Terry Gross

Yes.

I had no idea.

I still go through that.

If you're just joining us, my guest is comic and actress Cristela Alonso.

Her new Netflix comedy special is called Upper Classy.

It's a follow-up to her two previous specials, Lower Classy and Middle Classy.

We'll be right back.

This is Fresh Air.

So there was a period, and I think this was after your first Netflix special, and it was around the time that Trump was serving the first year of his first term, that you were very depressed during that period.

And you gave up comedy for a while and became more of an activist working with immigrants.

or, you know, people who wanted to become citizens but were undocumented.

What led you to do that?

And I also just wonder, like, how you were changed or affected by the experience.

She co-founded the United Farm Workers.

It sounds like she became kind of like a maternal figure for it, like a mother figure in a mentor kind of way and said, you have to do this for me in the way your mother used to say that.

But they gave you opposite messages.

Like your mother said, you have to stay home and help your family and

And I guess it's a similar message Huerta's telling you.

You have to use your voice and stand up to protect people.

And it's your larger family.