Raymond y sus Amigos

Created byRaymond ArrietaStarringCountry of originPuerto RicoOriginal languageSpanishProductionExecutive producerTony MojenaProduction locationStudio 2: Paquito Cordero at Telemundo de Puerto Rico. San Juan, Puerto RicoRunning time120 minutes (with commercials)Original releaseNetworkTelemundoReleaseJune 24, 2014 (2014-06-24) –
present (present)

Raymond y sus Amigos (Raymond and his friends) is a Puerto Rican live television sketch comedy, political satire, and variety show created by Raymond Arrieta and developed by Tony Mojena that airs on Telemundo de Puerto Rico.

The show's recurring sketches often parody Puerto Rican culture and politics and are performed by the show's recurring cast members most of which has remained the same since the show's inception in 2014.

History

Raymond Arrieta rose to prominence as a comedian in Puerto Rican television by presenting El Show de Raymond (Raymond's Show) on Televicentro de Puerto Rico during the late 90s and early 2000s. In 2006, Televicentro was sold to InterMedia Partners which brought changes to the station which included the cancellation of El Show de Raymond. After his contract with WAPA-TV ended, Arrieta joined Telemundo in 2007 as the co-host of daytime variety show Dia a Dia (Day to Day).^[1]

Arrieta was approached by the producer of Dia a Dia, Tony Mojena, with the idea of reviving his sketch comedy show on WKAQ-TV which led to the development of Raymond y sus Amigos. On June 6, 2014, a press conference was held to announce the debut of the new show, on the event it was announced that the show would debut on Tuesday, June 24, 2014, at 8:00 p.m. and would air for two hours. The introduction of the show marked the first time WKAQ-TV featured original local programming in 8 years.^[2][3][4]

The show premiered on June 24, 2014, and aside from the sketch comedy, the show included a live house band, a monologue by Arrieta at the top of the show. The show also featured interview segments with Felix Trinidad and Miguel Cotto and Luis Fonsi served as the musical guest. The premiere of the show was successful for the network that managed to get the local program to trend worldwide on Twitter through a game of hashtags that encouraged the audience to participate from home.^[5]

The show takes place from Studio Two at WKAQ-TV Studios in San Juan which used to be the sight of El Show de las 12. The studio has a capacity of 300 guests which would serve as the audience for Raymond y sus Amigos, during the COVID-19 Pandemic the show stopped welcoming an audience and was performed in front of only essential personnel only. In late 2021, the show would start welcoming an audience in separated clusters and wearing masks. In 2023, the show started welcoming a full audience again.^[6][7][8]

Cast

The show is hosted and led by Raymond Arrieta and veteran comedians René Monclova, Jorge Castro and Miguel Morales. The show also held auditions to find newer talent and landed on Rosko Jaime, Joealis Filippetti, Norwill Fragoso, Mónica Pastrana, and, Lirimar Castañeda. Joining them would be Abraham Marti who had previously worked on sketch-comedy show TV Ilegal and Yeye who worked with Arrieta on El Show de Raymond on WAPA.^[9][10]

On August 11, 2017, Lizmarie Quintana joined the cast. Quintana had worked with RYSA cast member Abraham Marti on TV Ilegal a sketch comedy program that aired on WAPA-TV in the early 2000s.^[11]

On August 22, 2023, it was announced during the show that comedian Jasond Calderón would be joining the cast of the show. Calderón was part of WLII-DT's late-night talk show Acuestate con Francis and had been off television following the show's cancellation in July 2022.^[12][13]

Rosko Jaime's exit

During the tail-end of 2022, Rosko Jaime began missing episodes of the show and while he would eventually return to the program in early 2023 his exit from the cast became official in June 2023. Jaime portrayed the character of "Luiso (Shupi)" on the show's Sex and the City parody called Men and the City, the character would be of a flamboyant gay man and would often be performed with exaggerated mannerisms and in a feminine manner. On June 6, 2023, Jaime expressed through his lawyer that he had been let go from the show because he disagreed with the way the character was being written and considered the character and its story lines were verging on being offensive towards the LGBTQIA+ community. In Jaime's statement he said he expressed his concerns about the writing to executive producer Tony Mojena and WKAQ management but his complaints were not addressed by the production and instead he was notified he would no longer be appearing on the show. Jaime and Mojena came to an agreement behind closed doors for him to retain ownership of all the characters he portrayed on Raymond y sus Amigos and the two parted ways with Jaime shortly after joining rival network TeleOnce.^{[14][15][16][17][18]}

Current Cast Members

• Raymond Arrieta
• Jasond Calderón
• Jorge Castro
• Joealis Filippetti
• Norwill Fragoso
• Sara Jarque
• René Monclova
• Miguel Morales
• Monica Pastrana
• Lizmarie Quintana
• Abraham Marti
• Yeye Villanueva

Former Cast Members

• Rosko Jaime
• Lirimar Castañeda
• Nelson del Valle
• Carlos Ramirez

Recurring sketches

The show features a variety of recurring sketches based on different characters. Unlike, Saturday Night Live the show presents the same sketches on an episodic way with new stories presented weekly for the recurring characters.

• Gato Encerrado con la Dra. Apolo - A parody of Caso Cerrado where Arrieta impersonates Doctor Ana María Polo.
• La Oficina de LUMA (LUMA's Office) - Sketch mocking the customer service of Puerto Rico's energy provider LUMA Energy.
• Men and the City - A parody of Sex and the City following a group of friends who meet at a bar to talk about their relationship. The sketch follows Arrieta as Carlos (a man with an overbearing wife), Monclova as Mauricio (a divorced man who struggles financially), Castro as Sammy (a womanizer) and Morales as Larry (a single man who enjoys dating older women).
• Guaraguao Security - An original sketch that follows a group of incompetent private security officers.
• La Cuarteta - An original sketch following the adventures of a food truck owner.
• Última Pregunta - A parody of the political analysis show Primera Pregunta con Rafael Lenin López. It features parodies of Puerto Rican political personalities.

References

External links

• Raymond y sus Amigos Website