Eugenio Derbez and Amaury Nolasco: Two comedians to watch in 2012
Rob Schneider and Eugenio Derbez (right) star in ¡Rob!, CBS’ new mid-season comedy (CBS)
By ANGIE ROMERO
Channel: Entertainment
Mid-season is shaping up to be an exciting time for Latinos on television. We just got word of the premiere dates for two new sitcoms starring Eugenio Derbez and Amaury Nolasco.
We all know Nolasco as hottie Fernando Sucre from Prison Break, a very different character from the Puerto Rican actor’s cross-dressing pharmaceutical sales rep in Work It, premiering January 3 on ABC.
The premise sounds promising: two unrepentant guys’ guys—Lee (How I Met Your Mother’s Ben Koldyke) and Angel (Nolasco) find themselves unemployed after the car dealership where they’ve worked for years has gone out of business. So they decide to put on their best heels, skirts, and make-up, in order to score jobs at Coreco Pharmaceuticals. Learning how to tone down their alpha-maleness in order to navigate an all-female work environment might make for some good comedy. Add to that the fact that Angel soon falls for his boss—a woman—and we just may buy into it.
“We’re showing how guys are growing and maturing and evolving by listening to women more than they traditionally have,” Friends writer Ted Cohen, who executive produces the new sitcom, told the Wall Street Journal earlier this year.
Derbez, for his part, is well established as a comedian in his native Mexico and is slowly transitioning into Hollywood, but he’ll still have to prove himself in ¡Rob!, premiering January 12 on CBS. The show revolves around Rob Schneider’s character, a lifelong bachelor who marries into a tight-knit Mexican family.
Derbez, who currently stars in the Adam Sandler vehicle, Jack and Jill, will have plenty of support from other Latino cast members, including Cheech Marin, Claudia Bassols, Diana Maria Riva, and Lupe Ontiveros.
