Julio Torres

You know, there's no picking up the phone and saying, hey, my son is interested in being a writer-director.

I had never met a writer-director.

anyone who does what I do and so yeah no they were very oh my god I mean the first I think two years every time I spoke to my mother on the phone which was often she would tell me to look both ways before I cross the street as if you know that wouldn't occur to me but I was definitely very very protected but I felt like I had a a drive in me that I wasn't ever going to be able to explore within the confines of their safety

No, at least not in the time when I was growing up there.

I wasn't.

So I came to the US wanting to be a writer, wanting to be specifically a writer for TV and film.

But very much like in the movie, my visa was running out and I didn't know how long I'd be able to stay here.

And I kept aspiring to find a day job that would make me so that I was able to stay here.

And then I remember being...

at one of these day jobs one day, like working a coat check and like thinking, well, why am I here?

Am I in New York just so that I can afford being in New York?

Is the goal of living in New York to make rent in New York?

Is that all there is?

And then I remember the original goal that brought me here, the wanting to be a writer.

And I had no idea how to write a script that would ever get made.

And then it just popped into my head that stand-up comedy...

was something that was available to me in New York City for free, meaning I didn't have to take any classes.

I didn't have to know anyone in the business.

And I could just Google New York City open mic tonight.

And lo and behold, there was this website that had an inventory of every single open mic in New York City for free.