Michael R. Malone
4-9-2025
This story originally appeared in News@TheU.

If Mike Menendez’s first comedy open mic were a boxing match, it would have been an opening round TKO.

“I bombed so hard. There was so much silence. I was on stage looking for a life raft, so I tried to make eye contact with a girl in the front row, but she said, ‘Don’t look at me,’—it couldn’t have gone any worse,” said Menendez, who graduated from the University of Miami in 2011. “Yet for some reason, I wanted to go back and do it again. And it’s been everything; the best life decision I’ve ever made to dedicate myself to comedy.”

Comedy performance is not for the weak of heart, and Menendez has persevered in pursuing his calling. After graduation, he’s lived nearly a decade in Los Angeles honing his craft, working a variety of gigs, running house shows, touring as a comic, and now, his short film “Pollo Punch”—a spoof on Cuban American culture that he crafted together with a fellow alum and friends—screens in the upcoming Miami Film Festival.

Not only did that opening night stumble and others along the way not dissuade Menendez, but he’s convinced they’ve made him a better jokester.

“Comedy is fun even when it doesn’t go well,” he said. “You’re in a roomful of people and you get to talk; that’s so cool. In fact, I’ve learned the most from my worst sets.”

Born and raised in Miami in a Cuban American family, Menendez described himself as “a really hyperactive kid.” Growing up, he was a big fan of comedians Eddie Murphy and Robin Williams—“they were amazing performers, and I loved their frenetic energy.” At Belen Jesuit Preparatory School, he played a few roles in school plays.

He began at the University as a major in sports administration, worked for a bit at WVUM as an announcer, but soon shifted gears to spend more time on stage.

“I always wanted to perform, and so I went over to the theater department and switched my major to print journalism. I was really into it—did eight plays in just a few years and even wrote one, ‘Oh Night, Divine’—an absurd comedy of Christmas Eve characters who were all alone until Jesus showed up,” he said.

But while he enjoyed the playacting, Menendez had a bit of an epiphany.

“I found myself having a better time making the crew laugh than even acting in the play, so eventually I went to stand-up comedy because that’s where I always wanted to go,” he recalled.

With a degree in print journalism and theatre arts in hand, he hit the road, heading for Chicago where he studied acting and graduated from The Second City Conservatory. He then headed for the lights of the City of Angels.

A part-time gig as an announcer for bingo and trivia—at a brooding dive bar with casket-covered walls and no windows—served as a surprising launch pad for his comedy routine.

“I was cultivating this ridiculous character who didn’t even want to call bingo—‘you’ve got B15, well, who cares?’—and realized this was more than an act; this persona was me. I didn’t want to be a lifetime bingo caller, so I realized I have to bring this persona to my stand-up, and it really ended up working out,” Menendez recalled.

While his own career has been taking shape, Menendez is grateful to be with “his tribe” and especially to see some of his colleagues really begin to take off.

“It’s good to be in the mix. I’ve seen people doing open mics for years and now to see them grow to having their own television shows, getting big on social media, or cultivating their own fan base, is incredible.

“Stand-up is an easy place to lose yourself and fall into comparing yourself to others,” he noted. “But I’ve always just seen it as ‘That’s cool, my buddy got something, and I’m sure it will be my time, and I’ve got to keep going.’ And that’s the way it’s been, every year it gets a little better.”

Menendez is excited to return to Miami for the screening of “Pollo Punch.” The animated short has played in film festivals in Los Angeles, New York, and was awarded Best International Animated Short in the Puerto Rican Film Festival.

“We’ve been thinking about this ever since the film was finished. The idea of going to Miami and showing it for a Miami audience who’s going to pick up on every nuance is so exciting,” he said. “They’ll see portraits and say, ‘I know what they’re talking about.’ My family used to go to the Miami Film Festival when we were growing up, so to have our family and friends be there is just so cool.”

The idea for the film was cultivated collaboratively over time but in large part stems from Menendez reflecting on what his version of the “I’m Cuban in Miami” story might be.

“I’m a huge fan of boxing, and we eventually came up with this idea that wouldn’t it be cool to put boxing gloves on a rooster and cultivate this ‘Rocky’ type of story but using an aggro-masculine (aggressive) rooster—it’s basically the story of our grandparents but told through the character of a rooster,” Menendez explained.

He appreciates the added impact that animation brings to his penchant for making people laugh and credited director and fellow alumnus Alec Castillo, who graduated in 2020 with a degree in communication, for his talent and creative contribution to the short.

“You can do things with animation that you can’t do as a human being. There are things I could never do with words. The film is beautifully done, and we had a great team; they were all excited to work on the project, and I just wanted to make something that’s cool,” said Menendez, who admitted feeling a wave of sadness after he did a single take to record his voice parts in production. “That’s it, finished?”

“I’m just so happy that I get to do this. The first free cheeseburger that I got doing stand-up and the biggest check I’ve gotten hit me the same way,” he said. “My grandparents escaped the Castro regime, and I get paid to speak nonsense—amazing.”

“Pollo Punch” screens April 12 at 2:45 p.m. at the Silverspot Cinema in Miami.