Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maria De La Ghetto. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Maria , appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

Like most great comedians, trauma is usually how we get funny. Just kidding. Mostly. But honestly, that’s how many of us learn to be funny. In my case, I was always picked on for being the fat kid. My humor was my security blanket, coping mechanism, and even defense mechanism. Eventually, when I pursued being funny professionally, I learned how jokes were structured and the types of jokes, etc… It’s great to have natural talent but if you’re going up there every time just “winging” it, that’s unreliable. I didn’t officially learn how to write a joke until my 30s. I never had the money to take writing classes. But that wasn’t the real obstacle. The real obstacle was my ADHD and not knowing how to prioritize accordingly. I was recently diagnosed, got medication, and now I see things much more clearly. Everything I do, including paid gigs, are better. Maybe getting diagnosed sooner could have sped things up in terms of where I’m at in my career, but I also believe everything happens the way they happen for a reason.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’ve always wanted to be an actor, ever since I was a kid. I was always in drama club. Then when I was 16 I saw Margaret Cho for the first time and realized I wanted to be a comedian too. It was another way to be on stage and it looked so fun. When I was 20 there was an open mic in this very small town I was living in, I did my very first set and people laughed. There were 2 professional comedians there that night who were performing after the open mic. They both said I did a great job and asked how long I had been doing comedy. When I told them that was the first ever, they were impressed and said I should keep doing it. What sets me apart from everyone else is I’m me onstage and no one else. I talk about what I know, my personal life experiences and what I go through. I’m a plus sized, half Filipino, half Mexican woman and there are so many of us out there but hardly represented in media. I’m here for the marginalized, the oddballs, the outcasts, the weirdos. I’m here for them. I’m always so grateful and overjoyed when a woman (or anyone who can relate to me) comes up to me after a show and tells me how much they could relate to me.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I’ve had to start over in my comedy career 3 times before sticking to it. I started doing comedy when I was 20 but lasted only about a year. I started again when I was 25/26. But I was getting burnt out from trying to balance school & work along with comedy so I quit again. Finally, in 2019 at 34 years old, I quit my job and pursued comedy full time. I also started going to an acting school at 37. My point is, age doesn’t matter. No matter where you’re at in life, it’s never too late to fulfill your dreams.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

I had to unlearn all of society’s rules. When I first started pursuing my comedy full time (and eventually my acting) I felt a lot of guilt and shame. I thought I might be too old. I also had to unlearn the 9-5 workday schedule. I always felt guilty because I wasn’t “working” during the day. I had to learn that I didn’t need to “earn” rest. I’m fortunate enough to have had help from family in the beginning of my transition from a 9-5 to comedy full time. So the first year was a little difficult because I was constantly trying to have a 9-5 schedule. I finally realized that I don’t have that schedule anymore and it doesn’t really work or apply to a comedian’s schedule. I also learned to give myself grace. Those standards and expectations that are constantly pushed upon you really take a toll on you. I constantly questioned my decision because of things like, “I’m not married, I don’t have kids, I don’t own a home, I don’t steady income.” Once I learned to give myself grace and not only accept but embrace my lifestyle choice, a lot was lifted off my shoulders. Therapy also helped with that!

Contact Info:

• Website: Lintr.ee/mariadelaghetto
• Instagram: Instagram.com/mariadelaghetto
• Other: Tiktok.com/@mariadelaghetto

Image Credits
Jazzy Byner