother.
P. Who did you do your first monologues to? Who were your guinea pigs?
R. I trained with my maternal grandparents, who are gone, and my mother. The first thing I did was a high school math monologue contest. Was 14 years old.
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P. What do you owe YouTube?
R. Much. It is how I learned to face the public, shame myself, improvise, structure the speech and handle the messages of the haters. I’ve been receiving hate messages since I was 21.
P. Do you see justification for the reputation crisis of youtubers?
R. Good things don’t come out. Nobody says: ‘This youtuber He has made a very educational video. ‘ Regarding the Treasury, without justifying them, I think that in Spain they evade political taxes, footballers … and at least the youtubers they have physically left the country. And not all. Ibai Llanos, who is the one who is saving the name of the Internet people, does not. What I know is that I don’t want the money so much that I want to go further away from my family.
P. And do you see justified the amounts that some of them earn?
R. If they pay them, it is because they generate them. Advertising has always made crazy money. On television the same. Therefore it is a very volatile profession. Now they are making a fortune, but maybe at 30 they will be out of work.
P. We have not yet seen how far they go, what is the retirement age of the youtuber. Will they be short races, like those of athletes?
R. There have been people who were dedicated to this and now they are in something else. It’s not just about fame, it’s about algorithms. It is difficult to stay, to get people to follow you for what you do and not for what you did one day.
P. What politician would you give a YouTube channel to? Who do you see as a comic without trying?
R. Of comedians without intending it there is an infinite list. He would give it to M. Rajoy.
P. “The level of comedians in Spain takes time, you have to give them one or two years to be at the same level as the comedians in La Chocita del Loro,” said the manager of the room, Francisco Carretero. Lack of level or excess of prejudices?
R. Prejudices abound. It seems to me an embarrassment of declaration, but it serves to realize that there is still a long way to go. The inequality is real. On television there are much fewer women, they were addressed to the magazine while the same presenter had five contests. They are making themselves seen thanks to the networks, the theaters … Martita de Graná now sells more than anyone else and did not leave the traditional media. Opportunities are lacking. We have the right to make mistakes because in the end we are not operating with an open heart, we are making people laugh and that is an experiment. If they don’t let you experiment …
P. Is there the humor of women?
R. We have always been considered a niche, but we are 52% of the population. We do not talk about masculine humor, but humor. Nor are we targeting an exclusively female audience.
P. There are jokes from Tuesday and 13 that would not be broadcast today. Because they would no longer be funny or because no chain would dare?
R. It’s hard for me to laugh at sketch from “my husband hits me” or from a “ladybug” joke. Comedy has its share of truth and pain, but sometimes a good joke is mistaken for saying atrocious.
P. Should humor have limits?
R. I make jokes that I belong to the LGTBI collective, but when colleagues make jokes about “ladybugs” in the 21st century, I find it aggressive. It depends on the attitude. For me the limit is that it is a good joke.
P. Sometimes in the podcast they get serious, like when they talked about mental health. Is that taboo falling?
R. We are evolving, but there is still a lot. More and more people say they are going to therapy. In high school I used to say that I went to the doctor when I went to the psychologist. I was ashamed.
P. He suffered bullying. Are those bullies at school when they are older? haters of the networks? What do you attribute that level of hatred to?
R. I do not know. It is a moment of great twitching. The people are very nervous. They judge everything you do and say. They attack me more for “fat” or “feminazi” than for “inverted”, but there is still a lot to do in everything.
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