Joey Diaz

Joey Diaz
Diaz in 2015
Born	José Antonio Díaz (1963-02-19) February 19, 1963 (age 61) Havana, Cuba
Citizenship	United States
Occupations	Stand-up comedian actor podcaster
Years active	1991–present
Spouse	Terrie Clark ​ (m. 2009)​
Children	2[1]

José Antonio Díaz (born February 19, 1963), also known as Joey "CoCo" Diaz, is a Cuban-American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, and author. After pursuing stand-up comedy full time in 1991 in the Colorado and Seattle areas, Diaz relocated to Los Angeles in 1995, where he began acting, securing various film and television roles, including in My Name Is Earl, Everybody Hates Chris, The Longest Yard, Spider-Man 2, Grudge Match, and The Many Saints of Newark.

In 2010, Diaz started to gain widespread notoriety from his appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. From 2012 to 2020, he was the host of his own podcast, The Church of What's Happening Now with Lee Syatt, and has since hosted Uncle Joey's Joint.

Early life

José Antonio Díaz^[2] was born in Havana, Cuba. He immigrated to the United States with his mother at the age of three, shortly after his father died.^[3][1] He was first raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, before moving to North Bergen, New Jersey, at the age of ten,^[3][4][5] a town where he noted he and his mother were the only Cuban Americans at the time.^[5] His mother ran a bar in Union City, New Jersey, and a successful numbers game operation in the Bronx, New York City.^[3] Diaz was raised Catholic and enjoyed learning stories about Francis of Assisi and Saint Michael as a child. While living in Manhattan, he attended Public School 166;^[6] after moving to North Bergen, he went to McKinley Elementary School, where he was required to repeat seventh grade,^[2] and then North Bergen High School,^[5] where he won performing arts awards.^[7] He graduated from high school in 1982.^[5][8]

His mother died when he was sixteen, Diaz having found her dead in their home.^[9] He was taken in by four families around North Bergen during his teenage years – he later credited about twenty people who helped him – but his reckless nature and tendency to get into trouble caused him to move from one home to another.^[10] During this time, he began doing drugs and committing crimes.^[1] As he explained later on, his peers' sense of humor would eventually greatly influence his career in comedy,^[10] as would the comedy albums of Richard Pryor.^[5]

After his graduation from high school, Diaz moved to Colorado. However, his growing homesickness led him to return to New Jersey in 1984; he initially only intended to spend his twenty-first birthday there, but he ended up staying in the state for nearly eighteen months. He later called this time "the worst eighteen months of my life" and "the biggest mistake of my life", as his cocaine abuse worsened.^[11]

In June 1985, Diaz left New Jersey and returned to Colorado to study economics at the University of Colorado Boulder. He did not enjoy his time there and quit before taking up work selling roofing, which earned him money but failed to make him any happier.^[5]

Following his arrest for kidnapping and aggravated robbery, Diaz was sent to prison in 1988, serving sixteen months of a four-year sentence.^[12] During his time in prison, he would perform stand-up routines for his fellow inmates during the weekly film screening event whenever the projector broke. It took Diaz a further three years to try stand-up professionally despite being often told of his talent; he later called his entry into the line of work "the last resort", as he had had many other jobs since his release from prison.^[1]

Career

Stand-up comedy

After seeing the 1988 film Punchline, Diaz responded to an advertisement in a Denver newspaper for a $37 stand-up comedy course, and developed a blue comedy act. Before he did his first standup routine, he worked as a doorman at Wit's End.^[13]

Diaz performed his first routine on June 18, 1991,^[14] at the Comedy Works in Denver, at a show headlined by Matt Woods. In April 1992, prior to his opening spot for Troy Baxley in Boulder, Colorado, Diaz took cocaine before going on stage and had a set that he described as "a disaster". He then ceased to take the substance before a performance. After developing his act, Diaz entered the Beck's Amateur Comedy Competition and won. He initially lost another competition until the winner was caught stealing jokes made famous by Jerry Seinfeld and Diaz was declared the winner. Diaz claimed Comedy Works manager Wende Curtis promised him a flight to Los Angeles for a showcase spot at The Comedy Store for owner Mitzi Shore, but never received either.^[13]

Diaz participated in a similar contest in Seattle, Washington, and finished sixth out of 40.^[5] In 1994, Diaz returned to the Comedy Works and found Curtis had started a developmental program for comics which he joined. The process involved group writing sessions at Wood's home followed by sets in the club the same evening. At one point, Curtis banned Diaz from the Comedy Works before it was lifted after they met years later.^[13]

In 1995, Diaz left Colorado for Los Angeles, California, to try and make it as a successful stand-up comic. He used his divorce from his first wife, and the loss of contact with their daughter in the process, as a motivation so he "could come back and make her proud".^[1]

On November 4, 2007, Diaz appeared in North Bergen to help raise money for North Bergen High School's basketball team uniforms.^[8]

In April 2012, Diaz supported his Where I Got My Balls From documentary with the release of his stand-up special, It's Either You or the Priest. It went to number one on the Billboard comedy charts in the UK and Canada, and number one on iTunes.^[15]

In December 2016, Diaz put out his first one-hour comedy special, Sociably Unacceptable, through the on-demand subscription services Seeso and Comedy Dynamics.^[1]

Film and television

In 1998, Diaz received a contract to star in a television pilot, playing a bartender in a series titled Bronx County, after a talent scout at CBS saw him perform comedy in Seattle. The offer was a total surprise to Diaz, who initially did not believe him until he saw the talent scout possess tickets to have him fly to Los Angeles for the shoot. The series was not picked up, but the opportunity led to more work for Diaz, including an offer in his first feature film, a referee in BASEketball (1998), and a part in the television series NYPD Blue. In 2000, Diaz was featured in You Got Nothin' (2003), an independent film. Parts of Analyze That (2002), which starred Diaz, were filmed in Hudson County, New Jersey. He said, "That was big for me, able to come home to film".^[1]

Diaz's profile increased with subsequent roles in Law & Order and his first major feature films, Spider-Man 2 (2004)^[10] and Taxi (2004).^[8] After, Diaz acted as an unlawful union organizer in The Longest Yard (2005). Diaz secured the role when he learned a remake of the original was in production, and had lunch with Chris Rock and Adam Sandler, during which Rock said he could land Diaz an audition. Diaz proceeded to assemble an audition tape: "I went out and got a football jersey two sizes too small, pants two sizes too small with my butt hanging out. I got kids' football shoulder pads and ran around the field with a cigar in my mouth". Three days after submitting the tape, Diaz landed the role; the producers liked the name Big Tony Tedesco, which Diaz named himself on the tape, and wrote it into the script.^[16] Originally the part had a mere three lines, but Diaz's tape got his part extended.^[17]

In 2005, Diaz expressed his wish to continue as a character actor, saying: "It's like a dream come true for me. ... I got my call and I have to make the most of it". Around this time, Diaz prepared his one-man comedy show Larceny & Laughter, which featured stories about his time growing up in North Bergen.^[17]

In 2007, Diaz appeared in four episodes of the television series My Name is Earl as Joey the Candy Bar Criminal. The show's producers wished to hire actors to play prisoners, and called Diaz after they saw him in The Longest Yard. That year, he hosted a series of humorous promotions for the Ultimate Fighting Championship as Joey Karate, giving karate instructions and comical predictions for upcoming fights.^[8] Diaz regards his role in the 2009 television film The Dog Who Saved Christmas as a point of pride, as it allowed children in North Bergen to see him act. At the time of filming, Diaz weighed 390 lbs. By late 2009, he slimmed down to 295 lbs.^[7]

In 2011 Diaz appeared in "Scarlet Ribbons", an episode of The Mentalist and the film Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.^[10]

Around 2011, Diaz raised $1,400 from fans on Twitter and Facebook to finance a documentary about his upbringing in North Bergen, chronicling his life and how he was influenced by the various people who took care of him following his parents' death. Diaz contributed $2,600 to complete it and by mid-2012, Where I Got My Balls From was produced with his podcast co-host and producer Lee Syatt as director, who shot six hours of footage in total. Diaz made the film in tribute to those who helped him.^[10][15]

In 2013, Diaz appeared in "Sal's Pizza", the ninth episode of the comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. That same year, he played Robert De Niro's coach in the feature film Grudge Match, which premiered on December 25. Diaz took his fifth-grade teacher to the premiere.^[1] In 2014, Diaz appeared in "White Truck", the twelfth episode of the second season of Maron.

In 2017, Diaz started work on a presentation based on one of his cats for Animal Planet.^[1]

Podcasts

In 2009, Diaz was introduced to comedian Felicia Michaels, who encouraged him to co-host a new comedy podcast.^[13] Beauty and Da Beast launched in August 2010. In one early episode, Diaz recalled a story about setting a prostitute's wig on fire when he was young. The weekend after it aired, attendance increased at Diaz's stand-up shows.^{[1][8][13][18]} The podcast ended in November 2012 after 113 episodes.^[18]

On September 2, 2012, Diaz launched his own podcast, The Church of What's Happening Now, which he co-hosted with producer and sidekick Lee Syatt.^[1][19][20] Diaz named it after a phrase that his former manager told him while he was working selling cars in Boulder.^[21] Episodes were released on various audio-only podcast platforms in addition to the audiovisual version on YouTube, where they garnered over half a million subscribers.^[22]

On October 5, 2020, Diaz launched a new podcast series, Uncle Joey's Joint after moving back to New Jersey from California. Diaz's former producer and sidekick Lee Syatt has been a recurring guest on the relaunched podcast but is no longer the show's producer.^[19]

Personal life

Diaz has married twice. In 1991, he divorced his first wife, during which he lost a relationship with their daughter.^[1] On November 25, 2009, he married Terrie Clark.^[7] The couple have one daughter.^[1]

In 2007, Diaz quit his longtime cocaine abuse. He later said, "It has to do with your peace of mind. For some people, it takes 10 years to acquire. It took me 30."^[23]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1998	BASEketball	Referee
2002	You Got Nothin'	Charlie
	American Gun	Gun Smuggler
	Women vs. Men	Goon	TV movie
	Another Bobby O'Hara Story...	Tommy Brando
	Analyze That	Ducks
2003	The Mezzos	Joey Mezzo	Short
	Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star	Emmanuel's Entourage
2004	Spider-Man 2	Train Passenger
	Back by Midnight	Jojo
	Taxi	Freddy
	The Mafia Type	Big Al	Short
2005	Break a Leg	Large Producer
	Accidentally on Purpose	Geraldo	Short
	The Longest Yard	Anthony "Big Tony" Cobianco
	Endings	-	Video
2006	A Fine Line	Bruno Scalise	Short
	18 Fingers of Death!	Sammy Delassandro	Video
2007	Smiley Face	Security Guard
	White Pants	Coach Larkin	Short
	A 'My Life at 26' Shortoon	Voice	Short
2008	One Hogan Place	Vinnie Books	Short
	Boiler Maker	Enzo
2009	Redemption	Ritchie	Short
	The Deported	Sheriff
	The Dog Who Saved Christmas	Stewey McMann	TV movie
2010	Stacy's Mom	Frankie the Teach
	The Russian	Frank	Short
	Sinatra Club	Uncle Tony
	The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation	Stewey McMann	TV movie
2011	Stonerville	Johnny Scarano	Video
	Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star	German Guy/Distributor
	The Dog Who Saved Halloween	Stewey McMann	TV movie
	My Dog's Christmas Miracle	TSA Officer	Video
	Outtakes	Joey	Short
2012	Leader of the Pack	Cicero	Short
	Jersey Shore Shark Attack	Richie	TV movie
	The Dog Who Saved the Holidays	Stewey McMann	TV movie
2013	Grudge Match	Mikey
2014	The Dog Who Saved Easter	Stewey McMann	TV movie
2015	The Dog Who Saved Summer	Stewey McMann	TV movie
2016	The Bronx Bull	Mickey
	Rules Don't Apply	Mobster
2018	Camp Death III in 2D!	The Doomed
2020	Grapefruit	Fairy Godfather (voice)	Short
2021	The Many Saints of Newark	Buddha

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2000	ComicView	Himself	Episode: "ComicView: New Orleans Party Gras"
2001	18 Wheels of Justice	Bernie Corcoran	Episode: "Just South of El Paso"
	Mad TV	Salvatore 'Big Pussy' Bonpensiero	Episode: "Episode #6.24"
2002	NYPD Blue	Manny Mankiewicz	Episode: "Death by Cycle"
2003	Karen Sisco	Paulie	Episode: "Dear Derwood..."
	ER	Grocery Store Clerk	Episode: "The Greater Good"
2004	Cold Case	Ken Mazzacone	Episode: "Disco Inferno"
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Elijah Coney	Episode: "Criminal"
2006	How I Met Your Mother	Angry New Yorker	Episode: "Where Were We?"
	Everybody Hates Chris	Store Owner	Episode: "Everybody Hates Promises"
2007	Murder 101	Herbie Saxe	Episode: "College Can Be Murder"
	My Name Is Earl	Joey the Prisoner	Recurring Cast: Season 3
	Frank TV	Defendant	Episode: "Ballpark Frank"
	1st Amendment Stand Up	Himself	Episode: "Joey Diaz/Melanie Comarcho/Lavell Crawford"
2008	Wizards of Waverly Place	Newsstand Guy	Episode: "The Supernatural"
2011	Supah Ninjas	Mr. Binzodo	Episode: "Kickbutt"
	The Mentalist	Gangster	Episode: "Scarlet Ribbons"
	Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand-Up Revolution	Himself	Episode: "Rick Gutierrez/Thea Vidale/Joey CoCo Diaz"
2012	Kickin' It	Meatball King	Episode: "We Are Family"
	Childrens Hospital	Vito	Episode: "Wisedocs"
2013	Partners	Bob	Episode: "Two Nines and a Pair of Queens"
	Brooklyn Nine-Nine	Sal	Episode: "Sal's Pizza"
2013–16	This Is Not Happening	Himself	Recurring Guest
2014	TripTank	Cat Man (voice)	Episode: "Game Over" & "Ahhh, Serenity"
2014–16	Maron	Bobby Mendez	Guest Cast: Season 2 & 4
2015	Laugh Factory	Himself	Episode: "Joey Diaz: Catholic Guilt"
2017	The High Court	Guest Bailiff	Episode: "Who Needs a Bumper"
	Superior Donuts	Jake	Episode: "Secrets and Spies"
2018	The Degenerates	Himself	Episode: "Joey Diaz"
	I'm Dying Up Here	Taffy	Episode: "Gone with the Wind" & "The Mattresses"
	The Guest Book	Vinnie	Episode: "Finding Reality" & "Killer Party"
2020	The Cabin with Bert Kreischer	Himself	Episode: "Mind, Body and Soul"
	The Comedy Store	Himself	Recurring Guest
	The Midnight Gospel	Various Roles (voice)	Recurring Cast
	Big City Greens	John (voice)	Episode: "Friend Con/Flimflammed"
2022	WeCrashed	Detective Frank	Episode: "Masha Masha Masha"
	Sprung	Inmate Joey	Episode: "Episode 1 & 3"
2023	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Al	Episode: "Bad Things"

Comedy specials

Year	Title
2016	Socially Unacceptable

Documentaries

Year	Title
2002	The History of Choking
2006	Joe Rogan: Live
	Road Dog
2007	The Payaso Comedy Slam
2012	Where I Got My Balls From

Video games

Year	Title	Role
2016	Mafia III	Roman "The Butcher" Barbieri (voice)

Discography

Year	Title	Label
2003	The Blue Album	Laughing Hyena Records

References

1. Lisko, B.J. (January 5, 2017). "Kidnapping to comedy: Joey 'Coco' Diaz finds his way". The Repository. Archived from the original on 5 October 2022. Retrieved April 23, 2018.
2. Diaz, Joey (April 3, 2019). "Joey Diaz - Lying to Mom: At Home on Acid - This Is Not Happening". Comedy Central. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved September 25, 2020 – via YouTube.
3. Diaz, Joey (2023). Tremendous: The Life of a Comedy Savage. United States: BenBella Books. pp. 8, 11, 25. ISBN 978-1-63774-261-7.
4. Harris, Jason (February 21, 2020). "GARDEN STATE GREAT JOEY DIAZ BRINGS THE LAUGHS TO LAS VEGAS". Las Vegas Magazine. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
5. Hague, Jim (April 21, 2003). "NB native Diaz making strides as comic actor: Film role in 'You Got Nothin' will be shown at Hoboken Film Festival". The Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on March 27, 2020. Retrieved March 27, 2020.
6. Joey Diaz; Lee Syatt (January 3, 2017). "The Church Of What's Happening Now: #443 - Theo Von". YouTube (Podcast). Joey Diaz. Event occurs at 37:31. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
7. Tirella, Tricia (November 29, 2009). "'The Dog that Saved Christmas'". The Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on April 19, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
8. Hague, Jim (September 30, 2007). "NB comedian lands role on 'My Name IS Earl' Diaz has recurring spot on award-winning NBC sitcom". The Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on 2017-04-01. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
9. Diaz, Joey (January 26, 2017). "Joey "CoCo" Diaz Breaks Out the Blue Cheese While Eating Spicy Wings". YouTube. First We Feast. Archived from the original on December 19, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
10. LaMarca, Stephen (October 2, 2011). "From North Bergen to prison to Hollywood". The Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 28, 2017.
11. Mustica, Giorgio (March 5, 2014). "An Interview with Joey "CoCo" Diaz: In The Name Of Science". The Aquarian Weekly. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
12. "Joey Diaz Prison Stories (from Joe Rogan Experience #39)". PowerfulJRE. October 3, 2013. 1:40. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved April 2, 2020 – via YouTube.
13. "How Comedy Works with Wende Curtis and Rick Kerns - Episode 30: Joey Diaz". Libsyn. September 2, 2016. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
14. "Joe Rogan Experience #598 - Joey "CoCo" Diaz". PowerfulJRE. January 12, 2015. 1:54:01. Archived from the original on January 15, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2017 – via YouTube.
15. Cruz, Vanessa (May 10, 2012). "Brazen comic: North Bergen resident creates documentary, comedy CD". The Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on April 21, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
16. Hague, Jim (September 11, 2004). "NB comedian gets big break in 'Longest Yard' Diaz in remake of classic football prison movie with Burt Reynolds". The Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on April 23, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
17. Hague, Jim (June 7, 2005). "Tackling the 'Longest Yard' North Bergen native Diaz enjoys prominent role in remake starring Sandler, Rock, Reynolds". The Hudson Reporter. Archived from the original on April 23, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2017.
18. "Beauty and Da Beast Podcast w/ Joey Diaz and Felicia Michaels". Libsyn. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
19. "The Church of What's Happening Now: With Joey Coco Diaz". Libsyn. Retrieved August 1, 2018.
20. Gurian, Jeffrey (September 26, 2016). "Joey CoCo Diaz Gets Huge Love at Gotham, Ari Shaffir Talks S3 of TiNH, Plus News from Matt Richards, Roastmasters and More". The Interrobang. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
21. "High Times Interviews Stand-Up Comedy Veteran Joey Diaz". High Times. September 24, 2009. Archived from the original on May 10, 2020. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
22. Little, Noah (August 8, 2020). "'The Church of What's Happening Now' With Joey Diaz & Lee Syatt Ends Its 8 Year Run". Cultr. Retrieved October 7, 2020.
23. Elfman, Doug (July 17, 2014). "Drugs, prison, comedy, Hollywood, Vegas — one man's life so far". Las Vegas Review-Journal. Retrieved January 14, 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Joey Diaz at IMDb