Standup comedian Chris Estrada’s new 10-episode series, “This Fool,” will stream on Hulu — but its sensibilities can be attributed, in part, to the cinema.“It’s a really funny, human show,” Estrada, 38, told The Post. “Me and my co-creators [Jake Weisman, Matt Ingebretson and Pat Bishop] wanted to make a comedy that looks like a film. We’re film buffs and we were inspired by the Coen Brothers to capture that offbeat tone.”This Fool Season 1 Download.
That it does. “This Fool,” premiering Aug. 12, is based on Estrada’s background growing up in South Central LA, where gang life was prevalent. Here, that takes a humorous turn when series protagonist Julio Lopez (Estrada) — a milquetoast-y do-gooder who lives at home with his mother and works for a nonprofit gang support center called Hugs Not Thugs — tries to rehabilitate his tough older cousin, Luis (Frankie Quiñones), a gang member who’s released from prison after serving eight years — and who thinks Julio is much too soft (despite his having good dental insurance).
“Luis is an amalgamation of three of my cousins, and one of them is named Luis,” Estrada said. “At one point, two of them were gang members who went to prison [they’re free men now]. Most of the time when you see gang members on TV they’re robbing people and committing crimes; it’s interesting to subvert that and to see these guys earnestly trying to change their lives. We didn’t do this for righteous reasons but for the sake of the narrative. Julio is stuck in inertia and we thought it was funny and ironic that he’s working to help them.”Jamar Malachi Neighbors, Frankie Quiñones and Chris Estrada in “This Fool,” premiering Aug. 12 on Hulu.
HULUCo-stars include Michelle Ortiz (Maggie), Julio’s on again/off-again high-school girlfriend; Laura Patalano and Julia Vera as Julios’ mother and grandmother, Esperenza and Maria; and a bearded Michael Imperioli as Minister Payne, an ex-businessman who now works at Hugs Not Thugs to ease the guilt of his past.