Julio Torres Talks ‘My Favorite Shapes,’ ‘Los Espookys’ And Being Part Of The “Lorne Michaels Weekly Television Product”

Julio Torres might seem an unlikely comedy star, at first or second glance.

And yet, the El Salvador native has rocketed to the greatest heights in America’s established comedy universe, first writing his own short films for Saturday Night Live, then performing in a half-hour special for Comedy Central, and now co-creating, co-writing and co-starring in HBO’s first bilingual comedy, Los Espookys. (HBO just ordered a second season.) And this past weekend, Torres debuted his first solo hour comedy special on the Home Box Office, My Favorite Shapes.

I only received a few precious minutes of one-on-one time with Torres in HBO’s new digs in Hudson Yards, so we got right to it.

Torres arrived in New York City first as a student at the New School, but wanted to stay to pursue his comedy dreams. For hardcore comedy fans like myself, our first impression of Torres came four years ago this week when he launched a GoFundMe campaign to help with the costs of his visa application to remain in the United States. Here’s the “Legalize Julio” video to support that effort, which featured testimonials from Laraine Newman, Chris Gethard, John Early, John Reynolds, Gary Richardson, Jo Firestone, and Fabrega (with whom he’d collaborate on Los Espookys).

DECIDER: How does your life in America now compare to what you might have hoped or expected when you decided you wanted to stay here?

JULIO TORRES: Well, I was always hopeful. So I don’t think I would have gone through that whole thing had I not hoped/expected things to improve. And now that I get to make a living doing the things I love to do, and I have nothing to worry about immigration-wise. Technically….But I do go back (to “Legalize Julio”), fully knowing that, and realizing that no-one accomplishes anything alone. People pitched money to that thing, and that’s why I’m here.

Did your personal five-year plan include everything you’ve already accomplished, though?

A version of that, yes. Sure. I don’t know if I would’ve said with Fred Armisen and HBO, but yeah.

So we’re on the right path?

Everything is going according to plan.

Los Espookys feels as though you and Ana are in entirely different shows from the rest of the cast. Was that deliberate?

[Laughs] It was not deliberate, but it is the obvious result of two writer/performers who have most of their experiences doing solo performances in shows.

How do you maintain that in this era when everybody…

Has an opinion and voices it? I think that truly, as long as I am satisfied, and believe in the work that I’m doing, I’m OK.

So how do you maintain your self-confidence about your work?

Not going on the Internet is one way of doing it.

All of the shapes in your HBO hour are timeless except for one: An action figure of Claude Frollo, the antagonist in the 1996 Disney animated film of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. You acquired this toy when you were 9, so it comes from a very specific place and time in your life.

Yeah, it’s humanizing!

How important was that shape for you in understanding your own identity, in how you viewed the world, and how the world viewed you?

Right. I’ve always had a strong sense of self. I’ve always felt supported by my parents. But I feel like I created this little bubble around me as a child, because I knew that my immediate proximity may not be so OK with me, so I was always off in the corner quietly doing my own thing. Which is funny enough, something that I have continued doing, career-wise.

Your whole HBO hour is that.

Which is how I feel I went about SNL in the same way. But yeah, I don’t think I ever made a direct correlation between Frollo and my identity. But the idea of just playing and being sensitive, and not dismissing things, not dismissing a thing as it appears, but taking a moment and thinking a little more about everything.

Yes. What is a square?

Yeah. What is a square? That said, there is Andrés in Los Espookys (his character), he has very Frollo-like mannerisms and sensitivities.

There are three shapes that get their own voiceover monologues, all voiced by former SNL hosts. Were those initially pitched as SNL shorts?

No. No they weren’t. But they could have easily been. Because Emily Blunt was the sink. And it was because of that, that Dave (McCary, the director on this special and a writer on SNL) said, “Well, how about you pick or think about if there’s any moments in the show as you have it currently, where we cut to a little video of hearing the inner thoughts of these objects.” And then those three seemed like the logical ones. And then the casting was immediate in my head. So then emails and DMs, and then…

Did you get all of your first choices?

Let’s leave it like that!

How do you manage to keep ‘quietly doing your thing’ while still fitting into the comedy machine which is the Lorne Michaels Weekly Television Product?

That’s a really funny alternative title. How do I? That’s a really funny title. The LMWTP.

People have come and gone, but it’s always been Lorne, and everything fits into a mold he created.

I’m not the first and I won’t be the last to do off-the-beaten-path sketches for that show. I feel very privileged that I have a voice that was quickly embraced and protected by him and the show at large. So I was very welcomed.

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And still welcomed. Torres told Decider that he’ll likely only work part-time writing on SNL this coming season, working it around his schedule writing and filming season two of Los Espookys.

Sean L. McCarthy works the comedy beat for his own digital newspaper, The Comic’s Comic; before that, for actual newspapers. Based in NYC but will travel anywhere for the scoop: Ice cream or news. He also tweets @thecomicscomic and podcasts half-hour episodes with comedians revealing origin stories: The Comic’s Comic Presents Last Things First.

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