Julio Torres on ‘My Favorite Shapes,’ ‘SNL,’ and ‘Los Espookys’

27th August 2019

New to Bullseye? Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or with your favorite podcatcher to make sure you automatically get the newest episode every week. Photo: Zach Dilgard / HBO Julio Torres on his stand-up special ‘My Favorite Shapes’, ‘Los Espookys’ and working on SNLJulio Torres has created some of our favorite sketches for Saturday […]

Episode notes

New to Bullseye? Subscribe to our podcast in iTunes or with your favorite podcatcher to make sure you automatically get the newest episode every week.


Photo: Zach Dilgard / HBO
Julio Torres on his stand-up special ‘My Favorite Shapes’, ‘Los Espookys’ and working on SNL
Julio Torres has created some of our favorite sketches for Saturday Night Live in recent memory.

His sketches on the show are a little different than standard SNL fare. It’s not the in your face humor about politics or the need for cowbell. But a little dreamy and magical.

There was the time Lin-Manuel Miranda portrayed a man named Diego who calls his mother from a phone booth in the middle of a corn field. In 2017, Ryan Gosling hosted, and Julio wrote a sketch about a man who’s haunted by the Papyrus font used by the film Avatar. There’s tons of great stuff. Of course, he also co-wrote one of our all time favorites – Wells for Boys.

Julio grew up in El Salvador, and spent his entire childhood there. He thought he’d end up as an architect, just like his mom. But even in El Salvador, he grew up on TV shows from the US. He was raised on the classic stuff – The Simpsons, I Dream of Jeanie, and Ally McBeal. He always kind of knew comedy was in his future.

Julio recently released his first comedy special on HBO. It’s a little sideways from what you’d expect from a comedy special. Julio talks about … his favorite shapes.

It’s a bit surreal to watch. He shares his favorite shapes with the audience. The shapes are on display on a custom conveyor belt. There’s a lot of glitter. That might understatement, everything is covered in the stuff. The shapes have lived lives you’d never quite expect. But really, the shapes help us learn more about Julio.

Julio is also one of the creators of the new HBO show, Los Espookys. In the show, a group of friends who turn their love of horror films into a business. They provide events for people who want to be scared. Think the gig economy for spooky events.

We’re big fans of Julio Torres, and we’re thrilled to share this conversation with you. He’ll chat about his journey from El Salvador to working at SNL. Plus, a behind the scenes look at My Favorite Shapes and Los Espookys.

In this episode...

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Maximum Fun Producer
Maximum Fun Production Fellow

Guests

  • Julio Torres

About the show

Bullseye is a celebration of the best of arts and culture in public radio form. Host Jesse Thorn sifts the wheat from the chaff to bring you in-depth interviews with the most revered and revolutionary minds in our culture.

Bullseye has been featured in Time, The New York Times, GQ and McSweeney’s, which called it “the kind of show people listen to in a more perfect world.” Since April 2013, the show has been distributed by NPR.

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Maximum Fun Production Fellow

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