Joey Diaz

José Antonio Díaz (born February 19, 1963), also known as Joey "CoCo" Diaz, is a Cuban-American stand-up comedian, actor, podcaster, and author. After pursuing stand-up comedy full time in 1991 in the Colorado and Seattle areas, Diaz relocated to Los Angeles in 1995 where he began acting, securing various film and television roles, including My Name Is Earl, The Longest Yard, Spider-Man 2, Grudge Match, and The Many Saints of Newark. In 2010, Diaz started to gain widespread notoriety from his appearances on The Joe Rogan Experience podcast. From 2012 to 2020, he was the host of his own podcast, The Church of What's Happening Now with Lee Syatt, and has since hosted Uncle Joey's Joint. Early life José Antonio Diaz was born in Havana, Cuba. He immigrated at a young age to the United States, where he was raised in North Bergen, New Jersey, a town where he noted he was the only Cuban-American at the time. His mother ran a bar and a successful numbers game operation. He was raised Catholic as a child and enjoyed learning stories about Francis of Assisi and St. Michael. Diaz attended McKinley School and then North Bergen High School, where he won awards for performing arts. He graduated in 1982. Diaz's father died when he was three years old. His mother died when he was 16, Diaz having found her dead in their home. He was taken in by four families around North Bergen during his teenage years, and credits about twenty people who helped him, but his reckless nature and tendency to get into trouble caused him to move from one home to another. During this time, Diaz began taking drugs and committing crimes. Diaz explains that his peers' sense of humor greatly influenced his comedy career, as did the comedy albums of Richard Pryor.