Comedy
The history of Hispanic comedy icons is as storied as the medium itself, dating back to Desi Arnaz's breakthrough role in I Love Lucy. In the decades since, stars including Freddie Prinze, George Lopez, America Ferrera, Eva Longoria Bastón, and Sofía Vergara have been among the biggest comedy stars in all of TV. Over the decades their roles have evolved to tell a changing story of Hispanic culture in America with humor and heart.
- In 1951, Desi Arnaz and his I Love Lucy crew pioneers the multi-camera recording format, changing sitcoms and all of television forever.
- Spotted bantering with Groucho Marx on You Bet Your Life in 1953, Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez becomes one of the era's most sought-after character actors.
- In 1973, Chespirito spins off his popular sketch character El Chavo on his own enormously successful sitcom on Televisa.
- In 1973, nineteen-year-old Freddie Prinze becomes the first up-and-coming comic to be invited to Johnny Carson's couch after his first stand-up set on The Tonight Show. Less than a year later, Prinze was the star of his own sitcom, Chico and the Man.
- ¿Qué Pasa, USA?, the first sitcom to be produced for PBS, is America's first bilingual situation comedy when it premieres in 1977.
- In 1995, John Leguizamo creates and stars in the Hispanic-themed sketch comedy show House of Buggin'.
- In 1998, Horatio Sanz joins the cast of Saturday Night Live, becoming the show's first Hispanic cast member.
- Already a successful comedian, George Lopez catches the eye of actress and producer Sandra Bullock during a stand-up performance, leading the pair to develop the sitcom George Lopez, which runs from 2002–07 on ABC. In 2017, he stars in BET's The Comedy Get Down alongside Cedric the Entertainer, Charlie Murphy, DL Hughley, Eddie Griffin, and other stand-up comics.
- The characters on Eugenio Derbez's long running La familia P. Luche originates on his sketch show, XHDRBZ.
- In 2007, Ugly Betty's America Ferrera becomes the first Hispanic actress to win the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
- Jane the Virgin, which spoofs many popular conventions in telenovelas, is based on an actual Venezuelan telenovela, Juana la Virgen.
- In 2017, sixty-five years after making her television acting debut, Rita Moreno begins playing Lydia Riera in the Hispanic focused reboot of Norman Lear's legendary One Day at a Time.
- In 2019, the sketch show Alternatino with Arturo Castro, based on the star-creator's experiences as Latino millennial in the United States, premieres.
- Airing on ABC between 2006–2010, Ugly Betty, based on the popular Betty La Fea, is applauded for its depiction of diversity and representation in New York City. The show’s reboot Betty en NY premieres on Telemundo in 2019.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the first guest on Showtime's first-ever late-night series, Desus & Mero, in 2019.
- The hugely popular series Modern Family airs its final episode in 2019, and Sofía Vergara is saluted by BE Latina as winning "the hearts of viewers by becoming the highest-paid Latino actress on American television—and the world."
- Created by Marvin Lemus and Linda Yvette Chávez, Gentefied, about three Mexican-American cousins chasing the American dream, debuts on Netflix in 2020 to great acclaim for its honest portrayal of the Latinx community.