INTERVIEW WITH PLAYGIRL MAGAZINE

[flannelpjs]

Good work Chica....I have just one thing to say...More, more!!!!

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flannelpjs

[Chica]

Thanx for the enthusiasm...If it's more you want...More you will get!!!

PG: Was your own father very strict?

FP: I used to call him Little Hitler, which pisses him off because he got out of Germany by the skin ofhis ass. He was studying there at a training school and all of a sudden the Brown Shirts started coming. They probably figured he was a jew, Catholic, or sympathizer, so he got his ass out. He left his mother in Hungary. She came here in 1947, saying,"You left me, you sonofabitch." She's 85, and bitter to this day. "They were marching through my living room and he left me." I get hostile toward my father, but he's great and I love him. He and my mother fight, and my mother terrorizes him.

PG: Are you at all like him?

FP: I can have either no conscience or the most conscience. I've always been a little schizophrenic; very withdrawn or very extroverted.

PG: Did you act out a lot of your craziness when you were a kid? Were
you a punk?

FP: I was a lightweight punk. It came out of fear mostly. I got beat up a lot until I was 13, when I started to grow and began taking karate. The worst thing I did was let out a parking break and watch the car roll down a hill. Oh, I guess I broke a few windows and did some shoplifting, but I was never really into crime.

PG: You didn't feel it was a challenge?

FP: The cahllenge was actally staying out of it, there were so many undercover cops. Even when I was clean I'd get hassled. I figured if I was gonna get rousted, I didn't want nothin' on me.

PG: Were you into any kind of drug scene?

FP: Where I grew up you could get anything. I experimented with almost everything but never messed with smack. Out of fear again. I had cousins and friends who just ate it. My problem was never finding a high I could enjoy. I smoke a joint and start staring at a glass of water for an hour, thinking I could swim in it. Then somebody gives me cocaine and I just know there's shark in the glass. Paranoid. I've tried coke, joints, Quaaludes, but nothing has hit me as the ultimate. Always open to suggestions, though. Actually drugs are paase'. Electricity is the new high. Put your finger in a socket, jump in a bucket of water, and fry.

PG: Given the raunchiness of your own background, do you still feel compelled to be as socially revelent in your act as you originally were?

FP: No, I don't want to be a cause carrier. I realized that my audience gets off-- and so do I-- when I'm more entertaining and not banging them over the head. There is no rush like playing Vegas and making 1200 people go crazy. Once a teacher in New York wrote me, "You'll always be successful in the entertainment field because you can make people cry or laugh." That's better than any award. Anyway, I'm not running for office.

PG: You must have some political inclinations.

FP: I want Tom Hayden for Senator. That's about it. I'mnot going to do a cross-country run with Dick Gregory to reopen the Kennedy assassination investigation, but I support him. I think it's great that he gave up a lucrative night-club career for a cause he believes in. He's got more guts than I do. I like the money a little too much. I like the fame, the fans, walkin' in the streets and having people recognize me. I'm frustrated by idealistic things, but at the same time I like comfort.

PG: So princples are less important than practicalities?

FP: I can't think about it for more than an hour without going nuts. Food shortages, weather control, assassinations... I even wonder if I'm doing the right in bringing a child into the world. It's an impasse. The thing that really gets to me is ass-kissing cencorship. We can't say hell, damn, or mention a brand name on Chico. It's antiquated, 1949 television


[This message has been edited by Chica (edited 05-05-2001).]

[Chica]

PG: Do you fight it?

FP: It's like beating your head against a wall. One time on an episode, Ed was quizzing me on who wrote famous quotes. The quote was "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways." My line was "Masters and Johnson." The censors said it was dirty. Now norman Lear has enough shows on the air so he can say "Screw you." If they tried to censor him, he'd take his shows off one network and sell them to another.

PG: What about the attempts at control from the viewers? Have you made your peace with those in the Chicano community who felt your portrayal of Chico was stereotype?

FP: I personally didn't feel that there was any peace to be made. I thought it was a lot of bullsh*t. I got one complaint that I didn't walk or talk like a Chicano, that I was stereotyping them. I just want to do my interpretation of the character, my job, and be left alone. If the series didn't work out, it would prove them right, but it's been in the top 15 for 2 years.

PG: So you're comfortable with your character?

FP: Personally, I think there's a lot of other things that I could play better, but I haven't done a bad job with Chico. I haven't shown him in a bad light. When the Chicanos first put on the pressure, I just laid back because I could dig where they were comin' from. Chicanos are just West Coast Puerto Ricans. If we fixed everything they wanted, they'd think up a new cause so they wouldn't be out of a gig.


[This message has been edited by Chica (edited 04-30-2001).]

[EdBrownJr]

Ah good work Chica!!! This stuff is interesting its like another side of him.

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GET OUT OF MY GARAGE!!!

[Tracy-Prinze]

excellent job chica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wouldn't you (everyone) just love to see this interview on television?????
I know I would.

[chicosladyfair]

Excellent work Chica...this is good stuff. All of it in his own words. Thanks and keep it coming. By the way, are there any pics that came with the article? Maybe if we're real nice you'll post them...LOL!
Any way, thanks again.

[Cheryl Harrell]

Nice reporting job!

[Pitooey]

Chica - This is a very heavy interview with him! Great........

[Chica]

I am sorry to have to tell everyone this, I probably will not post anymore of this til the weekend..I work 2nd shift and after I get home you wouldn't want me to post; the typos would be horrific...Please be patient and try to understand...Thanks to everyone who has commented, it makes it worth the effort when you know people appreciate it.

[Cheryl Harrell]

We'll wait. It'll seem like forever... But I know how bad working weird shifts are as I used to do it. Glad to be a housewife again! Better hours!

[Chica]

PG: Given all the hassles, how do you keep yourself sane? Or do you?

FP: Hypnosis. That's my hobby.It relaxes me. I think that TM and est are bullsh*t. It all boils down to self-hypnosis. The mind is a powerful thing.

PG: Are you religious in any sense?

FP: I got a glimpse of God when my kid was born. A handshake from Him,"I'm loanin' you this for 20 years, do the best you can."

PG: We mean in the institutionalized sense.

FP: Originally I was. Out of fear. Nuns with blackjacks on the end of their rosaries, telling you to pray or lightning will strike your a**.

PG: Does your mother get on your case about it?

FP: She was pissed when St. Christopher got laid off. She quit. She used to light the candles and nothing happened. It took a TV series to get her out of where she was living. I told her, "That was an act of God. Through me, God gave you your home."

PG: Are you superstitious at all?

FP: I'll never get on a plane with certain people. Ray Charles for one. You just know that f***ing plane is going down. "Blind singer becomes legend," and they let out post-mortem albums. But if you're on a plane with Pat Boone,you know that f***er ain't goin' down. Boone and God are tight. You just drop out of the plane and float like a feather to the airport.

PG: Chico And The Man has just finished 2 seasons and been picked for a 3rd. What does the future look like?

FP: It scares me. Show business is a very paranoid gig. I figure we have next season on the air, one more at most. I don't say it's cool if the show goes off the air, but I know that I'm more than just a flash in the pan, that I can go on to something else. Whether it will be as good or as money-making, I don't know.

PG: Well, since you're no longer a "promising newcomer," are you uptight about competition or fickle fans?

FP: I am worried I could lose. There's always somene who can be better. That's why I try to do as many things as I can. I didn't stick with "It's not my job."

PG: That's a positive approach, but what about the negative side of all that competitive pressure?

FP: It will piss me off when I'm no longer in 60 million homes every Wednesday night. But I'm not going to be bitter. Worrying about it can get you crazy enough to blow your whole career.

You've said you're "worried you could lose," and that there's "always someone better." Sounds like a little contradiction.

FP: Well, nobody's perfect.

[Chica]

There it is folks......The whole interview!!!! HAPPY READING!!!!

[EdBrownJr]

Very good Chica!!! I cant wait for more OOPS i mean great job i wish there was more.

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GET OUT OF MY GARAGE!!!

[This message has been edited by EdBrownJr (edited 05-04-2001).]

[bella66]

really great interview, chica

[catcopy18]

I'm still amazed how he can give one image
when he's being interviewed and a completely
different one when he's on CATM. I guess that's part of what makes him a fabulous
actor - you never know when he's acting and
when he's not. GOOD JOB GIRL!!!! THANKS!!