Ralph Barbosa had such a hit with his Netflix debut Cowabunga that Hulu just had to have the Texas comedian as part of its Hularious campaign to re-enter the stand-up streaming space as a viable alternative to Netflix. So what does Barbosa have for an encore?
The Gist: Barbosa’s chill vibe in 2023’s Ralph Barbosa: Cowabunga landed him on Netflix’s Top 10 charts for a couple of weeks that fall, and videos of his stand-up have racked up millions of views on YouTube since then.
In his Netflix debut, audiences learned about how Barbosa was raised by his grandparents and learned how to cut hair in his bedroom at an early age. For his follow-up for Hulu, he’s boasting a larger audience and bigger profile, but he’s still working on maintaining relationships outside of the house and learning that while he’s definitely pro-immigration, he still has a lot to learn about a lot of issues. So if you won’t judge him, then he won’t judge you.
What Comedy Specials Will It Remind You Of?: I previously compared Barbosa to the comedians who starred in This Fool, which feels a bit ironic now that he’s on Hulu and they’re not.
Memorable Jokes: Is Barbosa a bit of a player, or is he a guy who gets played by the ladies? In his comedy, he finds both to be true.
He makes fun of undocumented women he dates for not wanting to be called illegal, but also has to pretend to snore to cover up their “sweet sounds of love” since he still lives with his family, but also has a child with his ex who’s still friends with his family, so how is he supposed to explain himself?
He’s also very much Texan at heart, which he realizes just saying where he’s from will generate strong feelings, woos or boos. He considers himself pro-choice, but he realized he got even more riled up about the state banning Pornhub access. “Now they’re messing with my body,” he quips. But he has too much internal shame about it to rally his local politicians. Could you imagine Barbosa calling or writing Ted Cruz about Pornhub?
When it comes to other issues, Barbosa certainly has opinions. “Edibles are fun when you forget that you ate one,” and he enjoys doing shrooms, even if he’s not impressed with the ideas he writes down while he’s on them.
And at “almost 5-7,” he finds himself in plenty of scrapes. He may want to make a scene at McDonald’s when the issue is paying 25 cents for Buffalo sauce, but he also realizes that he’s not much of an actual fighter when it comes to exchanging blows, describing in detail (and video game references) his punching style.
Our Take: Barbosa says he understood he wasn’t so bright as early as fifth grade, and he wants to be smarter. Or at least present himself as a better podcast guest, reminiscing on the time Joe Rogan invited him onto his massive platform, “but I didn’t have shit to talk about.” Reading the comments afterward didn’t help his ego much, putting his lack of opinions in comparison with Rogan’s previous guest, a fighter pilot spilling government secrets.
Because what does Barbosa feel strongly about? We’re still not quite sure after this hour.
The only policy outside of internet porn access he digs into is immigration. And yet when he does, he has little to offer outside of calling himself “a little Republican-y” when he hangs out with immigrants for too long, because of how he reacts when they shame him for being American-born. Barbosa cites one Texas law, SB4, allowing cops more leeway if they’re suspicious of someone being here illegally, because that might indirectly impact him. “80 percent of this room is suspicious!” he jokes.“I don’t even put salsa on my taco anymore. Too suspicious.”
Barbosa doesn’t want to make any waves, even claiming: “I don’t care who you vote for.”
“Don’t ever leave my show thinking you learned something,” he tells us, adding: “I’m not here to take a side or push an agenda. If you’re cool with me, I’m cool with you.”
Just let him be the meme of the chill guy. “I don’t have no like values, though. I’m just kind of like here, you know.” But if he’s just kind of like here, not standing for anything, then what are we coming to him for, exactly? If there’s no point of view, what is there? There needs to be some engaging storytelling. And aside from a few moments of hijinks, this hour comes up short. Perhaps in a couple of years, he’ll have more experiences worth sharing. Or perhaps even something he’s more passionate about sharing with us.
Our Call: It feels like Barbosa still has a lot of growing up to do, and not much to show for this hour. So in that respect, it’s a bit of a SKIP IT, but if you STREAM IT, then you might get the same sense as I do that Barbosa is a sitcom star in the making. If Hulu were still interested in making new sitcoms, that is.
Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat. He also podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.