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After seven years, a global pandemic, and an HBO comedy special, McAllen native Nick Guerra is finally bringing his stand-up comedy back to the Rio Grande Valley.

Guerra, who graduated from McAllen High School in 2000, will be performing a handful of shows throughout the Valley next week

“It’s been quite a while,” Guerra said during a phone call from his home in Los Angeles. “I wish I didn’t take so much time away, but life happens. It’s gonna be interesting. It’ll be interesting to see who shows up, to see if I’m even still on people’s radars. I mean, my mom’s friends are going to come out. They’re all excited.”

Since the last time that he performed in the Valley, Guerra’s comedic style has evolved. While some of the subject matter has changed over time, he said that his brand of comedy will still be familiar to those who have followed his career — describing it as “half ridiculous statements and the other half is relationship stuff.”

“Since it’s been that long, it’s obviously a completely different point of view from when I was there in 2018,” Guerra said. “I kind of talk about where I’m at mentally and where I’m at physically in my life as somebody who’s over 40.”

Guerra’s comedic journey began after moving to Dallas in 2005. At the time, he was working various jobs in restaurants and movie theaters.

“I worked regular jobs and kind of kept either getting fired or quitting,” he recalled. “I’m a night owl, so I would always show up late and all that kind of stuff.”

Despite the Rio Grande Valley’s own comedy scene being still in its infancy, Guerra said that he had always been a fan of stand-up comedy. Drawing inspiration from comedy legends such as George Carlin, Richard Pryor, John Leguizamo and Chris Rock, he said that he soon began to jot down his own jokes.

“Now there’s stand-up comedy in South Texas, but when I was growing up there really wasn’t, or it wasn’t like on display,” Guerra said. “There weren’t any (comedy) clubs down there. So I didn’t even know that was a thing.”

With a much more prominent comedy scene in Dallas, Guerra began to gravitate towards those types of venues.

“I started writing jokes, or what I thought were jokes,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘OK, I need to say it. I have to do it. Let me just attempt to get on stage.’”

After a year or so of playing with the idea of trying stand-up comedy, Guerra finally decided to bite the bullet and give it a shot at an open mic.

“I loved it. It was the first time that I really felt a sense of community, like these people were like me,” he said. “It wasn’t just work buddies. These people have now become lifelong friends. I hadn’t had that when I made that move (to Dallas), so when I found that, it really just kind of attracted me.”

After his first show, he was approached by another comedian who invited Guerra to perform with him later that week.

“I didn’t know what I was doing,” he recalled. “It was at a Mexican restaurant. I got paid 20 bucks. I was performing right next to where all the food comes out of the kitchen, but, you know, that’s how you do it.”

Little by little, he began to build his comedic chops — performing at other Mexican restaurants and clubs and meeting other comedians. Before long, he was invited to go on tour across the country.

After deciding to move to Los Angeles in 2009, he began rubbing elbows with some of the biggest names in comedy. As he continued honing his craft, in 2011, he was invited to perform for the U.S. military with Armed Forces Entertainment, a tour that took him and his comedy overseas to Italy and Greece.

“I think that’s when my parents are like, ‘Oh, this is legit,’ because I’m now traveling abroad, which is something that we never did,” he said. “I was like, ‘Alright, I’m really in it.’ And then I think my whole family got on to it when I ended up on Comedy Central because of Gabriel Iglesias.”

He described his venture onto television as a triumph and “a big shock to the system.” He said that he withheld the news of his TV debut from his family until it was set to air out of fear that his set might get cut.

Even as his name became more established in the comedy scene, he continued to hold off on telling his family about his upcoming appearances.

“It became a recurring thing with everything,” he said. “When I got the ‘Tonight Show,’ I didn’t tell my mom until the week of, when they finally put it on the website that I was going to be a guest.”

He recalled flying his mother to New York City for the taping of his segment on the “Tonight Show” in 2015. He also had support from the Rio Grande Valley’s own Cristela Alonzo, who happened to be in town that evening.

“She actually sat in the audience with my mom the whole time, because my mom wanted somebody sitting next to her,” he said. “So I’m very grateful that Cristela did that, because I can see how annoying it would be to sit in that TV audience when you yourself have been a TV star.”

His comedy led him to appear on NBC’s “Last Comic Standing,” earning the title of 2015 NBC Stand Up Showcase winner. He also released his first comedy album, “Love: The Nick’s Tape,” in January 2016.

With his continued success, including his 2020 HBO special “Love Me At My Worst,” he said that he is living a life that he never could have imagined for himself as a child growing up in the Rio Grande Valley.

“Not even as a young adult, much less a young boy,” he said. “It goes back to you don’t know that that could be a possibility.”

He said that the Rio Grande Valley happens to be situated in a region of the country where opportunities to gain national attention are less advantageous. He said that there is no shortage of talent in the Valley, it is a matter of finding a platform.

As he continues to make a name for himself in comedy circles throughout the country, Guerra said that he is sure to let his audience know where he’s from.

“I want people of the Rio Grande Valley to know I’m trying. I’m representing a part of them,” he said. “I can’t represent all of them, but I’m representing a part of them. I’m a product of this area.”

“Even when I was on ‘The Tonight Show,’ I told Cristela, ‘I’m gonna do the five is number one,’” he said with a laugh, describing the familiar hand signal seen on many Rio Grande Valley television screens after KRGV newscasts. “I did it when Jimmy Fallon was saying good night, and he was standing next to me. I was like, ‘Five is number one.’ It was my signal to everybody, like, here’s an RGV boy.”

Fans will be able to see Guerra perform live and in-person beginning Wednesday at 8 p.m. at The Rockin’ Cue in Harlingen; Thursday. 23 at 7 p.m. at the Isla Grand Beach Resort on South Padre Island; Friday, at 8 p.m. at Ranch House Burgers in Mission; and a just-added show on Saturday, Oct. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at Cachéin McAllen.

Tickets are available online at events.massivetix.com. More information about the shows can be found on Guerra’s Facebook page.

The post Nick Guerra bringing comedy home to RGV with set of shows next week appeared first on MyRGV.com.