10 Famous Mexican Comedians

Eugenio Derbez – Photo Source Wikimedia

10 Famous Mexican Comedians

Comedy is an important part of the Mexican entertainment industry. The history of Mexican comedy goes back to the beginning of the 20th century but it was not until the 1940s that it started to develop, becoming one of the most popular genres in the Mexican entertainment industry today.

This has become possible largely due to the combined work of comedy shows actors, producers stand-up comedian, and even cartoonist who has painstakingly worked hard to make comedy as successful as it is today.

Over the years Mexico has produced many prominent and accomplished comedians who continue to entertain and promote comedy in Mexico and other parts of the world. In this article, we have researched and listed some of the most famous Mexican comedians.

1. Eugenio Derbez

Photo by Goliveri from Wikimedia

Eugenio Derbez is one of the most successful and well-known Mexican comedians. His name is synonymous with comic acting, a field he has played in for more than three decades. He has appeared in a number of successful and award-winning films and has been named one of the most influential Latin American males in the world.

Derbez showed his interest in acting at an early age and began appearing in Mexican soap operas at the age of 12. He went into comedy in the late 1980s when he played a number of roles in a series of television comedy shows.

He cemented his name in the world of comedy after he co-wrote and starred in the feature film Instructions Not Included which became the world’s most successful Spanish-language comedy-drama film ever. The film broke numerous box-office records worldwide, grossing more than $100 million in just a few months upon its release.

2. Anabel Ferreira

Anabel Ferreira is best known as the star of her own television comedy show series named after her which ran on Televisa for eight years. The show (Anabel) which included other Mexican star comedians like Maria Alicia Delgado and Eugenio Derbez, was ranked as one of Mexico’s most successful comedy show ever.

She also appeared on other popular television comedy series including Mis huéspedes, hospital de la Risa, and Antojitos Mexicanos as well. Today, Anabel still works for Televisa where she hosts a number of variety and comedy shows.

3. Chabelo

Better known as “Chabelo”, Xavier López Rodríguez is a popular Mexican comedian who has been in the comedy business for over 57 years. His comedies are specifically meant for children and he has been featured in more than thirty films and recorded more than thirty musical albums.

Chabelo started his career in the early 1950s but became famous for his every Sunday morning TV show En Familia con Chabelo which ran for 47 years. The show mainly consisted of games where parents, children, and Chabelo himself could compete and enjoy Sunday mornings together.

In 2012, he was listed in the world Guinness Record for portraying the Chabelo character for over 57 years. Although he is now 87 years old, Xavier López remains one of the most famous Mexican Comedians, especially among children.

4. Benito Castro

Born into a family of musicians and comedians, Benito Castro is one of the most famous Mexican comedians. He was a member of the musical group Los Hermanos Castro which enjoyed a great deal of success throughout the United States, Europe, and South America in the late 1950s and 1960s.

He became famous for his role as “Kin Kin from Acapulco”, a character he created for the Mexican television comedy show La Carabina de Ambrosio which was aired from 1979 to 1983.

Benito’s comedy skills became evident in his ability to imitate and mimic other personalities including singers and politicians. He publically poked fun at their personal peculiarities to the amusement of his audiences but which was sometimes viewed as offensive by some members of society.

In the 1980s, Benito worked as a theme writer for television comic series and even acted in some of them where he created a popular character of “El Papagringo.”. Today, he continues to appear in some Television comedy-drama series and remains a very popular figure among comedy lovers

5. Mara Escalante 

Mara Escalante is best known for her role in a popular Mexican television comedy show María de todos Los ángeles which she portrayed three roles. She established herself internationally as a stand-up comedian after she developed popular comic characters such as Nancy Aerobics, La Princesa Dragon, and a female police officer.

Her international appeal landed her roles in other Spanish-speaking countries such as Venezuela where she appeared in several comedy shows including the Venezuelan popular talk show Viviana a la medianoche.

She has also performed in the United States and other Latin American countries and was part of the Televisa coverage team during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa where she performed comedy.

6. Franco Escamilla

Franco Escamilla – Photo by Aurelio Villalobos from Wikimedia

Franco Escamilla is one the most famous Mexican comedians today, he is mainly known for his comedy shows which he has performed throughout Mexico and Latin America.

He was the first Mexican comedian to perform at the National Auditorium and other major venues in Mexico including Arena Ciudad de México. In February 2020 he became the first Latin comedian to appear at Carnegie Hall in New York which propelled him to a new height as a stand-up comedy superstar.

Apart from live performances, he also has a program called “La Mesa Reñoña”, which has more than 200 editions, made by his colleagues from “La Diablo Squad”, which is broadcast live every Monday via YouTube.

7. Jorge Pinedo

Jorge Pinedo is one of the most famous and successful Mexican comedians. He expressed his interest in acting at an early age perhaps because his parents, Óscar Ortiz de Pinedo and Lupita Pallás were also famous actors.

Over the cause of his career, he has performed in more than 80 theatre productions23 feature films, 25 soap operas, 11 comedy series, and numerous other theatre events and productions.

He has also been awarded a number of national and international awards and has represented Mexico in various International Theatre Festivals.  Ortiz retired in July 2019 after he was diagnosed with cancer but remains very popular in Mexico and among Latino communities living in the United States.

8. Roberto Gómez

Photo by Al Vazquez from Wikimedia

Popularly known as Chespirito, Roberto Gómez is widely regarded as one of the greatest Mexican comedians of all time. He is also one of the most recognized and coveted Mexican comedians outside Mexico.

Gómez started his career as a scriptwriter and an actor in children’s comedy shows before he took the iconic character of El Chavo which is one of the most popular comic characters in the history of Latin America.

Most of his TV comedy shows have been made into cartoons and translated has been translated into English, Portuguese, and French. He died on 28 November 2014, aged 85, and some of his works continue to be immensely popular, with daily worldwide viewership averaging 91 million viewers.

9. María Antonieta

Maria Antonieta – Photo Source: Wikimedia

María Antonieta is one of the most famous Mexican female comedians,. She is best known as one of the main characters of the Televisa sitcom El Chavo del Ocho where she portrayed the character of La Chilindrina.  

Antonieta has also starred in a number of other comedy shows and has toured extensively in Latin America and in the United State. In November 2021, Antonieta and her character of La Chilindrina were included in the Guinness World Records for portraying the same role for almost 50 years.

10. Cantinflas

Best known by his stage name Cantinflas, Mario Moreno is considered to have been the most widely-accomplished Mexican comedian. His humor is beloved in all the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America and in Spain.

He started his career as a dancer for a Mexican traveling circuit before establishing himself as an accomplished comedian. His comic use of language filled with linguistic features of intonation, vocabulary, and syntax greatly endeared him to the public.