This journey I had an opportunity
to go to the Dominican Republic and
meet my father for the first time.
Every time a woman walked in,
he'd be like that's your sister.
He was so generous.
He gave us each our own mothers.
Too loud for you grandmother.
You got a mother.
That was a snippet from
comedian Ida Rodriguez.
His HBO Max Special Fighting words.
She joins us this morning to tell us
more about what she has in the works now,
including her comedy tour
that's making a pit stop right
here in Sacramento this week.
Welcome Aida.
Good morning, good morning.
Good morning Sacramento.
One of my favorite places to play.
Hey, we love that we're so thrilled
to have you on the show today.
Ida, your HBO Max special Fighting
Words premiered in 2021 of November
when that special happened.
Did you think to yourself?
OK, I've made it what was kind
of going through your mind.
No, I I don't think I've made it.
I remind myself every day that I haven't.
Every time I look at my bank account
and I live on the ground and in reality,
but you know what I did feel
was a sense of accomplishment
because throughout the pandemic,
when I did my special I,
I was able to finish it and
get it done and get it out.
And and that felt like a great thing
because people were suffering so much.
There was such collective trauma I wanted
to give people something that felt good.
And I I wanted to make sure that
I put my best foot forward with
the comedy and the documentary.
And so I felt really good
about getting it done.
Yeah, I think around that time
two people needed to laugh,
so being able to have that outlet
through your special was really needed.
And you're also in the works
with developing your own half
hour comedy series based on
your own incredible life story.
Could you tell us about it?
So yeah, we've been.
I've been working on this for a long time.
I hope that I end up making a
TV show and it doesn't end up
being a biopic because it's been.
It's been in the works for a long time,
but yeah, you know,
I've been developing it.
Most comedians who aspire to
act create their own TV shows.
You've seen many of them like
Everybody Loves Raymond Cristela
the Carmichael show, you know,
going back to Roseanne Seinfeld, so.
It is a comics dream to be able to do
a show that's based on their comedy,
because most of many of us give
our lives to the comedy.
So yeah, I'm excited about it.
I'm working with some really fun people,
some really good people and hopefully
we'll have a show soon that you can see
all my trauma play out in real time,
like on TV.
I'm not in real time,
but on TV, on TV
and the first time I saw
you was on Tiffany Haddish,
is they ready and you were hilarious
and in lieu of woman's History Month,
how is it seeing more female
comedians like you?
In Tiffany, thriving and what is
still a male dominated industry.
It feels really good,
you know I I have made a decision to be
to focus on being a part of the solution.
Yeah, and and you know,
we we have to point out things when
there is a problem and and we want to fix it.
But we can't just do along the problem
like I think that there's a lot
of complaining going on and no
action to follow it up.
Just people pointing fingers.
And for me I just want to be
a part of the solution.
There are a lot of great women who
do comedy and they need platforms.
And there are a lot of different
people who do comedy who deserve
platforms and so that's what I
work for is to create equity,
open doors and also produce events.
I'm actually directing 3 comedy
specials that are going to appear
on HBO Max this summer and that's
my way of opening doors for
comedians that are coming after me.
Yeah, and I mean only female comedians
can really give that female perspective.
Those jokes that you tell.
It's like kind of like, oh,
she knows what she's talking about.
Like we can all relate to it.
So I appreciate that so
much and you're performing.
At Punch line and sack with
the first show kicking off
tonight going into the weekend,
is this your first time in sack?
But I don't think so.
'cause you said it's kind
of a favorite place.
No, no, actually.
I mean, I started performing at
the punchline in Sacramento when
I was newer and comedy like the
first time I performed there.
I was opening for the late great Paul
Mooney and I have actually worked my
way to becoming a headliner there.
And I believe this is like my fourth
time coming back as a headliner.
It's one of the more supportive clubs for me.
When I did last comic standing,
I got a lot of support from Sacramento
and I always have a good time when I'm there.
I a couple broke up at my shoulder last time.
It was one for the books.
My gosh, definitely once I remember and
you also host a podcast truth serum.
What do you talk about in this podcast?
So truth serum is just a podcast
where we talk about things that
we want to have honest, new,
nuanced conversations about.
You know, like it's easy
to just say racism exists,
sexism exists and just point the fingers.
But we want to talk about
how we move forward because.
There are two sides to every story,
and people have an opportunity.
Should have an opportunity
to voice where they are.
We also have to give people
space to grow and grace,
and even though a lot of people
don't feel like that's the case,
I do and that's my opinion
and I'm entitled to it.
I just wanna so on truth serum.
We talk about all of the things that are,
you know, happening in the in,
in in the news,
things that are happening in our world.
We talk about issues like
where to get your hair done,
everything,
it's just a lifestyle podcast.
Oh well, it sounds good and I know me
and my girl we're gonna check out your
show this weekend at punch line in
Sacramento so we're excited to see you.
I encourage our viewers to check it out too.
At Punch line Sacramento.
And you can also follow Ida
Rodriguez on Instagram at Funny Ida.