In 2010, Joey Diaz started to gain widespread attention from his appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
40 Facts About Joey Diaz
1.
2.
Jose Antonio Joey Diaz was born in Havana, Cuba, in 1963.
3.
Joey Diaz immigrated to the United States with his mother at age three, shortly after his father died.
4.
Joey Diaz was then raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City, before moving to North Bergen, New Jersey, at age ten, a town that he and his mother were the only Cuban-American residents of at the time.
5.
Joey Diaz's mother ran a bar in Union City, New Jersey, and a successful numbers game operation in the Bronx.
6.
Joey Diaz was raised Catholic and enjoyed learning stories about Francis of Assisi and Saint Michael as a child.
7.
Joey Diaz attended Public School 166 in Manhattan from kindergarten to second grade, then Sacred Heart School for Boys in Kearny, New Jersey, from third to fifth grade.
8.
Joey Diaz's mother died when he was sixteen, Diaz having found her dead in their home.
9.
Joey Diaz later called this time "the worst eighteen months of my life" and "the biggest mistake of my life", as his cocaine abuse worsened.
10.
In June 1985, Joey Diaz left New Jersey and returned to Colorado to study economics at the University of Colorado Boulder.
11.
Joey Diaz did not enjoy his time there and quit before taking up work selling roofing, which earned him money but failed to make him any happier.
12.
Joey Diaz performed his first routine on June 18,1991, at the Comedy Works in Denver, at a show headlined by Matt Woods.
13.
Joey Diaz then ceased to take the substance before a performance.
14.
Joey Diaz initially lost another competition until the winner was caught stealing jokes made famous by Jerry Seinfeld and Diaz was declared the winner.
15.
Joey Diaz claimed Comedy Works manager Wende Curtis promised him a flight to Los Angeles for a showcase spot at The Comedy Store for owner Mitzi Shore, but never received either.
16.
Joey Diaz participated in a similar contest in Seattle, Washington, and finished sixth out of 40.
17.
In 1994, Joey Diaz returned to the Comedy Works and found Curtis had started a developmental program for comics which he joined.
18.
In 1995, Joey Diaz left Colorado for Los Angeles, California, to try and make it as a successful stand-up comic.
19.
Joey Diaz used his divorce from his first wife, and the loss of contact with their daughter in the process, as a motivation so he "could come back and make her proud".
20.
On November 4,2007, Joey Diaz appeared in North Bergen to help raise money for North Bergen High School's basketball team uniforms.
21.
In December 2016, Joey Diaz put out his first one-hour comedy special, Sociably Unacceptable, through the on-demand subscription services Seeso and Comedy Dynamics.
22.
In 1998, Joey Diaz received a contract to star in a television pilot, playing a bartender in a series titled Bronx County, after a talent scout at CBS saw him perform comedy in Seattle.
23.
The series was not picked up, but the opportunity led to more work for Joey Diaz, including an offer in his first feature film, a referee in BASEketball, and a part in the television series NYPD Blue.
24.
Parts of Analyze That, which starred Joey Diaz, were filmed in Hudson County, New Jersey.
25.
Joey Diaz secured the role when he learned a remake of the original was in production, and had lunch with Chris Rock and Adam Sandler, during which Rock said he could land Joey Diaz an audition.
26.
Three days after submitting the tape, Joey Diaz landed the role; the producers liked the name Big Tony Tedesco, which Joey Diaz named himself on the tape, and wrote it into the script.
27.
Originally the part had a mere three lines, but Joey Diaz's tape got his part extended.
28.
That year, he hosted a series of humorous promotions for the Ultimate Fighting Championship as Joey Diaz Karate, giving karate instructions and comical predictions for upcoming fights.
29.
In 2011 Joey Diaz appeared in "Scarlet Ribbons", an episode of The Mentalist, and the film Bucky Larson: Born to Be a Star.
30.
Around 2011, Joey Diaz raised $1,400 from fans on Twitter and Facebook to finance a documentary about his upbringing in North Bergen, chronicling his life and how he was influenced by the various people who took care of him following his parents' death.
31.
Joey Diaz contributed $2,600 to complete it and by mid-2012, Where I Got My Balls From was produced with his podcast co-host and producer Lee Syatt as director, who shot six hours of footage in total.
32.
Joey Diaz made the film in tribute to those who helped him.
33.
In 2013, Joey Diaz appeared in "Sal's Pizza", the ninth episode of the comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine.
34.
In 2014, Joey Diaz appeared in "White Truck", the twelfth episode of the second season of Maron.
35.
In 2017, Joey Diaz started work on a presentation based on one of his cats for Animal Planet.
36.
In 2009, Joey Diaz was introduced to comedian Felicia Michaels, who encouraged him to co-host a new comedy podcast.
37.
In one early episode, Joey Diaz recalled a story about setting a prostitute's wig on fire when he was young.
38.
On September 2,2012, Joey Diaz launched his own podcast, The Church of What's Happening Now, which he co-hosted with producer and sidekick Lee Syatt.
39.
Joey Diaz named it after a phrase that his former manager told him while he was working selling cars in Boulder.
40.
On October 5,2020, Diaz launched a new podcast series, Uncle Joey's Joint after moving back to New Jersey from California.