Hosted each year by Lorain-County based Coalition for Hispanic/Latino Issues and Progress
The 19th annual Hispanic Leadership Conference will take place April 25, 2015 Lorain County Community College, to be followed by an Evening Gala at DeLuca’s Place in the Park
Hispanic Leadershio Conference will have Bill Santiago comedian, author, actor, television host and commentator preform Saturday at the Gala.
Bill Santiago became a standup after narrowly escaping a career in journalism, facing the fact that as a comedian he was funny, but as a reporter he was a joke. It’s been said he was born to Puerto Rican immigrants, which is technically untrue, as Puerto Ricans are US citizens. Although, he’s got an uncle who was once deported to the Bronx.
Currently he appears every Saturday morning on CNN with Randi Kaye, delivering comic relief commentary via Santiago’s Weekly Pop Wrapup.
While connecting solidly with his Latino fans, Santiago is just as as popular for his savvy mainstream material, reminiscent of George Carlin and Jerry Seinfeld, showcasing his journalistic roots, obsessions with language, and keen insights on everything from family to culture to cats to politics to religion to life and death to dance to Facebook.
With the premiere of his first television special, “Comedy Central Presents: Bill Santiago,” he won over fans nationwide with his dead-on observations about Spanglish – “twice the vocabulary, half the grammar!” and his beloved catchphrase “¡Porque Because!” Which led to his first book, “Pardon My Spanglish. ¡Porque Because!” The book is now being used at universities and high schools across the country to stimulate discussions about identity, language and multiculturalism. Santiago’s second half-hour special for Showtime LOL aired in 2011.
In his DVD, “I Could Care Less,” recorded live at ACME Comedy Co., in Minneapolis (Minneapolis is one of his favorite places to perform, a testament to his mid-west appeal), Santiago displays the charming, clever, provocative style that continues to delight fans and win praise from critics and fellow comedians. In this live club performance, he takes on the news of Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett dying the same day, questions the order of the Ten Commandments, confesses his hate for Facebook and riffs obsessively on the difference between “I could care less” and “I couldn’t care less,” while keeping the audience laughing at every “iota” of his smart and savvy material.
Bill Santiago is at his logic-twisting best from the get go on his uproariously funny CD, “Chit Chat Jedi,” also recorded live at ACME Comedy Co., in Minneapolis, his searing, gut-busting observations on politics (“Bush is not an idiot. I think of him more as an intellectual celibate”), war and religion, demonstrate clearly why the verbally nimble Santiago is so often compared to George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Lewis Black, Chris Rock and Bill Hicks. Whether he’s mercilessly skewering homeland security proclamations (“if you see anyone suspicious getting in your crop duster, call 911”) or riffing sarcastically on the coincidence of electing 43 white male presidents in a row (“that’s a hell of a lucky streak”), Santiago keeps the crowd laughing by fearlessly revealing the truths behind our insane reality.
Formerly an awarding-winning journalist (despite his worst efforts), he contributed regularly to newspapers including the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe and Philadelphia Inquirer. While living in Puerto Rico, he worked as a staff writer for the San Juan Star. He was also a humor columnist for Mother Jones magazine online. For more information call 440-989-1178 or email Michael at mf777df@msn.com or Dina at dinaferrer@yahoo.com
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