Joey Diaz

José Antonio Díaz (born February 19, 1963), also known as Joey "CoCo" Diaz, is a Cuban-American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, and author.

He graduated in 1982.

Diaz's father died when he was three years old.

His mother died when he was 16, Diaz having found her dead in their home.

He was taken in by four families around North Bergen during his teenage years, and credits about twenty people who helped him, but his reckless nature and tendency to get into trouble caused him to move from one home to another.

During this time, Diaz began taking drugs and committing crimes.

Diaz explains that his peers' sense of humor greatly influenced his comedy career, as did the comedy albums of Richard Pryor.

In 1982, Diaz moved to Colorado.

However, his growing homesickness led to his return to New Jersey initially for his birthday in 1984, but he stayed there for eighteen months.

He later called this time as "the worst 18 months of my life" and "the biggest mistake of my life," as his cocaine abuse worsened.

In June 1985, Diaz left New Jersey and returned to Colorado to study economics at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

He did not enjoy his time there, and quit before taking up work selling roofing which earned him money, but he remained unhappy.

Following his arrest for kidnapping and aggravated robbery, he was sent to prison in 1988, serving 16 months of a four-year sentence.

During his time in prison, Diaz would perform stand-up routines for his fellow inmates during the weekly film screening event when the projector broke.

It took Diaz a further three years to try stand-up, despite being often told of his talent, and later called his entry into the line of work as "the last resort" as he had many other jobs in the past.

After seeing the 1988 film Punchline, Diaz responded to an advertisement in a Denver newspaper for a $37 stand-up comedy course, and developed a blue comedy act.

Before he did his first standup routine, he worked as a doorman at Wit's End.

After pursuing stand-up comedy full time in 1991 in the Colorado and Seattle areas, Diaz relocated to Los Angeles in 1995 where he began acting, securing various film and television roles, including My Name Is Earl, Everybody Hates Chris, The Longest Yard, Spider-Man 2, Grudge Match, and The Many Saints of Newark.

Diaz performed his first routine on June 18, 1991 at the Comedy Works in Denver at a show headlined by Matt Woods.

In April 1992, prior to his opening spot for Troy Baxley in Boulder, Colorado, Diaz took cocaine before going on stage and had a set that he described as "a disaster".

He then ceased to take the substance before a performance.

After developing his act, Diaz entered the Beck's Amateur Comedy Competition and won.

He initially lost another competition until the winner was caught stealing jokes made famous by Jerry Seinfeld and Diaz was declared the winner.

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.

Diaz participated in a similar contest in Seattle, Washington, and finished sixth out of 40.

In 1994, Diaz returned to the Comedy Works and found Curtis had started a developmental program for comics which he joined.

The process involved group writing sessions at Wood's home followed by sets in the club the same evening.

At one point, Curtis banned Diaz from the Comedy Works before it was lifted after they met years later.

In 1995, Diaz left Colorado for Los Angeles, California to try and make it as a successful stand-up comic.

He 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".

On November 4, 2007, Diaz appeared in North Bergen to help raise money for North Bergen High School's basketball team uniforms.

In 2010, Diaz started to gain widespread notoriety from his appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

From 2012 to 2020, he was the host of his own podcast, The Church of What's Happening Now with Lee Syatt, and has since hosted Uncle Joey's Joint.

José Antonio Diaz was born in Havana, Cuba.

He immigrated at a young age to the United States, where he was raised in North Bergen, New Jersey, a town where he noted he was the only Cuban-American at the time.

His mother ran a bar and a successful numbers game operation.

He was raised Catholic as a child and enjoyed learning stories about Francis of Assisi and St. Michael.

Diaz attended McKinley School and then North Bergen High School, where he won awards for performing arts.

In April 2012, Diaz supported his Where I Got My Balls From documentary with the release of his stand-up special, It's Either You or the Priest.

It went to number one on the Billboard comedy charts in the UK and Canada, and number one on iTunes.