Aya Blanco, the first Mexican American to appear on “The Daily Show” in nine years, and a new host with more than 15 years of experience behind her. He told HuffPost that it is “totally” a different experience than his other roles and he felt ready for it.
“It is a huge responsibility, but it’s really nice to take on,” Lopez said. “I’ve had my share of things and, man, I think it’s an honor to do it. I’m trying to relax, get into that whole mindset of ‘I have to be good!'”
Lopez and O’Donnell both said that if the “Daily Show” does well, the series will become part of the pop culture history books for how Latino entertainers used platforms to draw viewers during a time where the media was still often perceived as a white-centric enterprise. In “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia,” the series’ first Latino guest starring in the recurring role of Charlie, a bar-hopping, cocaine-snorting, drug-seeking junkie, Lopez and O’Donnell are the first to use Latinos in a series that explores, humorously, the dangers of drug abuse, especially among Latinos.
“We always try to have fun,” Lopez said. “So, hopefully people will see that we’re not just trying to use Latinos. We want to use anyone,” she continued, a direct reference to the show’s “white person” character, who is portrayed by a white woman in a predominantly white environment (often a prison or a strip club). “We want to use people of all backgrounds. We just want to have fun and be honest.”
This season, “The Daily Show” focuses on more recent immigrants and their struggles. For two seasons this season, “The Daily Show” focused on Mexican-American-American students, some of them recent immigrant immigrants, who are trying to adapt to life in the U.S. Lopez said this is especially important now that Donald Trump is running for president and some Americans are questioning his immigration policy. Lopez wants to show the young people, “you’re not only here, you’re successful and if you don’t try, we can’t even make it here together.”
“This is still the country that got me, that got me out of the house, that got me through a lot of crazy, crazy things,” she said. “No one who speaks English can