Episode 64 comes to you directly from the Dominican Republic.

Gadiel reflects on the freedom of solo travel and how being back in his family's homeland has changed his perspective on everyday life. He compares the slower Dominican lifestyle with the constant urgency of the United States and explains why taking time away from work, phones, routines, and other people's expectations can be so valuable.

In this episode:

• Traveling alone to the Dominican Republic

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Norberto Briceño is back to talk about his first year working full-time as a creator and what he's learned about consistency, research and building an audience.

The conversation expands into:

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Gadiel hosted a Friday show at the Comic Strip and the lineup got switched three times before he went up — so when he brought up the first comedian, he blanked and called him "Kato." His name was Nico. The comedian turned it into a joke on stage and killed with it. So when Gadiel came back up, he ran it back on purpose: "give it up for Kato." The room erupted. The comedian did not think it was funny. He paced, walked in and out of the room, and gave Gadiel one of those handshakes that isn't really a handshake — "I was fine the first time, but the second time, that's where I had a problem." That sets up the thesis of the episode: a lot of comedians are walking around with egos that can't take a scratch. Gadiel's last name is Del Orbe. He has had it butchered for forty years — a Boston producer once introduced him on stage as "Radial." He's never thrown a fit about it, and he explains exactly why. Because of boot camp. During chants, the drill instructor asked the platoon why they needed to stomp harder. Gadiel — proud of himself — answered, "because there's chicks downstairs." There was, in fact, a female platoon downstairs. The petty officers made a phone call, and he got taken down there, where every instructor was a woman. What followed was roughly an hour of exercises in front of about a hundred people: push-ups, mountain climbers, and "the submarine" — flat on the floor, arms and feet off the ground, swimming in place while yelling "Please, Mr. Shark, don't eat me. I will never say chicks again." Every time an instructor tapped her stick on the ground, the exercise changed. For the remaining two months of boot camp, everyone called him "Chicks" — and he had to answer to it. Someone snuck a photo of him that followed him to A-school: "isn't that the chicks guy?" He has never called a woman a chick since. That, he says, is what the military does — it takes your ego apart on purpose. He also gets serious about the Dominican Parade. He skipped it this year ("I'm 39, I'll be 40, I don't got that energy") and spent the day cleaning, but he's not letting the violence in Dyckman stand as the story. Someone was stabbed, someone was shot, kids were standing on cars. His message to Dominican Gen Z: that is not us. Dominicans are the people who feed you if you say you're hungry, who play dominoes and bachata and know how to have a good time. When there's poverty and no guidance or education for the youth, this is what happens — take care of the people and the rest takes care of itself. Plus: Cris Sosa killed the AGT callbacks episode (they threw a watch party at Broadway Comedy Club), and Rashad Bashir — 16 years in the game, wasn't even booked — got thrown up to close and did 15 minutes of pure fire. Gadiel's bringing him on the show. Timestamps: 00:00 — Calling a comedian the wrong name at the Comic Strip… twice 06:07 — Comedian egos & 40 years of "Del Orbe" getting butchered 08:48 — Rashad Bashir closed the show and wasn't even on the lineup 09:13 — The Dyckman violence — a message to Dominican Gen Z 14:22 — "There's chicks downstairs" — the boot camp story 🎤 Gadiel is in Boston this Saturday. 💬 Who should he bring on next? Send it in — he reads the comments.

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Cris Sosa returns to The Gadiel Del Orbe Show — he came through from Brooklyn when this podcast was just two or three episodes old, and now he's back after earning a standing ovation on America's Got Talent in under two and a half minutes of stand-up. As Gadiel points out, people usually need to be invested in a comedian for a standing O — getting one that fast means every second of the set landed. Cris walks through exactly how the set was built. He records every performance, writes it out word for word, and cuts every word that doesn't earn a laugh — on a stage that big, every word counts, and cutting the wrong single word can break a joke. He breaks down the "I know, I know, I know" bit that got a reaction out of Sofía Vergara, explains the rule of threes, and shares the moment he found his punchline on the page — two days before flying out — just from seeing two lines written next to each other. He also shouts out fellow Dominican comedian Orlando Leyba for the line-by-line approach. Then the behind-the-scenes: Cris noticed Terry Crews is the last person every contestant sees before walking on stage, so he studied every send-off that season and designed a custom "toma" handshake — simple enough that Terry could learn it in seconds. It worked; Terry ran it back. He also reveals the line he hit Simon Cowell with ("there's only one way to find out if you make it to the lives" — "there's TWO ways...") that got cut from the broadcast, and that Simon called his set the best performance of the night. The grind section is the heart of the episode: Cris interned at Greenwich Village Comedy Club — seating rooms and cleaning tables in exchange for check spots, the hardest five minutes in comedy, performing while the audience pays their bills. He tested the AGT set at Chocolate Sundays in front of a crowd that "either f*cks with you or they don't" and explains why Black crowds demand authenticity above everything. Gadiel admits Harlem crowds still terrify him more than any Broadway room. It closes personal. Cris's boxing childhood — Junior Olympics, a dad who only let him showboat in the third round if he'd already won the first two. The biggest lesson from AGT: "I can." The new muscle he discovered (writing is legs day). Cringing through tapes of yourself to find the Easter eggs. Why boredom is a creative superpower — from the 50th Law to Christopher Nolan's flip phone. And Gadiel gets emotional: he cried watching Cris's set, because he's watched the work for years. "Your win is my win. That's what team is all about." Timestamps: 00:00 — Cris Sosa is back! A standing ovation on AGT in under 2.5 minutes 04:06 — "Every word counts" — how the set was written, cut & rebuilt 09:18 — The Terry Crews "toma" handshake & the Simon Cowell line that got cut 12:47 — Check spots, Greenwich internships & Chocolate Sundays 23:55 — "I can" — boxing, boredom, journaling & lifting other comics up

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In this solo episode, Gadiel finally tells the story behind The Art of Cigar, the cigar lounge he co-owns in Old Town, San Diego. It began with wanting to invest in a business and not knowing what. What he did know was that he loved smoking a good cigar with his friends. On a trip to San Diego he met Luis, a roller who worked all day producing what Gadiel describes as masterpieces — people lined up to watch him and take pictures. But Luis didn't own any of it. Gadiel learned that's standard in the cigar world: rollers use recipes passed down through their own families and see almost none of the upside. His reaction was simple — what if the roller becomes the owner? Luis had been waiting for the right partners. They found a spot in Old Town, the oldest part of San Diego, where the rent was cheap and the neighbors swear the block is haunted (one shop owner showed Gadiel video of her shutters opening and closing on their own, with a cemetery across the street). Then they flew to the Dominican Republic to meet Luis's family and connects, including Tamboril — the country's cigar capital, where there are rollers everywhere but only a handful of true blenders. Luis made Gadiel a custom cigar he still calls the best he's ever smoked — chocolatey with cinnamon spice. It's no longer sold because it's too expensive to produce. Luis's blend comes from his great-grandfather, and the family protects it fiercely. Which makes the best story in the episode: as a kid, Luis handed a recipe to one of the biggest cigar brands in the world, and it became one of their most famous smokes. His father almost disowned him. Then Gadiel gets into the parts nobody warns you about. California taxes tobacco around 60%, which forces prices up. You legally cannot advertise a cigar business. A competing lounge opened across the street. A new per-SKU tax law pushed them to stop manufacturing in California and move production to the DR. The business is self-sustaining now, and his partners run the day-to-day so he can focus on comedy — but his advice is blunt: don't get into the cigar business. He closes with the lesson he'd give his younger self. Building from scratch means wearing every hat — hiring, marketing (which never stops), the POS system, the website, shipping, the books. If he could go back, he'd buy a business with at least a three-year track record: existing customers, existing staff, existing systems. No regrets, though. He loves the place, and he's grateful Luis trusted him. If you're in San Diego, stop by, say hi to Endy, and tell them the podcast sent you. Timestamps: 00:00 — Episode 62: the cigar lounge story I've never told 01:24 — Meeting Luis: the master roller who owned nothing he made 07:07 — The family recipe that went to a huge brand — and nearly cost him his father 09:37 — 60% tax, no advertising allowed: why this business almost broke us 13:21 — "Don't start a business — buy one" 🚬 The Art of Cigar — Old Town, San Diego. DM Gadiel if you go and he'll sort you out with a discount. 💬 Got a business question? Send it in and he'll answer it on the next episode.

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Episode 59 opens with life updates — Gadiel is back from LA where he attended a friend's wedding, and he checked in on his cigar shop, The Art of Cigar, in San Diego (go show love if you're in town!). Then the story begins: one of Gadiel's closest friends, a man who has supported him through everything — a MAGA conservative, a grandfather — revealed that he believes the Earth is flat. Gadiel recounts the 3-hour debate that followed at the cigar shop: the basement ice-ball "experiment" his friend used as evidence, Gadiel's counter-explanation that humans on Earth are proportionally the size of a hepatitis B virus on a basketball (of course everything looks flat to us), and the history lesson on how Eratosthenes calculated the Earth's circumference in 250 BC using a well, a stick, and a shadow. The breaking point: Gadiel asked his friend, "If 97% of scientists say a bridge will collapse and 3% say it's safe, do you cross it?" His friend said he's crossing the bridge. Gadiel is never debating him again. The lesson — educated people don't debate; an idiot will have you arguing for hours. He connects it to the movie Idiocracy, which predicted everything down to the Crocs, and his own confession of once spending three days arguing with a total stranger in a comment section. But Gadiel is clear: he still loves his friend. He refuses to cut people off over politics — if he did, he wouldn't have any family left. His rule for cutting people off is simpler: if someone consistently raises your cortisol levels, they gotta go — and he shares the story of a comedian friend he recently had to let go for exactly that reason. The episode turns serious with Andrew Tate's arrest for human trafficking and prostitution — Gadiel breaks down the love-bombing and passport-confiscation scheme, and calls out the Jubilee video where a young man said "we need 100 more Andrew Tates." Then the moment that hits hardest: Gadiel's mom came home from the gym heartbroken after overhearing young men openly trashing women — something unheard of in her generation. Gadiel closes with his philosophy on masculinity: a man's job is to make life easier for the people around him. He tells the story of rescuing a date with a flat tire (shout out to the Mexican man who helped change it), and buying and installing an AC for the woman he's currently talking to during a heat wave — expecting nothing in return. Leadership is service. You don't need to neg, love bomb, or play games. Just be you and trust yourself. Timestamps: 00:00 — Updates: LA, a wedding & The Art of Cigar in San Diego 01:45 — "My best friend thinks the Earth is flat" — the 3-hour debate 09:16 — We're viruses on a basketball & how 250 BC proved the Earth is round 15:38 — "97% of scientists say the bridge will collapse. He's crossing it." 21:00 — Andrew Tate arrested + my mom overheard men trashing women at the gym

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In this episode, Gadiel sits down with his friend and fellow Pero Like OG, Maya Murillo. What starts as nostalgic banter turns into an honest conversation about identity, the creator grind, and finding yourself after fame. They get into: • Reuniting as best friends after running in "separate groups" during the Pero Like days • The BuzzFeed hustle — rotating managers, late-night edits, and lying about knowing Premiere to get hired • Being the "no sabo" Latina who didn't speak Spanish — the bullying, and the viral 60-day Spanish challenge she made in response • Why "everybody deserves a seat at the table" no matter how they show up as Latino • The Pero Like Netflix deal — and Gadiel's take on why YouTube already won the streaming war • The four-person team vs. the 50-person crew: how content gets made now • Burnout, isolation in LA, and the pandemic hitting after leaving BuzzFeed • Why fame and money don't cure depression or anxiety — and where peace actually comes from • Moving to NYC as a game changer, and choosing stand-up over internet clout • Chasing greatness and happiness instead of comparison and popularity A comeback story about identity, mental health, and building something real on your own terms. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, support is available — consider reaching out to a trusted person or a local helpline. 🎧 New episodes every week 💬 Join the conversation in the comments ⭐ Follow Maya and her podcast The Super Secret Bestie Club

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In this episode, Gadiel sits down in Los Angeles with his day-one friend and former Pero Like / BuzzFeed collaborator, Curly Velasquez. What starts as nostalgic banter turns into one of the most honest conversations on the show. They get into: • The BuzzFeed days — building the Latino platform (Pero Like) from the ground up • When Gadiel first came to LA broke, living out of his car, and Curly gave him a place to crash • Curly's battle with alcoholism, hitting rock bottom, and getting sober • Why "courage only gets tested in hard times" • Turning a career around — from getting lunches to creative director • How media and Hollywood have changed, and how creators actually survive now (social media, YouTube, livestreaming) • Doing work that brings you joy vs. chasing money • "How's your heart doing?" — the check-in question that can change someone's whole day • The "no pressure" mindset and freeing yourself from anxiety A comeback story about friendship, honesty, and building something real — twice. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction or mental health, support is available — consider reaching out to a trusted person or a local helpline. 🎧 New episodes every week 💬 Join the conversation in the comments ⭐ Follow Curly and support Latino creators

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• Aida Rodriguez's journey into comedy

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• NYC primary election results

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