‘Spanish laughing guy’ Juan Joya Borja dies


I am sad to report that the Spanish comedian, better known by his nickname El Risitas (which means ‘Giggles’), has died at the age of 65.

A video of him and his interviewer laughing uncontrollably over something he is saying in Spanish is so infectious that you laugh along with him even though you may not know the language.

The famous clip of him came from Spanish late-night show Ratones Coloraos, where he was interviewed by the host about his ill-fated experience working as a kitchen helper.

In the clip, uploaded on the show’s YouTube in 2007, Borja told Quintero how he once left 20 paella dishes in the sea overnight to clean them, only to return the next morning to find the tide had swept all but one away.

The story left him and the host slapping the desk in fits of uncontrollable laughter – with Borja’s signature wheezing and almost-toothless smile stealing the show.

That clip became a meme and people have taken it and added their own subtitles, in the manner of the Hitler Downfall parodies.

This is my favorite, perhaps because I own a MacBook and have the sneaking suspicion that this parody is close to reality.

Comments

  1. Holms says

    In the clip, uploaded on the show’s YouTube in 2007, Borja told Quintero how he once left 20 paella dishes in the sea overnight to clean them, only to return the next morning to find the tide had swept all but one away.

    That’s it?? Jeez, it just goes to show that even a basic anecdote can be transformed by its delivery.

  2. Mano Singham says

    Thanks, Mark.

    The relevant part begins at the 4:15 mark and it made me laugh again!

  3. mnb0 says

    “A video of him and his interviewer laughing uncontrollably over something he is saying in Spanish is so infectious that you laugh along with him even though you may not know the language.”
    Nope, not me, with or without subtitles. What makes me laugh over and over again is every single episode of Fawlty Towers. And Fassbinder’s Lola. And of course Blier’s Preparez vos Mouchoirs. In company I laugh harder, because yes, infectuous.
    This riddles made me laugh:

    What is the scariest thing about a white person in prison?
    You know he did it.

    Why did the white man visit the moon?
    He heard that the natives had land there.

    One of my all time favourites is this one. GM Rudolf Spielmann was an Austrian chessplayer and a jew. Someone asked him in 1937 or early 1938 what he would do if life in Austria would become unbearable. His answer, without hesitation: “I’ll move to Germany and let me persecute.”

  4. davidc1 says

    I know this is a P*** take ,but it says everything about the whole bollox that is britshit .”We Had to talk david cameron From Jumping Off the Roof ” LOL.

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