John Leguizamo makes tortillas with South Philly Barbacoa’s Cristina Martinez
The second season of 'Leguizamo Does America' starts off in Philly, where the comedian and Mets fan eats a Mexican cheesesteak and risks entering the Phillies batting cage.
John Leguizamo still dreams about the Mexican Philly cheesesteak he ate at Café y Chocolate last year. With serrano peppers, chipotle mayo, cilantro, and pico de gallo, chef and co-owner Arturo Lorenzo transforms the classic into something deliciously new.
For the comedian, it’s a sublime example of immigrant ingenuity worthy of spotlighting in the second season of his travel-meets-politics show, Leguizamo Does America.
“The immigrant MO has always been to build on what’s there, and to make it our own,” Leguizamo says in the first episode, which focuses on Philadelphia and aired on MSNBC on Sunday. “A German immigrant invented the hot dog. An Italian immigrant upgraded it to the cheesesteak. And now Arturo and other Latinx immigrants are reshaping the food scene once again.”
But it’s not just the city’s food. Leguizamo interviewed eight Philadelphians for the show, aiming to represent Latino excellence across the country. A hands-on host, he enters a Phillies batting cage (despite being a die-hard Mets fan), gets into the ring at Fairhill’s Pivott Boxing Academy, tries on a Colombian faja (a Spanx equivalent) at Latin Fashion, makes tortillas with South Philly Barbacoa’s Cristina Martinez, and spins clay with Kensington ceramics artist Roberto Lugo.
The MSNBC show blends Leguizamo’s funny stunts with his passion for history, politics, and statistics about the systemic exclusion of Latinos in Hollywood, textbooks, board rooms, museums, and elsewhere, historically and contemporarily.
The Latin History for Morons creator eagerly underscores that Latinos, too, are “the sons and daughters of the American Revolution.”
Walking by Independence Hall, Leguizamo discusses Juan de Miralles, a Spanish spy and arms dealer who befriended George Washington and raised money for the Continental Army while living on South Third Street.
He also notes another important figure in the Revolutionary War, Bernardo de Gálvez, who was the governor of Louisiana under Spanish occupation and led a multicultural army to fight British troops along the Mississippi River. Donations from Cuban, Mexican, and Spanish people also went to the Revolution.
Aside from history, Leguizamo seeks out modern-day “neighborhood champions” like former Councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sanchez and the Rev. Luis Cortés Jr., who runs the nonprofit Esperanza servicing Latino communities. Walking around North Philly, the actor says he came to a profound realization.
“In Philadelphia, I learned about what gentrification really means. I never really knew — I was kind of ignorant,” Leguizamo said to The Inquirer. “I don’t think people are aware of the cruelty of gentrification, because we all think, ‘Oh, are they going to get great coffee shops and restaurants?’ But they don’t understand that they’re destroying hospitals and schools and making it impossible for these people to survive.”
Lessons about the political reality of Latinos are part of the fabric of the series as Leguizamo hopes viewers will see relatable role models in the “strivers” he interviews, who are “making it against all odds” across industries.
Now that the show is returning under President Donald Trump’s administration, Leguizamo recognizes it will resonate differently.
In the Philly episode, James Beard Award-winning chef Martinez uses tortilla-making to explain why she believes her signature masa — made of three different types of corn — represents immigration, in a way.
“Migration is like this corn,” she says in Spanish. “The masa is the people coming together, blending together.”
They discuss how she has supported undocumented immigrants by hiring them and organizing for immigration law reform. It feels even more pressing today as workers in the Italian Market have been increasingly afraid of deportations due to raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Leguizamo believes the show offers an inspiring rebuttal to Trump.
“It plays like an antidote to the cruelty that’s happening in this country, because here, you see us thriving, surviving, excelling — regardless of all the situations,” he said. “The celebration hopefully gives us and inspires us to keep fighting, to unite, to organize better, and to fight this administration’s cruelty.”
Ending on a lighter note a little further south, Leguizamo heads to Citizens Bank Park with Rubén Amaro Jr., former Phillies outfielder, coach, and executive, discussing the importance of Latinos in baseball and in C-suites. Though the Mets fan doesn’t dare wear team merch, he does sport a blue T-shirt: “I put on my Mets blue for you,” he tells Amaro.
In our interview, he acknowledges that under different circumstances, the two might not be as chummy: “I mean, if they’re playing in Citi Field, I might have different feelings,” said Leguizamo, chuckling.
“If we’re competing at the World Series, I might not be as friendly.”
Beginning July 6, “Leguizamo Does America” airs weekly on Sundays at 9 p.m. on MSNBC.