TUCSON, Ariz. (August 29, 2022) — “Last Comic Standing” champion Felipe Esparza is returning to Desert Diamond Casinos & Entertainment’s Diamond Center on Saturday, January 21, 2023. Tickets start at $30.00 and are on sale starting September 16 at 10am through Etix and at Desert Diamond’s Box Office. Doors open at 7 p.m.; show starts at 8 p.m. For mature audiences. Face masks are optional. Anyone exhibiting COVID-19 or flu-like symptoms, or with recent exposure to a person with COVID-19, is asked to stay home.
Comedian and actor Felipe Esparza got his start in comedy all because someone asked him to list 5 goals in life. If you had told him back then that all this life experience would one day make people laugh, he wouldn’t have believed it. From being raised in the projects in a family of 9 living in the most gang‐infested neighborhood in the country to winning NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”, to selling out live comedy shows all over the country and being able to act in TV shows and movies, Felipe’s life has been anything but boring.
He worked for years as a stand‐up comedian, opening on the road for fellow comedians such as Gabriel Iglesias and Paul Rodriguez, then took a leap of faith and went out on his own ‐ which led to very little income and opportunity at first. Finally, after 16 years of struggling, Felipe’s big break came in the form of winning NBC’s “Last Comic Standing”.
This “overnight success” started opening doors to more live performances and bigger audiences. Felipe went on to produce his first hour long stand‐up comedy special in 2012, “They’re Not Gonna Laugh at You” (still running on Netflix), with his wife and producing partner, Lesa O’Daniel-Esparza. He has also made several TV appearances, including recurring roles on “Gentefied”, “The Eric Andre Show” and NBC’s “Superstore”, and was the spokesman for a national Honda Fit campaign and a national Target Mobile campaign. In 2017, Felipe and his wife self-financed and self-produced his second one‐hour stand‐up special, entitled “Translate This”, which they licensed to HBO in 2017. His most recent stand-up special was released September, 2020 on Netflix as a dual release of two separate specials – a performance in English (“Bad Decisions”) and a performance in Spanish (“Malas Decisiones”).
Treena Parvello, Director of Government and Public Relations for the Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise, said, “We couldn’t wait to bring Felipe Esparza back to the Diamond Center for another hilarious show! Be sure to catch him live at Desert Diamond Casinos & Entertainment on January 21 for as little as $30!”
Desert Diamond Casinos & Entertainment, with three locations in Southern Arizona (Tucson, Sahuarita, and Why) and one in the West Valley in Glendale, AZ, is owned and operated by the Tohono O’odham Gaming Enterprise, an enterprise of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Additional information can be found at www.ddcaz.com or by calling 866-DDC-WINS. Follow Desert Diamond Casinos & Entertainment on Twitter (@DiamondCasinos), Facebook (@DDCAZ), and Instagram (@DiamondCasinos).