Splitsider

Americans may be familiar with Peru as home to the breathtaking Machu Picchu, or perhaps as a bordering nation to Lake Titicaca. But, the Republic of Peru is also home to 29.4 million people (UN, 2010), rich natural resources like copper, silver, lead, zinc, oil and gold (BBC 2011) and a small but fruitful world of comedy in its capital city of Lima.

A friend connected me with an aspiring comedian in Lima named Charly Cervera. To start, he described to me the current comedic climate in Peru.

Comedy in Peru is a small world; it’s only really practiced in the capital as stage comedy…In the provinces, comedy [...]

A couple of weeks ago on Modern Family, Gloria made a little joke about Peru. She says, "Ah, here we go. Because, in Colombia, we trip over goats and we kill people in the street. Do you know how offensive that is? Like we’re Peruvians!" Not too bad, right? No more offensive than the piles of Columbia jokes that have been made episode after episode, at least. But "philanthropist Rodolfo de Rothschild" is not amused! And he has written a lengthy, nonsensical press release so everyone knows just how not amused he is! Here's a quote from the man himself: "Entertainment is an agreeable occupation of the mind, and [...]